The downshift to a two-strip week is working. I’m finally able to submit my pages in advance. I knew I’d get my moxie back.
In this page, I have an experiment in Amber’s apartment building, which now sports a better and more modern design. Pory suggested that I use a two-tool technique when dealing with backgrounds, so it won’t be cursed with my apparent inability to ink a straight line: “If it’s inflexible or inorganic — buildings, TVs, walls, hard furniture and the non-cushioned part of the couch — use the line tool. If it’s malleable or organic — The couch cushions, people, trees, animals — draw it out.” The panel shows my experiment in using the line tool and the pens, and I like what I see. In the future, I’ll be doing that, especially with the furniture in Amber’s room in the next page.
Another item I’d like to discuss is the necessity to compress the page files. Bump Maps and resizing with Ifranview might add some much needed extra detail in the pages, but it causes the file size to skyrocket. Not that I want to overload the web page, but I do wish to keep each page at least under a Meg in size, preferably under 500K.
Enter PNGGauntlet http://pnggauntlet.com/ , a program that uses a combination of three compression engines to reduce the size of the PNG files. It became an important tool in my box real quick in these last several pages, and the program gets my recommendation.
