Well. I have started being a little more active around here so I thought I would resurrect my old thread instead of dumping in the doodle thread like I have been doing. I have not been keeping very active with my web site but here are the latest batch of strips. WARNING: some of these strips are older, there is an Anthony Weiner joke in one of them for christ sake:
Is That Food:
Shopping at the mall and getting old:
The One That References Anthony Weiner:
The One You Prolly Saw In The Doodle Thread:
Teaching Lucy How To Play Well With Others:
The One About Syrup:
The One About Moves Like Jagger:
Crits on writing, art and general life advice welcome.
Thanks man! Seriously, people tell them I ruin songs for them. Once you hear it you can't unhear it.
I heard a great musical mishap the other day. A friend of mine thought that Bad Moon Rising went "Don't come round tonight, your bound to lose your life, there's a bathroom on the right."
Zerg: I know right? I hate that crap, I didn't want to buy your shitty graphic tees anyway.
Squid: *Blush* Thank you! I really like the brush and feel like I can do a lot more with it if I keep with it. Your words of encouragement mean a ton. Loving your comic, BTW.
Sieg: Thanks! For a few years now I got sick of buying cards for people. It seemed impersonal, so I would just draw them and put "Nick's Cheap Ass Card Co." on the back with a fake barcode. People seemed to like them and I don't mind doing a card every now and again so it is kind of a tradition. P.S. I just went to the Plaza art store downtown and they had one last thing of red lead refills for my mechanical pencil! I have been looking all over the place for red lead and didn't really want to pay $5 shipping for a .01oz package. I really liked the store! I should be good to meet up next week maybe, I will have to bring my daughter. She is only a year and half old so she can't get into too much trouble...right?
There's also a Plaza store in clifton right by UC. If we hang out over here I'll show it to you, not sure if they'll have different stuff or not but it'll be good to know.
M3nace, I don't know what to make of your comment. I think you are making fun of me for having laughing on the page when there is no joke, but not sure. Sooo, okay...
I guess I was trying to get across a laugh track, like on a sitcom...
Messing around with some new ink colors with a brush:
You've implied backgrounds that aren't there by eliminating borders in an Eisnerish way and that's cool, but I'm bothered by the white space to the right of panel 1; it's throwing the composition off balance. Moving the lower panel to the right might fix it, but I suspect its symmetry will still knock the whole a little off kilter. It's done and I dunno how much messing with it you want to do, but it might be stronger with a purely diagonal flow: Link in the background, sword center, triumphant Link w/ sword more to the right.
Sorry to nitpick but you said you were dying for crits in the doodley thread!
No! Nitpick! that is great! there was something about the flow that was bothering me, but I think I was just a little too on top of it too see it. How about this? P.S. The backgrounds as implied borders Eisner thing is what I was going for! so that is good!
people stuff is hilarious. I agree. Zoos all the way.
And I love the look on the kids face when the icecream is smek'ed away.
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
I don't know why but I keep forgetting to bookmark your page, because your comic it's well in my top ten favourite web comics. Anyway it's book marked now.
Thanks all! I am really trying on not draging out strips unless I think it tells a better joke short. The zoo vs. Circus one was way longer at first, but two panels is really all it needed.
Thanks 'Stang! I do love regular readers, that means a lot. How is your little one, not so little anymore i guess?
I have been trying to update more often and maybe thinking of hosting the site myself so I can make some money off of it with ads and the like. I don't know how much traffic you would need to make something like that profitable.
That comic got a good chuckle out of me. The linework on your traditional stuff and that portrait is looking good although it's not quite as strong in your comics, but you're making a solid improvement across the board.
Those hand studies in the background look good too, you should post a higher res version.
Thanks for the feedback Flay! I'll have to dig out the sketch book to find that hand study.
I did a kind of shitty drawing last night mainly to practice taking time lapse screen capture videos. While the drawing isn't great and the background sucks and the light source is all over the place, I think it turned out pretty neat, and I thought it would be a good way to see how I draw and color so I can get feedback that way too. Let me know what you think:
Earthbound is one of those games that I will never truly be able to let go of. I love the story, the look, the music, the characters. I know it is one of those "rose colored glasses" things, but I don't care. I remember playing it when it first came out, I was 13 which was Ness' age in the game. I had just gotten braces and my mom rented it for me. I stayed up the whole weekend playing it. I saved up and bought my own copy after renting it like 15 times. I also went through a fairly deep obsession with backpacks and baseball bats.
