Adding color to the line drawings in big, chunky, geometric shapes like you see in these pages was a result of some technological issues I'd been having while working on it. My computer at the time was on its last leg, even breaking up and working on the pages a half-page at a time still took forever and really discouraged me from doing digital color work at that time! In this particular case I decided to over-simplify shapes when blocking out color, which ultimately I feel added to the effect I was going for in the first place; not snapshots of being there, but foggy, disoriented memories of a night out. I haven't really experimented with the technique since then. Based on the story of her 21st birthday, Bar fly #4 was adroitly written by Erin Anderson.
Here are a couple of other illustrations I did for the same publication, one to go along with a play called This Old House, written by Richard Keller, a dialogue between a couple in a failing relationship, and the secrets they've kept from each other. A lot of people seemed to enjoy the image and technique in this:
I'll be honest, this next piece I really regret not being able to do a more interesting (better) job with. It was printed anyway, with an excerpt from Abu Asal's short story Seven Against the Moon, a survivor's account of the horrors of the Darfur genocide. In my defense, I found myself at a loss for how to depict all of the images of grief and loss present in the actual story. I couldn't quite envision it and, as an unfortunate result, the piece received sort of a "nothing" illustration of two soldiers back-lit by the moon. Apologies to Abu Asal.
-Kung Fu Mike
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