Learning to Fly by Trying New Things
January 15th, 2008As I mentioned in my previous post, working on Who is the Crimson Scarab was very challenging in many ways for both Kyubikitsy and myself.
First of all, I’m not a professional artist in any way, shape or form. Although I was a freelance graphic artist in a previous life and I also did a comic strip for my high school and college newspapers, I haven’t really drawn a thing in a while which is why Kyubikitsy does all of the art for nemu*nemu. During our first year to help get the comic strip out on time, I helped out with the inking, lettering and toning. By the time our first compilation book had come out, Kitsy had taken over the inking duties and had switched over to color, so I didn’t have to ink or tone anymore (and I was more than happy to let it go!).
When it was time to start work on Who is the Crimson Scarab, I returned to inking duties not only because we were pressed for time, but because Kyubikitsy thought I was stronger in it than she was. It’s always been a dream of mine to ink like the pros I admired when growing up. When I was younger, I dreamed of becoming an inker for Marvel or DC, so maybe this was my chance to actually try my hand at it again. I had no idea what was in store for me!
Long story short: Inking is one of the hardest things to do because it is so permanent. Once that ink hits the paper, it’s there for good, unless you like trying to ink over white out! Talk about stress! There were days that I’d come home from my real job, only to find 2-3 pages of pencils waiting for me to ink. I will say that inking was quite therapeutic for me in some ways. It really made me realize that I could still do it, maybe not as good as others who do it regularly… or as good as the inkers I look up to… but it gave me a taste of what their daily lives must be like as a pro inker. I’m sure they groan out loud when they look to find a scene with a crowd or lots of rocks and rubble. I know I did! Don’t get me wrong, it was rewarding when a page was finished but it really was hard work. When an inker says they can maybe finish a page and a half or two a day, I really give them credit! It’s not as easy as it looks!
I’ll talk more about our process in another post later. If you have any questions about Who is the Crimson Scarab or nemu*nemu, feel free to leave a comment!
