Had a great day at the ren faire today with my partner. We go in costume, have lots of photos taken and hand out little trinkets to kids. First image is me in my full get-up with a new mask. Bottom is me and my partner as we're getting rained on at the end of the day. We have a great time and this is art of a kind. Admittedly, the parts of the costumes that we made are fewer and fewer as we buy new pieces from Etsy, but we assemble it all. Today was about perfect weather; 65, nicely windy (which is a boon when you're made up like we are). Last week, not so much; 92 and no breeze. We nearly melted. Made me appreciate those poor folks in theme parks that wander around in heavier gear than ours.

Done today, before work, was a bunch of prep work for the next page of City Silent. It's another all-Howard page and I not only wanted to do some different expressions, I wanted to loosen up and somehow connect the three images together. Still don't want to do panels but the pages so far have been a little... stiff. This one feels a bit more flowing. I just hope it doesn't feel like it clashes with the others. More to come.

I had a comment on one of the sites I post art that told me that viewers might not understand that the dog that appears three time in this page is the same character, moving through the crowd, making his way to the stage. To me, it's very clear but I'm not the audience. While I'm trying to do without panels (I've grown to dislike them for reasons I can't really explain), I thought about adding faint borders around Howard to better underline the idea that this is a few moments in time, not just one. I suppose I could have done some movement in the patrons besides Harlon serving drinks but I didn't want it to look too frantic. It's a quiet place before Howard gets up and starts his song/rant. So I threw together this version. I think it works, I just wonder if its necessary. If so, I don't mind it and can do it more later.

I had a little time before work this morning, so I played a bit more with the new camera. For these tests, I decided to use a small toy as a focal point. I didn't want to set up any special lighting or do anything other than point and shoot. That being said, I was asking a lot from the camera as the lighting, overhead, was terrible, there were definite color issues that had nothing to do with the camera and the shots themselves are boring. But that's not the point.
I started with the camera six inches from the toy which itself is less than 4 inches tall. I used three of the four focal length lenses of the camera, mostly as I am getting used to the controls still. Note: with all these photos, I have exported them into jpg form and shrunk them 50% so they would better fit the screen.

On the close image, you can see that the depth of field is VERY narrow and as such, the camera focused on the scarf and handlebar area. That being said, those parts ARE in focus. The color here is obviously skewed, but that's not the camera's fault. The lighting is off. That being said, from what I can tell so far, the camera does tend to skew towards the blues and greens. I clicked one filter tool, the auto-tone and got this result which is a pretty decent fix. Since no photo is perfect, I consider this a very minor thing indeed.

I then moved to about four feet and did more exposures and zooms:

The one thing to note here is the color shift between the far shot and the other shots. That's a bit close to the actual tone in the room but then the camera shifts back blue/green. Again, I don't really mind this especially as most cameras will shift one way or the other. Minor correction is not an issue. Focus is still good through it all.
Lastly, I moved out to about six feet and used three zoom levels:

This shows focal lengths; 28mm, 70mm and 150mm at six feet, focusing on a 4 inch target. I'm sure there are a lot more scientific ways of doing this, testing it, but I'm not a pro. I'm really looking for something to take the place of my iPhone and give me the kind of options I used to get from my point and shoot all in one, easy to use place. It's taking a little getting used to, as any new piece of tech will. While not hard, I do find some things slow which might make quick photos hard to take. I initially thought the camera did not have burst mode, which I couldn't believe. Turns out it's a setting, something that can be either on or off. When on, it works fine but the problem is that you have to know you want to take a burst ahead of time, turn it on then remember to turn it off unless you want to fill up your storage damned fast. There are also only 3 or 6 photo bursts. When I get a chance to shoot some action, I'll test how well they work.
Lastly, I went out last night and took a few very low light photos around the house. As a quick preview, here's one I took of a neighbor's well-lit shrub about three houses down at full zoom. I can't really complain about this. Magnify it and sure, things aren't utterly crisp. I'd be amazed if they were.

Now for something completely different. About two years ago, I saw an article about a new kind of camera coming out. While it wasn't a Kickstarter exactly, one could sign up to be an early adopter, something I generally don't do. Still, the camera sounded really interesting; it uses 16 separate camera modules, just like the ones used in smart phones, to stitch together photos up to 52 megapixels in size. It uses the ten best modules of the sixteen and instantly puts the photo together. One of the things it can do, with the free app download, is to adjust depth of field -after the fact-, something that I don't think any camera can do right now. You might manage it with a tripod and some liberal use of Photoshop filters after the fact but this company promised this as a feature on nearly any photo. Plus, with greater low light capabilities, something I'm very keen on, the camera seemed really attractive. So I bit the bullet and put a downpayment on it.

And, as often happens with these kinds of things, there was a delay, then another. Things started to look a little dim and frustrating. Still, I hung in there as I was still keen on seeing this camera. After waiting for a very long time (as well as continuously checking UPS' website for updates on where the box was) I finally have the camera in my hot little hands.

