The Detail Difference

I talked about this earlier, but I just wanted to explain how the extra effort in backgrounds, something I never did and am fairly bad at, keeps providing surprising results.

Here is a panel from Page 5 as I initially drew it. The only point of the panel was to show the knife being handed back.

What I would normally have done in the past was add a quick bunch of squares for windows and then a line here or there to imply the outline of a separate building, and then hope that the coloring process would cover up the laziness.

Help me, colors!!!! This time, though, I picked an actual window for reference and then measured out...everything, and used perspective, which is a pain. Rough draft:

Final:

Worth it. I mean, it took a long time, but it really does look more professional. Or just professional.

-6 pages penciled/half-inked