5 pages of pure love

I finally scanned in the 5 page poem comic I did for my mom for mother's day. I wrote the poem and then spent 3 full days drawing this out. It was so fulfilling.

And here they are! Click to see them larger.





They are pretty muhc unaltered from when I scanned them in. Yep yep.

Painting

I've been painting again. It's a blast! Acrylic is so fun! So much detail. So lovely. Rich colors. It's a good feeling.

I sketched out the picture first, and finally got to start painting on saturday night.

When it's finished, I'll take a picture and put it up here.

How I plan my scenes

Last night, I did some sketches for a very important scene in a story I'm working on. I would upload the sketches, but they are rather bloody therefore a bit disgusting. I still like them, but I also realized that there would be no survivors if there was that much-- erm, blood. So, I'll have to change that scene around. But it'll still be good! Oh yes! And it'll make so much more sense.

So basically, what I do is start sketching/doodling things from a scene. Sometimes it peoples faces or their hair or their hands. Usually, it's a good reference for me later. That's why I have a file box full of sketches. Good reference points.

A short piece is forming

So I was just in Utah this past week, chilling with my family, seeing my cousin marry Veronica, and all that good stuff. About 2 days before it was time to go home, I got very forlorn and bored with everything. I spent a good amount of time lying on the hotel bed and listening to music pour into ym iPod. At some point, one song made me think of a little story about a cab driver (most songs make me make up stories) and I ended up expanding it into a short piece. It's long enough, but short enough, that I could turn it into a 20 page comic. Woo hoo! I'm so excited!

BUT... today I hurt my hands. Tore holes in my poor fingers... So drawing is really hard. But I'll hopfully get it done!

Fan Art 1

This is a fan art I did last night for Emi Wilken. It took much time, but I enjoyed it so much! So much. Leather is fun. And her feet turned out perfectly. In my opinion at least.

Oh Yumi. When will Miyabi learn to stop being so horrible to you? When will he learn it's you he saw at the concert? Oh their lives are so angsty. *hee hee*

Sketches 1

Posting two of my sketches.

This one was an indulgence. I let myself just draw whatever I wanted and spend as long as I wanted on it. I'm pleased.
This is a freind of mine. He actually sat there in that chair in that position for an hour and half so I could draw him.

I might draw some more this weekend, but my mother is coming home tomorrow and I have things to do. I also still have my math final to take.

A way to thicken lines in a natural way.

Early this morning, I was finishing up my art final, drawing in the dragon, when I noticed something interesting and valuable.

When I first drew the dragon, it was in pencil. Detailed, but the lines were made in sketchy motions thus giving them a slightly fuzzy effect (you know what I'm talking about). When I got out my micron to go over it, I went over the lines exactly as I saw them. I usually just go once over the line to make it a smooth, even width line. But in going over the fuzzies, and smoothing the edges together, I got that comic book look. The lines vary in width throughout the picture, giving it a little something extra. Same line width drawings always feel to be lacking something.

But this is especially good for me because most of my drawings are the rough sketchy stuff that I refine later. But after I inked them they always looked odd. Now, though, they'll look good.

Maybe I'll upload some examples later.

A decision to rock the age

My father gave me some advice today. He said that I've taken enough art classes to know what I'm doing. My skills don't need building; just honing. I can't hone them in a class. I can only do that myself, with practice. So, I'm done with art classes. It's all up to me. A little frightening, but I feel good about this. I also think I'll get a degree in english. That way, my story telling will be excellent for my books, not just the art.

A plan I must be willing to see through. My progress is up to me entirely. Let's see how I manage my time, hm?

Freedom in the mind leads to freedom on paper

Today while I was at church, I brought my school sketch book, hoping to get some real life work in. But my mind was restless and active, so I ended up sketching something out on the program, being that I am not permited to sketch imaginative things in my school sketchbook.


I love it, personally. I had gotten out of the habit of doing my sci-fi like style back in high school. Around junior year, I suppose. I went through a phase where everything had to be normal. Jeans, T-shirts, pont tails, etc. But recently I looked at a website and in looking at her work, I remembered how much fun it was to design my own clothes and hair styles. So I let myself run free today. And such a pleasing outcome! And I have a little tribute to Amy Kim Ganter in there. If you can find it.

Yeah, I need to let myself runaway more often.. In bigger sketch books. More elaborate things! Bigger! Better! Gwar!

Making time is hard when life happens

A realization sort of smacked me in the face today. It's really hard for me to find the time to work on my ideas. I mean, to even find time to write down the stories is hard. Nearly impossible. I have to do it late at night. The hours it takes to do a comic page is time I won't have until school ends.

But today I read another comic and there was a segment on cartooning. There were two things to hit me. One, "There's nothing to it but to do it." and two, "If you have passion for something you make the time." It's not that I haven't the passion. It's just that I value my education... And once finals end and I have summer, I will strive most diligently to do this! Bear with me... Life happens to me often. Life being school, church callings, family life, romances, and more. But, I have this passion for cartooning and I will make the time for it!!

I have found artists to be the biggest procrastinators around... So we must be pardoned on occassion...

The beauty of sketching

I thought about a recent project in my drawing class. We have to draw 33 sketches out of real life. That's fine. Not hard. But I was shirking it.

But in thinking about it, I realized that the hardest things for me to draw, are not people. It's objects. And not complicated ones. In fact, the more complicated, the easier it is (if that makes sense). So this will be good for me. I've been drawing random things. Jars, necklaces, phones, shoes, books. Things that would take up space in a picture, in an unobtrusive way. Sketching from life will take up a lot of sketchbook space, but it'll be well worth it for me.

Of course, I still draw people too. Don't want to get out of practice drawing the real deal by drawing nothing but cartoons. Man, I hate that word.

It begins...

So as far as I can see, one of my life goals is becoming a graphic novelist: writing and drawing my own stuff. And a little further than I can see, are the problems and hardships that life (and the path leading up to it) holds. And I suspect they shan't be easy. I am feeling sure they won't.

So, I'll track it all here. How I progress each day towards my goal. How often do I get the chance to work on my pieces? How often do I get to write for them? Why don't I have time? How I make the time?

And once I have the time and get started... Why it's harder than I thought? What makes it worth it? How I progress on my work?

Also, little tips and tricks I pick up.

This is just so I can come back to laugh at how hard it was. Or how easy. Maybe, as I go or when I'm done, people trying for the same goal will read it. Maybe it'll be helpful.

Maybe it'll be another bit of memory taken up on the hardrive of my computer. But whatever. I'll feel good.