I am really happy with how the art for today's strip turned out.
Regular readers will have no doubt noticed that I do not re-draw every single panel of every strip. Where it's practical, I will modify previous panels instead. Today's strip is a good example of this- panels three and four are modified versions of panel 2, because the actions in the comic didn't call for me to completely re-draw Faye, Marten and Pintsize each time.
This is common practice in the world of webcomics. On one end of the spectrum is someone like Scott Kurtz of PvP, who draws each character based on tracing templates. On the other end is Piro from Megatokyo, who hand-draws everything for each strip. QC falls in the middle of the two.
I do make an effort to draw at LEAST two different base panels for every strip, partly because I feel like I'm cheating if I don't, but mostly just because I have fun drawing. Some strips I will re-draw all four panels, if the action in the comic calls for it. It's basically a matter of figuring out what is the most efficient way for me to get the comic done on time.
My actual method is pretty simple, just a combination of copying and pasting, careful erasing and redrawing (often on multiple layers in Photoshop). The only tricky part is making sure that it looks seamless, so if someone were only to view the modified panel they wouldn't be able to tell it was adapted from something drawn previously.
That, and the art can't suck. Heheh.
It looks like Top Web Comics is back online, but QC is doing so well at Buzzcomix that I am going to wait until next month to switch back to TWC. Keep those votes coming in! I've gotten a bunch of very nice email from people who found QC through Buzzcomix, so your votes are definitely helping. I really appreciate it.
Don't forget- T-shirts are available for pre-order until the 28th! Don't miss out!
I think that's it for today. See you Friday, cats and kittens.
