And a quick 26 and 27. Easier when I can reuse some of the inks. As a purist, I could have drawn the window three times but I really want to concentrate on the change of color to suggest time in the background. If the lines were different, it would dilute that emphasis. Sure, it sounds like justification, but it's also true.
There is a version of this without the grey bars but I'm not posting it. It's just for me. Since this blog is about my work, I didn't want to leave it out. Did have a lot of fun making this with the iPad. That brush is a lot of fun. That being said, the message isn't a happy one. I hope that by making this, even if I don't share what's being said, I can help exorcise some of the demons and move on. I did start thumb nailing the next song, so that's a step.
I'm in love with this particular brush in Procreate. Threw my back out today doing nothing at all so can't do much at the moment. Was able to do this and am glad I did. The texture of this brush is unlike anything I know in real life. If I knew where to get one, I would and would paint like crazy, so I'm glad I don't know. Making digital paintings takes up so much less room and is such less trouble.
90 second doodles on the iPad. They're really rough. Which is ok. I found a brush I REALLY like and find that it keeps me from being too tight. In fact, it kind of forces me not to be precise which is something I always struggle with. I love it to ink with and paint with. The last biograph page was done with it, but in a more controlled fashion. These won't win prizes, they're not meant to. Just a bit of fun, the joy of drawing.
Yesterday was not a good day. The response to "City Silent" was exceedingly disappointing. Not surprising, just disappointing. Of even the few folks that 'liked' the posts made in various places, none of my friends actually downloaded the comic (those that didn't get one sent to them, like you, Vince) and altogether, only five people sought it out. That's pretty harsh. I made a page of Biograph that's very blunt about my feelings, but it's the first page of that comic I'm not posting anywhere. I really don't want to have to defend how I feel and when I get so blunt, sometimes I get comments (not from you, Vince) that try and take me to task. I made this one today, posted it, just didn't put any text in it. If anyone wants to know, they can ask though I think it says what I want it to without dialogue.
More likely than not, any further pages of City Silent, if any, will be posted here and on my flickr account only. I'm quite tired of trying to get interest in my work. I can't not make it, but if I am truly making it 'just for me,' then I might as well do that very thing.
Minor color tweaks for page 6. Made Howard the same colors as he was in the preceding pages. Also noted that I'd been lazy with the lower right figure, having colored it mostly one color. Things are now more harmonious. Lessons for the next section; set up color palettes so I can avoid all this copy, pasting and deleting when getting everything in line. Also, write down or otherwise note the exact nature of the overlays I'm likely to do all over the place.
Here it is, the last page I needed to finish for the first song of "The City Silent." Took a few days, and I still think the decision to bypass this til later was a good one. Got done what I wanted, the page does what I needed to do and, with the insertion of that light pole and Howard inked by hand, I think the transition works ok. It suddenly reminds me of some of those manga where, for no reason I've ever been able to understand, the first few pages are in full color, painted or something and then the remaining 400 are just black and white line work. Again, I've avoided cars so there's no specific date. This street has no signs, either as it's more a business district. Distractions that won't add anything to the story, and might remove some of the coldness I wanted from the city at this point. Used screen shots from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" for the street scene here. For Howard, I did my usual thing of taking photos of me. There are about 120 so far just for this section. I hope to be a little looser in the other sections, until Howard comes back for the intermission and final song. But those are both a long way away.
Finally finished this page. It was a pain in the ass but I think the effect is worth it. Wanted to do something like those old cartoon backgrounds that by their very nature gave a sense of movement. I'm not that good at it which is partially why it took so damned long. This was one of two pages that was holding me back. Now it's out of the way. One more to go, final tweaks and the first song will be DONE.
Got a very cool book for my birthday, and it's a dangerous one; it's an overview of the art of Jamie Hewlett. A fan favorite, his work almost begs to be adapted or at least absorbed into my and many other people's style. That being said, I've never really looked at a lot of it at one time and I am amazed how much Jack Davis is in there. I have a big book on him, too. The things I've taken away from this so far are that; I'm too damned tight, a constant problem, and also that I should trust a bit more to instinct and less on direct observation. This goes against what I've done for the first section but as this is about graffiti writing, or at least that's the backdrop, I think it makes sense. So I did some quick warm up sketches this morning on my iPad and Procreate, trying not to even reference my own drawings for Silas' head. And of course now, in this moment, it went pretty well. Just have to figure out how to stay this loose when doing the comic.
Did some of the easier work this morning on the back pages of City Silent. These might not be the final adjustments but they're a step on the way to something more synchronous. Most of the adjustments involved the overlays of green; making them consistent and noticing that the color for Howard needs to be addressed the same way. Also, the vignettes on page 23 were brightened so he was easier to see. Little things which, to me, are worth doing to make a better comic. Lots more to do.
Met my goal today of finishing the main pages for the first song of City Silent. What happens now is that I have to go back, make adjustments so that the whole song reads better as a whole as well as finish the two missing pages that I skipped because they were complicated and causing me to stall and not make forward motion. I think it was the right decision. Once all THAT'S done, I'll package the thing as a PDF and throw it onto Gumroad in hopes of getting people to read it. I think it makes FAR more sense as a unit and almost none as a page here and there.
Page 23. This is as close to panels as I hope to get. Might even be too close, but it solves the problem. I've seen a lot of online comics with 'animation' added to them. Never want to go that route as to me, they always feel incomplete, as if they're animatics, or a step on the way to something else. That being said, sometimes small movements are really important and the action needs to slow down to focus on them. Anyway, two more pages to go in this sequence and they're both easy. I aim to have them done today, birthday or no.
There were a LOT of images made to go along with this one. And it really didn't come together til I got the color going. The icons in the back were drawn and photographed in perspective a few different ways til I found one that I liked and worked. I think there were three different views of each. The words, too had to be photographed in different ways to get that perspective. For such a simple page, this one had a lot more work than I thought it would need. That being said, I think it came out pretty well. It's one of the saddest of the sequence, at least for me because I know who all these characters are. Angel was drawn just once and then he committed suicide off screen. Pamina, really never came. She represented the next project. After Tamino, I was in limbo for comics for a very long time. Six years or more. While I did some short stories here and there, nothing big like this could be sparked in my head. Until I realized that writer's block and a lack of audience could, in and of themselves be the subject for a comic. And so here we are. Glad to have been able to make so many pages recently, but I still have to pick up the pace as this thing is huge and will never get done if I remain so slow with it.
City Silent page 20. Didn't think I'd get this one done today, but with having done two of the characters yesterday, I was able to pull it all together. Four more to go in this sequence and then I can edit the song and release it, probably through Gumroad. Was pretty happy with how this turned out. Real ink for the moment.
