grOw/cinema 1, issue 1 more than a third completed!

I have been working away on the first issue of grOw/cinema #1, "The Ever Expanding Universe".  The first issue will be extra long at about 80 panels. This is equivalent to the last issue of grOw/cOmic#6, which was an extra-long 23 pages. I've really settled into the new style, format, and look. It took a bit to acclimate myself to it, but now the work in flowing nicely. In many ways, I like it better than the ways I've been doing things up to this point. 

I can make softer lines which gives it a nicer, realer feel. This is something I hadn't expected, previously always trying to achieve a nice, crisp line in Adobe Illustrator. I can also light and shade panels so much quicker since, after laying down the base color, I use just a few layers (2 lighting, 2 shading) to achieve lighting affects with a simple gray scale painting. No more choosing subjective colors for lights and shades. I can even apply this gray scale shading over multiple, differently-colored objects and achieve a more harmonious lighting. I love it. I also have been loving using this method to achieve better hair.

As of this writing, I have completed 30 out of 81 panels (and am halfway through panel 31). That's about 38% complete. Now, this was done since about Dec 28th, and not since Nov 28th when the last grOw/cOmic was released. (The time between Nov 28 and Dec 28 was spent working on "real life" end-of-year projects, writing this new series and rough-sketching the panels, building three 3D background scenes, researching and testing this new method, as well as a holiday vacation.)  So, in reality, that's drawing, inking and coloring about 30 panels in just 2 weeks. Hopefully, I can get this first issue done in the next 3 or so weeks. This will be a huge increase in issue productivity!

Since each page is a single, movie-screen ratio panel, I won't be showing a preview from each page, similar to when I produce grOw/stOries. I will release a few previews from each issue every so often.