This run of Harlon is harder than the last one as I'm doing it about now, not about something that's already happened, can be categorized and listed. Otherwise, I might have got through the requisite 30 comics by now. That being said, I'm not doing City Silent. This is how it went with Tamino, but I was a lot further along. I blame the cold.
Haven't done a lot of art. January slump which, I found out, I didn't have last year. Well, it's cold? Whatever. These were both work demos. One is some Harlon sketches I did and the other, just a digital painting of a sunflower. Both were successful in their way and fun to do. Here's to more productivity.
Two more. I don't know that the first one works. Worked great in my head and I like the idea, but i don't think it's so obvious what's actually going on. That being said, I think it's sometimes worth posting the ones that don't work along with those that did. And this thing is only a short term experiment anyway, just like the first one. And I'm a third of the way through at this point.
I chickened out on posting the first strip. I posted it here and on flickr but not anywhere else people could read it. My finger hovered over the buttons, but I didn't do it. Maybe I'll just slip it into the book, if there ever is one. The second one is something I felt before, I think with Fite, towards the end? I don't remember. But if any kind of cartooning becomes easy, is that a sign? Guilt because it's easy, or maybe it's more a suspicion that nothing good can come from something easy. Dunno. But the new Harlon IS slicker, looks refined. Is that a good thing? Does it lessen the sincerity or impact? Hell if I know, current self or younger self.
I've been bad about updating the blog. On the other hand, I have been making Harlon strips so there's that. The one in the middle, "Metaphor," I didn't post. I like it, but I'm not sure it fits with the others and it feels like something I might have done in Biography some time before. Making these on the iPad is SO much easier and faster than it is on paper. I can get one done from scratch in about an hour. What I need to make sure I can do is save those Procreate files so that if I need to vectorize them at a later date, I can. Right now, they're just dumbed down 96dpi jpgs. Not sure how long I'll do these. While they're getting attention, they feel easy. City Silent is waiting in the wings. I think if I looked back, I'd find that this time of year I tend to stall on all the big projects. Ten years ago, I stalled at this same time on Tamino and did... Harlon. The holidays really take it out of me, I guess. At least I'm still making something.
Due to some prompting from my partner, I resurrected Harlon today. I deleted my twitter account because it was making me depressed. People -saying- that they were going to have lunch were getting likes and my art there was getting nothing. I really don't need this kind of thing. It's bad enough that my art gets almost no attention as it is. What was nice is that Harlon is now a good deal easier to make than it was almost ten years ago; Procreate does it all. Nice, straight panels, character that looks simple and has some energy but is also not sketchy. This might take the place of Biograph. It's more true, in a way and it's as easy and fun to do as the original.
This is a post, first of the year, to kind of poke myself with some positive feedback. I AM a lazy bastard, this I know but I also get things done despite the part time job and two D+D games. This year, there were 42 pages of "City Silent" made, 14 of "Ghiroy," 8 of "Biograph," another image was made in the prints series, three t-shirts were made, multiple portraits and tons of sketches done on the iPad and, while not art related, I started a podcast with my best friend and we've so far recorded 32 episodes of it. I've also started moving away from traditional media in favor of the iPad. I won't give up ink totally, but the last page of City Silent was done without any real media at all. And I don't think you can tell the difference. So here's hoping 2019 is at least as productive. Needs to be more so or City Silent will never get done.
