This page isn't even finshed.

That panel was a particularly tough one.

I had to redraw the top head at least once, bottom one at least three times. It took an entire day to get it looking decent. By far the worst trouble I've had yet.

I've been worried about how long this is going to take. Also, I don't think I've been putting my all into this. What I mean is, if you look at these after to a certain point, they're alright, before that point, not so much. The change is a little disrupting, sequential-wise, but I'd rather that then no change and perpetually being bad.

I don't know if I'm rationalizing or not, but the more I think about it, the more it doesn't bother me that this is taking so long. Well, recently anyway. Specifically, while I was drawing that panel.

I try to read comics a lot. Mostly for study. The first time I read something, I'll take it in as the medium it is- ideally the way it should be. But every time after the first is analyzing it. Trying to figure out why what works works and why what doesn't doesn't. I think about them a lot as well, but not about the finished product I'm looking at, all that you can't see about it. The process, the time and effort. The changing of hands it had to go through. And here comes the rationalism.

I'm trying to gauge myself by comparison. By some comparisons, I'm doing alright. By others, not so much.

The two most important things I think I could get out of this venture would be speed and depicting interaction well- interaction not being figures conversing, but figure & object and figure & background. Anyone who's tried to draw something like a large room in perspective, full of people at different points in the room will know what I'm talking about. And objects interaction would be stuff like holding guns- as much as Liefeld would like you to believe, drawing a fist and adding a gun barrel isn't really how you should draw that. But anyway, I'd have to say that time would have to be the most important of the two, because given enough time, anyone can produce a masterpiece*. It takes talent or skill to do the same with less.

But anyway, I guess the point is, I'm looking at these wondering if I could do the same. I think, given my optimal conditions**, I could manage. I think I could pencil about one a day, then ink several a day once a week or so, if needed, as long as they weren't all 9 to 24 panel pages or anything. That's also one reason this is taking so long and part of the rationalizing. I'm looking at most comics and seeing only three to four panels a page, and some of those are just a single head, no background. Which is the standard, I begrudgingly guess, of a monthly comic because you're trying to space out the story- the more pages it takes, the better.

Well, Randall and I don't have that luxury. He had to cram as much story in 45 pages as possible, which means I sometimes have to cram as much in a page as I can. That means usually about 8 panels on a page. The panel up there is one of eight on that page.

I think I intended to go off about a few things here- mostly about how I disagree with the general attitude about a few things in the industry, but now I guess that'll come later.

to be continuted, I guess...

That page isn't even finished yet. I still have 2 panels down at the bottom to go. I'll update the MRCRW when I finish them.

Also related, if I ever have to draw a motorcycle again, it might be too soon.

*see any paintings painted before the 1800's in an art history book.
** optimal conditions would be penciling pages with actual pencil, then blue printing them on board and inking those.