Well, a couple weeks have gone by since my last Comic Creation Update, and we've passed over the threshold into the month of February. So I figured I'd document some progress on my comic project, "I Thought It Would Be Zombies..." for any of you fine folks who are following along!
Working on comics can be quite a manic experience. Did you ever watch the movie Tangled? Remember that scene where Rapunzel has just left her tower for the first time and is emotionally careening back and forth between delighted joy and crushing despair? Yeah, it's like that for me... except I have no hair and seldom go outdoors... But I digress...
Overall my work time so far has been filled with highs and lows wherein I'm either loving how the work is progressing or hating it. Even more strangely, conflicting emotions seem to go hand in hand far too often! I'm happy that I'm putting in more time at the drafting table than I was previously, but sad that it's still not enough. These are some of my favorite pages I've ever produced but they're still not as good as I want them to be... I'm learning to live with those dualities.
Page 1 is nearing completion of the pencil and ink stages. Lots more detailing, thus our "stars" of this column; Bark, Leaves, Stubble, and Chainmail. I redrew panel 4 as I mentioned I would in the last column, and am very happy I didn't settle for that crap face I had in there before!
Work began on page #2. That's pretty much how it has to happen. One foot in front of the other until you reach your destination, which in this case is a finished comic book. Going right along with the contrasting emotions and thoughts I've been discussing... I keep telling myself I want to develop a more simplified and dynamic art style. But then I decide to draw individual scales on armor. I just love lines... and I guess my natural style that always seems to emerge can best be described as "anal."
I really enjoy the Story View of the Clip Studio software I use. Basically all the pages of the comic are set up in a linked file, allowing me to see the flow of the story, rearrange pages, etc. But more than that I just like to look at it like a progress bar. I can see the little blocks of each page filling in and watch my progress. Despite the fact that there is a lot of white space ahead, it's very motivating and I do believe I'll reach the end! When I made my first comic, "Seer", I did much the same thing with index cards on cork boards. This is just a bit more high tech...
I'm continuing to participate in an accountability group with @kommienezuspadt and @artistchristian who are both doing really exciting and excellent work that I hope they'll share!
I feel like I should post more often, but would lean toward mixing in more short form content. What do folks think? Should I begin experimenting more with sharing short tips on Zappl or images in Steepshot?
Regardless, I'll continue posting these columns whenever I feel I have enough to show. If nothing else they help me focus on the next step and just keep putting one foot in front of the other. I hope you all enjoy and are on journeys of your own.
Worktime Elapsed Since Last Update: 10 hours 30 minutes
Total Elapsed ITIWBZ... Worktime: 30 hours 20 minutes
Tools Used: iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Clip Studio Paint, Scrivener
Was Listening To: @jasonbrubaker videos, a phenomenal and motivating comic artist freshly arrived on the Steem blockchain, swing by and tell him hello!
(I really need to create a cool graphic for this regular stats column...)
Post More! Little bits or a lot it’s all good. Keep up the good work!
Thanks, I’ll do my best! It’s good to see you on. Hope the new gig is going well and you’ll have some free time to post too!
This is so relevant to me right now; I think it's a struggle almost every artist deals with. But if we were satisfied with our work we wouldn't continually push ourselves to be better. Still, it's frustrating to put so much effort into something and hate it because it's not good enough.
Yup. I recall reading a quote about how few artists would claim that their work on the page represents more than 20-30% of what is in their head. It’s a lifelong quest trying to increase that percentage.
Artists who see no flaws in their work won’t improve... and are most likely kinda irritating people. 🤨 So I guess I’ll take the emotional roller coaster!
Cool work Bryan. Its a weird coincidence that you bring up Tangled, I have been studying it for story beats for the last couple of days. lol Also, If you want a paint over critique of your pages for the storytelling or even draftmanship, I'd be happy to share with you. Keep it up.
I’ve been meaning to sit down with Tangled for some facial expression studies myself. There’s quite a few different things to learn from it I guess! And thanks for the offer, if you’re ever in the mood I am always open to critiques. I can’t guarantee I’d implement all the feedback on given pages (trying not to fall into my regular trap of redrawing everything & never finishing) but I definitely like to apply learnings to the pages to come. I just wouldn’t want you to think you were wasting your time or I took any offense!
Looks like a long way to go. Thanks for sharing your progress with us
And of course this is just issue #1! It takes a special kind of crazy to make comic books. I’ve always doubted if I have it... but I’m gonna find out!
As always, thanks for reading!
This looks great and posting shorter posts more often is also cool.
