Brock Beauchamp

Sloppy coloring

Brock Beauchamp
March 13, 2012

In another evolution of my coloring style, I’ve decided to try loosening up the colors to see how it looks. The overall effect is slightly painter-ly, with splotches of highlights and shadows scattered around the page. I can’t decide whether I like it or not but without a doubt, it saves a little time over precisely laying down highlights with the brush tool in Photoshop. I’m going to keep experimenting in this style for another page or two and then decide whether to keep it or revert to the cleaner style I was using before this point. In this page,... View Article

Intro to the final scene

Brock Beauchamp
March 8, 2012

As I’ve mentioned earlier, the last scene is a long one. In these panels, Karter is getting ready to head out after getting the page from Henri and the last panel (one you can’t see yet) is one of my favorites so far in the book. Usually, I show black & white panels or fully rendered panels in my art previews; this week I did something a little different and I’m posting the flat colors instead. “Flats” are the first step of the coloring process; before I can go in and add shadows or highlights, I need to first lay... View Article

The last scene

Brock Beauchamp
March 6, 2012

The quite lengthy last scene of this issue begins now. Karter gets a page from Henri and then proceeds to head off to Neos Kosmos to try to save the remnants of 17 November from discovery. Writing Karter has been a challenge. I wanted to put more humor in Variables (not a bunch, but a little) but every time I’d write something in, it just didn’t fit the character. This last scene is a perfect example of why that wasn’t really possible. While Karter has a good side, his bad side is really the one that controls his motives and... View Article

The next flashback

Brock Beauchamp
March 2, 2012

Yep, another silent film style flashback is coming… This time, it’s only 3/4 of a page (a full page if you include the previous 1/4 of a page), and shows Karter a few years after the first flashback (brining us to 1994 for those of you counting at home). At this point, he’s wheelchair-bound. Why? Well, it has to do with the police grenades in 1991. It’s not so much that his legs don’t work as it is the respirator system you see mounted to the back of his chair. Anyway, this is the last flashback of this issue, though... View Article

The neighborly old lady

Brock Beauchamp
February 28, 2012

This page has what might be my favorite panel in all of Variables. It’s a simple panel containing a close-up of a man’s face getting pinched. For some reason, it all worked out really well. The pencils were good, the inks were good, and the color finished it off. It’s always nice when something works out instead of fighting and re-doing something over and over again until I manage just get it to the point of mediocrity. At the end of this page, you’ll notice that we delve into another flashback, this time in 1994. Karter is now wheelchair-bound and... View Article

Notes on inking

Brock Beauchamp
February 24, 2012

Early in the week, I started drafting up an article on various inking techniques I use to draw and why I use them. It started out as a modest piece before ballooning to 2 1/2 pages, with at least one more page to go til completion. It explains how I use quills, brushes, Rapidograph pens, and disposable pens to complete each page. I never really noticed just how many tools I use to ink a page until I had to write them all down. It seems as though there is a different tool for every task. Expect to see that... View Article