First week done and additional behind the scenes!
First week of Inktober is over! I post it daily on my Instagram, but I decided it’d be fun to talk a little more extensively the process of making these on this blog, from conception to background, or references and inspiration.
Day 1: The Beginning of our End, Forever
Original Instagram Text
“Before we knew it, the lights blinded us from running. I remember the roaring of the engines, doors opening, and being rushed into a vehicle, unable to see from the sudden flood of light. As I came to my senses, I saw people I didn’t know sitting around me. I kept looking for you, but you weren’t there.”
Happy start of Inktober day! I’ll see you all for the next 30 days as I frantically get these out as best I can…
Additional Information
Originally there was going to be jets flying in the background, bringing an ominous atmosphere to the night sky. I was too flustered in trying to design it simple and decided to just add the spotlights in the background. I actually like this more because it kept the sky dark and the lights in the background make for a strong contrast against the well lit foreground.
Day 2: Fractured Enlightenment
Original Instagram Text
“…your daughter takes after you both, for better and worse. She wants to finish what we all started. If you have lived, she probably would have never become a Chaser. You could have stopped her. Or, maybe, it wouldn’t have mattered either way.” — Lin
Day 2 and everything’s picking up. There’s lots of ideas floating around, but I’ll get them out when the time comes.
Additional Information
This is Yuna from a longer form comic I’ve been working on this year. I’ve been slightly tweaking her design over the past few months as I see fit, slowly settling on something that’s: easy to draw, can be drawn from many angles, and is still visually interesting/distinctive. I think I’m almost done fussing over her.
Day 3: Clarity
Original Instagram Text
“Jean came to the Chasers much later in life. She never experienced a major natural disaster growing up nor in her adult life. Courageous and a quick learner, she brings the best and worst out of Susanne. Working together they’re brilliant. But Jean has trouble listening to Susanne. It’s the age gap.”
Last year on October 3rd I had landed in South Korea, to visit a friend and explore the country. I heard of Kim Jung Gi’s passing as I was sitting the couch of my friend’s apartment. I was shocked. An influence to myself and so many others gone. He leaves behind a legacy with those he’s captivated.
Additional Information
Another character from the comic mentioned above. I love using circles and ellipses in my compositions, especially a halo framing around faces. When I was thinking about this I was imagining a transformation sequence as Jean falls through a portal, weapons and armor appearing as the ellipses run through her body.
Day 4: We Can’t Chase Each Other Anymore
Original Instagram Text
“And I thought I was over her. But there’s always going to be the memories and the pain and the happiness and the fighting and the loving and together and apart and everything in between. I shouldn’t have seen her today.”
I started using the dip pen (G nib) for this one. It’s fussy and messy, but there’s nothing like it. Also, why I decided to put umbrellas here bewilder me. Solving their perspective was 50% of the time spent on this.
Additional Information
This composition is heavily inspired by indigo la End’s music video for their song 忘れて花束 (Forgotten Flowers…I think is the translation?). It is an exceptional story paired with one of my favorite Japanese songs. My Japanese is poor, but from what I gathered, without trying to spoil it too much, the background at the beginning is the guy asks the girl to go on a date, after spending 2 years apart from each other, so they can break up properly. They met years ago, but while the girl wanted to date him, he wanted to focus on his band (in 雫に恋して. This places a rift between them.
I think a lot about this music video. It always puts me in a mood.
Day 5: The Breaking of a Universe
Original Instagram Text
“Susanne is fierce and relentless, fighting Tempests like each fight would be her last. She’s a strong teammate with Yuna, but even better working with Jean. Unfortunately Jean’s own independence clashes with Susanne’s. I try my best to manage their egos and high expectations, but they still don’t see each other’s point of view. If we had enough Chasers for another team I would split them up. Unfortunately…” — Lin
Tried using a different pen today, one that has a reservoir of ink that supplies a dip pen nib, allowing for a more portable inking setup without having to redip nibs in water. Unfortunately I haven’t quite got the hang of it and dropped a huge blot of ink on the illustration. I fixed it with enough whiteout, but I still need practice with this messier, albeit more convenient pen.
Additional Information
A while back I bought an Ackerman Pen G Nib Classic Fountain Pen and tried setting it up, but I was having lots of difficulty with my Delter 4 Ink. I tried using it again, but still had problems with starved flow issues. I went back to just using a nib holder and dip pen nib in frustration. I solve the issues later, but at the time I wasn’t doing well with it.
Day 6: Wild Waves
Original Instagram Text
“The crystals are the heart of the Tempests. By exposing them the crystal will fly away. The Tempests will always come back, but for some time, the city will be safe. Have we ever broken one? Once. A long time ago.”
Inking with my new G nib pen is still messy and unreliable, I had to switch back to the nib holder for its simplicity. Still need to tinker with the pen’s flow…
Additional Information
I spent about 2 hours or so fussing with the Ackerman pen this day to still no avail. It would skip, no ink would flow down, or a giant blot would flow down and ruin the paper. It was endlessly frustrating so I still completed it with a regular nib holder and dip pen nib.
I finished this piece early right after work because I planned a reservation for my birthday dinner and knew I wouldn’t be able to spend 2+ hours working on a piece late into the night.
Day 7: Celebration
Original Instagram Text
“I want nothing more than peace and quiet on this special day.”
Celebrated a friend’s birthday today, so kept it pretty simple on the prompt. I took a bunch of photos yesterday of interesting compositions to help me in future pieces.
Additional Information
The day before I was took a few photos around the mall at night, killing time before my dinner. This illustration is a simplified composition of a storefront I liked. The heavy black bars on the windows and the dark pedestals holding glassware were striking. At this point I used a nib holder + dip pen nib and a brush, taking a short break from the Ackerman pen because I didn’t want to deal with it.
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