 Week one, online and on time, woot!
Roeke sets the scene for the Smog-Florans.. and you! This is pretty much what this issue is about. Exciting, no? IT WILL BE. Anyway, that seems like a pretty reasonable request, right? Guess we'll find out next Monday! --Jhustoe 
This might be, aesthetically, my favorite page. The drawing is solid, and my coloring didn't suck for once. It's moody and atmospheric, and a nice conceptual tease for next issue. Sorry there isn't anything going on really plot or character wise, but I still like it.
The plan is to throw up Stage 04's cover next week, then jump in to page one on MONDAY, the 18th. You heard me, Monday! You know why? Because I'm saving Wednesday for PAGE TWO! We're stepping up to two pages a week, y'all! May God have mercy on my soul. I still haven't "officially" started coloring #4, so uh, I guess I better get crackin' ;P See ya next week! --Jhustoe, of the 9 realms and the 4 paths, or something. 
So, the first caption is referencing back to the first issue, when Roeke seemed to actually be missing Nyant. Of course, that started seeming problematic once I'd gotten through the flash back. Well, no retcons and no take-backsies, so instead I voiced my own concern and possible reader concern by having Roeke herself bring it up. By getting mad at herself, perhaps that will ease any concerns you all might have. I also think it adds an interesting layer to her character-- Yes, Nyant really did some terrible things and betrayed Roeke in a most heinous fashion, but that doesn't erase however many years before that when they were happy. Those feelings, at that moment, had really stirred up in Roeke, who, was pretty lonely. Now, as of this page, she's focusing on the bad, on the catalyst that got her to leave in the first place- and she's letting her anger drive her forward.
Tell me you never missed an ex, even if it ended poorly? S'all I'm sayin'. The bottom half of this page, and next weeks page are all going to set up next issue. Smog Zone! 
Slightly damaged, Guardian tucks tail and retreats. Roeke gets a new upgrade and also begins to get real mad, understandably.
I like how that fist turned out in the last panel, and the smoking rocket-launcher panel above it ain't bad, either. Well, I'm still a bit behind on Roeke 04, so I'm gonna keep this short and get back to work on them thar inks. Well, "inks," as I'm doing it digitally this time. Be excellent to each other, --Jhustoe! 
Well, that's that, then. Maybe, just maybe, if he'd fussed over her instead of The Guardian? Yeah, probably not.
I wish I'd colored Nyant's mouth in that first panel... maybe I'll go back to it someday. We're closing in on the end of Stage 03, just four more pages! I better hurry up and finish Stage 04 :P --Jhustoe 
Running a little late today, I blame Damages, that fucking show. The funny thing is: I had planned to say "No new post today... April Fool's!!! On my link for today's post, and then there almost wasn't. Not only that, but it was me remembering that lame joke that caused me to realize that I hadn't posted the new page yet. Go figure.
ANYWAY. The metaphor cookie that is Roeke and Nyant's relationship crumbles a bit more today. See ya next week, assuming I'm more responsible than I was this week. --Jhustoe  You know, when I first conceived this idea(no pun intended, just a happy accident-- oh god, I can't stop!) ANYWAY. When I first figured out the robots Roeke would be fighting were sent by her ex I thought to myself that I had found my story's final boss and main villain. Now, overall, I still see Nyant that way, but the dude has some valid points. I can certainly symp/empathize with him and anyone who might agree with him. I just think Roeke, while not perfect, is MORE right.
Also, those robots ARE trying to kill her, right? Is Nyant a really shitty programmer? Does he WANT her dead? Or are those robots seriously messed up, themselves? Well, you might have some hints in the next couple weeks that you can draw some conclusion from. Until then, keep on rocking in the free world. --Jhustoe  There's a bit in Greg Rucka and JH Williams III's great Batwoman story where Batman lectures Kate (Batwoman) that she shouldn't wear her hair long, because any ol' criminal can grab it and then she's done for. Roeke didn't get that advice, and now she had to salvage what was left. (Brief aside, Kate didn't need the advice, she was wearing a wig, and the best part is she doesn't defend herself to Batman, she doesn't need to. She knows she's badass.)
Roeke doesn't know that she's badass. She's proving it one life-threatening trial after the next. Aaaaaand I just noticed a tear I drew in her shirt that I haven't been drawing in issue 04, shit. Should be a quick enough fix, it's just the small one in the collar. I remembered the other two! Roeke's been beaten so bloody in this comic, I recently had the wonderful idea to keep a "battle-damage" sketch handy while I draw that I update with each new wound. God, I wish I'd thought of it oh, say, three issues ago. Anywho, we're not out of the woods-- er, city-- yet! That's next weeks page! Until then, --Jhustoe!  This may be one of my favorite pages of the issue. The action, composition, and how bad-ass Roeke looks in the middle panel of toward the bottom- before smashing Torch's face in, are all working for me. What'd you think?
