I wasn't satisfied with the Joe Wilkinson portrait so I went back to the pencil sketch and adjusted quite a bit. It's a good deal heavier with lines I don't really like than the final is, but that's because it only exists as a frame on which I can paint the final bits. It -almost- works without the lines but there are a few things that really define his face in that layer and I couldn't leave them out. Might be, with some more work, I could get them to work with just the flesh color and the dark hair/beard layer. As it is, I think it works and I like the warmer tones. It's less dour though also less "Dutch master" in palette than before.

 Page 127 done. The transition between the last page and this one isn't the strongest. This was one of those situations where I really needed to get past the page so I can keep going. Likely, when the act is done, I'll come back and add something, perhaps a page between 126 and 127 with a mural; something that Digby is reacting TO. For now, I can keep going.

 Didn't work on the comic today because this was poking at me and I hadn't done a portrait in a long while. This is more a sketch than truly finished. I could and should spend a lot more time on this and perhaps I will. For now, it's out of my system and I can continue with the comic tomorrow. Comedian Joe Wilkinson and a more serious moment, though that's part of his schtick. I used the 'formal' colors I did when I did the most recent Rembrandt ones as brown his Joe's color and I wanted a more formal feeling to this.

 Well, that didn't last long. I just wasn't feeling the other page. The straight on, boring angle just wasn't working for me. And while I wanted to reference one of Silas' pieces, this just wasn't the time to do it. So instead, the last verse is introspective, Digby trying to come up with inspiration for his next big piece. And he will. Turns out I had a couple photos I could meld together that gave me a much more dynamic feel and fit the rest of the track better. The alley is from Central Square and the background is from downtown Boston. I had to, once again, erase out the areas between stairs and other areas of the fire escape but it was worth it. I like the looming building showing through with just a touch of a brighter color. Played around with some tools in Procreate I never use, most notable the magic wand and 'liquify.' Worked for what I needed. One more figure and some text to go.

I thought about it and, as I took a few more photos for reference, I'm going to put multiple figures on the fire escape and then the one in the foreground I'd planned since changing my mind. So here he is, moved back. Two more of those to come with another in front. Now I'm happy with the layout.

Spent the day trying to replicate page 50's background to bring it into the current track and to remind people that Silas is still out there somewhere. I really like how the photo collage worked out, especially as I had to piece together the brick wall from six pieces, the window from another photo and then had to erase out all the negative space from the fire escape and place it in. The graffiti went atop that and looks ok. I used the original Spirit from page 50 and it's my favorite part. There needs to be adjustments on color, more graffiti on the wall and just...SOMEthing. I'm not really sold on this but I think I can make it work in the long run. At least I worked on it today.

 This page took way too long and had way too many elements. It is a fairly simple page, all things considered but I wasn't satisfied with at least two of the heads, maybe three. So I redrew them. As it stands, I think there's some decent movement and emotion there, at least enough for an 'in-between' page that's meant to just give a pause between refrain and verse. The background was cheap and easy; a photo of graffiti I took in L.A. just twisted and reduced. From here on in, things are going to get a bit more solid and the colors are going to 'fade' back to the more subdued ones of the beginning of the track, suggesting, I hope, that Digby is either coming down off something or is coming out of his dream and back to the 'real' world.

 Got started on the next page today which I needed to do. I've added a new bit for reference; the Memoji on my iPad, for expressions. There might not seem to be a lot of connection between it and my drawing but it actually does help a little. Digby doesn't look at all like the cartoon fox, but because it's rendered in real time 3D, it gives me hints I might not have seen otherwise. That and photobooth, an otherwise useless app help me out a lot. So it's a pause as Digby 'comes down' and tries to figure out what was just going through his head before seeing the next bit. More to come.

 Page 125 done. It only took about 45 minutes to do the finals on this one. It's a bit busy, but it does what it needs to do, fits the theme and you can still read the words. I realized, as I finished this, that there's one more verse to go in this track, three tracks left after that in the act which will bring me to the halfway point. I'm still too slow on this project but that seems like a good indication that I will finish it. At some time. Little steps.

 Got some progress done on this today, though not finished. I AM lazy and have been playing too many video games, being slightly sick or not. At least I got somewhere. The background text took long enough but does have that psychedelic look I wanted. I also did a different version of the coloring of the Digby figure as I'd done in previous pages but it was too messy, too busy and didn't work. So I had to redo that. The colors are not final and I still have to do the text. There might also need to be some other kind of detail in there somewhere. We'll see. For anyone interested, this is what my actual AD window looked like without cropping:

 Didn't get a lot done today. It actually took awhile sitting and looking at the lyrics and previous pages to get an idea. I didn't want to be literal this time around. I think there's going to be a lot of graffiti as mandala kind of art around him. At least this is a start. iPad pencils over real ones.

