Mad Rupert

SAKANA #572 Process

Added 2019-06-26 15:13:19 +0000 UTC

Hello again! I've been trying to build a buffer for the 1 millionth time, but this time it ACTUALLY SEEMS TO BE WORKING?? So that's what I've been busy doing, lately. Drawing as many SAKANA pages ahead as possible. I actually have the next 3 finished and will be posting them to the $5 tier after I finish this post! Wow!

Here's some process for #572!

1. We haven't had a look into anybody's thoughts in a while, so I figured it was time to remind everyone that Yuudai is a Genuine Goblin Creature who actively "thrifts" his wardrobe at every opportunity. You may have seen me post the thumbnail version of the final panel to Twitter. I thought I captured Yuudai's complicated mix of " shame / but actually I'm valid / I don't want to talk about this right now / please like me " perfectly the first time, so I wanted to stick as close to the thumb as possible. The panel layout is pretty standard! I probably could have zoomed further in on panel 3??

2. Knocking out the easy shapes and faces. I was going to make the background of panel 6 completely black, but it was such a tiny figure that I was worried it would get lost. So i came up with this orb of nervous energy that I thought fit the mood pretty well and kept Yuudai's face easy to see.

3. When I'm trying to get pages done quickly, I'll save all the spot blacking for the very end of the process. I started getting worried that 'present' Yuudai was blending in with the thought bubble Yuudais too much in in panel 5. I tried doing lines across his face to knock him back a little but I actually got the angle wrong?? So it became impossible to see the smaller details on his face, which basically ruined the figure. Unfortunate! I don't have a picture of that misadventure but trust me, it wasn't readable.

4. The final product! You can see my ultimate solution for panel 5 was to just black him out completely. I like this effect! I saved myself! Hooray! You can see how the 'graying out' is supposed to work on Taisei in panel 2. THE ANGLE OF THE LINES IS IMPORTANT, I GUESS. I had honestly never thought of that before. Straight horizontal lines seem to work the best at this point but maybe I'll experiment again with it in the future?