The Re-Mastering Begins!

by MattSchofield on 8th Oct 2021, 5:35 PM

The Re-Mastering Begins!




Since finishing the latest Steamroller Man chapter, I've been going back to some of my earliest pages  and overhauling them - "re-mastering" if you will - in preparation for print. The first one I tackled was the cover to the previous chapter. For the new version, I referenced the exact dimensions and measurements of the classic 1970s Marvel cover treatment. I replaced the downloaded title font with a logo of my own design and rearranged the lettering and word balloons so that it conveys the same information but (hopefully) has more visual impact. Three years experience of drawing these characters really shows - the 2018 cover was actually the first time I had really drawn Sugar Daddy and Tough Cookie, the Gingerbread Golem.
You'll notice that the issue numbers are different on each one. The reason behind this is somewhat complicated, but people keep asking about it, so I'll explain:
I started the comic with a 12-page, self-contained story which I numbered "issue one" when I first posted it online. The next chapter was 38 pages long, and the first part of what will end up being a four-part story. While I called it "issue two" at the time, it seems like a much better choice to be the official "Issue One" in print. So the 12-part story has been renamed, and will go to print as the "Ashcan Zine Edition". I hope that wasn't too confusing!


 


Comments:

mightguy15 8th Oct 2021, 5:36 PM
mightguy15
Dude niiice, just when I thought these pages couldn't look any better!
MattSchofield 8th Oct 2021, 5:40 PM
MattSchofield
Thanks Mightguy! I find that when I look back at my early stuff there is definitely stuff I can improve upon now. I'm not going to get too obsessive with it, as I do want to get back to producing new story pages as soon as possible. So right now the plan is to redraw the pages with Sugar Daddy making the Golem. The splash page with Steamroller Man I'm going to leave as-is.
...(RockB) 8th Oct 2021, 9:46 PM
...(RockB)
My, look at the price tag! Did my salary increase to 5 times that of 2018? Guess not :-(
MattSchofield 9th Oct 2021, 5:03 PM
MattSchofield
Haha, yeah, when I created that original cover things were a little different: I was making the story up as I went, and so didn't know how many pages I would end up with; and at that stage I wasn't sure if I'd print physical copies, so the 99c price was more of a nod to the prices of the old comics I was trying to emulate the look of. Now that I'm prepping the material to print, the new price tag reflects printing costs, and the average retail price of a 40 page comic in today's market. Don't worry, you can still read the whole thing for free here!

...(RockB) 10th Oct 2021, 2:11 PM
...(RockB)
I understood the nod to the olden-day comics :^) But then I thought you adjusted the price to today's comic prices, i didn't expect the costs for printing them being so high. Thanks for the explanation!
McGrenivan 9th Oct 2021, 1:23 AM
McGrenivan
To me, it makes sense that you dropped SM being able to identify that GG as a Golem right away. I imagine that they'd be rare even in Steamroller Man's universe.
Beautiful work. I was recently advised not to revise old art work, but after seeing this I'm reconsidering the merits.
MattSchofield 9th Oct 2021, 5:09 PM
MattSchofield
Yes! That was exactly my thinking with the re-formatting of the dialogue!
Thanks, I'm glad to you like the new artwork. I always told myself "don't go backwards" and was initially against redrawing any of my older pages, but looking at the whole story and thinking about printing physical copies made me reconsider. I'm not going to do a complete redraw of the whole chapter. My plan is to re-draw the first 3 or 4 pages, and then do few minor touch-ups in isolated spots here and there.