I've been lazy about keeping vexxarr and Minionbot on model as it were. This is my new effort to not drift as much during ink. I've been trying to go to ink sooner than I have in the past and not totally nail down the artwork in pencil. The result has been positive and negative. For example, the soldier on 4/11/05 - Too Much Information - was just a scribble and I think I like the the energy of the free inks on him. However, Vexxarr keeps taking on an almost Vaughn Bode aspect. Something I'm fascinated by but not what I had intended.
Looking at the last panel of 4/13/05 - Into The Ground - I really like the perspective and composition of Minionbot, the soldier and the tank. I like that you get an oblique slice of the tank yet you can tell from the detail and obtuse angles that it is an Abrams (an M1a2 no less). That last panel was penciled down to the canister projector just below the mast. And I like how the inks reinforce the detail.
So I'm in an odd place. I have never been a proficient inker yet I am known fro my detailed illustrations. Part of this little exercise was to take on a project that returned me to the drafting table and kept me there. I needed a long-term project hat required small discreet applications of my talent. Enough to be a challenge but not so much that I became mired in execution and never quite made it to publication.
So here we are. Month three and the story is just warming up. I still hope to tell a serious science fiction story in a funny way. If you stick with me, I promise it will be worth the ride.
