The pencils for Moab are finally finished! I like a lot of things about page 14, particularly the moa action poses. I am not sure that even I am gutsy enough to actually letter the words “Heigh ho, Moab, away!” onto a page of comics, but who knows? It’s there in the pencils in case I’m feeling brave. (Maybe it should properly be “Hi, ho, Moab …”. I’ll have to do a little more research.)
This has been a lucky/unlucky project, the kind that doesn’t progress as expected, but turns out to be at least potentially a very good comic. My little 8 page creativity buster, scheduled to be completely finished in 2 or 3 days, turned into a rather elaborate 16 page story that required tons of research, complex character designs and tons and tons and tons of really difficult drawing. (You do not want to know how much time I spent on the cowboy’s boot in the first panel of this page.) I sincerely hope that the truism that a project that is tough to pencil will be easy to ink holds true on this mini monster. We’ll find out next week.
I’m going to continue to post the pages of Moab as they are finished, even though it’s not what any of us thought we wanted. Plus: for everyone in the audience who wanted to see a real live blogged minicomic like the one you saw in the first round of minicomics live!, and for myself, to prove I really can make an 8 page mini in two or three days: an appropriate opening has appeared on my schedule in November, and I am going to make another attempt in minicomics live! round 3! Plan to follow along and see if I can do it right this time. I’ll announce the date soon.
a cartoonist in Kekionga 