Haven't posted anything in a bit as I've been working on this for the most part. As I'm down to the smaller details, it's hard to see progress. Now I have something to show as there are characters. The snow is just for testing; I'll be sure to do it more concentratedly later; I just wanted to see if this approach will work, and I think it will. Still some work to do on the right side but essentially, this is what I had in mind. Must finish soon so I can have a print ready for a convention I'm going to in early December.

Two quick doodles, one done while online last night, the Rembrandt done this morning just for fun. I have a growing affinity for Rembrandt's self portraits. There's something very compelling about them and they're fun to play with.

Ooops, this one should have come first. Same idea, though I was redrawing a previously posted skater though I hadn't inked it. So I did it in Procreate, added some color.

Another quickie on the iPad. Sometimes, like I said, it's good to get away from something for awhile. The iPad has been mostly used for reading lately, not much else as I've just felt more like pencil, ink and paper. Then, today, I picked it up, opened Procreate and snapped photos of stuff I hadn't inked, some of which was VERY loose. Actually worked in my favor. Threw this together in like 15 minutes and am very pleased with the looseness of it.

Inktober continues with probably the ugliest thing I've ever drawn. Won't likely post this anywhere else. I kind of like it?

Another Inktober skater pic. Felt nice this morning not having to worry about getting stuff done for that application. No deadlines, so I could draw what I wanted. Had to do this one twice as the first one was too close to the reference photo. Sometimes, while reference helps, it's also constricting and I have a hard time getting away from it. So I put the reference away and draw only from my previous drawing. And, sometimes, it works.

Took one of the Inktober sketches and colored it for a t-shirt design. Think I will make one of these for me.

Third and final board of Ghiroy for that Cartoon Network application. I think I was finally taking some chances with this one, starting to make things a little less mainstream. I think, if this were ever to be a cartoon, this is what would have to happen, that I'd have to embrace a more conventional approach. For this, I wanted to show I could do everyday since all the other examples in my portfolio were my usual, offbeat stuff.

Haven't been posting here as I've been trying to get things ready to apply to Cartoon Network for an internship I won't get. That being said, it's all done and I've managed to get an Inktober sketch or two done here and there. Did these three since the last post. They're all skaters. I like skaters. Good wrinkles, action and almost balletic motion in them. Good excuse to draw my mice, too.

Redrew the first set of boards because, honestly, they were terrible and didn't match the style of page 2. Still don't think I have a chance but I'm moving ahead. I think the comics are more interesting by far and those will be part of the portfolio as well. Should do at least another page of these, two if I have time. Then it's up to them.

What with the storyboard thing, I haven't had a chance to do much with Inktober this year. Since I use ink so many times throughout the year, it's not as big a deal to me. Still, it's a good excuse to whip out some skaters. Smatt here, looking a bit taller and thinner. That's because of the photo ref. Also has sneakers which is kind of a no-no with my characters. For some reason, I've never felt my animal people should wear shoes. Almost none of them do. Characters from Fite, Tamino, Harlon, City Silent and the short stories; none of them wear shoes. Weird. About the only one that does is that rabbit-thing I sometimes draw as a personal avatar. I do like drawing shoes, just...not for my animal people. Might make a t-shirt out of this one. Really like the one I did of Rooster awhile back. Simple black and white design on a dark shirt.

Did some work on this the other day. Most of it was the sidewalk. Originally, I was going to just use the snow but I decided I liked the texture of the stepped in snow on top of the bricks and other things going on. So I spent some time doing another one of the stores and a lot of the sidewalk. Still need to do the bricks, but I think it will be worth it. Also adjusted the contrast some which I will likely do in the final.

Storyboard page 2. As is always the case when I start something new, I have no idea how I really want to do it. So somewhere along the way, I finally figure it out and the style and approach all changes. Same thing here. The first storyboard I did now looks like shit to me and I'll have to redo it. On the plus side, this process is a lot faster than the old one and looks more professional. Probably about four pages of this will be enough and I can finish the application and then... not get the internship. But at least I will have tried.

