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![\"Taking](\"http:\/\/nrdland.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/EP9_Commentary_IMG.png\" "\\"EP9_Commentary_IMG\\"")
<\/a>While my process is always changing and I’m always trying new things, the biggest contributor to the improvements in Episode 9 is that I made one simple and major change:<\/p>\n
I took my time.<\/p>\n
Up until Episode 9, I had been working with tight schedules and was always pushing myself for the deadline. <\/p>\n
“I have to get all of the pages inked in the next 2 hours – and then it’s done.”
\n“I have 2 mornings to get the whole issue penciled, if it isn’t done in time, it doesn’t matter, I’m going to inks.”<\/p>\n
I needed to take more time and give myself more perspective on the work. This let me do a few key things that weren’t part of my process before.<\/p>\n
A) Editorial feedback from my wife. I gave my wife 5 drafts through script to final art. She gave me a lot of dialog and pacing feedback that made a big difference.<\/p>\n
B) Redrawing and redrawing some more. From thumbs to final inks, I spent a lot more time sweating the details. It took a lot longer, but it was worth it.<\/p>\n
C) Taking a breather. Stepping away from the work to work on something else and coming back with fresh eyes. A big step here was doing the old ‘horizontal flip’ trick, where you flip the art 180 degrees horizontally, which exposes mistakes you wouldn’t have caught otherwise.<\/p>\n
D) Putting in the extra time. Making a fully colored comic, plus setting up the site, Flash browser and everything else (you know – day job making video games, wife and kid, etc) takes a lot of time. I had set aside two hours every morning to work on Petra’s Call – and that was it. Now I am spending more evenings and weekends working on the comic as well.<\/p>\n
All of these have helped me ‘Level up’ with my work on Petra’s Call and I am at a point where I’m a lot happier with the work I’m producing. <\/p>\n
Now – back to the drawing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The reaction from Episode 9 has been great. Amazingly, resoundingly great. People have been into every aspect of the episode – the art, coloring, pacing, dialog, backgrounds – I’ve gotten great feedback on every side of the episode. Below is a collection of ‘pages’ from Petra’s Call. On the left are images from Episode 9, … <\/p>\n