I'm having to look through what art I even did this month to remind myself what even got finished, because I honestly can't really remember. This will be a bit of a short update, with more disjointed and random thoughts strung together. Enjoy?

I did a lot of concept and experimental work, like pixel art and .gif making.

I ran into more issues with ASP's memory limits with the iPad, but I think I now know what those limits are, and can more easily avoid them in the future. I'm sure they will still happen though.

It's probably a little funny, but I think the usage of ASP has made me start liking doing art a little bit more. The tools and brushes just make sense. The line-art does what I want it to, and I know how to change things into a way that I like more. I couldn't do that very well in Procreate. The brush making in Procreate, which I'm sure I've said before, is... To say it needs a few changes is an understatement. Some settings don't make sense, some settings are in weird spots, some settings flat out do nothing, some settings break the brush, it goes on.

At the end of April, I accepted another round of commissions, but this time from my waiting list only. It makes me feel a little uneasy doing that somehow, but I'm not quite sure why that is, or really what to do about it. So, I guess I'll ignore that feeling and get the work done anyhow!

I'm enjoying doing these daily scribbles / sketches.

End of Month Post - March 2021 - The Art of Blokfort

I accepted commissions at the start of March, Started using ASP (Art Studio Pro on the iPad) in earnest. Every commission done was done in ASP. I can now safely say that even though there are still some issues that come up in ASP, I very much prefer it over Pro (Procreate on the iPad).

With some of the "smaller" commissions I don't typically run into issues, but when I have to do a "bigger" one, like a fully shaded background, ASP starts to crash a lot. Or rather, the iPad forcibly closes ASP because of the iPad's memory limitations. I pretty much always stream while I draw, and with my current setup, I have to mirror the iPad screen onto my computer, which causes the iPad to use a bit more memory than it normally would with an app. I'm perfectly fine with this, It just means I have to hit "save" frequently, or be better with my layering. For instance, I don't need 6 layers of single line scratches in the sketches layer group. There's also certain times when using a "foggy" brush that the app will just decide "Nope." and close, but like I said, as long as I save before actually using those types of things, it's all fine.

Speaking of brushes, the brush creation in ASP is so intuitive, with maybe 1 or two things that are oddly place in the settings, but at least they exist. Pro's brush creation is... I feel like I'd have a better time deciphering ancient hieroglyphs. There are so many settings and options in Pro that flat out do not make any sense, and a few are even incompatible with each other, within the same settings menu. Pro tries too hard to look fancy. ASP has the same settings, organized in a way that makes sense. It took me months to create brushes I somewhat like in Pro. It took me a few days to hours to remake and improve them in ASP, along with making any new ones I needed. Even now if I were to try and make a brush again in Pro, it would still be a huge hassle.

As of writing this, I have 1 commission left to do, and I feel kind of bad about how long it has taken to get it done :<. After that is finished, I'd like to finish Page 8 of Eyes on the Prize, and then put it on hiatus, again (sorry). I'll be taking up a different large project and I simply don't have time for both. I do very much like the shape in which the comic has formed though. I can easily make the comic page canvas format, add in text and speech bubbles however I like, adjust certain frames and change how things look pretty quickly and reasonably, all on ASP. No more swapping between ASP and Clip Studio on the computer!

Oh yeah, I've also changed the SFW and NSFW galleries format for the website, for the 10th time. This is the one though, I feel it. This gallery actually has tagging that makes sense, along with a better lightbox / slideshow viewing format.

SFW Galleries - The Art of Blokfort
NSFW Galleries - The Art of Blokfort

HAY, THIS VOTE IS SUPER IMPORTANT, GO VOTE NOW

https://blokfort.com/voting-time/

I got a lot of work done, but unfortunately I don't have a lot to show for it. Mostly the highlights of this month are a couple of big projects, daily drawings, and a lot of time dedicated to learning and re-learning certain aspects of the art programs that I now I'm currently use. It makes me feel a little bad, because I feel like I need to consistently show and provide the work that people are supporting me for. I only managed to finish page 7 of Eyes on the Prize, and a few other commission-type art to show time-lapses and other stuff. But, I'm very, very happy with the final results of the things I have completed.

I'm not terribly familiar when it comes to the subject of mech or machine type stuff. I don't normally like to talk about commissions in great detail, but one of the things commissions I had to work on was an old suit of mechy-armor. It was an odd (and sometimes frustrating) process of trying to put pieces together in a way that made sense, when I don't actually have a lot of mechanical sense or knowledge. It's kind of funny to mention, but lately I've been getting into the Warhammer 40k. I think the designs and universe are a lot of fun! I think after doing a few daily drawings of some of the Adeptus Astartes armor, it helped a bit for this armor commission. Maybe.

