So much for having my brother pose for me yesterday... I decided to go a different route. And I'm happier with it. Fits the interior art really well too.
I found some reference of scared children online and they really helped me get the eyes to look right. Each feather was originally going to be illustrated, but I felt it took away from the eyes. So, just those near the eyes are detailed. I feel that this helps with the image of a black cloud of feathers. 
I'm on the fence about it being in color. Guess we'll see how I feel when I have to print it out. 

With most of the comic pages at least 80% done, I feel like it's time to start on my next attempt at the cover. I want something that is a bit more exciting than what I originally had. A big thank you to my brother who often models for me. Here are some of the poses that we came up with.

Four of the pages that are pretty close to being done. Each needs maybe an hour more of work. I need to clean up the lines and finish illustrating certain areas, ie, Lan's face in 12. Add some background imagery. I've also got 1-3, and 13-16 in the same semi-finished state. That leaves five more pages to to totally ink and add text too. And a cover to do. Can't forget that.

Took some experimentation, but I'm finally happy with it. Feels more like what I normally. Like what I did on the Halo illustration that won that contest. Like on the 30STM posters that my teacher loved.
This is a combination of the Corel pencil brush and a normal photoshop brush. And I get to add the shading at the same time. Overall, the process might take me longer, but I'll be happier. I'll draw in the panel lines next. I'm thinking that the text needs to be a digital font, but I might try some handwritten stuff too. My writing with the Wacom isn't that good yet.

I'm not overly thrilled as to how the inking is turning out. After viewing some new comics, I've noticed that I really like the sketchy inking technique. It can either be scanned pencil that is just darkened enough to look like ink or... Can't really say. But I'm going to give it a try. I'm now using Sketchbook Pro's pencil tool. Set at black, it looks like ink, but still gives me the freedom I really like. Thoughts?
I'm not worried about playing around a little longer. I plan on spending all of next month inking and shading. I just need it printed out and bound by Dec 10 for Exit Review. I'd like to have several copies on my table for others to look at.
The newer inking is A. Corel is B. Ignore the pathetic attempt at a forest. I need to research how it would look reflected in the window.
And the current cover is being scrapped. I'm going for something more dynamic that hints at the content of the book without being too literal.

As you can tell from the title, I've started inking. I thought I was going to use Sketchpad like Scotty Young, but found it to be less than what I was looking for. After browsing YouTube, I found a video about inking with Corel. And I'm liking it. So far, I've just been using the Scrachtool to create some very interesting lines.
At the moment, I'm just doing a basic inking, trying to get more comfortable with it. After that, I'll go back and play with the shapes more and try to get some of the main characters to have a continouis look.
Like Lan, the main character. I'll admit that I'm having a hard time with him. I usually have nothing to do with children. EVER. So, trying to figure out how to draw a child correctly and make it look like the same child is a challenge for me. Whenever I'm out in public, I'll ask my mother the ages of the children around us. I'm also using a "How to draw children" book that my mom used to use when she was a girl. From the sketches I've done, I have to say it's helped. I've also addes some shading to the posted pages, just to get a feel for what it will look like in the end. And I've decided I'm going to alter the cover to add more suspense, less of the other main character.

I've gotten all of the panels laidout on the big pages. I'm working on 11x17 cardstock. Each page is in it's own state of WIP. Some are farther along than others. Managed to scan the first two pages. I'm not too worried about the line quality, as I'm going to be scanning these in and digitally inking them.

No images to post with this update. Sorry.
I've been transferring my layouts to the actual pages and begun to actually draw them out. I've got most of page one drawn out. Up to page 12 on layouts transferred. The cover has been worked on, with some slight modifications in composition.
As soon as I can get to a big enough scanner, I'll post some.
Had a thought again about inking... I know. I need to decide exactly what I'm doing. A part of me really wants to do the lines like scotty young. I love how it's sketchy look. I did a panel tonight on page ten or so, and I could see it in his style. It just screamed to me to use his style. So, I guess I'll just experiment after I scan everything in....