And I did manage to get the page done. It all came together rather easily, which was a nice surprise. These things can get too complicated but I do need to pull back and give some more atmosphere before the track is over. The comic can otherwise get too claustrophobic. I'd imagine that real graffiti writers always feel like they're out in the open, always on the verge of being spotted, the opposite of claustrophobic. Then again, Digby is totally stuck in his own head.

 Got to work on the next page which is coming together quickly. The lower sketch just might be my favorite image of Digby yet. Something about it just works for me, and it is coloring even better. Drew them on paper, scanned them, 'inked' them in Procreate, vectorized them and have been working in greyscale. Might be able to finish this page today. That's the plan.

 City Silent page 129. This one was easy, which I needed or I wouldn't get a page done this week. Came together rather quickly last night with some finishing done today. Been productive so far; I already edited this week's podcast episode and finished this. Nap time.

 Haven't been in the mood to do the comic lately, which is bad. And today, I wasn't in the mood to do much of anything. There's been a lot going on, socially and with work and all. Still, manage to bang this out. It's not great, but it's something.

Or maybe I like this version better.

 One more version, and I  think I like this one best of all. Dumped the inked outlines and just kept the wrinkles. We'll see how it goes, but I think this is the way I want to go.

 Spent this morning with the big, chonk sketch of Ricci, trying out different approaches. The top version is using the usual pen I use for inking stuff. The second is a more traditional style, one I used to use but haven't since I switched to digital inking. The third was just using another, textured brush. There's something to say about all three, but I think the traditional one is the least interesting. I also did a straight to vector version (the bottom one) to see how that would look as it's the approach the current track started with. And last, I vectorized all three inked versions and laid them atop the vectored version. Again, I think the more traditional is the least interesting, and I like the way the lines and colors don't quite match. Colors aren't necessarily those I'd choose, though I think Ricci's track will have a more limited color palette than did Digby's. I hate having to spend so much time on this sort of thing while not getting pages done, but it's important to have some kind of approach. I plan so little as it is.

These are all the iPad sketches I did when hunting around for something I could use in the next track. I went really far afield here, sometimes pulling out my old, classic animation character design book from the 40s by Walter Foster, veering into some Tezuka near the end and dealing with the dog character while also looking into Ricci. The bottom one sent me into what became the chonk drawing from the previous entry. My partner noticed a certain resemblance to Ed Asner, which is not entirely untrue but which also fits the character. He also said, "This looks like a guy who's a boxer who hasn't been boxing in too long," and that fits Ricci. Thought I'd throw out some fumbling around as we all do it and it rarely gets shown.
 

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 Looking ahead. The next song with be done with a different character. I was originally thinking Riccin, from Fite! He's already shown up, briefly, in the overture. So he's established. He also showed up in Tamino, as Tamino did in Fite!. Then I veered off towards an African wild dog character I used only once in a print. But he never really gelled so I went back to Ricci.  The top one is the one closest to what I think will work, but I'm not sure if it's sustainable as there's a lot more realism in him and a lot more drawing involved. The middle is me feeling around, trying to find what I want. The bottom is the dog, some of which I like, but none of which feel right for City Silent. There's also a Procreate document with about ten layers of different sketches of different things which I'll make a separate entry on. For now, I think I'll continue with chonk Ricci.

 FINALLY finished this page. There wasn't much more to do, just the text but the colors just weren't working so almost all of them got changed and changed again. That's ok. I'd rather take the time now and make them work than have to worry about it and be dissatisfied. So I can move on.

 Only a little progress because I worked today and had to watch the movie for this week's podcast before going to work. But I think the colors balance better and I like how it seems to be exploding out of the upper Digby. Text to come and I can move on. This month, I've been at this comic for five years. That was my original, unrealistic, hopeful timeframe to be done. Well, not even half way. Guess I keep going.

 Got started on a new page of this today. The three poses we done separately and somehow managed to fit together really well. I'm very happy with the 'acting' of these as well. The middle one was really hard to draw as I have no real reference for Digby's muzzle from below like that. I think it works. As usual, the colors on the bottom WIP are not set in stone. I've already changed them all around multiple times. We shall see.

 I was more in a portrait mood than a comic mood tonight. The bottom image is from what I think is my most successful real paint portrait to date. I think I'm alone in this, but there's something about it I really like. It took me about half an hour; it just came together and the palette was almost as spontaneous as the rest of the painting. It's acrylic on brown paper. I've been meaning to update it and tonight was the night. I tried to keep to a similar palette but used the iPad instead. I have less hair than I wish but at least I still have the same hoodie. This one, too I think is rather successful and took me about a half hour or so. Perhaps a bit more. I think there's a weird, almost photographic quality to it which makes no sense. And it does look like me. So, there's that.