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