I'd read some preview-reviews (there were strangely no REAL ones I could find online) which worried me. And a last minute email from the company telling me that they wanted me to 'hang in there as many of the problems that made the camera currently less than perfect will be fixed with a soon to be released software update' didn't make me feel any better. So this will be cautious.

I got to play with it and the software for about an hour before work (and yes, there was an update for both the app and the camera upon initial opening). I decided to take some quick photos of my orc mask as it has some good topography with both the L16 and my iPhone SE, a camera with which I've been pretty happy. Some early notes:

The camera is slow to snap photos. It's more reactive to the touch screen button than the physical one on top of the camera, which is more convenient.

The app is SLOW to process photos. VERY slow. It says it's a beta, but I'm going to judge it on what I have.

Its flash tends towards the yellow though that's easily corrected with a simple click in PS.

The camera is heavier than I thought it would be.

My SE is an even better camera than I thought it was.

My initial reaction to the photos the L16 takes was not utter amazement. This is an expensive camera and it's going to have to live up to its own hype, which was pretty heavy.

Perhaps I'm being overly critical but having to wait pretty much an extra year, getting something with a software update (two, really) right out of the box and email almost begging me to hang onto the camera for awhile is making me careful. I WILL say, on Light's behalf, that when I asked about the return policy, before the camera shipped, I was told that instead of the 90 days I was promised, I could have a full six months to try the camera out. That is more than fair. So while I plan to be rather critical, I also really want to give this machine a chance. Its potential is huge. Here's hoping.

In relation to the last entry, here's a photo of myself and my partner at the ren faire. It was 92 degrees and we sweated our asses off. VERY rough three hours in those get ups. I'm on the right in a new mask, full head, heavy silicone rubber. I think it works a lot better than the old one, but it is a lot heavier and hotter. I thought about the poor people working as mascots in either Disney park a lot today. We got home, showered and slept for a good while. Might be going back tomorrow. Wish it wasn't so damned hot, but there's a lot of kids that get a kick out of it as well as some happy, drunk people. What else is the faire for?

Most of my portrait work lately has come in under an hour, not because I'm trying to "speed paint," a term I pretty much loathe, but because that's all the time I have for them. Demonstrating stuff at work is a perk, I think and because of that, I try not to abuse it. If someone comes along and wants to ask about what I'm doing, or how I'm doing it, I want to and should stop to talk to them. That's part of the gig. That being said, I've liked the other portraits just fine though in some cases I can see where some more work would have made them a good deal better.

Today, I took some time before work, no pressure and worked off a photo I took right after taking off the orc costume from a day's worth of wandering about at the faire. I like how them makeup smears and, if I'm being candid, I actually like the way I look with my eyes blacked out. So I pulled out my tablet monitor, fired up PS and used some of those brushes I buy and rarely use. I kept it in black and white, except for the background as I saw a parallel between me and the 'warboys' from the most recent Mad Max movie. There's a small amount of tracing in this one, just for placement. The pencil sketch was completed just from observation and the paint was all done without the photo layer at all. I'm pretty happy with it; I think it's stark and not too complimentary. Mostly just meant as a bit of fun and to keep working.

I suppose this is a kind of cheating entry but this is pages 2-11 of City Silent. It helps me to look at the group of pages this way. For one thing, I notice that the text in the last page is all nice and neat, which is unlike it is in all the other pages. So it's something that needs to be fixed. An editing tool. Yes, that's what it is.

Another page done. Still think I need to push things a little more and I will soon. That being said, I liked the thumbnail I did for this a few months ago so pretty much stuck to it. Had to fudge a few things as the layout on the page as originally drawn didn't quite work. This is why I tend to do things as bits and pieces; I NEED to play around with them as I'm building a page. Should know better and stop trying to get it all onto one board. It's not how I work.

No one signed up for my sketch walk session at work today, so it meant I had time to do another drawing as demo. I really like when people come over and talk to me about what I'm doing as I'm partially making it up as I go along and I think a lot of folks could do the same. Today, continuing in the Star Wars vein, is a Tusken Raider. Nice to do a departure from the regular people and into something a little more abstract. Had the most fun doing the little metal bits.

Had a bit longer for this one, closer to 90 minutes. That being said, there's still problems with it, mostly as I went at it by the details, didn't take as much time for the overall. Still, it's better than most and was still fun to do.

What are the odds? A second page in the same day. As it turns out, I was finally kind to myself in the thumbnails and only had a close up of Howard for this one. I did take some extra time to really render the jacket and shirt and his face, because it was so simple was really hard to get right. It would have been much easier to use a lot more lines to hide possible mistakes in there. There's a theory that Scott McLeod wrote about in "Understanding Comics" that deals with highly rendered props and backgrounds next to the usual kind of manga face, the idea being that the reader can better insert themselves as the characters are that much more vague, though still strongly represented. Maybe that's what I'm doing here. Regardless, the verses are going to come more than one at a time after this. But still, it was nice to get a second page done. Next one will likely be a pain.

