One of the pleasures of being a freelancer is that you can schedule your time as you see fit. There's nobody really breathing down your neck to finish "this" job so you can get "that" one started, or interrupting a detailed illustration with a quick business card layout. You get to decide which job has priority based on your relationship with your clients and the urgency of the deadline. Sometimes you'll get a few projects where the deadlines tend to overlap but most of the time you can manage your time around it. What suffers during this time management are the personal projects you take on, such as learning a new application, redesigning your own website, or working on a graphic novel.
January has always been a slow month for me as a freelancer, even more so than when I had my own agency or worked as a creative director for someone else. It's cold, it's grey, and nobody has figured out their budget yet. It's a perfect time to look into the details of your personal projects because, try as one may, there is nothing you can do to motivate your client base to send you work they haven't decided on yet.
To that end I've taken the time over the past few weeks to work on the pencil work for the graphic novel as well as spend some time studying up on the conventions of designing a graphic novel. Things like . . . what kind of word balloons are used for what kind of expressions, . . . appropriate font size for final production, . . . color matching throughout the project, . . . how to achieve effective shading, . . . and a host of other little details that you don't think about when you jump into a project.
January has always been a slow month for me as a freelancer, even more so than when I had my own agency or worked as a creative director for someone else. It's cold, it's grey, and nobody has figured out their budget yet. It's a perfect time to look into the details of your personal projects because, try as one may, there is nothing you can do to motivate your client base to send you work they haven't decided on yet.
To that end I've taken the time over the past few weeks to work on the pencil work for the graphic novel as well as spend some time studying up on the conventions of designing a graphic novel. Things like . . . what kind of word balloons are used for what kind of expressions, . . . appropriate font size for final production, . . . color matching throughout the project, . . . how to achieve effective shading, . . . and a host of other little details that you don't think about when you jump into a project.
Speaking of details I finally got around to adjusting the lighting in the first frame. If you look below at previous posts you can see that it was just way too bright for three o'clock in the blessed a.m. and now it has a more realistic feel. The risk, of course, is that when it prints it may get a little muddy but that's a risk I may just have to take for that panel. I also adjusted the lighting in the second frame so that it appears that the light is actually emanating from the lamp. It's these little details that are taking time to fine tune but when all is said and done I think Wayne and I will both be happier with the end product because of those details. I could be wrong . . . but I doubt it.
If you've been paying attention you'll also notice that I finalized the design for the shoulder crests on the police uniform and the name badge on his right chest which you can see in the mirror. The badge, which has also been finalized will go on the left chest, just slightly visible in the reflection but you'll get a good look at it later on.
With those little details out of the way I've begun working on the bottom panel. There's a lot of detail in this one and it gave me a chance to do something a little more architectural. Most of the inking for the buildings has been completed and I've started in with a little colouring. I think I'll avoid showing anything in the windows at this point since it would just be decoration and not really relevant to the story we're trying to tell. It would also take up more time than I have available to waste. Time to work on the police car and finish up the colouring for the panel then maybe I'll take some time to see a movie.