Still working on the Billy Crystal portrait which is becoming less a portrait and more just an image. I think the likeness is still in there, but is less important. I guess I consider it a style exercise as I try and pin something down. All pencil.

Got to work on the next portrait because why the hell not? Was watching a video with Billy Crystal in it and I paused at what is not the most flattering frame ever. But something attracted me so I took a screen shot and, tonight, started a sketch based on it. Already started inking it in Procreate. We'll see how it goes from here.

Even with the shutdown, shut in, whatever I haven't done a lot of art. Instead, I've been cleaning the house and playing Animal Crossing. Well, there you go. I've been rewatching painting shows and finally dug out some old work I that I liked but which didn't sell. Always liked the Giacometti portrait I did for my one show. I kept the reference so here's an updated version of the same thing. Procreate.

Morning warm up. Sometimes you just have to scratch that itch before moving on to other things. Wanted to keep this as loose as possible. Pencil first then Procreate. Love that sumi brush.

Page 3. Coming along. The plan as of now is to get to about page 10 then start uploading them to their own Instagram account at a rate of two pages a week. That way things will be consistent and I'll have a bumper in case I get behind.

That third panel was a problem. Thanks, Vince for pointing it out. When I read your comment and looked at it the next day, I was really unhappy with it. So I changed the angle and redrew the whole thing. I think this works better. I especially like Crow's face in this as it has a mix of youth and weariness I was hoping for. Also, there's a slight feel of the sinister with the goblin even though he's just a waiter.

Page 2. Had a little trouble with one of the poses and had to draw it a few times. Still not utterly happy with it but it works and I don't want to lose momentum. Moving ahead is good.

Had a hard time drawing tonight, though I figured out the problem; I was leaning far too hard on the photo ref. After about six tries on this one pose for Crow, I gave up and decided to work on the goblins, in this case, a bartender. First shot and I was happy with it. So here's a sketch of what a goblin in Ghiroy will look like.

This is more like it. Got a comment from someone yesterday that the brown lines from the promo piece were worth keeping. I'm using that poster as a kind of key to how I want the whole comic to go. So I redrew this, dumped Mikilo for the moment to concentrate on Crow's loneliness. Pretty happy with it.

Other shit I did today.

I guess I did get a lot done today? This is pencil on an actual comic board inked on the iPad, finished on the Mac in Affinity Designer. We'll see if this remains an official page one, part two or not.

So the last re-design of Crow got a resounding "ugly" from two separate sources. I don't see it personally. I liked that design. Kind of a lot. And while I don't think the hero has to be some handsome hunk, I do need him to be at least appealing. So I tamed down his eyebrows and his janky teeth (not seen here), put back his original hair and made this. At this point, I think I honestly don't know what other people like, because I like this style a lot.

Another set of images that I'm happy with. At this point, I just need to pick a style and stick to it. Or else.

Late night, last minute sketches. I like them. They feel like me, are expressive. Crow is kind of my current muse; if he looks good, I think I'm doing good. He's the lead I follow when it comes to cartooning. If he succeeds, I succeed. Or something like that.

Learning to draw like myself. Been trying my favorite pastime again; re-designing Ghiroy characters. This year, I really want to try and make a go at SOMEthing I do. I turned 55. That seems pretty damned late to leave things if I really want to accomplish anything artistic. Ghiroy seems my most likely candidate for any kind of commercial presence. D&D is big right now, bigger than it's ever been. Strike while the iron is hot. Thing is, because of all the styles, I find I don't really know what my style is. I try and adapt, playing with styles that are more iconic and lend themselves more towards toys and cartoons. But are they really mine? So I sketch and sketch and honestly get nowhere. I LIKE a lot of the designs I've done but I have to stick with ONE and try and make it work. I've seen a lot of other people make do with less. Perhaps one of the reasons Ghiroy hasn't gone further is that I keep re-treading old water. I have to, this year, promise, pick a damned style and stick with it no matter what. If the comic doesn't succeed, I'm no worse off than I was.

Sigh. Ghiroy is a constant problem for me. I THINK it could be something, especially since D&D is kind of huge these days. What this comic needs to be is appealing, simple and easy to produce. So far, I've not had any of those things. Today, I took ten minutes before work and just doodled the main characters on the backside of another sketch. Things came easily and are relatively appealing. There's a Disney quality to them I'm not totally proud of but mainstream isn't so bad a thing to aim for if I'm trying to get people to read the damned comic. I really feel for anyone that's given Ghiroy a try; I am a TERRIBLE cartoonist when it comes to consistency.

Let's see if this works. Process video of a work demo. I can't show the reference photo as it's one of the demo photos in the equipment we use at work so is likely copyrighted. Didn't use anything but observation for this one. Started off doing Mikilo but didn't like it, wasn't inspired so went to portrait mode. You'll have to trust me that it looks like the guy.

EDIT: Nope. You just see the final. Oh, well.

Been a minute or two since anything new. Schedule is thick these days and won't get any thinner for a couple weeks. That being said, I managed to get a portrait done before work today, another of my buddy Joey. He's a very animated speaker and almost none of the photos were totally in focus. That being the case, they were good enough for reference. The colors were sampled from a Rembrandt self portrait as I wanted those nice, warm browns. That being said, I think I adjust all of them anyway.

