[Spoiler] Ch4 P64 Pencil + process notes

I finished most of this pencil yesterday, so I decided to wrap it up today before doing my freelance.  I'm going to try to knock out a couple more pencils over the next few days, but at least part of the weekend will go toward the p63 final.

The text is on for this page, but I'm leaning toward leaving the text off for the pencils for the remainder of the scene, to keep the final pages more special. XD  But I'm open to dissenting opinions!  If you have a preference for text vs no text, let me know.

My pencils are always a little rough. I usually end up fixing proportion issues or stiff-looking figures at least a day after doing the pencil, after I can look at it with fresh eyes.

Page sketch here:

And some artist rambling, if anyone's interested in process:

Lately I've been switching up my routine for page sketches a lot.  I did the sketches for the first chapter entirely in traditional pencil.  I did chapters 2-3 entirely with a Wacom Intuos, a few of the early ones in Clip Studio (back then known as Manga Studio), but the vast majority in Photoshop.

In chapter 4, I've been mixing it up a lot to try to find the routine that works the best for me and also gets the best results.  At the 2x/monthly schedule, I get rusty in between pages, which gives me a sort of artist's block when I try to sketch on an Intuos. (That's the type of tablet where you draw on the tablet while looking at your computer screen.)  So I've mostly been doing ch4 pages either in traditional pencil or on my iPad using Procreate.  I much prefer the feel of pencil, but Procreate makes it easy to make quick digital fixes like resizing and duplicating.  I'm doing these pages quickly enough that the artist's block shouldn't be an issue, but I'm still trying to work out which platform gives me the best results in the most efficient manner.

Well, that's all in regards to character sketches.  I do backgrounds differently depending on what the background is.  Sometimes I do backgrounds entirely freehand (especially for more organic backgrounds like rocky cliffs and tunnels), sometimes I draw them digitally using perspective rulers (usually for rugged architectural environments, or environments that will only appear in a few panels), and sometimes I build them in 3D (for clean architectural environments that will appear on many pages, or that are super complex).  I don't use any premade 3D assets like those that you can get through Clip Studio or Google Sketchup.  When I work in 3D, I build everything from scratch so it's unique to the comic, down to the shot glasses at Yackley's.  3D is a skill that I'm still developing; I'm better at sculpting some things than others.

This scene will be a mix of 3D and freehand.  We'll see Sammy on the next page, and he'll be in a freehand setting.  It also occurs to me that I forgot to draw in some cliffs and stalactites/stalagmites on the last two pages, so I'll have to add those in. XD