Behind the Scenes
Here's a glimpse into the process that brought this story from pencil marks on paper to the webcomic you just read. Enjoy :)
Each picture shows the rough pencil work on paper (top image) and the finished panel with digital shading and effects (bottom image).
 

 
(Page One, panel 5)
This shot is mostly for establishing a broad idea of where the story takes place. I wanted the characters in silhouette here because this shot introduces the setting, not the characters. I replaced all the moons from the rough art with the moon from page three.
 

 
(Page Two, panel 1)
This is the first time we see Mortem Brand in this short comic. The dead vampire isn't important here, so he isn't shaded as dynamically. The placement of the moon changed to make room for a text box.
 

 
(Page Three, panel 3)
Since the vampire narrates the story, I decided to focus on him in this panel and let Mortem Brand be out-of-focus. Out of all the moons I drew in these four pages, I liked this one best.
 

 
(Page Four, panel 1)
I knew I wanted to try a silhouette here for the webcomic. Although it's obvious that the guy got decapitated, it's a bit less gory than if we could see everything in more detail. In a print book, I would have just showed everything. For a webcomic, I prefer to tone down the content a bit and make it a little less gruesome. You can see in the original pencil drawing, I didn't bother drawing much. I did increase the amount of blood spray by shrinking and multiplying the existing blood.
 

 
(Page Four, panel 3)
The final shot of the story. I darkened the pupil of the eye, then lightened the figure in the middle. I thought about adding some reflective highlights to make the eye look wet, but it took the focus off of the image of Mortem Brand. I embellished the blood vessels in the eye, which weren't very dark in the original art. Also, if you look closely in the bottom right corner of the original art, you'll see the words "THE END" which I erased. Instead, I wrote it off panel and added it digitally in the final version.