I wish there were a nice, easy way to do this, but here's the layout of track 11 of "The City Silent." The colors are a bit dull to start, partially as the last track was SO bright, but the energy comes back in a kind of splash or loud clap at the end and I'm good with that.

 Finished page 253 and track 11. 15 pages for this track and it took about 3 months, which is not great but better than some. Now a transition section and the return of most, if not all, the supporting characters. Might also be able to bring Ricci in. We'll see.

 Had a little time to fool around with the next page. It's just an 'end of track' page but will lead in to Silas heading up a fire escape to lay back. Still wanted to get some motion into it. Everything's battery was dead or dying today; my camera, which, to be fair, hasn't been recharged in many months, then my iPad was down to 9% but I managed to get the three figures done with the help of 'Photo Booth,' something I've used for quick and dirty ref before. 

 Back from Boston and I have a few days off, miraculously, before I have to go back to The Drag. I never do art of any kind while away from the studio and this trip was no exception. I did take a bunch of reference photos for both locations and portrait possibilities, so there's that. Sat down to do some art today, wanting to get somewhere on the comic and found out that this is the last verse of the current track. I know roughly the image I'll use for the end of track page but also there's a chance of some pantomime as Silas goes to take a nap while others come to critique his work. Spoiler; it doesn't go well.

 I wanted to try something. I wanted to get a solid pencil sketch down, using some tracing and then just 'paint' as loosely as possible with the iPad and Pencil to see what I could do. I like the results but I think I need to just trust my drawing skills and draw the subject freehand first and work from that. This is The Brattle, my favorite movie theater. I will do a 'portrait' of it, hopefully inside and out, before too long. While I'm doing everything else. This was just a quick sketch.

 It's been a long time since I did any work on this one, but I found a little time this weekend. It is slowly coming along because there are SO many layers and so many details. So far, it's ok. It's going to need some tweaking but most of the elements are in place. I have to do the mid ground which includes people, cars and then the foreground trees. Still not sure overall. I keep feeling like I should be actually painting this. We'll see.

 Managed to finish this today, what with it being podcast day, grocery day, laundry day and lawn mowing day. I went with the old master colors as they felt appropriate for this application. I think I look tired and I am. Of many things. I also wanted an off-center composition and I think this works. One of my better for this year. Got to take more photos of folks and work on them quietly. I've done enough of me.

 Also wanted to do a portrait and as I have no subjects lined up, that means me. Still working on this one. Had a lot more line work but turned the layer off and am trying to simplify it.

 Forgot to post these but I managed to get a couple more pages done the other day. I used to hate drawing hands because they're hard. But I've learned to love them. I take photo ref of my own hands, trying to get them to 'act' in the way that I want. The hardest part is always dropping that finger so that they only have three. Why did I do that? Because the characters in "Fite!" had three fingers as was traditional in animation (which was a cost-cutting measure way, way back). Since Tamino first appeared in "Fite!," I carried the style over to his comic. And since Silas comes from "The City Dreams of Tamino the Cat," well...now that things are more realistic, it's a tossup whether I drop the middle or ring finger. It's usually based just on which looks better. 

The crown has become a problematic symbol. Then again, reaching for power, trying to be 'the best' is always a troubling goal. And if the paint looks like blood? That probably means something, too.