So, it's the weekend. No new comic.
But!
That doesn't exactly mean that I can't give you
old comics.
OK, I faked a current design into the opening image. You caught me. So let's look at some
original, and by "original", I mean "ancient", designs (pictured right). This is from back in 1994, from a comic I'd been meaning to draw during boring lessons at school (of which I had many), not much of which survives. She looks a bit like
Young Nuëlle, doesn't she? That design in turn was partially inspired by the works of a Spanish (semi-) underground artist known only as "Max" (love the art, but his stories are, ahem,
very hit and miss, so, no recommendation here). So, he leaves on whatever business, I forget, she frets —
— and her friend says,
What'd you let him leave alone for, anyway? Here, take this rickety ramshackle ship from the hangar and go after him!
Which she does, and well, adventure ensues. Pretty standard fare so far (except that he didn't end up having to rescue her; I think in fact
she rescued
him — yes, that actually counted as a
twist back then, I'm not shitting you).
Now this (right) looks like the logical next page, right? Except that the hair colour is wrong? Or at least it fooled me when I was digging up the old stuff. But no, it precedes the
Loved & Lost
by an entire year (well, give or take,
L&L
is dated 5/31/94;
Lightyears Away
just gives 1993). Go figure. I'm pretty sure I was in math class when drawing it, as well.
Finally, if you're wondering what all this kvetching about my graphics tablet being broken is about, that's just what it is: broken. So right now, I'm working in pencil (pictured — mind the wrong lines, I've got to shake the rust of several years — but I'm not worrying too much; most webcomics look much worse in their first week), scanning the sketch using my trusty Epson, and doing the rest of the work (vectorizing, colouring, lettering, …) in the GIMP. (Except scripting, which I do in xemacs.) Yes, I'm working on Linux, give me a cookie. And yes, it's a bit low tech at the moment, I might integrate frontline/autotrace into the process again as needed, and I've been dying to use some of inkscape's features, but it keeps crashing on me. I hope to try again once I get the new tablet, maybe file some bug reports, fingers crossed. Which reminds me; I'll be work-busy for the next ten days or so; updates will be sparse. Take care.
For the record, I'm pretty sure that's my trusty rotring mechanical pen used throughout, with 0.5HB lead, although I distinctly remember owning the Faber-Castell Polychromos special
(12 shades of grey) back then.
As sources go, the very first line is a Red Dwarf
reference of course; the symbol on the ship's fin could be Saturn or lightning superimposed over a planet, or it could be referencing the Lego Space
series, I'm not sure. The ship itself is original art though. Oh, and the checkerboard thingie on page 3 is probably a reference to Captain Future
. Finally, the top panel is so the Roy Liechtenstein reference, did you spot it?
Well, that's all I have to confess today.
Tatiana Azundris on : Lips on the Moon!
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