Vacancy
Posted July 31, 2011 at 8:01 pm
I've been meaning to get the explanation of why John and George were asked to move up to the fifth floor from their first floor apartment out there for a long while, I just didn't like the joke when I initially tried and I just decided to back burner it for a while and move on with the Valerie leaving story arc instead. I felt that if I didn't address it soon, it would just be one of those things that didn't really make sense. The real reason was I wanted to have a more interesting environment and it was easier than having the guys redecorate/wallpaper/paint/etc. their apartment... but in story it's because having a zombie on one floor and a ghost on another scared off the other tenants (or they were eaten) so the apartment management decided to consolidate the supernatural creatures to one floor. It also lets me have more natural get togethers of various character groups that I'll have happen from time to time... especially with Zoey and Lizzy being in the other apartment. This strip also has redesigns for Sean and Drew, plus George's hair. I had been drawing Sean with all manner of curls/shapes in his beard and I really didn't like his "look" anymore so I reworked him and I wanted to make him look older than he had been as he's supposed to be in his late 40's early 50's. Drew also was falling behind the look of the comic so I wanted to snazz him up a bit. I've also been fighting with George's hair for like ever... Over the weekend while I was in a character redesign phase I figured out a new/simplified version of his moppy 'do that allows me to reclaim more of his eyebrows. It's still not 100% perfect but I'm a lot happier with it than I have been with his hair lately. In procedural news, I started "inking" in Adobe Illustrator. Ever since I started drawing my comic digitally I've been doing the black lines in Photoshop and I have always thought my "inks" have been pretty weak. I did some practice with the blob brush in Illustrator and I was pleasantly surprised at how natural it was and I was able to get crisper lines and the points on the ends are solid and actually pointy. It's an added step to my process, but one that I think is worth it.
Tags: Drew, George, John, Sean