 Finished the page today. There really wasn't much I needed or wanted to do except put up the text. That was easy enough though I had to redo it a few times as it just wasn't what I wanted. Easing into the refrain, then the last verse. I've been consistent but I still need to pick up the pace somehow.

Meant to post this yesterday as that's when it was made. I'm trying to make more entries about process and as such, take more WIP images as I go along. I like how this is going and likely won't change too much about it. The buildings are all from photos I took when in LA though none of them are near each other. One of them is actually a total amalgam as I took the front, duplicated it and sheared it to make the side. Up in the far left corner is a very famous landmark, the round office building destroyed by aliens in "Independence Day," though I've cut it enough that it shouldn't be noticeable. After seeing this, I decided to go back and add line detail to the sketch as the folds, in this case, aren't working the way I want. The sky was a blowup of an overcast cloud in a panorama shot, dumbed down to three colors with them re-colored so they were a lot less contrasty than they were. I like how they came out as, to me, the sky still looks overcast. This page is the most obviously photo-reffed one I've done so far, but once the text is in, that will recede somewhat.

 Managed to get this done this morning before tackling other things. The colors are...bright. Digby might be on some kind of trip or dream or something. I managed to deal with the issue I was having by basically not dealing with it. An overall overlay was used though I'm still pissed that my custom one simply would not work the way it always has and should. I just hope I don't keep running into that problem. Page 123 done.

 Got started on the new page today which is the most abstract of those so far. I got the drawing done easily enough, got things shaded and then vectorized. Things were going along just fine but then AD simply wouldn't do what it's supposed to do. Some areas of the overlay simple WILL not let me cut areas out and when merging the pieces that make it up, closes open areas that are supposed to be there. Might have to rethink this mechanically because otherwise it'll be a pain in the ass. That being said, I was able to add highlights to the hands a lot more easily than I thought. So we'll see where this goes.

 Got this finished today as I'm home sick from work. Another monday, another case of laryngitis which came out of nowhere and brought no other real symptoms with it. My voice is just a ragged mess. There wasn't as much to do as I was afraid there would be. The text was fairly straightforward. I thought about making it a bit more psychedelic but changed my mind as there's already enough going on here. I wonder if anyone will think Digby's tripping through this whole thing and why not? I like to think of it as a metaphor for him dreaming of making some kind of Big Time. Another one down, many more to go.

 Starting later today at work so managed to get this new figure in before I had to leave. All that's left is the text. So far, this is my favorite page of the track. It's kind of nuts.

 Didn't have a lot of time tonight but I managed to get the last of the three spinning figures in. Again, colors are not final but I'm happy with the movement and sketchiness of the style. Progress.

 Got some work on this done today, though it turns out not as much as I thought. After getting this far, I need to take another reference photo and do another figure to complete the 'spin,' which is also  mentioned in the lyrics. I really wanted some elongated, warped characters and that's what I have. The colors, again, aren't final but they're close to what I want. I'll keep playing with relationships and blending modes.

 Didn't have the wherewithal to do the figure work for the City Silent page and I'd already started in this sketch a few days ago so decided to finish it. Likenesses for celebrities are hard. That being said, I'm pretty happy with this one. It's minimal but I think it's still obvious who it is. I could see me going back to tweak this in case of some kind of show, for a final, but I think it's otherwise done. There's a lot of observation in this and a LOT more editing when it finally got to the vectors. I try to leave as much out as possible while retaining likeness and balance of features. Also, watching a documentary series on Warhol made me want to do a little more with portraits, an itch to scratch. I think it works and made me happy to do it.

 Finally got started on a new page. I wanted a feeling of space without distinct boundaries. I started with a photo I took of an roll up steel alley door, tilted it and tossed it into vectorizer. Then I did three separate pages of overlapping graffiti, each having three layers. Then each page was warped into position in a more or less distinct 'plane.' Each plane was sent through vectorizer separately and tossed into AD. The colors may or may not be final but I think I got a balance I can at least work with. Progress is progress.

 Final version. Are your eyes bleeding? I took the color palette I used on the previous page and adapted it to this one. It's doing what I want to, giving a more fantasy and graffiti feeling to the space he's traipsing through. I'm thinking now that I might start to do away with the realistic aspects entirely and just have him walking through planes, walls and ceilings of graffiti. Why not? Then I can bring it back to a more realistic setting by the end of the song.

