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...
