Saturday, January 31, 2015

Last post of the day. Probably. First image is the quick sketches and layout for the next page of the mice comic. Note the Rembrandt in the upper left which is the basis for the painting mentioned in the last post. I then went and took photos for ref and the bottom image is of the pencils for the next page. What's hard to remember is to shorten limbs and such so they fit the mice and not my sort of lanky frame. Still have to get the background in there, but I'll do that afterwards. Right. Now, off to that OTHER job.

This is what distracted me from the mice. I started watching some artist documentaries on YouTube (always a dangerous thing) and started sniffing at fine art again. This is dangerous as it always takes me out of the mindset of doing comics. Or whatever else I'm working on. And at this point, I was really enjoying the mice. But I enjoy this, too. Luckily, it hasn't blown up into another selfie project, though this time using Rembrandt as a source. Did two ink drawings and then decided to do a little something in PS... or wait, I think I did the PS one first. And there's an Illustrator one in there, too. Just because. I was trying to make a street art inspired take on some old master's work. I didn't really achieve that, but I made these. And there's a half completed painting sitting on my drawing table, too. *sigh* Inspiration can be a bitch sometimes. At least I'm not on a deadline with someone else. So I guess my being distracted doesn't really matter. No one's waiting for any of this so who cares when it gets done?

Did this a few days ago, succumbing to 'fan art,' for which I have a lot of mixed feelings. I don't have any problem with people drawing their favorite characters. Hell, that's the way a lot of people learned to draw. Thing is, when they start -selling- that art, that's when I have a problem. Because you just KNOW when an artist sees their work appearing on a t-shirt at Hot Topic or Urban Outfitters without their permission, letters are sent, the internet is sent into a tizzy. "NO FAIR NO FAIR! MINE! YOU STEAL!" and the like. And sure, that makes sense and I agree that no one should appropriate someone else's work for profit. Thing is, isn't that what people who sell fan art are doing? It's not THEIR character, it wasn't their work that designed and implemented that character or its surroundings, story and the rest. So why do they get to rip off the owner of that character and THAT'S ok? To me, it's still theft. Fine to draw, not fine to profit. And get off my lawn!

I've been really bad at updating the blog, though I have been making stuff. The mice got sort of put aside for a couple weeks as I got distracted. This was the last page completed though I just penciled the next one today. Smatt's and asshole. The other two aren't much better.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Page 10 of this. Wasn't neglecting the comic, just working on other things, such as the newest Movie Wrench episode. Takes me about four days to do one of those, not including watching the movie again. Still enjoying drawing these little bastards. That asshole on the left is named Rooster. He's a retread from a commission I had in the middle of last year. That character was a lot older and bulkier. This is someone's little brother. More to come.

Friday, January 09, 2015

Page 9. Back to Illustrator. This is Terry, Smatt's cousin. To me, the white mice are all clones, they all look exactly the same. They each try to be individuals, but it doesn't always ring true. No matter how many of them I'll draw, they'll all look more or less the same, their clothing being one of the only easy ways to tell them apart. Maybe it's the idea that so many of us think we're SO different when we're still wearing the same name brand clothing just in slightly different combinations. And the reason the mice are angry is because deep down they know this and also know that there's nothing they can do about it, or at least they can't imagine themselves out of that 'maze.' While these two were just a throwaway in one panel of Tamino, they weren't trash and something came from them. I remember when designing them the first time I wanted to be sure they were identical. Just didn't know why. Maybe they're a statement. Maybe I'm full of shit.

Thursday, January 08, 2015

Page eight; boring but necessary. This page is quite different from the others in one very important way; I drew the elements using a program other than Illustrator. Due to a friend's email (hi, Vince!) I checked out a new vector based drawing program called Affinity Designer. I refuse to move onto the Adobe subscription platform for their software as it's so much more expensive over time than how they used to do business. Also, my version of Illustrator CS5 does everything I need it to do. I'm going to be really unhappy when the day comes that it's no longer supported. The new software look good, so I downloaded it and gave it a try.

In general, I like the way it works. The pen tool took a little getting used to but, in its way, was clearer in use than that of AI. Some of the keyboard commands I use without thought (most notably the 'never appears anywhere else' shift-command-a) were not the same, which is to be expected. I know there will be some training when moving to any other program and that's ok. The major feature missing from AD that I rely on is the live trace feature. I use this when I'm using inked drawings of any kind and it's central to the way I work. Looking on their forums I see I'm not totally alone though it's a feature they only want to add when they have a version that's better than what's already on the market. Well, ok, but something would be a lot better than nothing.

Deciding to take the plunge, I decided the next page would be done in AD. Without a lot of problems, I drew all the elements pretty much the way I do in AI until I got to the final steps. One of the features I use constantly, no matter what kind of style I'm working in is the command-7 step which basically allows me to use an overlapping shape as a mask to slice away extra details. This is most notable in the current comic in the word balloons where the detail of the background is neatly cut into the outline of said balloon. There was no way to do this in AD, or at least I could not find one. Crippled at this point, I had to move back to AI. The one nice feature was that I was able to select and copy the elements I'd already drawn in AD and simply paste them directly into new layers in AI. From there, I used my usual process to finish the page.

While AD is really not able to replace AI for me yet, it's a strong contender and I hope its programmer's will continue to develop it. Adobe needs someone to offer them competition. I haven't heard of one person who likes the new subscription model. Since it's a tool I rely on day to day, I'm very interested in how they continue and how others might come up to bat. Here's hoping.

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Page 7 with its original sketch. Threw that back in here to show how much I sometimes play with composition even if it seems all worked out in the drawing. This is why Illustrator is a must for me. By keeping all the elements separate, I can play about with them until the end. Composition is really my final major step, which goes against everything I've been taught. I am very much NOT saying that I'm better than the rules, just that this is how I do things. Illustrator is both my 'inking' tool and my eraser. Anyway. Posed for this one myself, sans skateboard. Haven't been on one of those since I was 12 or so, and likely would break something just by trying to stand on one now.

Monday, January 05, 2015

Page 6. Not much to say about it. It hurts, and he likely deserves it. He's a rotten little bastard.

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Page 5. I think I've decided that I really like single panel comics. Or at least, doing just the one panel per page.

Friday, January 02, 2015

Page 4. Had to play a lot more with the composition on this one, mostly as I draw too big. One of the reasons I like Illustrator so much as it allows me to do all sorts of things with composition up until the very end. Also, I added subtitles to this and the other pages. Don't know if it helps but it doesn't seem o hurt.

Thursday, January 01, 2015

First new image of the new year. Seems like only yesterday that I did the last page... Had to monkey about with the composition with this one as it didn't quite fit the other pages. That's what happens when you don't plan things out. That's me. My partner likes the art for this one (which is rare for him) but he says it's totally illegible to him. Well, that's kind of ok because Smatt's grumbling in his own patois of fake street-speak and real words. The mice aren't supposed to make a lot of sense. Then again, do many of my comics.