Another one of these things with the rabbit thing in it. I was listening to someone who used to be a friend being interviewed about their art this morning. Part of me, the 'civilized' part of me was glad for him and thought it cool that he was being sought out. Having people show interest is very cool and helps keep you going; knowing that folks out there enjoy what you do, what makes your passion burn. But the probably all too human side of me was just raging in a storm of, 'why not me?' I've been at this a very long time. I've been interviewed once and it never aired. That's the story of my artistic life, really and sometimes it just frustrates the SHIT out of me. Most of the time, I like in a bubble where I've convinced myself that it doesn't matter, that I do it for me, don't care what others think. It's an illusion I keep up so I can continue moving in any direction at all. Thing is, I have and have had friends that are doing very well artistically, most of them professionally that weren't when I met them. And they just shine. They really don't know what it's like to continue to pump this stuff out and have so few people respond. They really just can't see it. So while listening to this podcast, I went with the feeling and threw this onto paper and inked it, which is why it's not my best job ever. I didn't edit, but in the spirit of the stupid comic, I didn't elaborate either. I'm only doing so here. So that's what this is.

Here's a colored version of one of the previous sketches. More to the points of the previous entry, one of the things I tried to do with this version was to simplify the character even further. The number of freckles has been set at three per side of his face and no more. Wherever they appear on his body, be it face, shoulders, ass, there will be three. No more, no less. I got rid of the more realistic detail in the ears. And I tried to embrace the stretch and squash more, letting the expressions have an overall flow to their curves, wrapping details around them to better harmonize the face, regardless of what the 'real' anatomy would do. These are all things professional cartoonists and animators know how to do. I'm still coming at all this half blind and on my own.

More more more! I've been watching (re-watching) some high end animated features recently, as well as going through their respective 'art-of' books in an attempt to flesh out, fix and smooth designs on the cast. There was still something about Crow that just wasn't working appeal-wise. Turned out to be as simple as getting rid of hard lines and corners, letting my pencil be a lot more loosely held, making things flow. Well, not EASY but still. Some might look at the piles of drawings I've done of these guys over the years and wonder if it was all worth it, if I couldn't have got to the same point without going off on so many tangents, etc. Here's the thing; for some reason, I've decided to do this gigantic project that would probably be better done by a crew and not just one guy. When I look at all these books, I see the same thing; merely a selection of what must be piles and piles of drawings needed to get to a final version. Some of them are really wild, crazy versions that would never work, like some of the ones I've done. Each iteration of the characters has added something, however small to the versions I'll finally go with. Even when Ghiroy was a totally different story, nearly ten years ago (GAH), the character designs have bits that are still in Crow as I draw him now.

Freckles and red hair have remained. Of course in the meantime, gingers (a term from Britain we've only recently adopted) weren't often seen, were, in some countries looked down upon and were never the heroes. That was one of the reasons I made him a redhead. I was tired of the blonds always winning. Well, that part's less of a shock now, but still.

One thing I've noticed a lot and am guilty of in this case is the 'dumbing down' of main characters in these animated film. The protagonist is meant to be the character the audience identifies with, can place themselves into most easily. Because of that, there's usually a HUGE delineation between the design of that character and all those around him/her. Check any Disney, Dreamworks or other major animation company's films. "Rise of the Guardians" is probably the most blatant example.

All the other Guardians (Santa, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Sandman) are wildly designed, have almost no basis on traditional versions of themselves and, quite honestly, don't fit with their environments. Jack Frost, on the other hand, might as well be a Disney Prince in his blandness. Watching these over and over, I see the same thing repeated. There is something to it, though it also means a weaker character, I think. So Crow will never be blandly handsome. My partner doesn't like the freckles. Too bad. He's not perfect, and I don't want him to be. The freckles can stand for the imperfections we all feel we have; imperfections that we count but others might see as an asset. Harlon had a big patch over one eye. While this is common in rabbits, it was meant to be a metaphor for acne, which I had in spades while in junior high.

