Blog

Refining the style

Brock Beauchamp
December 10, 2012

I haven’t had a ton of time to work on comics lately but every other night or so, I try to spend some time working out the style I want to use for Aurorae. It’s been a challenge, as I’ve kind of stuck myself in a rut over the past few years working almost exclusively on Variables, going for a much more detailed and realistic style than what I want to do with the new project. While I don’t expect to release any pages of Aurorae for several months (I still haven’t nailed down even the outline, much less the... View Article

Aurorae concept sketches

Brock Beauchamp
November 30, 2012

I’m early in the process of this project but I’ve been neglecting my art lately and need to get back into the flow of drawing. That means concept sketches and quite a few of ’em. To start, I’m limited to characters to get a feel for who these characters are and what they look like. The setting in this book *may* be a period piece (I’m not saying when it takes place… yet) but as you can see, the period setting is relatively recent. The story is rather large, though not on the ridiculous scale of Variables. It will focus... View Article

Welcome to the new SelfCentEnt!

Brock Beauchamp
November 29, 2012

When I designed the last incarnation of SelfCentEnt, I had the best of intentions. “Ooh, look, a button here! You also need this button over HERE. And a THIRD button for those of you that missed the first two!” as I tried to please every user and find a spot for the information that might appeal specifically to them. As the site aged and more stuff was tacked onto the design, it turned into a hot mess. There was no focus on content hierarchy. There was distracting background imagery. It looked kinda cool at a glance but from a functionality... View Article

New York Comic Con

Brock Beauchamp
October 15, 2012

The site has been dark for quite some time now and after spending the weekend in New York attending NYCC, I thought everyone was due for an update. First, the comic update… I’ve been toiling away on the script for issue two of Declension and despite my best efforts, the issue continues to balloon in size. There is simply too much story to tell in a mere 20-24 pages and the issue has already jumped to 28 pages and it’s looking more and more as if I’ll be forced to settle at 32 pages by the time everything is wrapped... View Article

Variables is going to go dark… TEMPORARILY

Brock Beauchamp
June 8, 2012

This is something I’ve been contemplating for awhile but I think it’s time to pull the trigger on the idea. Variables is going to go dark for a period of time. Initially, I planned to do this at the end of the second issue but after struggling through page 15 (partially pencilled as of this writing), I’ve noticed that I need to stop production and study up on a few things for a month or two. Over the past year, my art has improved tenfold. But after switching back to the detectives storyline with page 15, I realize that I... View Article

You’ve got red on you

Brock Beauchamp
May 29, 2012

This is the last Blake page of the issue! After this, we finally move back to the detectives in Atlanta, who I haven’t had the pleasure of drawing since early in the summer of 2011. I’ve started work on Variables: Flux 1992 but what you see here is the last completed page I have for Variables. That means I need to get back to drawin’ and push ahead before I can work on re-formatting the comic so don’t expect to see that posted for several more weeks. That’s about all I have this morning. Click through the image below to... View Article

Introducing Variables:Flux!

Brock Beauchamp
May 24, 2012

Some of you know that I’ve never been satisfied with how comics are presented online. Most of the time, they’re a direct scan of a comic page, with no distinction made for the new possibilities granted us with the electronic medium. It’s a click, read, click, reload, scroll, repeat affair that jars the reader out of the experience of the reading process. Part of this problem is the layout of comic pages themselves, others are what I believe to be a lack of foresight within the comic creating community. Why are we replicating what is already available on the printed... View Article

The test goes… poorly

Brock Beauchamp
May 22, 2012

I debated back and forth on whether to update Variables at all today because I’ve spent the past two days working on a huge project that will greatly affect how you read the comic. I don’t know if I will switch the comic to this format entirely or run both it and the format you see here for awhile to gauge reader response. I’ll have more details on it for Thursday’s update, along with an issue for you to read using the new system. It’s pretty awesome and I’m excited to roll it out in full force. This week’s update... View Article

SpringCon 2012

Brock Beauchamp
May 18, 2012

If you’ve been following the site, you probably know that I’m going to be tabling for the first time at SpringCon in St Paul this weekend. The show takes place at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds so if you’re in the area, be sure to come by and visit. For a smallish convention, it packs in loads of top-shelf artists, including Mitch Gerads of The Activity, Christopher Jones of Young Justice, Dan Jurgens (the guy who got to draw dead Superman), Paul Taylor (Wapsi Square), and many others. You can find details and the entire guest list by clicky-clickying the above... View Article

Come see me at SpringCon

Brock Beauchamp
May 17, 2012

I’m a bit apprehensive but I’m going to be tabling at my first convention this weekend in St Paul at SpringCon. It’s been a long time coming to table at a comic book convention and now that I have two complete issues under my belt and a bunch of prints ready to sell, I think it’s time to try my hand at this thing. I don’t know table specifics or anything like that but the convention is at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St Paul. If you’re in the Twins Cities area, come on by and check it out. It’s... View Article

The lab

Brock Beauchamp
May 15, 2012

The first panel on this page is one of the finest I’ve done in Variables. I’m really happy with how it turned out. All that time spent sweating over backgrounds paid off on this page, as I wanted to really give the feeling that this group is operating out of some shady warehouse in an industrial park. I think the page does a good job of conveying that message. As you’ve probably noticed, Variables is updating once a week again… This is because I’m tabling my first convention this weekend at SpringCon on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds in St Paul.... View Article

Blake undergoing testing

Brock Beauchamp
May 10, 2012

This might be my favorite page of Variables so far. It’s a good feeling when you feel you’re still improving on a page-by-page basis and the overall atmosphere of this scene really works for me. In nine days, I will be attending my first convention as an exhibitor in St. Paul. It’s a little bit terrifying and I’ve been working furiously on the comic for the past couple of weeks to get ahead. Next week, I will work entirely on convention-related things and hopefully, will crank out a few drawings good enough to sell to attendees. I’d like to get... View Article

Blake’s back!

Brock Beauchamp
May 8, 2012

It’s been a long time but we’re finally moving back to the 1992 arc to conclude the story. After all that time off, the story is shorter, more action-packed, and much more engaging to the reader. I can’t wait to get to the third issue when things go a little insane. For the next two weeks, Variables is going to return to a weekly schedule while I get ready for SpringCon, a convention here in the Twin Cities. After that, the comic will return to either a twice-a-week or a three-every-two-weeks schedule until this issue is finished (20 pages). After... View Article

Back to 1992

Brock Beauchamp
May 3, 2012

Well, now that I’ve finished the first issue of the 2002 story, it’s time to go back to 1992 and wrap it up. It’s a rather unfortunate way of doing a comic book but given the burnout I was facing in October of last year, it was really my only choice if I wanted to keep producing this book. In the end, the break from the 1992 story and the excitement of writing the 2002 arc revitalized me. I ended up rewriting everything in the 1992 arc, condensing it from 80 pages all the way down to 60. The rest... View Article