Busy day "off." Had the podcast this morning, then the HVAC person came to make sure our aged AC unit was ok. Then a little Zelda, two loads of wash and this. I think there'll be one more page in the track and it will be done. There's an intermission between acts 2 and 3 but I'm considering it to be a part of the first half. So it'll need to be done before the first half is officially finished.

I was kind of sorry there was so much text here that had to cover the drawing as I rather liked it. Before all the extra stuff, it looked like this:

Ah, well. That's what happens. Moving on. Stuff to do.

 Did a lot more work on this one, basically redrawing all the facial details and adjusting the colors. I don't think it's my best likeness ever. It does look like her but I think it's lacking some or a good deal of her character. Part of that is my fault for choosing a screen grab that wasn't really that indicative. It makes a good image, I think, but not the best portrait. That being said, there are a lot of things I do like about it and in some ways, it reminds me of my mother.

 Working on a portrait of portrait artist, Alice Neel. It's not really coming together for me. It's ok but isn't really bringing out what I want. Haven't done one in a really long time and that's part of the issue I think. There's just not enough feeling in it, something which her paintings have in abundance. So, will keep chipping away.

 Another page closer to the end of the track. This one has a bit more dimensionality than the others but that's ok. Maybe it's like being in the middle of all those fumes and clouds of color. Also, I realized that I left a detail out of the previous page that would help connect it to this one, so added it and reposted that page:

In case you're wondering, it's the 'S' curve bit of spray paint. That wasn't there before.

 Start to finish, I did this page today. Admittedly, it's not one of the more complex ones but considering I did this, played some Zelda, watched this week's movie for the podcast and got in an episode of "Ted Lasso," I guess I did ok. As is often the case when I do full figures, I ran out of room for his hands, so did them in closeup, shrunk and moved them later. When the page was nearly done, I felt that his arms were too short, so lengthened them which worked surprisingly well. Very close to the end of this track.

 Finally finished this page. It's not my favorite, but it works. They can't all be my favorite. Moving on.

 I lied. Had a lot to do today so only got this far. At least it's progress.

 I'm already past this point but I wanted to sneak in a post about the next page in an in-status form. Should have it ready later tonight. And I'm totally not padding my entry count. No, not at all.

 Page 156 done. Now I've equalled the page count of Tamino, but I've half the comic to go and then a little bit. This will definitely be my last long form comic. I don't think I'll have it in me to do these extended projects again. But that's a long way away now. I think I've been working on this one for six years so far and a lot has happened and changed. My workflow is actually quicker than it used to be. And I'm allowing myself to find shortcuts that don't shortchange the art. Once I finish all of the first half, I'll go back through the whole thing and see where stuff doesn't work or needs shoring up. Then I'll release it. As we head into the fall, I hope to be more productive. This year has been a shit show in a few ways, none of them artistically in nature. It's all that stupid job I still have to have. Well, we'll see.

 Coming along. Day off, so I can get this page finished. Inked the fourth figure then did the background. Coloring was interesting since I decided to have the colors of the two Silas' only show where they don't overlap. The background as of right now is really loud and I think I like it but I'll also keep an eye on that in the final. One more figure to do as Silas #Blue starts the next to last verse of his song.