I’m rebuilding my portfolio, and decided to rework some old illustrations now that I’m doing digital art. This one is an illustration from the Palestinian folktale ‘The Dib-Dib-Dib.’ It’s a hilarious story of much ado about nothing. And panthers.

The original was an Inktober drawing made with pigma micron pens, and TOUCH alcohol markers.

I’ve finally upgraded the license for Clip Studio Paint from Pro to Ex. This mostly means I can now make files with multiple pages! Very handy indeed. I like being able to see the layout of the entire project as it comes together.

I had much fretting over the size of the pages. I went with A4 because that seemed like the best option for printing but a part of me is unsure. I had to scale down the most recent pages, and the buffer is far too small. So hopefully I’ve hit a Goldilocks size for the pages going forward.

I just wanted to pop in to share a new tool I’ve found useful in my comics journey. I just installed the Handy Art Reference Tool on my phone, and it’s… well.

It is so easy to manipulate the models and lighting. I haven’t tried changing the colour of the light but you can do that too! I mostly use it for lighting faces. The hands are a little too exaggerated to work for my purposes. But I can usually find one that’s close enough and just imagine the rest.

Anyway, it’s my favourite art app for reference!

I’m experimenting a little with brushes. I have my go-to brushes, but I wanted something more painterly.

Now and then I am struck by the disconnect between what I imagine and what I have the skills to create. This panel is a good example of this. I really wanted something flooded with light, and had this clear picture of the light diffusing through the clothing of the figures on the heights. Could I find a way to render it, though?

Not really. Turning to reference, I couldn’t find anything that came close to what I had in my mind. I did my best with what was available but it still needs work. To make matters worse, the pressure sensitivity on my tablet’s pen turned itself off again.

I like the gesture in the last panel but it just seemed like it needed a little more, especially with Safia’s grandmother taking over the narration for the rest of the prologue. I don’t usually use back lighting. Let me know what you think!

This post is simply a sneak peek at the new beginning for the Formation prologue.

I really enjoy revision. It’s literally the point in the process of creating something where you get to re-imagine it. It took me a little while to clear my head from the last iteration of A Palestinian Tale before I could get down to business. I’ve started revising the prologue, called ‘Formation.’

Thinking of each page as it would appear in a print book has changed the flow of the panels. I no longer plan on posting to Webtoons and don’t use a super long page for scrolling formats anymore.

Here is the original prologue page for comparison:

Not only is the canvas larger in the recent iteration, but the pace is slower which should help to develop character and setting too.

The cover page for the prologue already looks much better and it’s not even finished yet! Here’s the original version for comparison: