Page 143: Plop!



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Moon Prince Page 142: Mmph!



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Page 141: Somehow



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Page 140: Twigs and Berries?



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Page 139: Plain Ignorance



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Page 138: Grakko's People



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Page 137: Suit Yerself, Pal!



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Page 136: A Lotta Spiders



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Page 135: Grakko's Not Scared!



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Page 134: A Bad Idea



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Page 133: Something Up Ahead



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Book Two Begins!

Here's the first page of Book Two of The Moon Prince - hope you like it!

Best,
Kevin


The Harbor Map


Dear Readers:

Stay tuned for Book Two of The Moon Prince starting next Friday, October 12th. In the meantime, what could be more fun than a map of the area where Max and Molly lived at the start of the book? The dotted line is the path they took in the rowboat to get from Hoboken to Mad Billy's cabin in pages 41-50.

Best,
Kevin



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Book One Cover

Dear Readers:

As I mentioned last week, Book One of The Moon Prince ended on page 131. Before starting Book Two on October 12th I've got a couple of little treats - starting with the cover for Book One. I hope you like it!

Best,
Kevin



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Page 131: Trust

Dear Readers:

Today's episode marks the end of the first book of The Moon Prince. The second book will start serializing here three weeks from today, on October 12. But please be sure to check back in next Friday (September 28) to see a special treat - the cover for Book One! - and again on Friday October 5th to see  a map of the area around where Max and Molly lived at the start of the book.

Thanks for reading The Moon Prince, and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far!

Best,
Kevin



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Page 130: A World Full of Enemies



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Page 129: One Slight Hope



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Page 128: What's a Telepath?



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Page 127: Molly Hurt?



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Page 126: You Must Be Careful!



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Page 125: Hrmmm!



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Page 124: A Great Favor



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Page 123: Marigroo's Reminder



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Page 122: Breakfast with a Robot

Hi, Moon Prince readers - sorry I uploaded this week's episode a few minutes later than usual - I decided to go back and change the color of the Groos' fur so it would be easier to see them against the blue forest!
Your pal,
Kevin



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Page 121: Mother



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Page 120: Clank!



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Page 119: The Groos



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Page 118: Insidias Facent!



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Page 117: Look Out the Window!




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Moon Prince Page 116: A Bad Example



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Moon Prince Page 115: Betrayed!



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Panel Process


Here's a behind the scenes look at the process for creating part of a panel in The Moon Prince (it's actually a bit of a teaser since it's from a page that hasn't been published yet!). The image starts with a quick rough sketch, as shown in image #1 the grid below, then I shoot a reference photo (image #2) using a model (in this case, it's my son, Max). Next, I make a collage using the photo and a 3D rendering of the background (#3). Then I make a drawing based on the photo (#4) -- and here's where things get a little tricky.

Drawings based on photographs often look awful - they're frequently distorted because of the camera lens or perspective, and details that look just fine in a photo can look strange or awkward in a drawing. To fix this, I use the Liquify filter in Adobe Photoshop, which allows me to smoosh the drawing around to my heart's content until everything looks "right" to me (#5). Then I add texts, background drawing and color to finish up (#6). 

To make it easier to see how Liquifying works, I made a little animated gif that cycles between image #4 and #5. For anyone used to drawing comics the traditional way - with ink on paper - altering a drawing this way probably seems weirdly reversed, because it treats a "tight" ink drawing as though it was still "loose" pencils, making the end of the drawing process seem more like the beginning!

 



(You can click on either illustration to see larger versions)


Moon Prince Page 114: Shoot Them All!



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Moon Prince Page 113: Like a Dream



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Page 112: Ridiculum!



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Moon Prince Page 111: A Desperate Situation



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Seventeen Kevins and Three Melissas

Here's a little animation showing how Page 101 of The Moon Prince was made. As usual, it starts with a scribbly pen sketch on a sheet of typing paper. Then I make a photo-collage combining pictures of actors (in this case, it's myself - seventeen times! - and my wife Melissa as the pirate queen) with simple 3D renderings of the various airships. From this I make a black and white drawing in Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor to draw on, and then I add color, tones, gutters (the panel outlines) and word balloons, all in good ol' Photoshop.

Stay tuned for page 111, coming Friday!

Your pal, Kevin




Moon Prince Page 110: A Small Matter of Payment


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MoCCA 2012

If you happen to be in New York City this weekend we hope you'll drop by the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art Festival at the 69th Regiment Armory at 68 Lexington in Manhattan. I'll be there at the Big If/Blurred Books table signing copies of The Moon Prince and, as an extra special treat, Max, Molly and their momma Melissa (the Pirate Queen) will be there in the flesh on Sunday afternoon selling their very own comic books they made themselves! Here's a sneak preview of Molly's comic The Vampire:



Moon Prince Page 109: What on Earth?

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Moon Prince Page 108: Splat!




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Moon Prince Page 107: Bolt the Door!



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Another Process Post: Page 61

Here's a little layout showing how page 61 of The Moon Prince (from May 20th last year) was created. This time, instead of making an animation, I just put four different versions of the page next to each other in a grid so as to make it easier to compare them all together.

On the upper left we see the scribbly “thumbnail page” where I wrote and roughly designed the page, then to the right of that the “collage” page where I combined photos of the models (in this case it was just me, and the pictures were all taken with the camera on my phone) and 3D renderings of the “aether ship” made using Google's free Sketchup software. The “aether ship” is based on different pieces (a zeppelin, aircraft parts, army furniture) which I downloaded from Google's fantastic “3D Warehouse” and combined and modified in Sketchup. Below them is the drawing based on the collage (which I made in Photoshop using a Cintiq monitor to draw directly onto) and the final colored version with the word balloons, also all done in Photoshop.

Stay tuned for the next pulse-pounding episode of The Moon Prince, this Friday!

Your Pal,
Kevin

Moon Prince Page 106: Alone in the Woods



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Moon Prince Page 105: Grooooo!



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Yet Another Process Post

Here's another little animation, this time showing how page 80 was made. As usual, it starts with a quick sketch (or “thumbnail” page) to figure out how the images and words will fit together. Then I make a photo-collage combining snapshots (in this case, of myself and my wife Melissa, who plays the Queen) and simple 3D renderings of various background elements. Next I make a drawing based on the collage, using a Cintiq monitor to draw directly into Adobe Photoshop. Then I add color, tones, and the word balloons and borders (or “gutters”).

It's a bit hard to read all of the word balloons while the animation plays, but you might notice that the dialogue got revised a fair bit on this page by the time it was finished. Also, Max and Molly are referred to as “Arasons” in the early draft, instead of “M'Chawis” which I settled on later. Stay tuned for Friday's new episode!

Moon Prince Page 103: Broken Glass



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Moon Prince Page 102: MOL-LEEE!!!

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