Chapter 3 is well and truly underway, and I’m very confident that, as I always like to try to do, it will advance both the complexity of the story and the quality of the artwork.  To my satisfaction, at least.

This page was a lot of fun to draw, because it was a chance to get into Mike’s head, so to speak, something I try to do with my characters but have so far not really had more than a fleeting chance to do with Mike.  The scanline effect on everything he sees and does is very retro, and might be a little disorienting, but I think it gives a fair idea of “Mike on the Inside” that I really like.  The error message, by the way, is a little joke to myself and my fellow architects – it’s an error that the program AutoCAD frequently spits out when it decides it doesn’t want you to do something, and like most Windows errors, it’s cryptic and gives you no indication of what’s actually gone wrong, just that everything is ruined and there’s nothing you can do.  Who was it who said “Never trust a computer you can’t throw out the window?”

Also, we get to see a little sidelong bit of the story’s background, as well.  I won’t enumerate it, but see if you can see some of the little things I’ve suggested about the 6-Commando world here.  Just for fun, I’ll start you off: Sarah is a cavalry officer!  Her high-collar, cornflower blue cavalry dress uniform looks quite becoming, I have to admit.  Unfortunately some of the embroidery details I added in got lost in the reduction – just another thing that’ll show up better in print.

And finally, yet another milestone: as I write this, it is Saturday night – I’m a full day early with this page!  Exciting, huh?  Well, I’m not getting used to it – I’m sure stupid reality will intervene sooner or later.  But a full day’s head start on the next page certainly won’t hurt.  But until then, be well, and I’ll see you next week!