Oops. Forgot. I should be updating this more.

I am still working on my own comic. I am laying everything out by hand, and it is taking me forever because-- well-- meh. Digitally I can layout like lightening. Measuring and lining panels by hand is slower.

Work has been work. Busy busy. I don't have a ton of time for art, and I am starting to fin more enjoyment out of doing little fan arts here and there. (Its a nice break from doing my own stuff.)

But meh. I am alive and I will try to keep myself form forgetting my blogspot.

Thinking of opening commissions for some extra money. Things have been getting tighter and tighter because of taxes and whatnot. I don't like second-guessing myself when I am doing normal things like-- you know-- buying food.

But rawr! Things are in motion. It'll get better.

It is August...

This summer has left me both mentally and physically exhausted.

Work has been steady, and when it hasn't I have had to spend my time working on the house. We recently finished re-roofing the house and that drained me financially. So I pretty much sat around doodling, but never focusing because I was worrying over how the bills were going to get paid.

I am trying to schedule my days out so that way I can take a little time to draw every day, unfortunately everything is an ASAP deadline right now so I am working from 7AM till 2 AM pretty much every day. (Sleep? What is this... sleep you speak of?)

Its okay. I'll catch up and things will be fantastic.

I am going to make Krystle get a blog on here too. It helps to have people around posting and whatnot. Its more encouraging. =)

Still around and drawing when I can.

Mostly livestreaming when I have something worth showing.

Danielle and Lania

Roughly an hour.

Done instead of comic pages. Because thats how I roll. Yo. Yo.

See what I did thar?

So I got bored while doing an upload and sketched Lania holding some Calla Lilies.

And from there I added a crappy background and whatnot. Yes, epic fail, but grassy hills are a bitch to color. I at least got the point across that it is a green hilly area. So

I followed the rule that I picked up somewhere about there being no pure white in nature. So everything is a tinge. The clouds are bluey, the shirt (which was supposed to be white but kinda looks tan so I suppose that was fail) and the lilies are greener.

Other than that, meh. Just a colored sketch.

Lana copyright me
Tainted copyright me

blah blah blah...

Mac Crash

I fried my harddrive.

I lost everything I was working on. All the re-worked Tainted art and stuff. I am kinda bummed about it, but I should just take it as a new opportunity to try something different for my first four pages.

So... chin up. Once I get things squared away and get these few deadlines out of the way I'll be back to working on Tainted. Sketches and whatnot will resume soon.

Old Tainted Pages

Okay, so lets take a moment to look back. These were my first four original pages for Tainted Book One. My art style was different back then and I had a different coloring style. I think. M'not sure. At any rate, I started these back in 2007, but because of changing circumstances I had to put the project on the back burner, and then I kinda lost interest.

I got nudged into looking at them again by my friend Star. So I pulled out my notes and spent an entire night reading over all the material I'd scribbled around various sketch books and note pads. I decided half of it was crap and threw it all out and started from the beginning.

I have already finished the first page. (Except lettering, I'll do that once I get the art done.) The layouts for the comic will be staying the same for these first four pages, but I made a decision to keep the panel count down because I am working on an 8.5x11 page. I don't have a large enough scanner for anything bigger, and I am pretty bad at piecing things together in photoshop. Even with a Cintiq, I still cannot seem to do it right. I am just lame.

I have glanced around at comic hosting, since I have decided that I'll make it a web comic. Comic Genesis looks the most promising since their only stipulation is no spite comics and their rating system goes up to NC-17. I have been going back and forth with uploading to dA. It would be great for exposure, but I'd have to completely cover it in copyright stuff. Meh, I suppose it wouldn't matter so much.

So, I think it'll be updated once a week. I am going to get 25 pages (at least) ahead before I start uploading, just so I can go ahead and take a week per page so it won't interfere with work.

First thing is first, get these pages re-done and whatnot. I have up to page 12 sketched, and I have been able to get several done over the last few days. The longest part will be coloring. My pencils are sloppy, but I can afford them to be since the Cintiq allows for inking to be a million times easier.

Alright, gotta get back to work. Moo/

Colored work?

I am a dirty liar.

Oh well! Updates.

Ahahaha...

Yes, yes yes, I know.

I have been drawing, I really have. Actually, I should check and see if I have a few things to upload here first.

I was hammered with work, then went a week waiting for files and whatnot, and am once again being hammered. Which is fine, I'd rather be getting hammered than not getting anything at all. I am also looking for a part time job because (as most people in the industry know) February to June is a pretty dead season for freelancers. All the companies are waiting for SDCC where they release all their new titles and whatnot.

Here is to hoping I might get some work around that time. Part-time jobs in this area more or less mean retail, and when it comes to retail... *sigh* Lets just say Flint isn't the kindest to their retail workers.