Where am I going with all this ramble? Nowhere, really, just writing this down for myself, and, if somehow, somewhere, someday I actually make something of this, there's some evidence that I did indeed think a lot about this stuff. For what it's worth.

WHAT am I doing? Redesigning. WHY?! Well, here's the thing; I'm not getting any younger. I'm in my 50s and I won't be able to attempt this kind of project much longer. "Ghiroy" promises to be something around 500 pages, bigger than anything I've done before and while the length itself doesn't intimidate me, I know we're talking at least five years, likely more and when you're my age, that means I could well be doing this til I'm 60. Gah, that's a frightening thought. So I need to make as good an attempt as I can at something with more broad appeal. If I ever hope to make anything off my art, it had better be soon. At least with comics. So the designs needed to be softened. I've been looking at some Disney and later Pixar films. I don't want to make my stuff look like theirs, but I can take some lessons from them. So I did these, and the nude Crow yesterday. The expressions are from photos I took of myself. I think there's enough reference in the design while remaining cartoony as well. As has been the case all along, Crow's easiest. Mikilo is a little more challenging. The colored versions here aren't specific enough, so I did the pencil versions afterwards and like them better. The mage is next. She will be the hardest, but I think now I can figure out my variables and should be able to apply them to other characters as needs be. There will be monsters, too. The plants I think I have down, at least enough that I can move on from here. So.. every step closer. I swear it.

So much to do these days. Have to finish that city illustration with the fox and monkey, I have another of them to do, perhaps two for a panel I'm going to be co-hosting in may AND I have to really put my nose to the... thing and work on Ghiroy. I thumbnailed out the first chapter, but since I want this to have a broader appeal, I, once again, took a look at my character designs. While I like them, the characters aren't exactly appealing. So, after having bought some art supplies today (it's been months since I actually had a sketchbook), I started drawing and this came out of nowhere. And I think it's exactly what I need. It's really hard to not copy too much from the source material, to abstract it as a cartoonist would and keep things consistent. But I have to try. So here's another first step, one of many.

Spent a lot of time working on this thing. This illustration is a lesson in what NOT to do, i.e. do NOT decide that perspective is something that can be winged or can come later. Gah. Spent most of the day fixing everything on the right hand side because I am a bozo. Well, there you go. Dumb ass lesson learned. Made some progress past that, but really this one's a killer. I'm going to be helping a friend do a panel at a convention in may that's all about the importance of background so I want to get as many of this kind of thing done before I go. Next one, I think, will be an interior, based on photos I took inside my favorite restaurant while in Boston. So yah, slow progress, this.

Haven't done one of these in a really long while. It's not that there's been nothing to write about, just that I've had other things to do. This comes from a conversation I had with a friend in Boston. While he doesn't mean to, he can be quite harsh. He doesn't like Biography as he thinks it's just wallowing, not understanding or ignoring the fact that it might be of benefit to me. On the other hand, he likes comics like Tamino and some of the short stories because they are self examination. I see that as rather contradictory. And, honestly, it made me angry. I can tell because I'm still thinking about it. Also, I got some neat lenses for my phone's camera and wanted to make a drawing based on a fisheye photos. So there's that. First new one of the new year, and a new color.

Today, there was little time to draw or do other art before work. I bought some brushes for PS I'd wanted to try a week ago, so I took an old sketch and just painted over it for fun. I love the fact that there are brushes that not only mimic real media but that are messy and as 'random' as possible. This isn't meant to be a finished piece, just one that feels more traditional than digital.

Yah yah, more of this. Doesn't look like a lot's changed, but I totally redrew the monkey. Why? He was too stiff. Just wasn't satisfied with him. I'm a lot happier with a more flexible monkey. All the other images I have of him are like this. Then I got started on some of the closer elements. Those are going to take the longest as they'll have a greater amount of detail. There are some sandwich boards with menus on them. I am NOT looking forward to those. I only hope this is worth it. I've had to redo a lot in this as I go because I didn't approach it right in the first place. Well, live and learn.