So I did a thing. I decided I was NOT going to redraw all of Ghiroy after all and instead, today, drew a page that picks up right from where the old version left off. To hell with it. I'm not drawing it again. The comic goes through so many stylistic changes and no one reads it much anyway, so let's get out of that damned cave and into some brighter colors. And besides; I'd worked on that background before, it was a bitch to do and it was nearly done.

Sometimes the iPad is charging so I reach for the old sketch pad to work until it's ready. These are some practice and used sketches for recent Ghiroy pages. Some have reference photos to go with them, some don't. I'm trying to keep a balance between the two as sometimes reference can make things too stiff. In any case, these were fun to draw.

Complex page in that there are a lot of layers and elements. I could have done all the lines on one layer, colors on one other, etc. but that always causes issues somewhere. So each element has its own layer. Much easier to work out layout than last page thought. Fun to make all those faces to use as reference.

Portrait of a friend. I was working on this, having taken a lot of photos on NYE. Last night, I was watching "Yellow Submarine" as it's the subject of an upcoming podcast episode and I realized that one of the styles I use for portraits is heavily influenced by the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" sequence of the movie. While the movie as a whole didn't impress itself that heavily on my young brain (hadn't seen it in decades), there was a cell from that sequence for sale in an antiques shop in Harvard Square that I distinctly remember passing many times. I didn't buy it but something about it, though it annoyed me at the time, stuck with me. Reminds me a lot of Doufy's work. The looseness of the colors are fun and eye-catching which is why, after doing the more naturally colored version, I did the bright one. It was easy enough to do, what with the hard work of the sketch and inking done. That's one of the fun parts of digital work. Now to see if the subject likes it...

Can't leave well enough alone again. I really should wait a day or two before posting things because details often just bug me a little until I eventually do something about them. In this case, I didn't like how Francesca was obscured such that it wasn't obvious what she was doing. So I brought her out a little and added in the spell (magic missile for those keeping track at home) she was casting as well as the missile that's already hit the goblin. The arrow was in the original drawing of the goblin, I just left it out for no reason. So.

This page went in a direction I did not foresee at all. That being said, it's both a mess and I rather like it. It shows the chaos of a fight, a battle and doesn't lean on the usual sound effects or exclamations. Likely, it will be ignored or misunderstood. I do request people stop and look. There are things to be seen and I spent a LOT of time on setting this up. The colors of the heroes correspond to those of their goblin foes, for example. Anyway, I've finished and can move on.

Another adjustment. Actually, there were two. I just replaced the image from the other entry. I wanted the colors to match between this and the following page, so I went back and adjusted things, added the stone detail to the background as well. And then, because I work digitally and I can easily do such things, I added an element I kind of wanted in the first place; the falling lantern Crow was carrying. It does explain the lighting. Now I should move forward.

Subtle differences but the depth was bothering me, so I adjusted some colors, most notably in the goblins. Works a little better. My partner, who doesn't generally like my work always has nice things to say about my colors. This time around, he used the word 'impeccable.' I'll take it.

Got another page done in the current style, more or less. Fran is still hardest for me to draw, except for straight on. Considering I model for every character, I guess it's not too bad. Put together exactly the same as the other style, this one's more satisfying for me. Still just supposed to be a simple dungeons and dragons comic. For fun.

Ghiroy page 11. Because why the hell not just continue with no transition from one distinctly different style to another? It's not like I have started this damned comic so many times anyway. Don't know how long enthusiasm will run for this, but it does have something I was kind of trying for when I first began it, and that's a more European feel to it. I'm not there, but that's ok. And yes, it's an uglier style but maybe that works. I think when people are screaming and in the middle of battle, maybe they should be ugly. Or something.

Two other versions I did in watercolor brushes. I need to learn how to use them better. While I like them, I think I'm still stuck on vector options for final images.

Did a few more sketches today. I did color these first with the new Procreate watercolor brushes but then decided to see what would happen if I vectorized the inked lines and colored as I usually do in AD. The result? Sadly, something I like. *sigh* I really do wish I could stick with one style. If I do go back to Ghiroy, I might just say the hell with it and do this kind of thing. Not like the idea of getting people interested in it as a cartoon show worked. And since almost no one reads it, why the hell not? Means I'd actually have *shudder* panels, too. :D

Home sick, but played a little more with the watercolor brushes on the iPad. Went a little further, did a more...ugly? version of Crow from Ghiroy, used an overlay layer and tried to be as loose as possible. I kind of like it.

New brushes for Procreate, a set of watercolor choices, got me to give them a try today. I never really got the hang of watercolor as much as I liked the medium. These feel a LOT how watercolor works to me and I might well make use of them more in the future. There's a lot to explore here, I think.

First finished piece of 2020. It's sort of a film strip in a way. What's been most interesting to me is, because of the time I spent with his face, how serious it all can be, how much a single line or change in angle can make in feeling. There's a LOT of editing when getting to the vector part of this. Also, I think it 'proves' the concept in a way. While at a NYE party, I took a lot of photos of a friend who, I'm sure, has no idea why I took them. From the group, I think I can find three views of the same person that will illustrate him in different ways, all adding to the portrait as a whole. I guess it's sort of 2d sculpture? Or conceptual 3D? Hell if I know. We'll see if it works. For now, I have Dr. Crazyperson here. Totally serious 'fine art' made from Ultraman.