I actually planned on doing a comic about that, just a weekly short comic. I still do, I have a long list of experiences that I can write about. My only fear is that a lot of it (When I was working in a worse part of town) has to do with racism (reverse racism actually) and I don't want to be viewed like I am causing a rift. Really though, that was one of the huge hitches when I worked at Big Lots. It is hilarious now, but at the time it was actually a very hurtful and frustrating experience. (Lets make it clear that it WAS NOT the WORKERS causing the problems, but the CUSTOMERS.)

So... is it worth it? Should I ignore the racist experiences? Would that cause too much of a problem you think? I know some people have built up their comic-ing reputations on racist stereotypes, but is that still acceptable now-a-days?

Because I have been blocked with my Darkness Binding idea, I trashed it and combined it with Tainted. Star actually pushed me to pull out my notes and art. After a few sketches (and I noticed a huge improvement in my art from back then) I decided that maybe I needed to revisit the concept. I had a couple pages done, colored and submitted to dA. They got... decent reception, I am sure if I had done more it would have caught on. Unfortunately I get swamped with work, so I would need to be a chapter ahead in order to keep with a weekly update. (1 Chapter= 24 pages and 1 splash art page.)

I had to keep rules. Nothing more than 5 panels per page, no breaking the panels either. I may break that second rule at some point, but I noticed that a lot of colored comics, when you break the panels, you get a bit of a messier transition. At least, its messy when I do it. Maybe I am just doing it wrong.

At any rate, it is officially half off chocolate day. So after a trip to the bank (got paid! YAY! Most of it goes to taxes, buuuuut at least I got paid, YAY!) I will have to hit up Wallie World or Rite aid to cash in on some of those heart shape boxes filled with deliciousness.

Scans and updates later tonight. Promise.

I am around, I am just busy as hell right now.

Winter time chores aren't helping much either.

Sketchdump Dec 28 2009

Probably my last update for 2009. I am not sure if this will upload right or not. Oh well. Enjoy!

And I am sorry. I am not ignoring comments, I wasn't notified when they were put up. Sorry ^_^

Just some sketches to upload. I plan to start doing more sketches and then using the Cintiq to ink. I also plan to start messing with halftones (I found this really simple and awesome tutorial that I am itching to mess around with.)

Things will be a bit slower as uploads go because of the holidays. I am spending more time cleaning and baking than anything else right now. I am also chewing my lip off in worry... and as much as I tell myself not to think negative things, I am a very realistic person. Last time I had this suspicion, it turned out bad and I think it will again.

But oh well. I'll figure it out one way or another.

December 14, 2009

I got my Cintiq up and running. So I have been messing around with it a bit.

A few sketches and one whole drawing later. I still need time to adjust to it, and with work slowing down over the holidays, now is a perfect chance.

December 9, 2009

Look, already missed a day.

No, there will be no update tonight. My Cintiq arrived earlier today and I waited until Aaron got home to open it. The idea was to hook it up and sit down and draw on it to get use to it.

Instead I discovered that I need a mini DVI to DVI adapter. So after dinner I immediately rushed to the only 24 hour stores around. Walmart and Meijer. Neither of which had what I needed. Not even close.

So now I am bummed and exhausted. So no drawing tonight. I have to run through Sumomomo first thing in the morning and get the upload started. I'll plan on drawing tomorrow afternoon when I get the upload started.

No adapter till Friday. That makes me sad panda.

December 8, 2009

Did I forget about this?

Yeah. I did. My bad.

But its time to get serious with this, because lets face it. I've always known I was born to draw. So... lets draw.

Right now I am sitting down and trying to schedule out how this is going to happen. I have a few goals I'd like to achieve.

1. DAILY UPDATES. How am I going to do this... I haven't decided if they'll be digital sketches or paper--- probably a bit of both I imagine. I will post 30 minutes worth of sketches and then a 1 hour drawing. I'll be pulling sources from both traditional fine arts and current pop arts. (Not poptarts.)

2. FOCUS. I have a full time lettering gig, and that is fine. I like it, but I sometimes feel that somewhere along the line I gave up one desire for another, when I know I can do both. So I need to learn to detach myself from things (IM, E-Mail, No Networking during this time) If I can teach myself to open that creative flood gate again then I'll be able to get back to where I was. Right now I am constantly closing it and keeping it locked, and it DOES cause a lot of frustration and in turn becomes and even larger distraction.

3. RECEIVING CRITIQUE. I am kinda sensitive about critiques, and have been know to snap back. I KNOW I do this, so the goal is to NOT do this. To analyze what people are saying, even if I may not agree with it.

Overall, I want to improve. I want to do my own comic and make it GOOD. I don't want it to look like the a-typical webcomic. (Xerox comics.)

So add me. Comment. Do what you gotta do.

Screw it, I want an art blog.

Thats right.

My home repairs will be on my facebook for now. I want this to be my art blog.

Because it apparently is the thing to do.