I still have the players guide at home, sometimes I get it out and flip through it, just to remember what it is like to be 13.
I still haven't played Mother 3, I was waiting for a U.S. release, but it doesn't look like that is gonna happen.
If you are going to make a whole piece dark, its best to put down a base color before you start to paint. It'll help you relate all the colors you chose to it, making a more cohesive scheme. You have a kind of paint by number work flow, which is alright in some things, but I would look at some progress work by different types of painters. I think your art has been improving but its sort of in a slow trajectory, You probably need to shake it up a bit more drastically.
One thing I noticed is you totally stiffened up that pose from that looser stick figure. I think your comics are nice and confident, and then stuff like this:
Is both experimental and takes advantage of your geometric and flat sensibilities. Some how this one is sort of in between. I mean you could be stretching your shit out mcbess style. take a look at these guys: http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/27768569254/elixiroverdose-wannabeanimator-requested
Last thing. Your traditional inks out shine your digital ones. I'm not sure if you have a really small tablet, an unsteady hand or what, but you may want to try and bridge the gap.
Thank you thank you thank you @Iruka, This kind of feedback is invaluable!
I will give the color advice a shot and work on more cohesive palette choices. That is one of the reasons I wanted to do the time lapse drawing in the first place, because it is a lot easier to catch things like this when you see them in process.
I remember seeing Mcbees' work a few years back but could never remember the name, that is great! That sort of look and aesthetic is something I have always strived towards but have fallen short on. The other link on pushing expression is awesome, and in case I haven't said it before your whole blog rocks and I need to spend some more time there.
I do have a small tablet, Intous 4s, and it is a little tough to get my shoulder into my digital art. I have always liked my paintings and traditional inks more than my digital stuff because of the way I can draw and paint from my shoulder, makes for smoother lines and more natural line variance. I toned down my pen sensitivity after that drawing above because it was blowing out my line width with little pressure, I will also try some different drawing positions when working digitally. Any suggestions?
Again, Thanks. I always try to take advice to heart around here and it is why I love this damn place.
It may benefit you more than others to have a medium/large tablet if you have the cash and the desk space for it. You may want to also test out some other programs. SAI and Open Canvas are still held up by the anime community for smooth lines. I think Lexxy still uses OC. If you have the whole suite, no harm in trying illustrator out. You could probably Make some pretty awesome shirts.
I think it would really benefit you to really hunker down and try and copy something stroke by stroke. No interpreting, no pose changing, just a pure "master copy" of someone like McBess, or John K style golden age studies. If you covet a more fluid style, You need more solid construction, and your work is very flat in that area. If you push yourself, more people will hop in and tell you what you are missing. I think because your work isn't really obviously flawed (as in, it seems more often than not you are getting what you set out to do) Its a little difficult to critique sometimes. I mean, I see your comics, they make sense, the construction is fine and you seem comfortable. Obviously we are all here because we want to improve, But maybe you should write out some goals/list out some artists you admire, If not for us, at least for you. Get a sense of what direction you really want to be going in.
Thanks @Iruka, I think I know what you are getting at. I feel like I have kind of hit a plateau, not that my art is super-ohmygawd-great, but I can generally get what I want out of my head and on to a page. I haven't really been pushing myself because of that, but I feel like now is the time to start pushing again. I will work on a goals list tonight and think about some artists I really admire and would like to get to a similar level of, Mcbees will surely be on that list.
I don't have the scratch right now to drop on a bigger tablet, and being that my work doesn't supply me with even a computer, I have to carry my laptop and tablet everywhere, so I will do anything I can to keep the smaller one for portability sake.
I have been toying around with making my line work in Illustrator, and generally I will use it if I know the end product is for print, but I do hate coloring in Illustrator. I should probably abandon Photoshop for everything but colors for a while and see how I fare. I will also look up SAI and OC, I have also heard good things about Manga Studios. Is that worth checking out?
I have no personal experience with the MangaStudio. I'm pretty rooted in the adobe work flow, so I've only occasionally branched out from it. Its important to find tools that work for you so grab up some demos and play around. I still pretty much scan the majority of my work in, because the tablet works best for me when I'm in a more paint-y work mode.
