I wasn't satisfied with the Joe Wilkinson portrait so I went back to the pencil sketch and adjusted quite a bit. It's a good deal heavier with lines I don't really like than the final is, but that's because it only exists as a frame on which I can paint the final bits. It -almost- works without the lines but there are a few things that really define his face in that layer and I couldn't leave them out. Might be, with some more work, I could get them to work with just the flesh color and the dark hair/beard layer. As it is, I think it works and I like the warmer tones. It's less dour though also less "Dutch master" in palette than before.

 Page 127 done. The transition between the last page and this one isn't the strongest. This was one of those situations where I really needed to get past the page so I can keep going. Likely, when the act is done, I'll come back and add something, perhaps a page between 126 and 127 with a mural; something that Digby is reacting TO. For now, I can keep going.

 Didn't work on the comic today because this was poking at me and I hadn't done a portrait in a long while. This is more a sketch than truly finished. I could and should spend a lot more time on this and perhaps I will. For now, it's out of my system and I can continue with the comic tomorrow. Comedian Joe Wilkinson and a more serious moment, though that's part of his schtick. I used the 'formal' colors I did when I did the most recent Rembrandt ones as brown his Joe's color and I wanted a more formal feeling to this.

 Well, that didn't last long. I just wasn't feeling the other page. The straight on, boring angle just wasn't working for me. And while I wanted to reference one of Silas' pieces, this just wasn't the time to do it. So instead, the last verse is introspective, Digby trying to come up with inspiration for his next big piece. And he will. Turns out I had a couple photos I could meld together that gave me a much more dynamic feel and fit the rest of the track better. The alley is from Central Square and the background is from downtown Boston. I had to, once again, erase out the areas between stairs and other areas of the fire escape but it was worth it. I like the looming building showing through with just a touch of a brighter color. Played around with some tools in Procreate I never use, most notable the magic wand and 'liquify.' Worked for what I needed. One more figure and some text to go.

I thought about it and, as I took a few more photos for reference, I'm going to put multiple figures on the fire escape and then the one in the foreground I'd planned since changing my mind. So here he is, moved back. Two more of those to come with another in front. Now I'm happy with the layout.

Spent the day trying to replicate page 50's background to bring it into the current track and to remind people that Silas is still out there somewhere. I really like how the photo collage worked out, especially as I had to piece together the brick wall from six pieces, the window from another photo and then had to erase out all the negative space from the fire escape and place it in. The graffiti went atop that and looks ok. I used the original Spirit from page 50 and it's my favorite part. There needs to be adjustments on color, more graffiti on the wall and just...SOMEthing. I'm not really sold on this but I think I can make it work in the long run. At least I worked on it today.

 This page took way too long and had way too many elements. It is a fairly simple page, all things considered but I wasn't satisfied with at least two of the heads, maybe three. So I redrew them. As it stands, I think there's some decent movement and emotion there, at least enough for an 'in-between' page that's meant to just give a pause between refrain and verse. The background was cheap and easy; a photo of graffiti I took in L.A. just twisted and reduced. From here on in, things are going to get a bit more solid and the colors are going to 'fade' back to the more subdued ones of the beginning of the track, suggesting, I hope, that Digby is either coming down off something or is coming out of his dream and back to the 'real' world.

 Got started on the next page today which I needed to do. I've added a new bit for reference; the Memoji on my iPad, for expressions. There might not seem to be a lot of connection between it and my drawing but it actually does help a little. Digby doesn't look at all like the cartoon fox, but because it's rendered in real time 3D, it gives me hints I might not have seen otherwise. That and photobooth, an otherwise useless app help me out a lot. So it's a pause as Digby 'comes down' and tries to figure out what was just going through his head before seeing the next bit. More to come.

 Page 125 done. It only took about 45 minutes to do the finals on this one. It's a bit busy, but it does what it needs to do, fits the theme and you can still read the words. I realized, as I finished this, that there's one more verse to go in this track, three tracks left after that in the act which will bring me to the halfway point. I'm still too slow on this project but that seems like a good indication that I will finish it. At some time. Little steps.

 Got some progress done on this today, though not finished. I AM lazy and have been playing too many video games, being slightly sick or not. At least I got somewhere. The background text took long enough but does have that psychedelic look I wanted. I also did a different version of the coloring of the Digby figure as I'd done in previous pages but it was too messy, too busy and didn't work. So I had to redo that. The colors are not final and I still have to do the text. There might also need to be some other kind of detail in there somewhere. We'll see. For anyone interested, this is what my actual AD window looked like without cropping:

 Didn't get a lot done today. It actually took awhile sitting and looking at the lyrics and previous pages to get an idea. I didn't want to be literal this time around. I think there's going to be a lot of graffiti as mandala kind of art around him. At least this is a start. iPad pencils over real ones.