Thanks for the encouragement on the pages & the posting!
You're very welcome
Generally true for me too. Though, for the most part, I'm happy with the work I get done, or shepherd to getting done, but hate that I'm not doing enough...
Bingo. I feel like the frustration is driven by the fact that this isn’t my “day job” but I of course want it to be. As such any free time I have I actually feel guilty if I’m not working on advancing a creative career. It’s just a constant air of unrelaxed malaise... 😕
Hey man, those scales look awesome, don't let anyone make you feel bad for caring about details!
As for your worry that it's never good enough, remember that finished is better than perfect.
Some of the drafts on my comic are SHIT, but it's better to finish it and then edit it than it is to get discouraged cause it wasn't perfect the first time :)
Plus there's that whole paradox where as an artist once you've finished something, you've become so much better that you want to remake the original but with you know now. What fun! (Said michael sarcastically).
This is really coming along great though, I really like the character designs, and I know that should you choose to finish this, there will be an audience for it!
Thanks, I appreciate it! I completely agree with all the sentiments you've expressed... but in the moment you always have to keep telling yourself those things over and over again!
If you're digging the character designs now... just wait! (This is only a LARPing scene... the real magic ain't even hit yet!)
Very true, we do need to tell ourselves that, and keep being told that haha.
Also I am super excited for the real magic haha
One foot in front of the other, that's the way to do it. Great pages - I am already looking forward to see that clown-gangbanger being beaten to a pulp.
What is an accountability group? Never heard about that.
Myself, @kommienezuspadt and @artistchristian each have comic projects we want to get rolling, so around the new year we agreed we’d share progress with each other every Wednesday! Should someone fail to demonstrate progress for the week, they have to pay 25 Steem. It’s a nice bit of extra incentive mingling both positive and negative reinforcement!
AHA! I thought it was some kind of crypto-freemason-lodge :) Nice and good to support each other that way, I really hope that you all get somepositive energy from it - you are all great comic artists and I really like to see the community create some longer stories. Cool, cool and cool, and Godspeed.
That screenshot of the story view looks daunting. It's hard to approach a single blank page. When you see them all... It's like, What did I get myself into into? On the other hand it gives you that structure to organize and plan around. Like you mentioned with the index cards. I wish I had some really great advice but I struggle with the exact same stuff. Best I can say is enjoy the journey and the destination takes care of itself.
Post more! It's something I've thought about. Where is the balance between disposable social media stuff and longer form stuff? I say post more, gain experience.
As daunting as seeing the whole project is, I actually like having that visualization of progress. No matter how much more there is to do, if I can see progress happening, I’m happy!
I am delighted to see your posts more often and more if they are about your comics.
Thank you! Glad to know more posts wouldn’t get boring!
and you're female? :P
Looking really great; absolutely loving the first panel on the first page, so good!
LOL, guess I forgot that difference. For the record I’m also not a princess. Legal counsel has advised me to not comment on whether I have or have not bludgeoned my enemies with a frying pan.
C'est la vie. Can't wait to see your finished pages from material you are satisfied with because these really are looking amazing.
I follow enough people that I have seen both zappl and steemshot posts and steemshot are much better imo as far as how they look to end users viewing from Steemit.com. I am biased however because I do not use any applications and only Steemit.com
Well thanks! I don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied, but that’s kind of a good thing... as long as I learn to feel that dissatisfaction positively, if that makes sense!
I tend to agree on the Steepshot vs. Zappl, and I also have more interest in their site being that it’s a visual focus. I joined Instagram just recently solely to follow a few artists and friends, but I can’t bring myself to post anything there. I’m all blockchain, baby!
The pages are coming along really well. I really like the inkwork. Was it done manually or digitally? That's awesome of you to share Clip Studio. Looks really useful for seeing the big picture.
All digital. I love the ink tools in Clip Studio, they’re top notch!
That's cool. Awesome to hear!
I'm loving Clip Studio so much now. It's almost making me was to stop using Photoshop. But I still do my colors in PS because old habits die hard.
Its so cool that you got on Steemit, Jason. I'll spread the word and follow you. I love your book and your blog. They've helped immensely!
I was ecstatic when Clip Studio recently released for iOS. My Cintiq had just died, and although I do miss the screen real estate, I realized that an iPad Pro has more horsepower than my aging Mac Mini. Clip has been more of a joy to use on tablet than it was on desktop for me.
I’m not experienced enough with colors to have any habits built! Clip Studio will most likely be an all in one for me (or I’ll hire out some work!)
Nic post.
Images describe all