I'm glad my advice makes sense and is helpful! Hope we get to see that list
I will work on my list of goals later this evening after I do some much needed house work. Thanks 'Ruk for the kick in the butt I needed, feels like mental house cleaning.
I found some pencil drawings I did last October that I had a lot of fun doing but didn't post them here for one reason or another. Maybe I put them in the doodle thread and forgot about them, anywho...
EDIT: ugh, shitty camera phone quality, sorry. I sold all of these otherwise I would scan them in...
A new comic, I tried "inking" in Illustrator and coloring in photoshop. Largely pleased with the result, will probably continue doing this so I get a little more comfortable with illustrator being my go-to program for digital inking. It is a little longer than most of my stuff, but I wasn't trying to tell a joke so much as trying to tell a story, so I think the expanded strip works. Would love some feedback:
Posts
Is That Food:
Shopping at the mall and getting old:
The One That References Anthony Weiner:
The One You Prolly Saw In The Doodle Thread:
Teaching Lucy How To Play Well With Others:
The One About Syrup:
The One About Moves Like Jagger:
Crits on writing, art and general life advice welcome.
Stuff for a kids book I made for my wife but it has been in the doodle thread before:
New one, trying to push a little more detail:
Would love to hear some advice, tips or thoughts.
This make's me so happy. It's not just me that just makes up insanely impossible strings of words because I can't hear something.
Inks are great! Lots of character.
I heard a great musical mishap the other day. A friend of mine thought that Bad Moon Rising went "Don't come round tonight, your bound to lose your life, there's a bathroom on the right."
Zerg: I know right? I hate that crap, I didn't want to buy your shitty graphic tees anyway.
Squid: *Blush* Thank you! I really like the brush and feel like I can do a lot more with it if I keep with it. Your words of encouragement mean a ton. Loving your comic, BTW.
Sieg: Thanks! For a few years now I got sick of buying cards for people. It seemed impersonal, so I would just draw them and put "Nick's Cheap Ass Card Co." on the back with a fake barcode. People seemed to like them and I don't mind doing a card every now and again so it is kind of a tradition. P.S. I just went to the Plaza art store downtown and they had one last thing of red lead refills for my mechanical pencil! I have been looking all over the place for red lead and didn't really want to pay $5 shipping for a .01oz package. I really liked the store! I should be good to meet up next week maybe, I will have to bring my daughter. She is only a year and half old so she can't get into too much trouble...right?
Doodle I did last night:
Jesus a Quarrymen album?? What a find/how old is that dog??
HA!
CLAP
CLAP
HA
HA
... beats me.
I guess I was trying to get across a laugh track, like on a sitcom...
Messing around with some new ink colors with a brush:
I was going for a kind of Will Eisner feel for the composition, any thoughts?
Sorry to nitpick but you said you were dying for crits in the doodley thread!
And I love the look on the kids face when the icecream is smek'ed away.
Thanks 'Stang! I do love regular readers, that means a lot. How is your little one, not so little anymore i guess?
I have been trying to update more often and maybe thinking of hosting the site myself so I can make some money off of it with ads and the like. I don't know how much traffic you would need to make something like that profitable.
Learning After Effects, made a short video as a demo piece to a studio I work next to:
Doodling:
and the occasional comic for good measure:
As always feedback is welcome and encouraged.
Those hand studies in the background look good too, you should post a higher res version.
I did a kind of shitty drawing last night mainly to practice taking time lapse screen capture videos. While the drawing isn't great and the background sucks and the light source is all over the place, I think it turned out pretty neat, and I thought it would be a good way to see how I draw and color so I can get feedback that way too. Let me know what you think:
I like your stuff man! Keep up the good work.
Earthbound is one of those games that I will never truly be able to let go of. I love the story, the look, the music, the characters. I know it is one of those "rose colored glasses" things, but I don't care. I remember playing it when it first came out, I was 13 which was Ness' age in the game. I had just gotten braces and my mom rented it for me. I stayed up the whole weekend playing it. I saved up and bought my own copy after renting it like 15 times. I also went through a fairly deep obsession with backpacks and baseball bats.
I still have the players guide at home, sometimes I get it out and flip through it, just to remember what it is like to be 13.
I still haven't played Mother 3, I was waiting for a U.S. release, but it doesn't look like that is gonna happen.
