Daily Sketching

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Sketch a Day!

I am trying to be more serious about my art and illustration skills. And, to that end, I have decided that I am going to try and sketch something out each day. I am hoping to achieve a more polished, graphic novel sort of look with my images. But, this does not mean I'm going to post something every day. I am afraid I don't have time for that, but I do hope to be able to post more than just once a week.

The above image is one of these sketches. I sketched out the rough in non-photo blue pencil, and then I went back over it with a copic brush multiliner pen. I have used the faber-castell pen previously, but I am really liking how things turn out with the copic. It seems more smooth and easier to achieve a variety of line thickness. I guess all of the art stores stock up on the copic for the manga comics crowd. I haven't tried the color copic pens, but I might continue to experiment with materials. As for my other tools, such as GIMP, I really need how to learn how to color with layers and whatnot. I think that would really take my digital art to the next level. Even though I tried to figure it out with the above image, I couldn't work it out this time.

As for the image itself, I really like how the eye on the right turned out. The eyes need to be lined up more and sized similarly. I'm not too happy with the jaw line either. Despite all of that, I think this is one of my better images in the comic style. Here's hoping for more progress with my sketches.

Edit: Well, I colored my comic as best I could, but only with fuzzy and lasso select and not with layers. I'll experiment more in the future, but if you got a chance, tell me which you like better: color or B/W?

Zeb's Letter

Zeb's Letter

Recently, I bought a couple of cheap animation books, not because I want to start animating things (although that would be awesome), but because I wanted to pick up a few tips and tricks about construction and whatnot. So far, so good. I think I've figured out how to make Zeb's head more consistent than it has been. I've also been experimenting with body construction. And, I think that the above sketch, demonstrating my efforts at it, is one of my best sketches so far. I think I need to return to character design and figure out how to make the Dana character more consistent, but overall, I would say things are improving. As for the content of the sketch, send me an e-mail or leave a comment! Any feedback would be great! Really--I mean it.

Also, check out the store. The image above is now on a remarkably affordable T-shirt, journal, and magnet! Fun stuff all around. Plus, if you have any requests for a special image on a T-shirt, or want some other product available from cafe press with a particular angry bear comics image, just drop me a line.

Videogames

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Videogames

For some reason, I can't get the images to post right, so for the time being, instead of posting by my usual methods, I am using flickr. I tried to post this above comic six times, but each time the bottom two panels would be cut-off halfway. The only difference you might see is that if you click on the image it takes you to my flickr page. (You can see a few of the other photos I have there, but nothing too special.)

As for the process behind this comic, I believe I am learning something new each time I do this. Consistency is definitely something that I have to work on. Also, it seems that I am constantly having Zeb raise his left paw. Weird, but now that I notice it, I can work on trying out new figure positions for him. There's a new poll on the sidebar, and if you have the time, tell me what you think in the comments!

P.S. Gah! I had to resize the comic by hand too, so it looks a little wonky. However, if you click on the image and go to the flickr page, you will see a slightly nicer version. Edit: Posting images is working so, the image is fixed! Hooray!

Filler #2

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Filler #2

Okay, so I promised that I would post something way earlier than this, so for that, I apologize. However, I have been doing some behind the scenes work on these little comics so, in a sense, it is getting a little easier to draw them and becoming a little "tighter." I suppose this is where the "experiment in comics" aspect comes in. I have been focusing more on construction in some little throw away sketches.

In that regard, the above is one of those "throw away" sketches. I did it on newsprint which, when I colored it in GIMP, gives it the look of MS Paint and crayon. Oh well. I would love to have a wacom tablet, the Illustrator program, and a bunch of cool artist tools that will have to wait for when I can afford such things. I have a few other sketches in my backlog, but my biggest problem appears to be writing scripts. It would be nice to write comic scripts, something that is appropriately jokey, but I just can't seem to do it. One of these weekends, I may take about an hour to think up something, but right now, I am drawing a blank. (Pun intended.)