Slow Down

Time to put the brakes on

Hello from Castrum Lusitania, my fortress in northern Portugal. Welcome to another edition of our weekly newsletter.

This will be a short one as I’m about to leave for a week off (with three kids - God help me). Next week there won’t be a newsletter but we’ll be back with our scheduled programming right after that.

Thumbnails

I spent most of the week working on thumbnails for Phenomena Book 3. I wrapped it up and sent it to Brian Bendis just yesterday. Speaking of the man, check Brian’s newsletter where he shares a lot about Phenomena plus all of his other work:

JINXWORLD on SUBSTACK.

I draw thumbnails in a similar fashion to the rest of the work: I do all the line work first and then add all the grey tones. I already have the tones in mind while drawing and, in theory, I wouldn’t need to do them at this stage. But I’m working with someone else, so it’s better to present people with a finished preview. And even for me, it’s nice to have a glimpse of what it all will look like in the end.

I’ve worked through 46 pages and we’re now steaming into Book 3. Take a look at this rather harmless section (in regards to spoilers) to see what things look like at this stage:

I write some of the text in the balloons because I sometimes move things around, break down panels or combine others. That way, both Brian and our letterer Josh know where the original lines go into.

Secret Preview

Wait, what? Yeah, a couple of pages of Phenomena Book 2 just for you. The book is in post production (if we can call it that) and it’s great to see all of the work we did being put together. So enjoy this sneak peek:

There’s a lot of people on both pages, I’ll give you that. The keen eyed and blessed with good memory among you might recognize that spread - that’s because I’ve showed it in pencils format in a previous edition of Castrum Lusitania.

Brakes On

Time to put the brakes on now and go to somewhere with a swimming pool, do some reading and relax (kinda - three daughters won’t allow for much of that, but it is what it is and this is the moment to enjoy them).

See you all in a couple of weeks!

André