Another thing that helped a lot while doing said armor was using a different art app/program. Originally, I used Procreate (Pro). I started using Pro in 2015, when I got my first iPad. It was a pretty great drawing app, very simple and pretty intuitive to use, minus custom brush making. The custom brush making is atrociously bad. The the thing that made me switch to using the new program, Art Studio Pro (ASP), was basically because it was the same thing, but had more tools. And, even when talking about the same exact tool, it had more options and customizability. The touch-gestures are faster, the bars are customizable, the fact that it has a quick-gesture-page-thing. Pro has none of those things. These days, Pro's interface is just... incomprehensible. Certain things are, and are not customizable, the touch-gestures are slow and laggy, THE GOD DAMN LAYER LIMITS. Oh right, ASP has no layer limits. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. If you want a nice drawing program, try out Art Studio Pro! I've also heard that Clip Studio Paint is quite nice as well. I think Procreate started it's downfall when it decided to focus on the iPhone version, Procreate Pocket. Completely mind boggling to me. So, with the change to ASP, I've had to get settled with how canvas are made, where tools are, customizing buttons, remaking *BRUSHES*. The brush making in ASP is amazing, it's so easy. Everything I want to change is in a spot that makes sense. Mostly. Better than Procreate anyway. So yeah, a large chunk of time was spent getting used to ASP. But now, I'm settled!

Page 7 of the comic was actually done in ASP as well. I relocated all the page preset stuff over to ASP from Pro. Making the frames of the comic is a little funky, but it get's the job done. I will say, Pro's ability to edit a line-shape after drawing it is quite nice, and would love to see the same happen in ASP at some point, but until then I'll just have to make do. I recreated my main brush in ASP, except somehow it's even betterer than the one I used in Pro. I don't actually hate doing the line-art all that much now, which is a good thing because there's a lot of it. In page 7, I've decided to try and NOT color the background at all, only using various grey-scaled colors to mark setting. light grey for outside, darker grey for inside, etc. etc. It makes characters pop out more, I think. The trade-off though, is that I feel like I have to do a lot of line-art in order to actually show where the characters are, setting-wise. Currently, it's ok to me in the end anyway, as just doing line-art is far less mind taxing than having to pick and repick various grey shades in order to color bits and pieces of the background along with the characters, over and over, and over. It's also less layer management!

I'm thinking I'll be accepting commissions again soon for March. Things have settled down now, and I feel ready to take on more. Was also maybe thinking of posting to Tumblr again.

I didn’t do a post for December 2020 because I felt like nothing notable really happened, and that I somehow also needed to summarize the year of 2020 for myself. I didn’t want to do that. So moving on, onto rambling! New year, new goals.

I’ve mentioned in a twitter post before; Juggling both commission work and comic work is really tricky for me. I’m still working through how I want a comic to look like and the whole process of it is new to me. I feel like I’m lost and afraid(?) at times as I’m never really sure what I’m doing. It’s a weird and hateful nostalgic feeling, much like how I first got into art stuff in general. I’m not sure how I want to host it on the website here, Patreon, or other gallery sites like Furaffinity and so on. I think the Eyes on the Prize comic looks ugly, it’s dark, and because of how I rushed through certain parts of it, some things look ‘wrong,’ there’s small consistency errors, and so on, and so on. Final note of self deprecation, it takes me a very long time to get these pages done. Originally I stopped doing Weekly Drawings because I didn’t want each comic page to take 2 weeks to finish. Well, each page has taken 2 weeks to finish, along with doing commission work. Darn.

That said, I’m still pretty happy with it. I know how to get the framing and layout done quickly and (I think) decently, I have a better grasp on how I want to do word-balloons, font is still something I struggle with now and then but I think it looks and reads ok now. I know I’ve said in the past that I wish I could keep everything consistent look-and-feel wise, but I think that’s simply not possible for this comic. Eyes on the Prize (after Old as Ice, wow who remembers that?) is an experimental comic that allows me to learn what I like or don’t like about certain aspects of comic making, and adjust accordingly. Before, I would use Clip Studio Paint’s comic making functions to make and create the comic page layouts, but after a while I decided it was too slow and unnecessary. It’s really annoying to have to Draw out what I kind of want in Procreate on the iPad, save the sketches, upload to Clip Studio Paint, but in the frames, reupload back to Procreate and finish the line art and other bits of artwork, etc., etc. Having to do the musical chairs of uploading and reuploading removes any kind flexibility in changes. By making certain brushes and using certain functions in Procreate though, I can make and edit the frames A LOT FASTER. Same thing applies to word balloons and text. Removing the need to use two different art programs will save me a lot of time in the future.

There are however some issues I find with drawing on the iPad / Procreate. One big thing is that the screen is simultaneously dark and bright. Dark colors might as well all be black, and bright colors are… well, bright. Things like pure white or neon colors are blinding to me. It throws off what little sense of ‘tone’ I have for the piece I’m working on. I bring this up because I mentioned earlier how these first 6 pages of Eyes on the Prize are dark as hell. To me, drawing it on the iPad, it looks perfectly fine (not including the issues mentioned earlier)! But, when I look at the pages online on a monitor, it’s all muddy and dark. BLEH. I have tried to mess with the color / contrast / brightness / true color settings on the iPad to no real avail, so it’s just something for me to keep in mind for the future I suppose. This issue has come up in other art pieces as well.

