Blog

Super lens flares

Brock Beauchamp
March 15, 2012

I’ve been playing with different lighting effects lately. Some work better than others but I’m going to keep plugging away. I may have mentioned it earlier but I loved Abrams’ Star Trek movie. Many people made fun of its lighting effects and crazy lens flares everywhere but I thought it added a cool dimension of super-clean-white sci-fi to the film, where everything off-screen was so bright and glow-y that the camera picked up trace elements of the shine. Obviously, Variables isn’t quite that bright but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to try to incorporate certain elements of an exaggerated... View Article

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

Don’t try this at home

Brock Beauchamp
February 21, 2012

I’m not sure how well this page works but I gave it a shot. It’s a magazine article (written by Hank Foster, of course) that talks about another story I just wouldn’t have time to deal with properly in the Variables universe. It’s about two Sui Generis teenagers who decide to fight crime and help people in South Korea. They pose, they have their pictures taken, they chat on the internet, but little crime is actually fought and even fewer people are actually saved. Then their big opportunity arrives (you can read the entire article here). I wanted to write... View Article

Drawing superheroes

Brock Beauchamp
February 16, 2012

Oddly enough, Variables is about superhumans but after drawing roughly 50 pages of the comic, I haven’t been given the chance to draw many “superheroes”. Karter is halfway there with his hybrid SWAT/amateur paintballer costume but it’s still not really “costume-y”. A few weeks ago, I realized that convention season isn’t that far away and I haven’t drawn many superhero-types in the past year or more. When it comes to indy publishing in comics, a lot of a creator’s money isn’t made by actually selling copies of his or her books but instead comes through commissioned artwork. Unless your comic... View Article

A little background

Brock Beauchamp
February 14, 2012

This page exists almost solely to give character and world background. You get to see the interior of Karter’s apartment and while he’s flipping through channels, you get to hear some news about the Variables world circa 2002. At this point of the story, things are starting to turn south for the Sui Generis. Groups are protesting their movement and some governments are considering restrictions regarding citizenship, movement, etc. Basically, people are scared and that always opens the door to demagoguery. This is the most complicated page I’ve ever drawn of Variables and I’m pleased with how it turned out.... View Article

Couch Potato

Brock Beauchamp
February 9, 2012

One of the most exciting things about creating Variables is the myriad of stories from every corner of the globe. I’ve written so many summaries that I often lose track of when, where, and how things occur and how they fit into other events happening on the other side of the world. As I get further into the series, there are dozens of subjects that I won’t have the time to touch on in detail but are also too complicated to tell in a short story. For some of these tales, I will try to drop hints or tell snippets... View Article

You should have played football

Brock Beauchamp
February 7, 2012

It’s one of my favorite lines of the issue and it says a lot about the Variables universe. Why wouldn’t Karter go play football? He’d be an unmatched striker or goaltender. He’d make millions and be showered with public adoration. It’s the kind of allure that many of the Sui Generis would have to face and realistically, one that would pull in many people with extraordinary abilities. It beats fighting crime and putting yourself at risk for no pay or starting a highly illogical “life of crime” when as much (or more) money could be made by using those powers... View Article

Dialogue pages are FUN

Brock Beauchamp
February 2, 2012

At least they better be or I’d drive myself insane doing this comic. There are bursts of action in Variables (and this story is probably the most action-ish I’ll do until the grand finale of the comic, if/when that ever comes) but most of the stories revolve around exploring situations that might actually occur if people like this existed. The comic isn’t set up for action-heavy sequences, from neither a story nor a character perspective. In Variables, if two Sui Generis (meta-humans) fight, one of them will probably leave the fight dead or critically injured. Batman has had enough rounds... View Article

Henri & Karter talking

Brock Beauchamp
January 31, 2012

In this page, Henri and Karter reveal a bit more about what is going on in the issue and why Karter must react (his “call to action”, so to speak). Visually, they’re not the most exciting of pages but sometimes, that just can’t be helped. These three pages lay out what happens in the next 30+ pages and they reveal to the reader that Karter isn’t exactly the nicest man in the world. He’s bitter, angry, and not afraid to use his powers to further a political ideal. I’m excited to see these pages go live but really, I can’t... View Article