Blog

The Monroes

Brock Beauchamp
September 27, 2011

I’m excited to hit this stretch of the second issue. More starts to be revealed about the Variables universe and while the next few pages will involve a lot of talking heads explaining the situation, sometimes that can’t be avoided. From this point forward, more is revealed about Blake (both in South Dakota and in San Francisco) before we close out the issue by (finally) returning to the detectives in Atlanta. Right now I’m preparing to move so my buffer is dwindling down to nearly nothing. By next week, I hope to return to working on the comic instead of... View Article

Back to the Monroes

Brock Beauchamp
September 22, 2011

And with this page, we’re back to South Dakota to explain more about Mr. White and why he’s looking for Blake. Sooner or later, I’m going to have to start explaining what the hell is going on so for the rest of this issue, I’m going to do just that. More of the Blake story is revealed and at the end of the issue, we jump back to Isabel and Candice, who are still looking for the mysterious burglar. I’m pretty happy with the pencils and inks on this page. The page took a ridiculous amount of time to lay... View Article

Last Blake page

Brock Beauchamp
September 20, 2011

This page was quite a hassle. I experimented with various forms of perspective and completely screwed up several times before drawing the version you see here, which is only slightly less screwed up. I try to push myself somewhere on each page and on this one, it was by positioning the camera weirdly because to be honest, there just isn’t much happening on this page. That’s one of the hardest parts of sequential art… no matter what your page material looks like, you have to figure out a way to make it look interesting to the reader. Variables really pushes... View Article

More Blake, please

Brock Beauchamp
September 15, 2011

Today, the preview is yet another page of the Blake story. The captors have dragged him into the building and now we introduce a scientist to the mix. It’s a relief that I finally get to draw someone’s face (other than Blake) in this story arc again. The scientist will be around for awhile in the story and will play a prominent role in the rest of the 1992 story arc. This may be my least favorite page of the issue so far. I played around with perspective and while most of it is technically correct, it doesn’t seem to... View Article

Book Blog: Embassytown

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September 14, 2011

It’s my First Wednesday of the Month Book Blog – on the Second Wednesday of the Month! Some months are just like that… Welcome to Embassytown, by China Mieville There are a couple of possibilities to keep in mind when reading my review. First, it’s possible I’m just not that into China Mieville. I’ve read King Rat and pretty much thought it was eh, ok. I tried to read Perdido Street Station and set it down and never picked it back up, but I can’t remember why. I read about 1/3 of UnLondon and I enjoyed the word-usage and ideas,... View Article

Blake gets a small bit of revenge

Brock Beauchamp
September 13, 2011

In today’s page, the kidnappers are trying to move Blake but even in his semi-unconscious state, he’s still able to get a shot at one of them. I’m happy with how this entire sequence turned out from an art perspective but after awhile, I start to run out of ideas how to portray these men without showing their faces. I’m looking forward to moving to the next scene, which is back at the Monroe residence. From there, the second issue starts to roll toward the finish line, setting up the second half of the 1992 story arc. Be sure to... View Article

And the week is over…

Brock Beauchamp
September 9, 2011

But not before I squeeze in one more page preview! It’s Blake again and he’s still struggling with the kidnappers but gets in a lick on one of them. It’s a weird thing to behold but since I’m a few pages ahead of what I’m posting, I’ve noticed a trend in my pages. The first page of the scene is always the most intricate and time-consuming and ends up being my favorite of the scene. Some of this is due to the first page almost always containing an establishing shot but I think there’s more to it than that. I... View Article

Driving along in my five-point-oh

Brock Beauchamp
September 8, 2011

I’ve been working on putting more backgrounds in the pages and I think it helps the pages. Along with the improved coloring and texturing, I’m getting closer to where I initially envisioned the comic being from the start. It seems like a long time but when I really think about it, I’ve only been doing this for ~27 pages so things are proceeding at a pretty reasonable pace. So here’s the second page of the week! If all goes well, I may release two Variables pages in a week again a little ways down the road. We’ll see. Be sure... View Article

Preview, page five

Brock Beauchamp
September 6, 2011

This week keeps rolling along with a site update every morning… this morning, it’s a preview of page five. Expect to see the full color version posted on Thursday before I close the week with another preview of the following page that Friday. I keep forgetting to plug it but this weekend, I’ll be hanging out at DigiCon, a digital comic book convention hosted by Ryan Fisher, creator of Gin & Comics. It’s a great idea and it surprises me that no one thought of it earlier. Over the course of the coming weekend, there will be commissioned artwork, panels,... View Article

Blake and the kidnappers

Brock Beauchamp
September 5, 2011

This week I’m packing in two page updates so it’s a busy week… I will be updating the site every day. Tomorrow, look for the preview of page five. I’m really happy with this page and think it might be my best page yet. It is drawn and inked pretty well and I’m getting more comfortable with using textures to differentiate background elements in the drawing. I still have a long way to go but at least I feel as if I’m improving. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how the second issue is turning out so far and I’m excited... View Article

Back to Blake

Brock Beauchamp
September 1, 2011

And with the first scene of the issue completed, we can move back to Blake, who is still with his abductors from the last issue. This page is my favorite of the series so far and I’m excited to show it in full color next Tuesday. I think the inks turned out nicely and the backgrounds work well with the foreground, particularly in the first panel with the truck. It looks even better in color so be sure to check back next week when it’s posted. As I mentioned earlier, I’m getting a little ahead with Variables so next week,... View Article

Coloring tip: quick flatting for free

Brock Beauchamp
August 31, 2011

In my opinion, coloring is one of the weaker points of Variables and therefore, I’ve spent more time studying how to improve that element of the comic than anything else. In the first issue, I used a cell shading technique but after a few pages, I felt more was necessary to bring the comic to a more professional level. At SDCC, I attended a panel hosted by Hi-Fi Color, learned a few new tricks, and decided to test them out on issue two. The process was more involved than the cell-shading technique and after coloring the cover and first page... View Article

White leaving with Monroes

Brock Beauchamp
August 30, 2011

And here’s the conclusion of the intro scene! White is leaving with the Monroes, which means we’ll be moving to a new scene next week (here’s a hint: it’s another member of the Monroe family). I’ve been getting a little ahead with my pages lately so expect to see two pages released next week, starting on Tuesday. Speaking of Tuesday, Variables will now update every Tuesday instead of Monday. It’s a test I’m running to see how Internet traffic reacts to different days early in the week. It has nothing to do with ease of production or anything to do... View Article

Preview – White and the Monroes

Brock Beauchamp
August 26, 2011

Now that I’m recently unemployed, progress on the comic is flying along. I may even release an extra page or two in the coming weeks to make sure that I finish the second issue before the end of the year (on a page-per-week schedule, it’s due to finish in early January). I’m already building up a buffer and once that gets to two or three pages, I will start releasing additional pages ahead of schedule so that I don’t get too far ahead of the posted story. You’ll be able to see it on Monday but each page has more... View Article