Inktober day 2. Looking back, it seems I make a lot of skaters for Inktober.

Another Inktober has come around. Seems I do a lot of skaters for this. Well, so be it.

Something new. There's an internship at Cartoon Network that I'm foolishly trying out for. Though they'll accept comics as entries, they really want to see some actual boards as that's what the whole thing is about. So I thought I'd board out some of the opening of Ghiroy as if it was going to be a cartoon show. This is my first attempt at it. I'm not displeased.

The stuff I'm working on lately is long range stuff, so there haven't been comic pages to post. Did this the other day in response to having been watching and doing research on Ralph Bakshi. Not much, just a skanky elf on the streets of San Gimignano. Or some fantasy town that will be the basis of the town in Ghiroy.

Today's progress. Added a building and some other stuff, did a lot of color-changing. This is going to be a continuous process all through the image's creation, I'm sure.

Progress on the Mass Ave print. I'm going back and forth with elements, from foreground to background, partially because I get bored of repetitive things like cutting little holes in the snow (not completely satisfied with just that anyway) and making tiny windows that are almost invisible. So this morning I tackled the foreground store, partially to see if things were going to work or not. I think they are. The color palette is not what I was thinking it would be, but I think it will work just fine. It's a lot warmer than I expected. I just want to make sure that, when done, it looks solid and cold. I've also changed the subject from a single character to a pair, one with an arm wrapped around the other. It's going to be an unofficial portrait of my partner and I as two of our characters.

Progress, but really just the beginning. Finished the tracing, which mostly used the daytime photo. The right hand side, starting about the middle of the image is all the night time version because I liked the wider, emptier sidewalk better. The image is meant to evoke loneliness and will eventually have a single figure striding towards the camera, shoulders hunched against the wind. I took the Procreate file and dumped it right into Designer then started poking about. I was working on the stuff in the background first but then realized I wanted to get a sense of the entire layout first so threw some colors in. Was surprised to see that sort of trigger-color palette working the way it is and also that the sampled colors were so warm. I'll likely try to keep an eye on the balance and make the palette mostly out of these colors or ones that are based off them. They work together really well, I think. Will also try and make little bits of each of the other two colors sneak into the realms of the third at any given time, if that makes sense. I know what I mean. Those windows in the back are TINY. Then again, so was the butcher shop in the Tokyo image, and that didn't even exist. Hope this comes out well. I think it will.

Working on another print for this winter. I took the photo I'm using as reference about two years ago in winter as I walked from Central to Harvard Square on my way to meet friends for dinner. It was damned cold and the street was fairly empty. I just meant the photo as reference for City Silent or something like it. I was really taken by the solitude of it later on and thought it would make a good addition to the print series. Then I tried to work on it but could never really get a handle. I tried to eyeball it but kept having trouble, even using a grid. So it got set aside and nothing happened. Now that I have the iPad and Apple Pencil, I have a much easier way to get the details down; tracing. Generally, I don't like doing this because it seems like cheating and, in a way, it is. I thought about it a lot, came across a lot of other examples of tracing in art from fine art to animation and no one batted an eye in any of those cases (well, in the case of fine art, people got pissed at David Hockney's suggestion that artist would have to resort to such things). And as I thought about it, I realized that I wasn't going to do an 'every square inch lovingly traced down to the last molecule' kind of thing. What I really wanted was a suggestion for details so that I could build the background slowly in Designer like I did for the Tokyo print. That one had no tracing, except for the cobblestones and, in some places, it's a mess. Thing is, even with a tracing, I'm going to be constantly interpreting, changing and making the image my own. And so I got over it. And I'm moving on with the project, which is better.

