I know there's been almost no content coming from me the last few months, but things are looking up!
Back in May my brother and I were in a car accident, not our fault, that totaled our car and we both got injured. The injuries healed, but the problems it caused has taken me a while to move on from. Back in July I was able to get the annual out, but that was because most of it was done and I just had to force myself to finish a few panels and then I needed to focus on other things.
During my time away I've had some time to think a lot about the comic and I've been practicing with some new artistic styles. I've put a few samples up and I'll include one here:
I'm attempting to bring more depth and realism to the comic, yes it will probably slow me down as I get more comfortable with this style, but I think the end result will be worth it.
By the way, this is a sample panel from the next issue which I'm hoping to get out by the end of November if all goes well.
It will be Ultra-Origins # 2 which will feature the origin of the villain Coil.
As you may have noticed, I'm striving for more of an "Alex Ross feel" to the book. Of course, I'm not him and I can't match his style, but I think it has a certain depth to it that was clearly lacking in my current art.
I've always said about comics, "good art can carry a bad story, but bad art can't carry a good story" and I think that was the case with me. With every issue I see where the art hasn't been good enough for myself and I've lacked consistency in making the faces appear the same - hopefully I can get better at that too! Time will tell! Like anything, I'm still working on perfecting my 'look' and hopefully it will be worth the wait as I plan to do all issues like this.
I've also decided on changing the size ratio of my issues. When I started the comic it was originally geared to be on YouTube (and it still is), but most of my followers are on Instagram and I've struggled with the fact that when I put the issue on Instagram it make the text very hard to read as it's condensing it down to fit; so I've decided to change the ratio to optimize it for Instagram, and yes - it will still be on YouTube as well, but they'll just have more of a border on the sides than before.
I've also started to take some classes on doing 3-D art, but I'm nowhere near ready to show that off yet - but it will be coming next year!
By the way, with Coil, he was one of the original villains I created for the team and he's looked pretty much the same since I first drew him:
Here's the first time I drew him back in the summer between 5th and 6th grade! At the time I called him Coil Man, but later dropped the man.
To be totally honest I never created an origin story for him, he was just there! I decided it was time to create one and the origin story that you will read in the next issue actually only came to me earlier this year!
I've also decided to change his design as it used to be all right to draw him from time to time, but now that he appears regularly, it's really a pain to draw the coils each time. I haven't figured out what his final form will be yet, but like my art style, his development is also a work in progress!
More updates coming soon!
