20130901, 11:29 – This is the last page of the scene to be drawn and shaded, so it kinda makes sense that it would be the Labor Day Weekend ATC release. :)

I haven’t looked at this page since I finished shading – that was a pensive, crappy day and the build log reflects that. There’s a ton of linework, and statistically that always means a few duds – unfortunately they’re fairly prominent. So is the change hinted at in panel one of the previous page – the super-detailed screens have been replaced with oranger, simpler contents. The old bridge screens were painfully super-detailed, so much so that proper updates and revisions would have been prohibitively time consuming. That sounds kind of like a bullshit excuse given how much time goes into each page, but believe me when I say that I feel very strongly that there are better uses of ATC production time than creating a super-realistic glass cockpit when the screen contents are in no way the focus of the scene.

It took me until the operative to figure this out.

The existing door panel and environmental controls screens in the rec area, central corridor, etc. will remain in place – those are trivial to update and don’t change much. The bridge screens were a fairly big deal, now they’re less of one – I can now create the appearance of complex change without getting bogged down in the details. Finally. Backing away from the event horizon of detail.

Panel five implies that Xand’s forearm can operate remotely – possibly autonomously. Much like other details of her cybernetic anatomy this fact has little bearing on the story, at least for now – though it does serve as a vehicle for twisting Einstein’s criticism of quantum entanglement into a double entendre. I consider that a more valid and amusing use of the technology than anything else a 1990s Cyberpunk derived prosthetic limb might be applied to.

Next week: Space porn! More words! Better art! A big{ish} reveal! Same bat time, same bat channel!

Mastering notes, 2016.12.07 – Removed the logo from Thad’s shirt.