You probably wont have noticed (or maybe you have!) but I've did the comic a little differently today! I'm hoping to be doing it differently for the next 10, and choosing which way has the best results.

Normally I draw up the comic in pencil, scan it in, Photoshop over the lines (inking process) and then colouring it using this technique. The backgrounds are varied. Some I draw by hand, others are Justin Winslows, and the one for outside the store (that I'm using now) is actually a photograph of a store that I have coloured over to look cartoony!

As I said though, this one I did differently. I drew a rough draft of the comic straight onto Photoshop using a drawing tablet Helen (my girlfriend) got me for Christmas that I suck at using, but really want to get better with! I inked in the same way as usual, but with my usual colouring I added a little tidbit from this technique only on an infinitely smaller scale! Basically, shadows are a solid browny colour at 60% transparency. And highlights are an altered 'brightness/contrast' at sporadic places.

It's worked out pretty well! Benefits of this way are that smaller details (like the characters in frame one) are easier to draw coz I can zoom in. Normally I risk losing smaller details when I scan my pencils in, but this way was a breeze. The pencilling process took significantly longer however (probably coz I suck), but overall, I really like it!

Let me know what you think in the forums.

-Adam