Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Where does this stuff come from? I was going through some VERY old backups this morning, hoping for a scan of a drawing I still own but can't get to. Never found it, but I did find some 'seeds' that I forgot I planted which have become something a great deal bigger than they were. The first are a couple of skater mice sketched in a pad that is now stuffed in a closet somewhere. What's obvious now is that I wasn't content with the two quick sketches. These guys would show up almost ten years later in Tamino, though their appearance was singular and brief. Since then, Smatt and Terry have shown up twice more and will definitely be a part of City Silent. I guess they symbolize my angrier side?I had totally forgotten about them until I re-found them this morning although it's obvious they were still in my head somewhere and have been since I drew them. Either that or it's just a continuing fascination with skaters.

Next one is a reference I didn't forget, though I HAD forgotten this image. Silas Crawford was going to be a character in a role playing game that never happened. I think it was going to be a campaign of White Wolf's Changeling game. He was a lonely teen with very gawky, bird-like features. He wrote graffiti which was somehow tied in with his fae nature. I don't remember much else about him though I know I was thinking 'crow' both in his name and his looks. I really liked the character and didn't want to just let him slide into nothingness, so he became my graffiti writing bird in Tamino and, now the center of City Silent. I bet a lot of creative people do this; plant seeds they don't realize will grow nearly on their own, bearing fruit suddenly ready to pick. I think I've also been building a cast of 'actors' similar to the way Tezuka did it with his comics, though mine keep their identities instead of taking new parts. It's a very small world and, perhaps, it will be my job to take all the players to their finish and then be done with comics. There aren't that many left; Howard, Silas, Terry, Smatt, Lucco, Ricci. The bit players include about four or five more though they might not get singular stories. Or I might end comics with City Silent and Ghiroy.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Haven't done one of these in awhile. Biography is hard because I often want to say so much more than can fit in the one page, but if I don't keep it quick, brief, I won't actually DO the comic. That being said, Murakami is a troubling figure for me. He goes along in the tradition, since Warhol, of artist as more director than anything else. The top artists of the day, him, Koonz, and Hirst all do it this way. With sculpture, I can understand it as pretty much no sculptor cast their own work. It's a very specialized field. That being said, they DID actually make the thing that was being molded or produced. These days, the top tier folks make sketches and hand things off entirely to others. Murakami, especially works with trappings of Japanese and other countries' pop culture. To be fair, there's a lot of commentary that's not so obvious to western eyes, especially on the role of atomic power in Japan's history. In a way, it's not unlike Godzilla, or at least the original film. What seems to be almost kiddie fare on the surface has more to say below it. Or does it? And again, how much of the final product, because it IS a product was actually made by Murakami? Approval is not the same as actual decision in the art making process. Is this how art is to be made from now on, appreciated or am I just a stick in the mud when it comes to stuff like this? I prefer to see a single person's thoughts on a given subject. It's that sincerity I crave. And for an art world that gets SO uptight when they find out that the painting they touted as being 'genuine' is in fact a forgery, I'm surprised that this kind of turnabout is not only accepted but even promoted. So, like Warhol before him, I'm still struggling with what I think about all this. I guess Biography is more like a book mark on thoughts and feelings I had at the time; it's not meant to be the full thought itself, it's just to remind me what was going on.

Today's demo at work with the iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and Procreate. The movie is off center because I use split-screen to have the photo I'm using on the right. Used a different tool today, something ink (I forget). I think this one got overworked but is still somewhat interesting. Would use this tool again.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Home sick today, but I managed to get this page done, probably only because most of it was drawn and inked already. When I'm sick, I tend to need to sleep a lot. Today was no exception. That being said, this page came together more quickly than most. I think it's the best image of Howard so far as well. Sometimes I can feel things click; others I feel myself fighting. Glad this one was one of the smoother ones.

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Another in-store demo. This time, I had a lot longer, perhaps even too long. There were times I felt that I was done but still had time so kept going. That being said, I think it's a decent interpretation of the original black and white photo of Boris as Frankenstein's monster. I had to interpret with my own colors, of course. I have no idea what the original makeup looked like. I think I heard that it was yellow. Was fun to do. As it is, I think, as of tuesday, I might finally have my own iPad pro so I can do these things more often.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Haven't done a page of Ghiroy in far too long. I've been focusing more on City Silent, which has a slightly better chance at an audience than this does. Also was struggling a lot with the Lich character. Seems easy enough; a skull in a robe. But I just couldn't get something that seemed to fit with the rest of the comic. So there are a lot of pages of design work as I poke and press, trying to get something that worked. In the end, I drew a head similar to Crow's and just put in skull features instead and that seemed to work. Seems obvious NOW.
This is a rare page that had most of the composition worked out ahead of time. I did the Lich on another page as I didn't want to muddy up the rest. As it turns out, I completely redrew it anyway at the end because it just wasn't working. This is one of my favorite pages, partially because of how things pop but also because of certain elements that just happened to work out by chance. For example, the Lich's head in the lower corner shares the robe from the figure above, making it look like it pertains to both. Happy accident. Also, the way the characters seem to be cut off by folds of the cloth. That, too was something that happened while I was making the page. Sometimes, stuff just works.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Some more quick stuff, though again trying to get out of my usual. These are done in PS with brushes I've bought and rarely use. Was watching a documentary on an artist that uses a lot of washes with oil paint and mineral spirits and I wondered if I could do something vaguely similar. This is very vaguely. Still, not entirely unsuccessful.

Haven't had much to post because of house guests and no time to draw. This was a quickie for this inktober thing. Tried to do something a bit out of my ordinary, something more flowing and simplified. I think it's mostly successful. Breaking my little normal is a good thing here and there.

Monday, October 09, 2017

With this post, I equal the total amount of posts I made last year. While it's not about quantity, there is something to be said about making more work of some kind. And it is a goal. With City Silent now in pretty much full swing, at least the prologue, there will be a good deal more done before the end of the year. That being said, I have two hiatuses (hiati?) coming up as well, one this week so things will taper off here and there. This one was a quickie for inktober, done before work today. Weekends mean no art. Skaters seem to be a thing for me right now, so why not?

Wednesday, October 04, 2017

Another quick addition to the inktober thing. I like this guy. He's fun to draw.

Inktober, day 4. A quickie of Scum. I rather like this scruffy bastard though there's no real story here. Just enjoying the drawing and inking process.

This one was kind of a bitch, which it shouldn't have been. I also had to cheat on this one and use AI as there are no perspective tools in AD. This is a page that should have been laid out better ahead of time. As it is, I am happy with it though it doesn't match my original idea exactly and there were some really last minute choices and changes that were nearly chance. But, moving on. I can keep going and that's what's important.

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Inktober is here. I use ink all the time, so it's not really a stretch for me (which is also why I don't mind too much missing a day here and there). Here's a character from last year's Inktober, Scum. Just a bit of fun which is what Inktober should be.

Sunday, October 01, 2017

Sometimes, when I'm lucky, even when I'm working, I get a chance to draw. Took a slightly different approach with this one, being a lot looser with the sketch but also trying to really deal more with shapes in the sketch portion. Still didn't get a chance to finish it, would like to have done more with the details. iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate.