The final page of Issue 3…and WHAT A PAGE, amiright?!
Also, you read correctly, this is the LAST Spy6teen page of the year– more on that in the Wrap Up section at the bottom of the write up…in the meantime…
PROCESS!
* Our final page is a great example of how Team 16 all comes together!
* This awesome ending Splash page was courtesy of another script page numbering snafu. I think it might have been DJ Keawekane that caught it. Naturally, whenever that happens, we just start looking for an appropriate place in the script to open up w/ a splash page– in the case of this issue, the last page made the most logical sense.
* This is another page where DJ surprised me a TON– It was originally scripted as one panel, Everett in the foreground with the Warp Daemon in the background. My “writer brain” composed this image in my head as a fairly flat image– so when DJ’s page landed in the dropbox, my jaw pretty much hit the floor. DJ took a bit longer to get this page out to us, but like he said in his email: “I really wanted to knock this one out the ballpark.”
I think you’ll agree: It’s a home run!
* Lisa‘s coloring, once again, just blew me away. In particular, notice the shading and depth her colors give to Warpy’s tentacles (almost misspelled that word…). Without her gradients, Warpy would probably fall flat on this page. I’m also really impressed that, even using the “same” color, there’s a sense of separation and depth between the creature and the background– all of which are a close tone of blue.
* One thing that sucks about the web version is that you guys are seeing compressed .jpgs of Lisa’s colors. It’s something you probably haven’t noticed, but I took a second today to screencap the difference you’ve been missing:
(please do click to embiggen!)
On the left, you’ll see a zoomed in version of what you’re seeing on the site– on the right is the Hi-Res .tiff that we use for print and digital editions– It’s a shame, but hey- that tiff also weighs in around 21 megs– not exactly ideal for page load times!
* DJ Kirkbride weighed in during our weekly production emails, suggesting a border around Everett to cheat us into two panels– I think Lisa found a fantastic compromise of sorts, by bordering the closeup of Everett with the page boarder. I think either way the page “reads” correctly, but Lisa’s version really gives the whole composition an extra “oompf” that pushes it over the edge!
* The “To Be Continued in 2012″ (wow, that’s weird to type) was Brant’s suggestion– as a little ode/nod to LOST– who used to do that to the ire of their fans. Naturally, it won’t appear in later versions, but I agreed that it’d be a fun one for the web.
Brant also wisely broke up Everett’s dialogue into two balloon– again, as originally scripted, this was all one line– It’s a great call on his part, and gives the final line of Issue three a “Dun-Dun-Duuuuuuuun” vibe.
WRAP UP!
No “Spying on the Net” this week, because I’d rather get to scheduling news and, of course, the big announcement: That we’re on hiatus until next year (which, again, isn’t that far off…)–
I know as of last week, we said we’d be back for two weeks in December, but as the week went on, I started to weigh the benefits of two pages. I ran it past the team, and everyone pretty much concurred that the benefit of two pages vs recharging and organizing time balanced heavily on the “recharge/organize” side of the see-saw.
We love Spy6teen. We love working together. We love you guys when you leave us comments, or drop us a twitter, or say hi on Facebook. Simply put, we love doing this comic– But, I think for all of us, at one week or another, we’ve felt the grind. The “oh no, it’s Tuesday (or Wednesday, or whatever day we’re updating this month)”– Creatively, I think we can all use a little time away– if only to get ourselves rebalanced and able to keep bringing you the butt-kickin’ comic we strive for.
So, we made the decision to pull the plug on 2011– instead, we’ll be taking this time to work on some infrastructure Spy6teen stuff– The next two months will give DJ a chance to work up some layouts and art (getting ahead of our release curve). He’s read Issue 4 and is jazzed up to get started– but at the same time, we’ve got to give his penciling hand a break!
I’ll also be working on some general house-cleaning duties– Issue 2 is off at the printer, so that’ll be available for you guys, and Issue 3 is right on it’s heels– I’d love to have all that ready for you by the holiday season.
The site won’t be a total dead-zone– in fact, you’ll be hearing from me even more than you usually do. Last week I’d mentioned Warren Ellis’ Webcomics are Broadcast post– which has honestly gotten me incredibly fired up for Spy2012…err, teen.
I’ll be using the extra time in the week to finally finish off (or get started on, depending on how you look at it) those Blog@16 articles on creating comics, as well as a few other articles that have been kicking around in my head.
And lastly, Comments– yeah, you’ll probably be getting follow ups to comments you’ve left, that I just haven’t had time to respond to! It does kill me every time I find an abandoned comment– I apologize in advance for taking so long to get back to you guys, but I promise I will over the break!
So that’s a wrap on Issue 3 and 2011!!
On behalf of DJ Keaweakane, Lisa Moore, Brant Fowler, and DJ Kirkbride, I’d just like to thank you guys for cheering us on for the last three issues! We can’t wait to come back and pop your eyeballs out with Issue 4!
If you want to keep an eye on the latest site updates over the break, please follow us on Twitter or join up the Facebook group!
That’s that! Seeya in 2012!!
