The Super 8 motel in Brighton wouldn’t let me take reference photos of their rooms; had to make due with Google Image Search results. Nonetheless, I’m proud of the storytelling touches: necktie tying technique, wall clock, “camera” movement. “Inking” in Corel Painter forced me to use a comics-traditional, Alex Toth “flat blacks & single line” style.

Drawing Zip’s hair was troublesome at first. I bought time by “pencilling” a few pages in advance. (See more detail about my digital comics technique.) The answer came by accident, while looking at Steve Ditko‘s Spider-Man. His taste in literature may be a little dopey, but once upon a time he was great at his day job. He communicated a lot of detail with deceptively simple inking. It’s nice to discover the new problem you’re working on was solved 40 years ago.