Part of me wishes I made Torch the main robot, definitely my favorite design (thanks again, James). Oh well, there's still more Torch to come, you'll just have to see next week! Thanks for reading, er, looking (not much dialogue on this page), --Jhustoe!  Anyone else notice that I forgot to add a subtitle to last week's blog?
Anywho, OUCH, right? I'm pretty sure it wouldn't look like that irl, because, y'know, physics, but you depict hair tearing out in a still graphic medium! Jerks. UPDATE! Moved the "tear" line down to Roeke's scalp to look more better, thanks to the glory of photoshop. Panel 3's my personal favorite I like the angle, the perspective, and the oh-shit-ness of the threat depicted. Anywho, FIGHT'S OUT! Peace, bitches! --Jhustoe  Why is it every time we go indoors the only colors I can think of are "gray" and "darker gray?"
I need to get better at this. I think my drawing is getting better, though, and more consistent. The chipped paint detail on the ladder was a pain, all future ladders will now have good paint jobs, okay? Next week, we'll have some flash-backing! Later! --Jhustoe   Holy moley, it's 2015!
Nothing like a little imminent DOOM to start off the new chapter of Roeke! The cover for this chapter was made completely by the sister thing: Amanda Brewer, how cool is that?. The robots were designed by James, and all the art beyond the cover is by me. Looking at the schedule I've cooked up for myself for the year, I can say that if I keep up with it, it will be probably the most productive year of my whole life. Several times more busy than I was last year, at least. Wish me luck! Oh, and don't forget to subscribe to Roeke over here: http://tapastic.com/series/Roeke Tapastic should make things a bit more convenient for ya, so you'll never miss a new page! That being said, I just started publishing there and it'll take a little while to get current. I'll let you know when it catches up, too. Oh, also, why don't ya leave me a comment now and then? Remind me I'm not making this in a complete vacuum, VALIDATE MY EXISTENCE. Okay, thanks, bye! --Jhustoe  To be continued!!!
We've done it, another issue in the can! Thanks for joining me in this crazy ride, I really look forward to telling y'all the next chapter and the rest of the story! I'll put the cover up for sure next week, but I haven't decided whether to throw the first page in with that, or if I need the extra buffer time...we'll see. In any case, see ya next year! And speaking of next year, I'll share a goal of mine with you all here and now for accountability purposes: I am going to finish publishing Roeke. That's three whole comics, as Roeke is a 5 part series total. Then, after that's done, hopefully you'll get to see the start of whatever comes next for me. Until next time, --Jhustoe!  OWIE!
I like how the first two panels turned out, the rest can go straight to hell! :P I'm coloring Roeke 03 right now and I think my art might be improving some. Funny how that works ;) Also, how does one spell out that sound phonetically? I did my best, but did that put the right noise in your brains? That kinda inhaled hiss as you do anything you can to disperse that pain? Well, we're winding down on chapter two. Just a couple more pages, a Christmas and a New Year's present for ya's. Then, first Wednesday in January, we will see the start of Roeke Stage 03! Featuring not one, but TWO robot fights and the wrap up of our flashback scenes, depicting the ultimate fate of Roeke and Nyant's relationship. It'll be a doozy! Last night I lost my mind a little and scheduled out my comic work and publishing schedule for 2015, and boy, will I be busy! It is my hope and aim to finish Roeke (which has been 5 Stages pretty much from the get-go) and then in the last few months of the year begin publishing whatever my next project ends up being. Pretty exciting, eh? Well, wish me luck. Thanks to Dragon Age (and my own laziness) I am way behind where I wanted to be by now, but not so far that it's hopeless (no month break between chapters this time!). See ya Christmas Eve! --Jhustoe!  I originally had a much different- and much more boring- composition in mind for this page. I don't think that even made it to the tiny thumbnail stage before I thought of and fell in love with this one.
On the original drawing, the small, square falling panels were much smaller, so I blew them up when I went in to color the page. Technology! Looks like Roeke's spider problems are finally at an end...  If robots had feelings, I'm sure someone reaching into their arm hole and pulling on their guts wouldn't feel very nice.
I like my last panel there (and the transition to it). Hard to do better suspense then "They're already over the edge!" Wile E. Coyote would be throwing up his "Help" sign right about now. I have a nasty habit of writing myself scenes with a loooooot of panels. Particularly the fights. Beware! Future collaborators are going to hate me :P On a separate note, I feel like emotes should count as punctuation, as sentences look funny when you punctuate after an emoji, but the emoji feels isolated and unrelated if punctuation precedes it. So, there you have it: emoji is the new punctuation :D I hope y'all like incomplete stories, because now that Dragon Age rules my life forever, I probably will never finish Roeke 03, haha. God, I hope I'm kidding. Help.  Not much time to blog this morning, so I just thought I'd say "Hi!"
Hope you enjoy the page, and we'll see you next week! --Jhustoe!  So, I just got done inking Roeke 03, and I must say, I'm a better artist now. Honestly, I think my art was better in the first one, too (with some exceptions), but maybe that was just Amanda's coloring :P. I'm mostly dissapointed with my inking on this page. Welp, I'll just have to do better next time.
