I’ve managed to stick to my morning drawing schedule (with the exception of yesterday, but there were good reasons), which I’m proud of. However, this Friday-update thing is, I suppose, too relaxed. I did a good job keeping up when it was every day, but with so much time in between I’ve tended to miss my Friday posts. In any case, here are three penciled pages from Payday (click on the thumbnails to view “full” size”). … Read More
I’m only on page 9, but that’s okay – I spent much of my time yesterday getting references for a panel I needed to fill in on a previous page. And boy, do I feel bad. I don’t mind tracing. It’s a good way to learn, and I often trace my own work when I’m drawing similar panels. But this time, I traced part of a photograph: the back right of a car. And for some … Read More
Like an idiot, I missed my scheduled posting last Friday. I fail. I did, however, maintain my comics schedule. In fact, as of today, I have 7 pages penciled, with the exception of a few panels that either need references or other special handling. In the coming week or so I will be posting some of the more complete pencils. So far, I’m having a lot of fun drawing, even though I have to get up … Read More
As part of my post-rehab regimen, I’m updating my comics progress on a weekly basis. Fridays will be post days, though that doesn’t mean I can’t post during the week if I have something to share. I had a good week. I have four pages almost completely penciled; I say almost because there are a couple things that didn’t get completed: things that need referencing, detail, or some other work. But, in all, four pages have … Read More
As I was drawing a page today, I was reminded about some thoughts I’ve had about timing in comics. I’ve had these ideas for a while and always meant to write them out, and I guess now is as good a time as any. I was looking at the page and on it I have a number of repeating images, a technique that is used to imply a slow passage of time. I also remembered that … Read More
It’s 1:11 AM, Saturday morning. I did my rehab time on Friday morning like I was supposed to, but didn’t have time to post about it all day. For my last day of rehab, I started sketching out panels for my graphic novel project. A couple years ago, I played around with the idea of not scripting the story but instead sketching in a sketch book key panels I knew I wanted to include with the … Read More
I almost didn’t make rehab today. But here’s what I churned out about an hour-and-a-half ago: I didn’t get to draw this morning because I had to report to jury duty. Luckily, I don’t have to report back, which means my morning schedule can stay intact for now. Most of the sketches above were done using some reference material I have stashed away in a pull file. I was looking for faces I could use as … Read More
A new sketch! It’s been awhile since I posted a drawing. This is a sketch of the main character for the graphic novel I’m going to get my ass in gear for. I also started working on his wife. They’re not finalized by any means; I want to pull some references before I decide on the final look. But, once I get the look of each character down – and there are really only three main … Read More
More outlining today. I edited the graphic novel project I’m selecting to do and wrote a few more strips. Then I went to work and thought about things. Months ago I stated how important graphic novels were to me. And they still are. But I made this statement with the intention of not doing a web strip as I thought it would get in the way of completing a graphic novel. I really do want to … Read More
So far, the plan is that this be my last week of rehab and next week I’ll continue the same schedule sans the daily documentation. I did some more outlining today. I wanted to be as prepared as possible to work on the projects I’ve selected. There’s some apprehension, sure, but I can’t my rehabilitation, nor my need to do comics, go by the wayside. My dilemma over the weekend was whether or not to start … Read More
Today, I mainly detailed some future strips, trying to flesh out some ideas I have for resurrecting Omnipotent Me. I read through the old strips and I’m trying to figure out a way to incorporate them. I like a lot of them, and only a few either don’t make as much sense as I wanted them to or they don’t really help define the newly refined theme. The new version of the strip is based on … Read More
I almost forgot to post today. I woke up at 7:00 AM and got right to writing… er… brainstorming. I went through some old documents containing started-but-never-finished stories, took what I liked, and added them to my brainstorming sheet. There are three projects I’d like to do. One is the slice-of-life story I mentioned the other day, one is a re-launch of my strip, Omnipotent Me (for which I have some fun ideas), and one is … Read More
I just spent an hour outlining a couple of comic story ideas. The one I outlined in some detail is more of a reality-based story, something I’ve been trying to avoid. I like slice-of-life comics, but I much prefer an element of fantasy. I don’t necessarily want to read about something I could be going through because, well, I’m going through it myself. I prefer the fantasy elements because it provides a bit of escapism yet … Read More
I got up at 7:00 AM today and decided to keep with the writing motif for the rest of the week. One thing I need to do is make sure I have enough stuff ready to be drawn, whether that means getting detailed outlines ready, a script, or just basic plots. So, my plan is to keep with the writing motif for this week and, depending on how much progress there is, perhaps into next week. … Read More
I’ve decided to go another two weeks – that’s ten more days – of rehab. I want to make sure I keep up the habits I’ve been forming for the last 20 days. Unfortunately, this week will be a little different, depending on what’s going on. My wife just had minor surgery (she’s okay), but because I’ve had to be her… nurse?… helper, our days so far have been thrown off and so have our sleep … Read More
Made it! Another Inkspill comic. You wouldn’t think this was a hard one to do, but that first panel is the result of three attempts. Again, in the interest of time, I worked my way through a tricky angle. It’s my job to use my free time to study that particular head position. I’d say it turned out okay, though. This comic is cleaner than yesterday’s. I made it a point to not overwork anything, so … Read More
Here’s today’s comic. Click on the image to view the larger version. I just made the hour! So, a few questions about the strip: 1. Do all women do this? 2. Could her hair be any frizzier? 3. Are they growing in each panel? Considering I did this in all inks, it’s not too bad. I thought I’d have more trouble with the female character than I did. The problem I did have was the sketching; … Read More
I’m waiting for the last bit of ink to dry before I scan. Today, I did a three-panel strip entirely in ink, which qualifies it as an Inkspill. Of course, I have to get it cleaned and posted within the hour, and according to my timer, I have 22.5 minutes left. Inkspills are great because they force me to commit to whatever I’m drawing. Sometimes it turns out bad, sometime good, and sometimes in between, as … Read More
Today, I failed. Completely. For the first time since I began this project, I did not get up at 7:00 AM (give or take), I did not work on comics for an hour this morning, and instead I slept until 8:00 AM. The first thing I thought when I awoke this morning was, “I am f***ing stressed. I do not want to deal.” So I slept in, knowing that I’d be home early from work today … Read More
I did work on comics today. I did. I just didn’t draw. I didn’t make time during the weekend to clean and prepare the pages for posting. Therefore, I did them today, or at least I started to. Since the third page needs to be composited, that’s what took the longest. In fact, it’s not completely done because in the process of copying and pasting the repeating panel and layering in the minor changes, I noticed … Read More