 Worked today, came home and napped, had the weekly podcast movie to watch but managed to get some more work done on this. Played around with colors, graffiti and text. The balloons are pretty much done, but I'm still working on the background. Getting closer.

 Had to work today as well as do rehearsal for the "other" podcast so didn't have a lot of time. Still managed to get in a second figure and do a slight adjustment on the lower one. Getting there. Will probably not do a third figure as things will get too crowded.

 Not a huge bit of progress but some nonetheless. I got the graffiti of Sad Cat done; lowered its opacity to let some of the texture show through and added a layer of 'paint' below the lines. Then I went into the garage and, using a fish-eye lens, posed for some reference. I have more than I need, thinking I was going to have three figures. Don't know that I'm going to have room for all three. Got one drawn and rendered. Colors are subject to change. There's a lot more graffiti to be done for the walls, too. Still, progress.

 Started the next page. The top is the photo montage I made from three different photos I took when last in Boston. The two 'walls' weren't even in the same city; one is Waltham, the other Belmont. The pavement is actually from L.A. Warping them together, I got something I really liked. Translated that into a 3 color vector and threw an overlay on top of that. The color might not be final, but I like what it's doing so far. The graffiti on the door was done on the ipad. There's no blending done with it yet; I will likely lower the opacity and use a blending mode for it as well. But warped into place, I think it works. I'll like cover the walls with more graffiti to the point that the photo details won't show much but will just give the right amount of place. Then I have to get some reference photos of me at weird angles so I can draw Digby in there. I want to do more work like the top photo. That was fun and works, to my eye, really well.

 Finished page 120 today, even though I got a bunch of records in the mail. Or perhaps because I did. I wanted to star really pushing the colors. So does Digby. Things should get a little crazy. Does it work? I think so. Another one down, no counting how many to go. That's not the way to get there.

 A bit of progress on this page. The sketch at top shows another instance of me running out of room. Instead of using the iPad this time, I just drew the hand in as an inset and then, when tracing the image out in AD, I slid the sketch over, resized it and continued on. I also moved the top two figures a bit and shortened the top figure's nose as it was still bothering me. Most of the rest of this page will be text and graffiti background.

 

Started working on page 120 tonight. As is too often the case, I started drawing on my pad and realized I'd run out of room. The top drawing is mostly done in pencil but the whole arm on the right of the lower figure was done after the fact on the iPad because I can create a kind of infinite canvas there for such mistakes. Second image is the digital part, as far as it's gone so far, which I'm pretty happy with. The expressions are working the way I want them to. Last is a rejected drawing from page 118 just to prove that I do actually draw, that it's not all point plotting in AD.

Got the sequence finished. It wasn't a huge deal and I think it works pretty well. Just had to don the clothes, take a couple photos and make a drawing. Was able to 'cheat' and use the front and back half of the same drawing for this, though I did make totally separate shapes for them as I didn't want to cheat too bad. Nice cooldown between verses and then he can go crazy again.

 

 So this is NOT going to be the next page, but the one after. That being said, when I have a chance to go back and do #117, it will just be a matter of drawing another Digby, this time walking nearly off panel to the right. Something I thought about AFTER I'd done this all the way through. That way, there's a little break after the refrain and this becomes more of a reaction shot to the graffiti he's passing and will sing about. Ah well, why should I go in order?

 Working on the next section of the track. I know I want Digby to be wandering by and discover some local graffiti. I don't want to cheat TOO much and just use a photo, I want there to be some of my own stuff on there. I was wandering through some old files and remembered a design from 2010, the original "Joe Flash" image. It needed updating but I like the new version. The top image is a photo, vectorized that I took in Central Square with Joe superimposed, badly, over it. There will be a good deal of work done for the final but in general, I like the idea. So at least it's a start.

 Sometimes looking at other artists gives me new perspective. Sometimes it makes me feel bad because they have all these followers and likes and seem to effortlessly connect with an audience. I was looking at some of the young, zeitgeist artists I follow on Instagram. As is often the case, I get itchy and want to do THAT thing. Best to just make something while the inspiration is there and get it out of my system. If I'm lucky, I'll get something out of it. In this case, realizing that the comic was getting too tight again; I was being too literal with my reference. So if this helps me loosen up, that's good. I am NOT switching styles again partway through either the comic or the track. This is just a bit of exorcism and it was fun. Nicely messy. It's an alternate take on page 115's top panel. Trust in the drawing more. That's another lesson.

 Slight color shift in the graffiti in lower right. I like it a lot better. The old colors were drab and weak.