And...it's done. Once I get the greyscale down, color doesn't usually take much time. Now to send it off to Scott and see what he thinks.

 I've set aside the Johnny Vegas portrait as I think the pose just isn't working for me. I need something a little more "Johnny." That being said, I got to spend some time with an old friend, Scott McLeod (McCloud is the popular spelling) while away in Cali. I got to sit down with him over some Bubba Gump and have him talk to me, in depth, about "City Silent." I couldn't resist snapping some quiet reference photos as Scott was in full explanation mode, being totally himself. That's what I want in my portraits. He's so gestural I was tempted to add some other, disembodied hands to imply more action. When I did, it looked more like people reaching in from the side and wasn't doing anything to really help. My partner pointed out, too that the foreshortened hand up front was doing enough action on its own. The top is the image in greyscale that's headed to the vectorizer and color. The bottom is the pencil drawing, all done on the iPad using the grid system. He's a tough face to capture as I don't want to make him look too old, and there are certain, important lines that make his eyes look a little sad. I've been told he looks more studious than old, which is what I'm going for. Final to come. And then a likely break from art as I'm off to Chicago middle of next week. It's a busy season.

 Finally had a day off and had time to play with this. One of the things I learned from my time with Scott was how many times I was visually de-emphasizing Silas, which is certainly an odd thing to do. So here, I made sure that he was the brightest part of the little promo image. Moving forward, I will have to make sure that his 'actual' color is really not a thing. This is a fantasy and hell, he's never even shown black, so why not purple? As usual, pencil, Procreate, Affinity Designer.

 Went on vacation so didn't draw anything for a couple weeks. Did this when I got back. Just a simple sketch but it was fun to do and I should at least ink it. We'll see. Also got some great feedback on the comic from a VERY high end source, Scott McCloud, who's been a friend for over 30 years but whom I haven't really sought out much before as I felt I would be imposing. Turns out I wasn't and though his critique was harsh, it was good and contained stuff I really need to consider. I WILL be going back and redrawing a bunch of stuff from the first half, but not now. I will instead use what he told me to move ahead.

I also saw an actual, honest-to-goodness opera while I was in L.A., "The Barber of Seville" at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, once home to the Oscars between '69 and '94. Great experience and I think, because of that, I really 'get' opera now. And I wasn't far off. Anyway, it's all progress.

 Got some work done on the Johnny Vegas but to me, it's looking so...plain. And the likeness isn't quite there. Feels rather Santa-ish in this set of greys. So I'll have to reconsider and move ahead in some fashion. Might be that I've wrung all I can out of this particular style.

 As I take a break from the comic, I thought I'd do a portrait or two. Was damned lazy today, and I needed it. Hell of a long weekend and thursday, I'm off to the west coast to visit my sister. Still, managed to get a sketch in of Johnny Vegas, a British comedian I happen to like. There's still something not quite right but it's nearly there. A lot will change in the inks.