So, I tried out two new things with this page, as I had been talking about previously (however cryptic). The first is the coloring. Many people will notice that the images are lighters, but also a little more jagged when going to darker colors - this is something new for me, so it's not quite perfected yet. However, what happened was instead of using black and various opacities and layering them on top of each other (thus maintaing the color underneath, and getting darker as I layer more on top) I had layered darker version of the base colors. I'm told this is what professional colorists do, and was given a critique from one of the pros that I met at Wizard World Chicago, who suggested that I start trying to do this.

Personally, I think it helps brighten up the image and compliments the work. I like it, and am going to try to work with it on future strips to make it look better.

The second is the balloons. I was making the balloons in my own way, which was taking a lot of time. I was thinking to myself one day, "There has to be an easier way to do this," and started researching online how the pros do it. I found a technique using the "pen tool," which I had never used before. I wanted to get some curves into my balloon tails (which is still a work in progress), and this is the first step. Now comes the practice...and the patience.

In any case, I plan to spend any freetime I have this weekend perfecting my craft, so that next Friday's page can be stellar! I also finally finished writing this story arc, which will take up the bulk of the 20 pages that I want tot do between story arcs - don't worry, I'll extend this round a bit before requesting more guest strips from people. I'm also conducting some super-secret meetings with other web comic artists for some possible cross-overs, and / or doing some of the other projects that I want to get underway (like a Temple prequel or two). More on that much much later.

Enjoy this latest installment of @$$hole, and I'll post more about it next week when the new page goes live!

T