WORK STAGES: Further work-in-progress stabs at a "hybrid workflow" on pp.6-8 from THE CHASTE AND THE CHAINED! (Patreon)

I've neither the time nor the energy for lengthy commentary on these pages, so I'll try to get this  post outta the way as quickly as possible.

So!

A while back, I showed you fine folks my take on p.06 from the opening story of The Chaste and the Chained, with the narrative jumping from the scene depicting the Elf Mage bedamseled by mutant cultists to a very different convo scene betwixt her and the Human Paladin:

That version was drawn mostly on the iPad using the iOS version of Clip Studio Paint. Wellp, I decided to revisit that page with yet another stab at establishing a viable "hybrid workflow" combining analog and digital media. Howeva, note that I thought the original page "overdialogued," as seen in the initial rough:

So, with this second take on the scene, I split up this page's dialogue into two separate pages, as you'll see below; note that the lettering is "for position only", as the finished version would need to be digitally lettered:

(Pardon the missing N from PANTHEON in panel 3, please.)

The new approach on these pages was to draw an even smaller version of the wee Empowered format of 8.5" x 11" original art; here, I've trimmed another 1.5" off the side of the letter-size paper to make a page proportional to the traditional Western (and manga!) comics format.

Yes, folks, the "live area" for these comic pages is a shockingly teeny 7" x 11".

Those numbers on the right side of the page are listing how long each finished panel took to draw. The previous page's panels took 1:00 of prep time and 4:00 of drawing for a total worktime of 5:00, while this even easier page took :30 of prep and 3:07 of drawing, for a startlingly low total of 3:37. Sounds promising, I know, but these two pages were very, very simple to draw.

Not so the next one:

This page timed out at a much less encouraging 7:35 total, and lemme tell ya, this was a hard 7:35 worth of worktime, as I squinted myopically at the teeny-tiny details I was rendering with both pencils and inks.

Note that all three pages are still in "analog" mode (er, besides the scanning and uploading, that is), and still need plenty of digital work in terms of correx, level adjustment and (especially) toning—but at present, I just don't have the free time to finish 'em up.

Nor, TBH, do I have much enthusiasm to do so, as I've already decided this latest approach is pretty much nonviable. The results look fine artistically, sure, but the work process was more grueling and unpleasant than expected—in large part due to my vision, as I can barely see much of the detail at this original size, and had to "use the Force, Luke" to blindly complete much of the inkwork. Furthermore, 7:30 worth of worktime is a much more likely number for this format than the earlier pages' totals, and that's with only four g-d character drawings on this more representative page. That is waaaay too slow and tedious, folks.

Nope, looks like I'm gonna have to consider a much more radical reconceptualization of my entire approach to drawing comic pages in the future, dear Patrons; but that's a topic I'll look to address in more detail next month, okay?

(BTW, just blew an entire g-d hour setting up this post. Dagnabbit!)

NEXT TIME ON THIS HERE PATREON: No idea, TBH, but something should be coming up in the next M/W/F slot. Let's find out together, shall we?

UPDATE: In fact, the content of our next posting is indeed known, as tomorrow will see this month's Exclusive Bonus Post for the $10 and $20 Patron tiers. This time around I'm featuring my first bunch of Clip Studio Paint sketches from the most recent set of $20-tier art requests, which cover not only a few Titans: Scissors, Paper, Stone characters and a FRPG iteration of Black Cat but a double dose of Distressed Damsel content with a kinda-sorta "damselverse" crossover between Empowered and The Chaste and the Chained. Lordy loo!