Another page down and I'm finally into the meat of the comic. Howard's first lines and a better example of what this thing will look like down the road. Came together faster than the last page, but those damned bricks... ended up having to do them digitally as the perspective I set up for myself involved a vanishing point I didn't have room for on my drawing table never mind the board. I'd rather not do that but sometimes that's just how it goes.

Because editing never seems to stop and because when you really spend time having to draw each letter separately, you see or 'hear' things that you wouldn't otherwise. The original line was, "but all expressed with deft, athletic skill." One of my constant problems, since I was in grade school is with vague pronouns. Making the letters I realized that it wasn't obvious that the subject of this phrase wasn't the one creating the visions but the one expected to paint them. So I changed it. I'm betting this won't be the last time.

Overall, pretty happy with where I'm going though I think I want the sections that actually have Silas in them to be a bit more wildly drawn, a bit less solid and realistic. I do a -little- of this in the prologue but since this is the set up, I've been kind of conservative. This whole thing is about art so it has to go a little nuts down the road or it will miss the point.

This isn't strictly art, but it sorta kinda is. Also, I wanted to make at least ONE more post just to beat the number from 2015. I had a goal this year to make more posts here, do more art. In general, I think that I've been more productive and numbers don't really reflect anything. And yet... and yet. This is one of those other things I do, go in orc costume to the local Renaissance Faire. It's good fun, we have a LOT of photos taken with us, and make a lot of little kids happy by giving kids some trinkets so they won't be scared. I'm the one with the furry hat. The other one is my partner. We have a really good time. Happy 101 for 2017.

Another page down. These are taking forever but it's my own fault. Who else could I blame? Was fun to bring in some old friends. I think that my little corral of characters is growing a bit and really, that's how this whole thing kind of got started. Tamino makes his first appearance in Fite, Ricci shows up in Tamino (for a mirror of the same scene), the two mice, utter throwaway characters get an appearance in a Crawford and Cromwell comic and then get their own short story. Howard the dog, appearing twice in Tamino now fronts this story about Silas who was also instrumental in Tamino. Other players are the Tommy and African Wild Dog in the foreground who have yet to be named and appeared in one print. There's also a table with Marcel, Digby and a perpetually grumpy Ricci in the mid ground (honestly can't see why they're hanging around with HIM; perhaps two of them went to college or something), a VERY dim, grown up Harlon waits tables in there, too. I guess peppering panels like this with extras just gives me the possibility of more stories down the road. Also makes them feel a little less like place holders and more like someone vaguely specific. Anyway, I get to start on the lyric pages next which feels like a huge relief for some reason. The meat of this comic IS about the songs and so far it's just been set up and atmosphere.

This was a REAL quickie; about 20 minutes. There was a really interesting expression here, a mixture of anger and sadness that I barely touched. I could easily have spent a lot longer on this. I think that, at the very least, these work things I do help me make quick decisions and become more decisive with my work. That being said, I can always wish for more.

Did a lot today but not enough. City Silent is taking a lot longer than anything else I've ever done. Tamino was a breeze compared to this. I keep doing this kind of thing to myself: complicated set ups with many characters and/or thick settings. All but one of the images here was done today. Separate images were penciled and inked and arranged into the top image to see if all this was going to work. Usually, I'd just take the inked images, throw them into AD and make it work. Thought I'd try something different and pin them together first to see what worked and what didn't. I'm pretty happy all around and will fill in the club around the people. It will be dark.

This comic is something I am passionate about and I'm dying to get to the lyrics, which happens next page. IN the back of my head I know, too that there are two previous pages that need to be addressed at some point. One has been started, the other has not. They're even more complex, like page 2 and are going to be a pain in the ass. If I stop to do them, I'll never make forward motion.

All in all, it was still fun to do this, especially since everyone here is a cameo of some sort. The two at the left most table are from one of the print series (don't have a name for them yet but it seems that the first date worked out). The table of three is, from left to right, Marcel, Ricci and Digby. The one waiter in view is a grown up Harlon though I never waited tables. Tezuka had a stable of characters/actors and I admit that I really like that idea though mine don't change parts, they just show up in other stories. Have to remember that Rooster can't as he's dead. Maybe Smatt and Terry will do a graffiti memorial to him. Hmmm...

Don't think I uploaded this one, possibly because it's not exactly by me. I know I took a photo of Dr. Clayton Forrester from MST3K and dropped it into SuperVectorizer to split out the colors. I did choose them and did a good deal of editing work, especially on the glasses which didn't turn into the green I wanted. Still, it's obviously built directly on a photo. So I didn't sign it. This was made for a friend's birthday. I tried to do a painting and it REALLY didn't work. So, while I like it, I can't really consider it mine. Guess I would have been a terrible Pop Artist.

Another demo from work, this time of ol' Grand Moff Tarkin himself. Peter Cushing had a great face. I should do more of him, perhaps in other rolls. Look at those cheekbones! Amazing.