Last post for the day. Did this using a photo I took at Venice Beach for reference. Tried to get as far away from the ref from the start as possible. Worked pretty well, but there's no way I won't draw something at least twice because..that's the way I am. There are good things about both versions, I think.
Did this sketch dump on tumblr today, so it has to go here as well. My sketchbooks have got more and more messy over the years as I try and save paper, sometimes by going back and filling in spaces on previous pages. So sometimes the sketches don't match. Was doing a bit of drawing without lifting the pencil, just cartooning 'from the hip' for want of a better term. There's also a random image of Patton Oswalt because why not? Lots of fox characters (or is it a coyote?) as I play with that. There's some sketches of that self portrait the other day, and a page of variations on the fox in as many styles as I could fit onto the page. Some days, even when I'm without any kind of focus, there's a certain joy in drawing, noodling about with cartooning. So there's that. At the very least, I hope I can leave decent sketchbooks that someone, some day might want to flip through. Me included.
Made this comic in regards to a conversation I was having with a friend who teaches illustration at the college level. Sadly, the conversation was a lot more interesting than the comic ended up being, so I didn't go further. Also, there's not a lot going on. The one thing I will say for this is that I didn't sketch anything out ahead of time, I just drew it, trying to pull the pencil from the paper as little as possible. Drawing that way is really hard for me. So it was a good exercise.
Couple things I was working on recently. First is a sketch I did this morning before work which might eventually result in another self portrait. Haven't done one of those in a long while. Took a selfie at Disneyland with an Oswald hat and liked the image. Add paint and presto! The second image is the current WIP version of the next in the print series. This one's going to take awhile as there's a lot going on here. The proof will be in the editing part as it's snowing and I don't want there to be TOO much detail. Will likely leave a lot out as things go into the background. So, this is what I'm working on.
No idea where this guy came from. I think it's because I was looking at some modern character stuff from Hong Kong online and this was my lame attempt at doing that. Maybe not lame, but certainly not the same sort of thing. Then I watched "Yojimbo" tonight, which I had never seen so did the second image. So I guess he's a modern day samurai or something, a 'company man,' in this case. I don't know what's in the crate but I don't think it's anything nice. The pencil drawings for these are almost contour drawings in that I was trying not to be sketchy at all, just draw the line and move on. It's much harder than my usual but also kind of fun. Pushing me is good.
Another entry in the Party Line comic. This time, I touched on something that rattles around in my brain quite a lot. Art, more than ever is a popularity contest and one that changes every day, sometimes within hours of the same day. I'm not bred for that. I'm a slow burn, someone who like to pause over things and think about them. Still, I want what I do to be successful, don't I? The past year, I've basically been teaching myself not to care, not to expect anything back when I make and post art. It's a sort of calm. I guess it could be seen as sad, but if it keeps me from being depressed about making art, why is that bad? So we'll see what the other lads in the comic think of it.
I got email from someone yesterday, sent through flickr as that seemed to be the only way for this person to contact me. He's someone that's been very kind over the years to me about my work and himself is learning to do all sorts of cool things with woods, clay, glass and metal. Anyway, he took a big chance, in my eyes by writing me a very blunt letter basically telling me to stop being such a dick to myself. :"D He's probably right. In regards to that, I made this which I enjoyed drawing very much. This isn't meant to be sarcastic, I mean every word. Every once in awhile, I should probably reaffirm. So thank you, AJ. I probably needed that.
It's -almost- tomorrow which means this could be a post from a different day. This is the Silas page with the filter level turned off. I did the graffiti in colors which I think helped the final version. I don't think I could work out how to use the limited palette on my own. So there's this. And in a way, I'm glad it's preserved and can be shown even if it is garish.
So of course I had to do one of these because the whole world wasn't trumpeting my praises as soon as I posted that Silas page. Sometimes, this is just how depression works. Right on the tail of having someone write a glowing review of one of my older projects, I have a downswing. On the other hand, I think doing these actually helps to some extent. I like this style for cartooning, partially as I'm able to draw it without overthinking too much. Maybe this would have been my "strip style," were I ever to do one. Or maybe this is what my actual cartooning would look like. Either way, I adjusted the style so that it used the pencil lines as well. I kind of like it this way.
After dinner, I did some tweaks to this. Layout will have to be tighter in the future as really, there should only be three paragraphs shown of the song. I eliminated one and added some paintover and moved some things around. Part of the problem is not really understanding the blue lines on the comic pages. Then again, I'm beholden to no one. Still, I think this version is better. All I had to do in PS was to heighten the contrast by 8... whatevers.
Done but technically still a WIP. While I like the overall look of this, I think there might be too many words. One of the things I wanted to address with this comic was the disconnect my brain feels when I look from the image to the words. I thought by integrating them more into the art there might be less of this. Right now, it's exactly the same though without the actual balloon. So we'll see. Used a couple of intermediary layers to both unify the palette of the graffiti and to tone it all down. The crazy colors are more 'realistic,' but don't work as well. Silas as is barely stands out. I only hope this is the beginning of something bigger. Might trim the amount of text for this page down. Songs won't last long if I don't.
