I still have to do some tutorials on coloring with Gimp. With more Gimp skills I at least could get rid of the simple coloring. However doing such coloring would be very time consuming and therefore not something for me.

The thing that keeps me wondering is whether the first panel would have been better in text. There are moments when I’m considering to drop the whole comic drawing and just write the whole story as a novel. I guess that describing the old temple from panel 1 would deliver something like this:

“The temple was surrounded by a deep pit, like it was build on an island in the void. It seemed that nobody had been there for a while. Walls had broke down, there was moss all over the place. There was a sturdy bridge across the pit, the only part of the complex that seemed to be in perfect shape. The begin of the bridge was guarded by two veracious animals, only one of them remaining. With its wings, tail and fangs the best description would be dragon. The temple itself was build simple, there were no windows or other details on the walls. Four pillars in front, and two of them did fall apart. The entrance of the temple was flanked with two tall guards of stone. It didn’t take much imagination to think how majestic the complex did look in the old days. The artist impression at the tourist information board gave a good idea.”

This did take less time than drawing such an image and the description may be a better way to express the view of the author. I’m thinking of writing the whole story down and releasing it parallel to the comic. Putting the story in two formats will a nice eye opener for what works and doesn’t work in both formats and to find out the difference between creating a story in both formats. The only fear I have with writing is my lack of a native English vocabulary. Especially when you’re going descriptive, it would be handy to know the right words.

So stay tuned if you like Dunglish.

Well, the first panel was the one where I wasted my time on. And more annoying, that panel brings back the whole problem I have with an image in my head, which is totally clear and photo realistic, and this the lowly, badly drawn output. I know that the output would improve, given I spend time in improving skills and spending time on the panel.

More comments will follow later in the week, because I’m now too sleepy to write.

Another nice thing that kept me from being productive is that I have some problems getting work done behind my pc in the evening. Whereas this is quite normal and healthy for one who works behind a pc for his day job, it can be very annoying sometimes. So this brings me back to returning issue, I should do more of the comic analogue instead of digital to cut in the amount of screen hours.

The third thing that is delaying comic production is the balance that I recently found. I do read, play games and watch movies more regular now. Something you should learn is how to slack and relax, and the best is to do this outside office hours .

Experimenting a bit with photos as backgrounds. I’d guess this is one of the only times I can use this technique, so don’t count on seeing the technique again soon in this comic. Also it’s not a different planet, just Scotland .

On a different subject, the update rate will drop to once in the two weeks. I’m just too busy with other things and taking rest sometimes, that a weekly update schedule (with more than 3 panels) is not what I want. IT would also mean more time pressure, which is ok if you know how you want to do things, but not when you want to experiment.

Two photos from my previous museum visit, the bunkers by the Afsluitdijk (in Dutch: kazematten bij Kornwerderzand). While called kazemattenmuseum, it is only about the ones at the Afsluitdijk, so the name of museum is a bit misleading. The scenery is great and you do get a good view on the Afsluitdijk.

How often must they replace the barbed wire? I’d guess that the stuff will rust quickly, especially with salt water nearby. I forgot to ask .

Had to adjust a few colors, because I use to much black and gray. As usual it just takes some practice to get the colors right.

This does nicely bridges to to the first away mission. Originally my idea was to do some comics before the first away mission, however I never found some good story, so skipping to the first away mission is the best thing to do. Skipping time and the boring parts of a story are great techniques to keep a story to the point. I think that with this comic I at least give a view of the life on board within 9 panels.

Later in the week I’ll probably post some nice photos I took during my trip to the Kazematten museum.

It seems that with the new layout that comes with WP3.0 the main area is wide enough to contain the images. So that saves the resizing.

I just realize that 1 day has passed in the comic, while in real life more than a year has passed (not counting the first page). I guess that is what happens when you have to work on the comic besides your day job and more importantly, not exactly knowing how to do things. With the production more under control, the time has come to ruin the work flow by moving to drawing style 3.0 and bigger pages . The new coming style (page 12 and onwards) does not cost more time for sketching than the older pages. I’m a bit more worried about the scenery panels I want to add, giving those a different look. But more of that next week [To be continued].