Design-comic noire for your visual enjoyment. As expected, I had a lot of fun drawing in this style, and no, Frank Miller didn’t invent it, okay? He did popularize it, and it works wonders on this format, so I’ll give him that. If you really want to see people working with skill like this, check out Mike Mignola or Tim Sale.

I’ve found that creating this strip has actually been improving my day-job illustration skills. Generally, the art in the comic is “Nate Voss Light,” a less-filling, slightly-off-taste form of the same great beverage you enjoy as “Nate Voss Heavy,” the champaign of spot illustration. It’s quicker and definitely off the cuff, done entirely on the wacom. But yesterday, as I sat down to do some Heavy illustration, I found some things coming easier to me than they used to, most especially expressive faces and body language. I’ve always told people that doing the comic, rapidly approaching its 50th installment, was a way to keep my skills sharp. I always assumed I was lying when I said that. I guess not?