SKETCHING. I’ve managed to successfully do a daily drawing for a month now! I think I’m finally happy with what a “SKETCH” is, as shown in the many daily drawings. I can knock them out decently quickly, and I feel like I know when to stop with them. This is an important thing for me to note because often times in the past I would keep adjusting and refining a “sketch commission” until it didn’t really look like a sketch anymore. I might be able to make yet another edit to the commission page to include sketch commissions. I think I’ll do another month (or two) of daily drawing type stuff before making the effort to do that though.

I want to be able to be good at multiple forms of art, but I don’t have the time nor brain power to do so. I want to be able to do painterly-type artwork, but I have zero clue how to get started with it. I of course try watching other people, and they make it all look so simple. Anytime I try to apply those tricks though, it never really works out. I don’t know how to use digital painting brushes, and I don’t really know what look I’m trying to go for either. So, I’m just going to put all that stuff on hold for now.

I did learn how to make Emotes though! I even like them enough to throw them in the NEW AND IMPROVED “Bits ‘N Bobs” Commission sheet!
Go cheggem out ——> Commissions Info! - The Art of Blokfort

Time for the next voted drawing!
THIS WILL BE THE LAST VOTE FOR A WHILE, AGAIN.

https://blokfort.com/voting-time/
(I am also willing to accept suggestions!)

If you like my content, consider supporting me on Patreon or Subscribestar!
https://www.patreon.com/blokfort
https://subscribestar.adult/blokfort

I've cleared up most of the projects I needed to do and can accept commissions once again!

Commissions Info! - The Art of Blokfort

November has been a month of me trying to catch up again with what I missed in October. It's been kind of tricky because for whatever reason I've had A LOT of "I'm tired / exhausted" days. Sometimes I'd get to a point where I want to do something, but don't want to do anything. Really fun. So, I'd miss a few days of streaming and therefore drawing, which means less content than I'd hope for in the end. Because of that thought of "less content than usual" I keep having recurring thoughts about trying a sort of daily drawing thing, but as I've discovered in the past, I just can't do it. I want to be able to though. Honestly, the reasons why I don't can be simplified as laziness or forgetfulness. I spend about 5-8 hours everyday on drawing related stuff, so when the time ends for the day, I'm just about done with drawing for the day, if that makes sense. I find it difficult to extend that time a little bit more to say, "hey, I'm spend 1-2 more hours on a daily drawing now."

At the start of the month, I accepted a few commissions that have been on "waiting" status for quite a while and have finished all but 1. At the moment, that, and the next page of the Eyes on the Prize comic page are my two main focuses. The Eyes on the Prize comic has been going... Ok. I decided to just do simple black and white coloring for now, because I simply don't know what colors I want with it. I don't understand color theory, or even color picking at all. The few times I've tried with coloring, I fear it looks ugly or I fear I can't keep the consistency of it onto the next page. Heh, I'm sure there will be a few people who say the black / white coloring is already ugly, but OH WELL. I'm learnding, pleese dont yall at me.

Currently with my weekly content stuff, it's Comic / Vote / Comic / Vote / etc. Like I said last month, I feel like I can't do both a comic, weekly vote, and commission work AND personal work in one week, so why bother trying. Instead I'll just break it up into every-other-week type format. The unforeseen, rather obvious consequence of this however, is that I'm doing 1 comic page every other week. Eyes on the Prize currently has 30 drafted out pages. That would take 60 weeks to complete, if I kept to this schedule. That's uh, kind of a long time, for a mediocre comic, heh. Honestly, I'm not too sure what to do about that. I think for now I'll stick to the schedule with no changes and see how I feel about the whole thing in January. I mentioned fears about consistency earlier, and the length of time it's going to take to finish this comic is one of the main factors for that particular fear. As you may know, I've made an attempt at making this comic before, and was definitely not happy with how it was going. I'm glad I decided to stop and reformat everything, but I do not want to do that again here. It's time consuming and it's not actually content I can show anyone.

Total flip of switch here: The comic will most likely change over time, and I should probably not worry about that sort of thing. I want it to stay consistent, but I simply don't have the skill for that at the moment. This is basically my first start-to-end comic, not including the old "Old As Ice" comic. There's going to be some bumps and seemingly random changes from time to time. (I'm typing this as a reminder for myself. Hopefully it sticks.) Things like word balloons, coloring, sound words, line art, etc., will most likely change from page to page. Thanks for your patience!

Time for the next voted drawing!
This one is going to be a bit different from previous ones.
https://blokfort.com/voting-time/
(I am also willing to accept suggestions!)

If you like my content, consider supporting me on Patreon or Subscribestar!
https://www.patreon.com/blokfort
https://subscribestar.adult/blokfort

Time for the next voted drawing!
Go to this page and vote on which one I'll do a drawing for. Sometimes details will be a little vague to add some mystery to it, I guess.

https://blokfort.com/voting-time/
(I am also willing to accept suggestions!)

If you like my content, consider supporting me on Patreon or Subscribestar!
https://www.patreon.com/blokfort
https://subscribestar.adult/blokfort