This is more like it. Got a comment from someone yesterday that the brown lines from the promo piece were worth keeping. I'm using that poster as a kind of key to how I want the whole comic to go. So I redrew this, dumped Mikilo for the moment to concentrate on Crow's loneliness. Pretty happy with it.

Other shit I did today.

I guess I did get a lot done today? This is pencil on an actual comic board inked on the iPad, finished on the Mac in Affinity Designer. We'll see if this remains an official page one, part two or not.

So the last re-design of Crow got a resounding "ugly" from two separate sources. I don't see it personally. I liked that design. Kind of a lot. And while I don't think the hero has to be some handsome hunk, I do need him to be at least appealing. So I tamed down his eyebrows and his janky teeth (not seen here), put back his original hair and made this. At this point, I think I honestly don't know what other people like, because I like this style a lot.

Another set of images that I'm happy with. At this point, I just need to pick a style and stick to it. Or else.

Late night, last minute sketches. I like them. They feel like me, are expressive. Crow is kind of my current muse; if he looks good, I think I'm doing good. He's the lead I follow when it comes to cartooning. If he succeeds, I succeed. Or something like that.

Learning to draw like myself. Been trying my favorite pastime again; re-designing Ghiroy characters. This year, I really want to try and make a go at SOMEthing I do. I turned 55. That seems pretty damned late to leave things if I really want to accomplish anything artistic. Ghiroy seems my most likely candidate for any kind of commercial presence. D&D is big right now, bigger than it's ever been. Strike while the iron is hot. Thing is, because of all the styles, I find I don't really know what my style is. I try and adapt, playing with styles that are more iconic and lend themselves more towards toys and cartoons. But are they really mine? So I sketch and sketch and honestly get nowhere. I LIKE a lot of the designs I've done but I have to stick with ONE and try and make it work. I've seen a lot of other people make do with less. Perhaps one of the reasons Ghiroy hasn't gone further is that I keep re-treading old water. I have to, this year, promise, pick a damned style and stick with it no matter what. If the comic doesn't succeed, I'm no worse off than I was.

Sigh. Ghiroy is a constant problem for me. I THINK it could be something, especially since D&D is kind of huge these days. What this comic needs to be is appealing, simple and easy to produce. So far, I've not had any of those things. Today, I took ten minutes before work and just doodled the main characters on the backside of another sketch. Things came easily and are relatively appealing. There's a Disney quality to them I'm not totally proud of but mainstream isn't so bad a thing to aim for if I'm trying to get people to read the damned comic. I really feel for anyone that's given Ghiroy a try; I am a TERRIBLE cartoonist when it comes to consistency.

Let's see if this works. Process video of a work demo. I can't show the reference photo as it's one of the demo photos in the equipment we use at work so is likely copyrighted. Didn't use anything but observation for this one. Started off doing Mikilo but didn't like it, wasn't inspired so went to portrait mode. You'll have to trust me that it looks like the guy.

EDIT: Nope. You just see the final. Oh, well.