Ghiroy page 33. Trying to work more with expressions. As such, I'm posing for these and I think it's helping. Ricken is the dullest figure even if he kind of has center stage. I just wanted him to be solid, to look like he's coming from a position of strength. Crow is all twisted up. He and his older brother don't get along really well. There will be more with this later. Worried that Fran was getting a little lost but I think she's ok. I think there's still a sense of that graffiti quality of earlier pages though it is toned down a bit. Always experimenting.

Was re-watching, "The Line King," a documentary about Hirschfeld, and decided to try a sketch while it was going on. Don't do this very often, where I try not to be sketchy, not to do any under drawing or erasing. It's a lot harder for me, but also oddly satisfying.

Page 32. I tried to up my game here, adding more of a sense of movement and animation. I think I managed this while retaining the feel of the comic. So I'm pretty happy with this one.

Ghiroy page 31. Been more in the mind to work on this comic lately than City Silent. Worked a little extra long on the background for this one as I thought it important to establish the setting. Also, while I like the style of the older pages, it was getting a little claustrophobic. This will push me to do a little more with the backgrounds in the future, I think. The city is based on San Gimignano, which I visited in 2012. Italy has all these wonderful old walled towns that are still alive and vital. Their architecture hasn't changed in 2,000 years because I guess the Italians got it right the first time. Usually, D+D tends towards western Europe for its towns and castles, but I really like the Italian aesthetic here. It's different than the usual turdor. Was especially happy with the Francesca in this one.

Working on a new character for the comic; Ricken, Crow's brother. He's not a nice guy. Kind of a jerk, really. But he's important to Crow's development so I wanted to do a decent image of him before I had to actually include him in the comic.

Edit: added a much more colorful version, something that would be more in fitting with the comic's palette now. Ooh, my eyes are burning.

Sketches of the Ghiroy crowd trying to work out the newer style. I like them; I think they're more animated, more lively, more real. As usual, I have no idea how to make something that appeals to any kind of audience. The current page and sketches have garnered almost no response. I wonder what it's like to have a support network...

Page 30. Worked with the new style I was poking about with last night. The characters feel more substantial to me, more like different, actual people and hell, even Fran looks like a woman for a change. It feels more natural to draw this way and it makes me take a little more time drawing the figures, which I should be doing. That being said, there's been little reaction to it. Of course, there never is. I like it better, so I'll be moving on with it at least for the time being. Also, the colors are popping a good deal more than they were before.

I've been working on the colors and such for Ghiroy lately but am still struggling with the characters, which I really shouldn't be. I think a lot of the later pages are lackluster and just off. I was sketching tonight and came up with a somewhat new take, trying to be more free, less tight perhaps a little more flowing and even, if there is one, off model. Only did Crow, because he's my favorite but I really like what came out. Of course, it remains to be seen if I can maintain this or not.

This page came more quickly than the last one, partially because it's so simple and partially because, once again, I reused letters from the opening of the comic. Cheating, yes, but so what? Any time someone uses a font, isn't that the same thing? Getting them out of the dungeon is a move that will allow me to do some more, I think. Maybe this comic will actually become something.

Another page of Ghiroy down. Sometimes I'm just in the mood. Ghiroy is meant to be fun, lighthearted. And to that end, I can often get pages of this done quicker than anything else. This page, from start to finish, took me a little over three hours, which is kind of a record for me. I don't think I skimped. The composition was very much the last thing as I added stuff, moved it around, changed my mind right til the end. The only layout I did ahead of time, well, no, I didn't do any. Sketches on the iPad, the rest on the Mac. Still used some of those grey bits underneath which really helped the three characters stand out from each other while still allowing them to be see through. Anyway. I'm taking the comic in a different direction. While the dungeon crawl is central to the story, I think we need to get them out and learn more about them. So I'm aiming them at town.

New Ghiroy page for today. Page 27 on the 27th. Did something new again with the text. Not sold on this style but I just don't like the original version, or at least, I don't want to continue to spend as much time on the text as I do on everything else. Still working on it. Also pushed the new coloring style here, too. Still doing everything in greyscale then throwing colored transparencies on top. Somehow, the colors come out much more vibrant than before. So that experiment will continue.

