Whew.

Bit of a time sink, compounded by scheduling wonkiness – my plan for the early part of this week had been the usual slog of chore / work / comic on Monday and Tuesday, switching to straight work for wednesday through friday. Wound up taking a meeting on Monday, after which I did pencils and inks and (a LOT of) cleanup. Plugged the cast in this morning, then ran through a heat-stroke marathon of groceries and laundry – a combination of duffle hauls that probably would have killed me stone dead if the bus to the laundromat hadn’t been crisply air conditioned. Following a flurry of internet-related work and chores and a cursory handwave at the cleaning checklist, I’ve been shading since around eight. I probably could have gone faster – I’d still be going at it if I’d gone for the meticulous multiple light source matching of the scene on Helios.

As with the previous page, the dialogue has been tweaked a bit from the script so it reads more naturally. Panels three and four were changed from the thumbnails (and script) to eliminate redundancy and to give Martin and Ed some screen time. Greg’s O_o in panel two should make more sense in a few pages – the Captain’s behaving a bit out of character. Enough to merit a reaction – must be the cabin fever.

I also switched Maxine’s orientation – she’s facing the Captain now – and ditched her “breakout box.” If she has one it’s on her left side and under the shirt. There was a time when I thought custom clothing and tons of obvious implants were awesome – that time has passed, at least for now. If she was more relevant to the story, sure. It’s a bit part, so she gets to pick from the same wardrobe as the rest of the crew.

This is probably it for the week – the scene’s about to shift again. That’s gonna require a bit more modeling, which I can’t in good conscience fit into my schedule until Friday evening or Saturday at the earliest.

Fun fact – the partially occluded banner behind the Sergeant is the first proper “mention” if the Hemera by name. The banner helps drive home the “conference room” feel. It really brings the room together.

Oh, and! Tipping point! The chapter has hit single-digit countdown mode. Nine pages left!