If you are going to make a whole piece dark, its best to put down a base color before you start to paint. It'll help you relate all the colors you chose to it, making a more cohesive scheme. You have a kind of paint by number work flow, which is alright in some things, but I would look at some progress work by different types of painters. I think your art has been improving but its sort of in a slow trajectory, You probably need to shake it up a bit more drastically.
One thing I noticed is you totally stiffened up that pose from that looser stick figure. I think your comics are nice and confident, and then stuff like this:
Is both experimental and takes advantage of your geometric and flat sensibilities. Some how this one is sort of in between. I mean you could be stretching your shit out mcbess style. take a look at these guys: http://artanecdotally.tumblr.com/post/27768569254/elixiroverdose-wannabeanimator-requested
Last thing. Your traditional inks out shine your digital ones. I'm not sure if you have a really small tablet, an unsteady hand or what, but you may want to try and bridge the gap.
I will give the color advice a shot and work on more cohesive palette choices. That is one of the reasons I wanted to do the time lapse drawing in the first place, because it is a lot easier to catch things like this when you see them in process.
I remember seeing Mcbees' work a few years back but could never remember the name, that is great! That sort of look and aesthetic is something I have always strived towards but have fallen short on. The other link on pushing expression is awesome, and in case I haven't said it before your whole blog rocks and I need to spend some more time there.
I do have a small tablet, Intous 4s, and it is a little tough to get my shoulder into my digital art. I have always liked my paintings and traditional inks more than my digital stuff because of the way I can draw and paint from my shoulder, makes for smoother lines and more natural line variance. I toned down my pen sensitivity after that drawing above because it was blowing out my line width with little pressure, I will also try some different drawing positions when working digitally. Any suggestions?
Again, Thanks. I always try to take advice to heart around here and it is why I love this damn place.
I think it would really benefit you to really hunker down and try and copy something stroke by stroke. No interpreting, no pose changing, just a pure "master copy" of someone like McBess, or John K style golden age studies. If you covet a more fluid style, You need more solid construction, and your work is very flat in that area. If you push yourself, more people will hop in and tell you what you are missing. I think because your work isn't really obviously flawed (as in, it seems more often than not you are getting what you set out to do) Its a little difficult to critique sometimes. I mean, I see your comics, they make sense, the construction is fine and you seem comfortable. Obviously we are all here because we want to improve, But maybe you should write out some goals/list out some artists you admire, If not for us, at least for you. Get a sense of what direction you really want to be going in.
I don't have the scratch right now to drop on a bigger tablet, and being that my work doesn't supply me with even a computer, I have to carry my laptop and tablet everywhere, so I will do anything I can to keep the smaller one for portability sake.
I have been toying around with making my line work in Illustrator, and generally I will use it if I know the end product is for print, but I do hate coloring in Illustrator. I should probably abandon Photoshop for everything but colors for a while and see how I fare. I will also look up SAI and OC, I have also heard good things about Manga Studios. Is that worth checking out?
I'm glad my advice makes sense and is helpful! Hope we get to see that list
Favorite artists I wish I could melt down and drink to gain their power, in no particular order:
Out very own mcjohnstable, for his use of color and attention to detail: http://mcjohnstable.blogspot.com/
Zac Gorman for his childlike simplicity, sense of scene and color palette: http://magicalgametime.com/
Tomer Hanuka for his twisted take on realism meets surrealism: http://www.thanuka.com/index.php?uid=CF6054
The aforementioned Mcbess for his solid B&W and contrast and character and, fuck, everything: http://blog.mcbess.com/
and Jermey Fish for his composition, line strength and vibe: http://www.sillypinkbunnies.com/artwork/
EDIT: also Nate Van Dyke for his geometric, sketchy awesomeness: http://www.n8vandyke.com/personal_illustration.html
I will work on my list of goals later this evening after I do some much needed house work. Thanks 'Ruk for the kick in the butt I needed, feels like mental house cleaning.
Still plan on do the Master Copy of one of his works, but need to carve out the time to do it justice.
EDIT: ugh, shitty camera phone quality, sorry. I sold all of these otherwise I would scan them in...
EDIT: Photobucket shrunk it down to tiny, so I split it into two images and one is slightly smaller than the other now. Nothing got cut out, but here is a link to the one full sized version: http://brokecracker.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/before-your-buy-your-pumpkins-this-fall-please-consider-the-following/