Because it's that kind of day.

Ten minute demo from work. Looked at my own copy of a Rembrandt self portrait and came up with this. Sometimes stuff just kind of flows out of nowhere and works. That being said, don't ask me to do turnarounds or anything with this.

Forgot to post this from last week. Latest page of City Silent. This little sub-section is definitely something that's only going to work as a whole, not so much in pieces. I like it, but, well, whatever. This is one of those days where I really wonder why I try to make comics.

Also had a spare fifteen minutes for this. Don't do Biograph as much as I used to even though there might be stuff going on. Most of it is self doubt and sadness over the fact that no one is reading the comic. Well, I'm getting some hits on Instagram, but no one downloads the free PDFs and actually READS the comic. I wish I knew what was wrong with my sense of taste and art that keeps my stuff from being appealing to people. I can only guess that it really is horrible and that the occasional beauty I see is all just fluff my brain makes up to keep me going. Or something. Biography is HEAVILY edited from what I'm really thinking. Only those few pages I posted with the words covered and one page I didn't post are really close. Maybe it's better that way.

City Silent page 55. This sequence was not planned, the lyrics were not in the original script. I realized that the city spirit's fall didn't have enough emphasis, was too much in the background. So I needed something between the last song and the next, where Silas realizes he's alone. That being said, I think the sequence is working pretty well, and I'm not only happy with the imagery, but the change in palette. I know the dull orange is my fault, and it is kind of perfect but something different is nice, too. This sequence will only last a few pages and then I'll move on. It should be part of the last song, so I'll have to adjust the PDF. The text is supposed to remind the reader of Howard and his opening section as if he's still there and narrating. I used the lettering style from his stuff to this end. A little bit of ink, a little bit of Procreate and mostly AD are what I used.

Another page in Ghiroy. This one isn't entirely successful. I think the poses are kind of dull. I still struggle with the character design, to varying degrees with each of my mains. Crow is the most fun to draw, Mikilo second and Fran, well, I sometimes get by. This one is also done entirely in grays with overlays that gives an overall color scheme I do really like. The fog, too works better with a gaussian blur. So, little step even if not an exciting page.

City Silent page 54. This section has been hard to thumbnail. I worked on the next song and was, for some reason, diverted into Marc Chagall, an artist I hadn't really thought much about before. I got it into my head that I'd use his sort of wild playfulness for this next song and go with it. Then I set aside those thumbs for a week and realized I had no idea what I was thinking. Also, the city spirit's 'fall' wasn't nearly as obvious or as much a 'thing' as it needed to be. So I went back to the songs and wrote in a little interlude, a dream sequence for Silas. It's short, but I think does what the story needs it to do. This won't last long, four pages, I think, and then will lead right into song #4. Don't know why this one's harder than the rest except I really don't want to just do images of Silas painting and nothing else. Eventually there will be other characters, but not til act 2. So I need to keep things interesting. Maybe I will use that sort of Chagall-like approach.

Ghiroy page 25. Been two months since I posted for this comic, but that's ok. It's meant to be something I do when I feel like it. And since almost no one's reading it, I don't feel pressure. Took a new approach to the comic this time. I'm trying to get back to the character design I established in only one image, that of the 'cover.' It's more fun and cartoony. I think the style was getting to 'realistic,' and I wanted to fix that. This time, I did the whole page in shades of grey and then used a blue overlay for the whole thing. It's a bit monochrome but I think has a tiny bit of creepiness the other pages didn't by being so colorful. Also made sure the fog was blurred, which I think helps. Don't mind the font as much as I thought I would and it makes things go a lot faster. So, page 25. Which means it's half as far along as City Silent.

I kind of like to draw Crow. Wish I had the same passion for the others. Time will tell. Might very well use all of these for the next page, when I get around to it.