On this page, I mixed soft and flat digital shading to really help Emily stand out from the background – the brick wall of Bunny Brews – as she runs down the alleyway, and gets a little carried away upon realizing the speed she’s afforded by JC’s peculiar footwear discs! …even though they’re not quite calibrated…
Back in the day, one of my favorite things to draw was a full page spread of characters from a web comic I worked on, BLS. There was no canon, it was just cool to draw a pin-up style for these characters I had been drawing. It’s a simple thing, but now it’s become a major part of the Emby story! Hope ya like my warped perspectives! 🙂
Now, the real fun begins! Emily’s about to find out what JC’s brilliance is made of. The large hands exchange serves as its own panel, as well as an introduction to my style of borders. Why not use them to compliment the story? More soft shading here. I think I’ll use that technique for daylight, and hard shading for night. Hmm..
A break in routine. Emily showing her playful impulsiveness. From here, we have a change in scenery. I can only draw two folks sitting at a cafe table so often before getting bored! More soft shading here, and conventional panel borders are about to take a back seat. 😉
Initially, the plan for Emby was comic using strictly black and white ink with narrative-driven elements of color. However, as I was cleaning up the pages for digital presentation, I began experimenting with subtle shading techniques for added depth. On this page, I decided to incorporate a little soft shading, similar to page 11 – “Just trust me”. One theme you’ll find in The Emby Chronicles is elements being added over time, so the comic feels like it’s evolving along with Emily as her journey unfolds. Now, let’s continue…
Em is sparring. JC is typing, and panicking over whether or not to message ‘Em on the Link. It’s only been a few hours… is that too obsessive?? We’re Link buds now, it’s no big deal… right??
JC is excited to share more of her tech and asks Em to bring defensive gear tomorrow… aaand pop! right to the cheek. Whoops!
Hey! Look! The Lynk is green! Emily and JC are officially friends!
in the city of Metro Bay, denizens have opted for a more active lifestyle, ditching phones in favor of a new wearable device. Wonder what else it can do?
With this page, I wanted to play with the panel norms and have JC subtly “breaking” the borders as the reader follows the dialog. I sort of achieved that, with her looking up in top panel at Emily climbing down from the cafe rooftop, looking down in middle panel at Em as she’s re-tying her shoes, and finally her pulled back coat sleeve revealing a wristband similar to Emily’s… Oh and hey! Now they’re formally introduced. ^^
“This is my robot!” Emily’s way of saying she’s about to show off her passion! I wanted to keep a continuous flow of Em’s acrobatics and verticality, as well as maintain focus on the alleyway, so I decided on a large page spread of movement, capturing her at every pivot. As the comic goes on, I’ll be playing with perspectives and maintaining this format whenever Em is traversing the city’s topography to try and convey her daring maneuvers. ^^
After JC impressed Emily with her tech, Em was eager to strut her own stuff! So she asks JC to pick a high spot. A high spot? Umm ok… Turns out Em likes a spontaneous challenge! She takes JC up on it, and preps to strut her stuff. On this page, I added a little shading on Em’s tank top and her close-up face in post. I liked the way it turned out and so future pages will have more shading as a result!
