Little iPad doodle this morning. I'm enjoying that device more and more, when I get a chance to use it. The holidays always knock me out in one way or another. This year, I've been sick...twice. Damned tired of it now. Barely had enough voice to do the podcast this week. We just recorded our 31st episode, though we've only released 22 because of scheduling reasons. Part of me wants to do more painting. I kind of miss it.
Been sick too much lately. That being said, when I have energy, I've been sketching on the iPad just to do SOMEthing. This is one of the weirdnesses that came out the other day. No idea what I was trying to accomplish. So what? It's digital and takes no space. There are also lots of character design things because the lads I was doing the comic, "The Party Line" with have decided to resurrect that when the new year starts, so I wanted to get something more steady than I had before. Might post those later.
Another page down, finally. And with this post, I do something I've been wanting to do for awhile; I've reached a new maximum of posts in a year. I've been keeping this blog for twelve years. Almost no one does these any more but I still feel value in them. At the very least, it helps keep me making art. City Silent needs a boost. I want to see this thing done before I'm dead.
WIP of the next page of City Silent. It's been a month since the last because I've been busy. This page, so far, doesn't use any real media at all. The pencils and inks were done in the iPad, sent through SuperVecotrizer and, so far pulled into Affinity Designer. Seems I could make a transition and do the whole comic digitally. More to come.
Did a lot of sketching on the iPad today. This is one of the things I made. For whatever reason, cartooning came easily to me today. I'd been looking at some of the old Delve Deep stuff and kind of missed the rabbits. I think Ghiroy was still the better decision but I put a lot of work into those rabbits for them to come to nothing. I don't blame them for being cranky.
Almost forgot this; finally, a new page of City Silent. I thought this was the last of the interlude but it's not. There's one more to go. I haven't penciled out the next song and in a way I'm glad I haven't done anything with this in three months. It means that there are things I've seen and people I've talked to that will influence the pages in ways that they wouldn't be if I had just kept going. This is not a reason to put something off forever, it's just that sometimes a rest is a good thing.
Playing about with some new brushes in Procreate. One of the best reasons for doing work digitally is the ability to experiment without damaging the original file, pencils or anything else. In this case, I re-inked Silas thicker just to see. I think I want something between the two. That being said, this was a good experiment and was fun to do. There are some great brushes out there.
Made two more shirts. The skater mouse, Smatt is a lot bigger than I usually do and I rather like it. The other, the rabbit-thing, which is sort of my current avatar looks good as well. Makes me happy. And, were I really a hipster, I'd be utterly tickled that I had shirts no one else would even -understand-. :"D
Since I finished the Mass Ave image yesterday, today I kind of bummed around. Wanted to play with the new iPad. I did a couple of pages of sketches of Smatt, just messing about with him, doing some variations on the theme. Sometimes I really just like to draw for the sake of drawing, no reason required.
BIG post. There are going to be some final tweaks but this is the final version of this image. Went through a lot of changes over the two years I've been poking at this. I started it before I switched to Affinity Designer then, after a false start, let it sit for a really long time. I picked it up again a month or so ago deciding that I really wanted to get it done. Using the photo I'd taken on Mass Ave, I did indeed trace things on my iPad knowing that I was going to interpret and change what was there anyway, really making it my own. I could have made a grid and painstakingly copied it that way more or less freehand but what would be the point? The buildings might have felt a bit less cold but then I wouldn't have that contrast with the characters being far more organic. Speaking of the characters, I went through a few versions of them, too. One missing here is the original pair with the otter's original head. Didn't like it so drew him a new head and pasted atop the body, adding the hat. Then I decided the arm in arm pose felt forced. Going the other way, I tried out a lone coyote who looked rather downtrodden. My partner felt that the image was quite sad and, as I'm hoping to maybe sell some of these, it seemed a poor choice. So I changed his face, too, adding a lower jaw, tongue and squinting his eyes. Him alone felt hollow so I brought the otter back, walking at his side, licking at the snow. That felt right to me.
Speaking of the snow, I went through a lot of different attempts at that. All of them were using Procreate on the iPad, but none of the brushes were giving me the results I really wanted. There's no substitute for the 'real thing,' so I did four different versions of snow, each 'flake,' or dash drawn by hand, each version set at its own layer part way through the composition. That's one of the things I have to tweak a little, but just a little. I think I have a good balance of detail and obfuscation. I like the mood, the background's complex enough to feel real-ish and the colors, which I changed entirely from the photo feel harmonious. We'll see how it prints. For now, I can, more or less, put this one to bed.
Been working more on the figures for this image. They just weren't working out for me. I ditched the couple arm in arm and went to a singular figure, which was the original idea but it looked rather sad, especially with the expression I initially drew him with. So I changed the face. But then the image seemed rather shallow, lacking in something. So I brought the otter back but off to the side. I like this version a good deal better, not least of which because I think the characters are a lot better drawn. Unless something leaps up at me, I'll be going with these. Now to just finish the background...
Haven't posted anything in a bit as I've been working on this for the most part. As I'm down to the smaller details, it's hard to see progress. Now I have something to show as there are characters. The snow is just for testing; I'll be sure to do it more concentratedly later; I just wanted to see if this approach will work, and I think it will. Still some work to do on the right side but essentially, this is what I had in mind. Must finish soon so I can have a print ready for a convention I'm going to in early December.
Another quickie on the iPad. Sometimes, like I said, it's good to get away from something for awhile. The iPad has been mostly used for reading lately, not much else as I've just felt more like pencil, ink and paper. Then, today, I picked it up, opened Procreate and snapped photos of stuff I hadn't inked, some of which was VERY loose. Actually worked in my favor. Threw this together in like 15 minutes and am very pleased with the looseness of it.
Another Inktober skater pic. Felt nice this morning not having to worry about getting stuff done for that application. No deadlines, so I could draw what I wanted. Had to do this one twice as the first one was too close to the reference photo. Sometimes, while reference helps, it's also constricting and I have a hard time getting away from it. So I put the reference away and draw only from my previous drawing. And, sometimes, it works.
