Update and sketch process (Patreon)

Sorry I haven't updated here in a while. After falling behind due to work on a commission, I've just been trying to keep my head down and my nose to the grindstone. I get this way in order to minimize online distractions, but I should still stay in touch here. I'm falling behind Monday updates on DeviantArt despite efforts to make up time, and I know I'm even further behind on early access here on Patreon. Maaaybe I can make a Monday update for page 5-15, but I'm currently fighting a cold and working at less than peak efficiency. *Achoo!* Until I can find a way to catch up, I thought I'd make up for it here by sharing some sketchwork. I'll try and stay more engaged by showing WIP of upcoming pages for all supporters, and I'll start by sharing an old one from issue #4 that shows my process.

I typically delete my sketchwork to save space on my Google Drive, but I kept this from page 4-10 because of how well it turned out. As you may know, the comic is entirely digital. Whenever I have overlapping characters, I split them on separate layers with red and blue pencils so they're easier to distinguish. These characters are filled with a white mask, so I can shift them around in the panel to juxtapose them properly. It's not uncommon for me to make major alterations to the page after it's drawn. The background is drawn on another layer with a green pencil to separate it from the characters. This process has remained unchanged since the beginning of the comic and it works well.

While all of the artwork is done in openCanvas 5.5, I still alternate between Photoshop CS5 to design the panel layout and text. The speech bubbles are created with a custom script applied to vector paths, making them easy to edit. Ever since I switched from pencil and paper to digital for comics back in 2012 (out of necessity, because I didn't have a scanner), I found comics far easier to draw and edit. Having said that, I notice I'm getting slower with time - either due to age or because I'm making pages overly complex. I'm still experimenting with ways to speed things up to maintain weekly updates without killing myself, but for now this will have to do. If you want to know more about my process, you can check out a full tutorial on my DA gallery here: https://www.deviantart.com/glitcher/gallery/74414980/tutorials