For you, next week means the big throwdown with Roeke and The Spider gets underway. For me: I'll start color work on Roeke 03. With any luck, I'll have enough of a lead that I'll feel confident posting issue 3 pages twice a week! No promises though! Alrighty, catch y'all next week! --Jhustoe  Once again, if the print is too small, hit up the infinite scroll page HERE.
I know all the things about "BIOLOGY," all of 'em! Sure, Nyant is monologuing a bit, but that doesn't mean anything, right? I actually really like how his ideas come about stream-of-consciousness style. Like he's just spitting out some comforting thoughts when all of a sudden wheels start turning, puzzles start fitting- and the scientist kicks in! We'll see where that leads us next week, eh? Today I did the layouts for Roeke 04. I am jumping all over the place on this book. I technically still haven't even finished this issue. I still have one more page to color, it's just there's soooooo many things in that page! It's intimidating :P. I'm just under halfway through inking Roeke three. So, uh, progress is being made, so I feel like I'm allowed to feel accomplished, right? Keep it real, y'alls! --Jhustoe!  First, if the formatting here has made all that text too small, you can check out the larger version at the bottom of this page(Roeke 02 Infinite Scroll).
This relationship I'm establishing- and all the things about to happen in/to it. This is the heart of the story for me. This makes the comic more than just fighting lots of robots. I'm excited to show y'all. Someone complimented my facial expressions last week. Unfortunately, the way I had my form submission set up, it was anonymous, so, uh... thank you anon! I have the form set up proper now, so I'll be able to personally thank anyone in the future. And, for more traditional comments, that the whole world could see, we have the comments here on each blog post, too! Well, typing with long nails is annoying, so I'm gonna stop and go cut mine. See ya next week! --Jhustoe!  What up, party people?
Not much going on in Jhustoe-town right now. Fighting a bit of a cold. I haven't worked on the comic much lately, in all honesty. Thank goodness I have a few page tucked away, eh? Hopefully this week or next I'll get back to it in earnest. James and I are re-visiting and old comic idea that we think maybe, just maybe, it's time has come. We'll see. If anything, it might be fun to re-read and probably revise some old scripts! Gonna keep 'er short n' sweet this week, so I'll leave y'all to it. That last sentence had a lot of apostrophes. Be excellent to each other, --Jhustoe  Gooooood Morning In-ter-net!! Today, Roeke's crafty side repairs a busted elevator control panel. Oh, what excitement! Hahah. Pages like this make me realize why some people wait for pages to pile up so they can binge read ;) Here are a couple picks of my table at Rose City, as promised:   I was going to post some photos of cosplayers, too, but Weebly is being annoying right now so I opted not to in favor of getting this post up this century...
But, there you have it! We'll see y'all next week! --Jhustoe  Well! I survived my first tabling experience at Rose City Comic Con last weekend! I met people, sold a couple things, and chatted with cool, creative folk and a few idols to boot. I spent a lot of money on some comics and cool art prints, and I learned that having a table as an anchor point to drop all your shit off is almost worth the price of tabling alone.
To anyone who visited, bought something, or even just grabbed my card: THANK YOU. I hope, where applicable, that I've made some fans and some friends. I am too tired/lazy this time, but maybe next week I'll post some photos or something. In the meantime, you'll just have to make due with the newest Roeke page! ;) I start making some color choices in this issue. I have NO IDEA what I'm doing, but it doesn't look terrible, right? Am I crazy? Well, if you don't like the art, gimme lotsa money and I'll hire a better artist :P For now, though, you're stuck with me (and I'm gonna try and get better, promise!) Did I mention I was tired? 'Cause I am, so I'll cut this short and see you all next week! Be excellent to each other. --Jhustoe!  Well, here we go, pretty old trick in the book-- continuing the previous page's dialogue on the next page for some dramatic/ironic dissonance. It is also quite probably the worst single page I've drawn. I'm sorry. I like the design I used the for the title and credits, though, so... silver lining or what not. Anyway, it's almost RCCC time! I WILL have a limited edition print run of Stage One for sale. And here's where you can find me:  I'm also going to have some prints for sale (if all goes according to plan). One fan art, and a piece featuring Roeke, The Guardian, and maybe some spoilers? Here's a sneak peak, as you might be aware, I'm ripping off- -er, homaging, Super Metroid!  Finally, I am tickled to present: Gamera vs. Gamora!  Well, that's it for today!
Hope to see y'all this weekend at the con!  Well, here we are: Stage 02 at last!
Other than James having already designed the robots, I am flying totally solo this issue! Writing, art, and color were all by me, so you know where to send your complaints ;) Today's page sees us taking a step into Roeke's past, where we meet Nyant, her future baby-daddy! |
JhustoeBorn in California, Justin now resides in Portland, OR. He's had a passion for comics from a very young age Archives
February 2017
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