1. As always, I've had color assistance from my partner in crime, the wonderful Aggie Janicot.
2. Sorry it took 9 whole months to get this page online! I never expected it would take this long; in fact, I was on a bit of a roll with my other comic, Spun Off, early in the year; or at least, so it seemed. But even the five pages of that comic that I pushed out in quick suggestion had in fact been penciled back in late summer of 2015, so this page is the first completely new comic art that I've posted all year.
I've... not been in a good place to work on art. Even during those sparse few weeks when my day job wasn't eating me alive, I would sit at my computer and try to get things on paper, and only the simplest figure drawings with the stiffest possible poses would come out at all. I was constantly feeling like I needed to be doing something else with my time instead. It's only been in the past few weeks, with the change to daylight savings time and my own decision to abandon all attempts to get up early in the morning, that I've started to feel up to the task of drawing again. And even then, it's been slow. Any drawing ability that I have has always been hard-won and easily-lost, and a year without practice has been disastrous when it comes to preserving my skills. But there are now a couple more pages in the pipeline, in various stages of completion, and as we'll soon be seeing more of the Shirtley family, I expect to pick up the pace a bit again. The Shirtleys have always been so much fun to write and draw.
3. Speaking of which... a commentor on the previous page speculated on this storyline being sort of a stealth pilot for another comic. He is more right than he realizes. More on this later.
Actually, looking at my files, it looks like the two Abúi's Travels comics published before this one were also fully created in 2016. Still, it's a pretty rotten score.
Hooray for the return of Abúi and her illustrious friends!
And right away two mysteries– the Sarge's attitude and the butler's (seemingly) random murderous act.
So glad that you've found back some inspiration. The muse is a fickle thing. And the doubts are a poisonous plant. But, the page looks great as if you've never stopped.
Good to have you and Abui's Travels back! :D
... and Scale for my thoughts exactly.. :o
Next episode will go live on Saturday!
And right away two mysteries– the Sarge's attitude and the butler's (seemingly) random murderous act.
So glad that you've found back some inspiration. The muse is a fickle thing. And the doubts are a poisonous plant. But, the page looks great as if you've never stopped.