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I had this idea for a Warcraft web comic ages ago when my WoW hunter had a crab of her own. It came back to me this past month when I was searching for projects I could use to experiment and practice with my tablet.

Obviously not done yet, but the tablet is rapidly becoming a very interesting and exciting way to work. I’ve been experimenting with brushes and layering, trying to find the best way to blend in colours, highlights and shadows. I’m now at the point where I can freehand sketch on the tablet itself rather than having to rely entirely on my earlier pencil sketch. Aside from the basic outline, the entire lower body of the orc and the chair she’s sitting on was done straight from the tablet. Not that I could sketch a pure outline in one pass. I found the easiest thing was to rough in the shape using a bright colour and a larger brush, then go back in on a new layer to draw the actual outline based on the messy sketch. It occurred to me afterward that this is how the old 2D animators used to do it as well. The first pass of rough animation was barely more than a scribble suggesting what the character was doing. These roughs would then be passed on to a clean up artist who would find the line of the character out of the scribble and it was those lines that would ultimately be seen on the screen.

Thus, in terms of my own animation work, it might be possible for me to use the tablet to do both the rough drawing and clean up inside the computer and bypass the pencil and light table desk entirely. I think I’ll need more practice though, which this little web comic ought to provide. Hopefully I can have it done before the end of the month and slip it into the October contest.