Replacement and rework – the top shot has swapped out vehicles. If I’d either hung onto or felt like finding out if I’d hung onto the original shot I could have probably swapped maps and rerendered… instead, I redid it from scratch. No net gain, either way – though I DID spend less time rooting around in the ATC directory …
Rerendered the mine ports for the new approach angle and added an extra panel to flesh out the 6×9 space – ph34r the engine flare-up! The radar panel has also been redone – for this page and all of its proceeding appearances. I could have lived with the original version, and was all set to do so when I made …
Three new bits – the background of panel one, the radar panel (Four? Five? Depends on how you look at it), and the focal point, obviously. One for accuracy, two because the original was fugly, and three… also for accuracy. The revised dialogue reads a bit better, and I finally ditched the “I’m BUSY” line. While the conversation builds up …
20141215, 10:32 – The second page of the Naomi edit! 11:03 – Blurred the earth in panel one. Rummaged around and realized that panel two – Polaski – is a single layer, even in the oldest file. So no fix there; I’d need a time machine. 11:24 – Re-rendered panel three. Used the file for the previous shot and spun …
Yay for hangovers. I went out last night (April 16) to write the monologue for Guide. Had a few drinks with Dan Minskey (I hope I spelled his name right), talked shop. Woke up around ten and haven’t been able to spell for shit all day. And I’ve been blocking/stalling on writing this blurb for, like, the whole day. Which …
So much type. Quotes look damned goofy in VT100. I tried to keep roughly the same angle as the previous version. In this case, the moon is nowhere to be seen and earth is a sliver somewhere under Grij’s cape. While the Sabrosa has a high octane gravity drive, I don’t think it could hop from leo to lunar orbit …
I’d originally intended to have another exterior shot at the top, spreading the dialogue (between Greymalkin and Rayne) across both pages. But that didn’t work very well – fortunately, moving the PA from the horrible in-panel effect of the previous version into black space has worked out nicely. I think this composition is in some ways stronger than the original …
The in-panel PA I mentioned in the metadata for the previous page got rolling here in the first edition. Fortunately that effect (layer name: “expensive type,” where “expensive” means “time consuming”) wasn’t mated to the panels, so it was easy to ditch. You’re actually seeing more of the linework now, for whatever that’s worth. If I was of a mind …
Today (well into May first, where does the time go?), I was thinking about what to do for a blurb for this page when I FINALLY noticed that the original panel one no longer reflected the new narrative. Fortunately, that was easy enough to change… not only was it easy, it’s better. See also panel four: what was once a …
Very minor composition changes – some border thickening, some more black space at the bottom. The easiest page of the scene – also the first to be processed, and the next-to-last to be blurbed. Ph34r the NBE. So much fun to draw, such a small part of this story. Mastering notes, 2016.12.06 – Minor dialogue adjustments.
Some MAJOR changes to this page. The last two panels have been flipped around to strengthen continuity – they could still work in the original order with the revised dialogue, but visually… this works better. Both halves facing away but turning towards, etceteras. The other big change? Thad’s much more focused now – unlike the rest of this monologue. The …
Replaced the earth again. Again, it matches with the planet as depicted in the second edition. Again, it’s taking forty billion years to render on the loaner PC I’ve been using for the past few months. Also, added some lights to the faux-burgh skyline. And some blue. Mastering notes, 2016.12.06 – Minor dialogue adjustments.
Panels 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 have retained their original aspect ratios. The height has been filled with the new renders of 1 and 2. I started with the same CG file as the previous Daedalus and Cheops appearance, liked the lighting to the planet, put the camera where I wanted it for the ships and then spun the …
Dropped an old panel, added a few more. You can tell that between the first and second editions I watched Sunshine. I also watched the original version, which lacks the big fat musical orgy in the final act, though it makes up for it with some Actual Science. Sunshine didn’t bother with that so much. It did, however, have sun. …
Dropped the “paint job transition” display shot (more about that next page) and fleshed out the page with even more renders. Maybe too many, in hindsight. Still, an improvement over the original… and if you compare the first panel of the previous page to the last panel of this page, you can see a definite difference in cloud cover. What …
20161206 – Scene renamed from a second Control to the only Direction. Changed the lettering on Val’s shirt, It’s vastly easier than changing the decal on Ornix’s is gonna be – this is its final appearance! Unless a commit to one of the “aftermath” scenes I’ve been toying with for Transitional Voices. Since doing that would involve creating a CG …
Scale. Crop. Some (more) minor cleanup to the face. If only formatting the rest of the book were this easy. If only it went this fast. This scene was reassembled in one night – a far cry from the ten-plus days of jerking around spent with the previous two. Mastering notes, 2016.12.06 – Minor dialogue adjustments.
Note that in this case, “Apollo-Era” means “built in the 1960s,” not “1960’s technology.” Though considering how the base is kitted out (bargain-basement war surplus and Interstellar Wal*Mart), the term can easily swing both ways. Minor cropping here – lost a bit of linework in favor of slightly clearer presentation. After the past few pages, the idea of cleaning up …
20141215, 11:56 – The third page of the Naomi edit! 12:46 – Touched panels one, two, four, five and six. Thickened West’s neck, broadened Naomi’s jaw, tweaked eyes and eyebrows and ears and so on. Second Edition Metadata Patagonia is Smartass for “South America.” Though if continent, country, and city names were the same between annexed realities, it would either …
20141215, 12:54 – The fourth page of the Naomi edit! 14:07 – Tweaked the script to rub out “totally secure comms” in favor of “secure comms” and changed the wording in Raven’s panel to remove the implication that Greymalkin is omniscient. Rebuilt West’s eyes and eyebrows and part of his forehead in the last panel, then rebuilt the heck out …