Art by me, original fanfic by @trulycertain Please leave them some kudos and comments if you enjoy this.
I’ve loved DXMD since its release in 2016, and the cast is a huge part of why. The small crumbs of interaction between Adam and Mac are just so tasty, I read their whole ao3 tag on one weekend a few months ago after replaying the game again So I spent the past two months turning one into a comic, just because I can :)
I love Deus Ex, I love having free will to create whatever I want, I love how fandom can still inspire each other, even after so many years.
More thoughts about the comic making progress under the cut:
I’ve often wanted to make comics with proper paneling and screentones that last several pages, but I’ve never been able to keep the focus to pull through - most my art is done in one or two sessions, but comics take dozen. And even while thumbnailing this in December I kinda expected that it would remain another unfinished project, especially when I then started to replay Dragon Age and didn’t think about Deus Ex at all for two weeks. But somehow I kept working on this project regularly, and I’m incredibly proud of myself or proving myself wrong.
I chose this fic because it is short, because it was visually very clear in my head even before I decided I wanted to make a comic, and because I find the characterisation just on point. I also liked the mix of tension and happy end. Lots of emotions in this. (The rather simple environment of it also helped, because drawing backgrounds still intimidates me lol)
Making this comic aso helped me get comfortable with CSP, which I’ve struggled with to switch to after a decade of being a Photoshop fan.
The first pages I drew were 19-20 (the double spread), the last 21-22. Between those I jumped all over the place, depending on what I was in the mood for each evening. My favourite pages are 15, 6, 12, 21, 22.
Every single panel of a sitting pose that shows the legs was pain lol I always use refs and make my own as well, but some things I'm just not used to.
Screentones are fun, but it is really challenging to figure out when to and where to use which. I am still not sure about some panels/pages. Mostly I just tried to stick to a handful of subtle ones to not overload the pages.
I thought I'd hate drawing Adam's augs over and over more than I ended up hating it. In fact I liked it, but I still couldn't draw them from memory lol What I was sad about though was drawing his eyes hidden behind shades for most of the pages haha. Trying to get his emotions across without the eyes was a nice challenge!
I could not figure out how one properly cleans tactical gear like in the fic :') I looked up one YouTube vid, but it was obviously not the same gear as in the game, and I also am not sure how the TF gear disassembles when not worn. So I ditched the the gear completely in favour of Mac just staring at his gloves. 🙏
I did struggle with the last kiss more than anything else. It is a great end in the fic, but artistically I wrecked my head about how to make the final kiss different from the others, to make it really hit as an end. I will upload unused sketches in a later post, because I do still like them (and I always enjoy drawing these two) :3c
Mankind Divided is this month's Game Informer cover. Learn about some of the factions of the game, including Task Force 29, Adam Jensen's new employer. [Δ]
