Well, this is the end of the year and the last post in this blog for 2015. This was not my most prolific year and in a way I failed it; I like to try and make more posts every year. This one didn't make it. The first image I have here is a sort of overview, one I posted on my tumblr that has a selected image for each month of the year. There's a lot of the mice and Ghiroy in there as that's what I focused on most. On the down side, I didn't start Ghiroy, though I did a LOT of work on it. On the plus side, I did start and finish a short comic of which I'm proud. I progressed, and that's the whole point. So next year, I'll shoot for more posts, more art and more improvement.

The second image is a preliminary drawing for a portrait of artist Alex Katz. I've been reading a book I got for Xmas about Chuck Close, one of my favorite artists, and I got nudged back into portraiture for the moment. It won't last, never does. I enjoy the problem solving in making portraits. Close is so dogged and so detailed in what he does. I really appreciate the work he does though I don't know that I could ever get that into a piece myself. He takes months. My best paintings have been completed in under an hour. This is not to say that I'm anywhere near his league. I'm not even in the same artistic country as he is. It's always hard to look at others' work and think about how I -don't- do things their way, or can't do what they can do, etc. It's something I've been trying to wean myself off. It's not easy.

This particular portrait is very much like the style I've been using in the past, though I'm going to see if I can't combine even more two of the things I love most; ink and paint. I think that's where one of my untapped strengths might be. While I've pretty much decided I'm a cartoonist, I'm one with Fine Art aspirations. I'm not the first one, and certainly not the most successful, but if I can better combine my interests instead of keeping them separate, perhaps I can grow a bit as well as make something a bit more worthwhile.

In any case, for the few (one) who read this blog, happy new year (Vince!). I wish the best for you all.

Ooh look, an image dump! Well, really what this is meant to be is a 'how-to' for anyone (hi, Vince!) interested. I start off with a pencil sketch. So far, I just can't loosen up as much digitally as I can with a pencil and paper. I scan that, bring it into Illustrator and set it to the top layer and drop the opacity to about 50%. Then I draw in shapes the figure below it. Once that was done, I selected all the parts of the figure and pasted them atop the figure on a layer above. I melded those pieces into one silhouette, colored it orange and dropped its opacity to about 50%. At this point, I noticed that, as usual, while the orange layer affected the one below it, it flattened out the contrast as well. I figured I'd have to assemble this all in PS, which is fine. It must means an extra step.

After this, I did the same thing I did with the orange layer, but used it to make a shadow layer that I placed atop everything else. Then I went about cutting holes where I felt the light would be hitting the figure. This was probably the longest step of the whole process.

After this was done, I poked at things like the background, added a few very transparent clouds by using the same gradient as the background but reversing the flow of dark to light and dropping the opacity to about 10%. I wanted them to barely be there.

With all of this done, I had to export the image in three pieces; the main image with no lighting or shadows, then the lighting (orange) layer all alone and finally the shadow layer all alone. I opened the main image in Photoshop then each of the other layers separately. I selected everything in the orange layer, pasted it on the main one, erased out all the parts that weren't orange then did the same thing with the shadow layer. I had to play about with the opacity and layer settings, finally deciding on 'multiply' for the orange layer and 'illuminate' for the shadow layer. This way, the details all remain visible and the colors are deeper and richer. I wish layers worked this way in Illustrator so I wouldn't have to lose quality but I can always make another version of this at any DPI I want.

There, a little 'tutorial,' like I'm one to teach. Thing is, I rarely meet other artists that use Illustrator and some folks are just afraid of it. I admit, it does have a steep learning curve. Vectors, though, are SO useful and highly used in the animation industry for good reason.

Did this yesterday as a quickie. Was doing chores most of the day and wanted to do SOMEthing. Rooster's still in my head. Don't know why, he just is. Strangely, this one and the last one of him have done better socially than other recent work. Don't know why that might be, but I'll take it. Might be because I made the comics free. Anyway, just a quickie as I try to add posts to my yearly total. I know this year is down from last and it's weighted heavily towards Ghiroy and the mice. Should be more variety. Or something. As long as I'm still creating things, I don't suppose it matters.

Been a few days and I've neglected this little blog. Big news, such as it is, is that I've finally re-packaged the comics other than Tamino and made the available for download on Gumroad. Fite is now in one volume, Harlon is back up and all the short stories, mice included are collected for the first time. The only thing I didn't bother with was Biography. Can't see that anyone would want a collection of THAT and even if they did, well, I just didn't feel like bothering.

After that was done, I went back to play with Rooster and PS, wanting to get more of a painting look to one of him as I did with the other two. Thing is, it really just didn't work out well. Couldn't get the hang of it. So I took the same sketch (last image) and threw it into AI as I always do. Tried to keep the lighting behind, which was new and I think worked out pretty well. Very happy with the image even if it's without context. I kind of thought of it as 'Rooster in heaven,' or something like that though I don't believe in such things. Whatever, it was fun and a half-level up from the rest of the comic, a kind of maturity of style. Or something. I liked it. There, I said it.

Another couple images from the finished comics. There are a few things I want to go back and tighten and this page was one of them. I really didn't like the head on Smatt in the original so I redrew and replaced it. Easy enough with Illustrator, a pain in the ass if I had painted this. The other image is another painted version of one of the figures from the comic that I'd inked. I like the approach but I think I need to work on the overall aesthetic. Still, good to use some of those brushes I keep buying.