Originally, Kraal was going to be a ghost in the last panel. No, just kidding. 😆 I erased Kraal from the rough draft in that panel, but to be honest I don’t remember why. 🤷

This is the first chapter of Aww, Feathers! that I did in a higher resolution. Previous pages were done in 300ppi. That’s now doubled to 600ppi. Naturally, this results in larger file sizes, but also sharper images on newer screens with higher pixel density. Fortunately, the line work in previous pages is all done in vector layers in Clip Studio, which means they can be scaled up without losing detail. So if I ever needed to bump up the resolution on previous pages, I should be able to do so. Still, it’s always easier to scale down than to scale up, so it’s a good practice to start with the highest resolution you’re likely to need. Of course, you also need a computer that can handle it. My previous PC was starting to struggle with larger file sizes; it would lag when performing certain operations, and occasionally even crash. 😖 I recently got a new laptop though which has been running much more smoothly. Here’s hoping that continues for many years to come! 🤞

Another change is I used to have colored gutters (that’s the background space between frames). Now I’ll just be leaving that space transparent on the website, or white on social media or in print. I used to leave a lot of empty space on a page, so I would use colors and patterns to fill that space. Then, as I got better at utilizing the available space, I stopped putting patterns in the background and just used solid colors. Finally, in this chapter I nixed the colors altogether. This is because the job of the gutters is to mark a clear delineation between frames, each of which represents a distinct moment in time. Keeping the gutters empty makes that separation extra clear, especially in print, which can cause colors to come out unexpectedly dark. It’s a small thing, but one that makes a difference for readability. Note, however, that not all comics keep clear gutters all the time. It is partly a matter of function and partly one of style.