Fun_Inkterview

Been so focused on digital for the past few months, I haven't done anything traditional in the meanwhile, so I need to get in shape for Inktober.

So we're kicking of practice pre-Inktober prep with good ol' Fred, nice and easy.


Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_HeyNow

One of my New Years' resolutions was to get a series of comics done this year, so I've begun doing just that, and this was a test run on my materials plus possible post-treatments, such as the straightforward cel-shader above, and the thematically colored shadows below.

I don't have the heart to go totally digital on comics yet, though, maybe I should do something micro to beat the preciousness out of me...

Anyway, I drew these with pencil and G-Pen inks on IC comics paper, and it was a dream...the drawing feels so smooth. I thought I could ink digitally, but...ugh...it just doesn't feel quite right yet.

So given these two floating figures, I thought I'd give them a couple rough color treatments, like some red-intensives for the "black and white and read all over" ethos (I don't anticipate any other colors in the actual pages of Coverage Draft), as well as full color.

Ultimately, I just went with the backgrounds I used for the tester images of Fred and Vicky for a kind of mock cover.

All right, I believe that'll do. Paper's great, inks are great, and we're all tested up and ready to draw some finals. Right now, I'm warming up on comics in general by drawing Splinter, but hope to have Coverage Draft under way soon enough, though probably want to do the other short first, too.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_ChristmasCards_VF

I decided to draw some Christmas-themed Copic portraits of my main characters in my little 100yen pocket sketchbook, first up Vicky Vasquez.

This came out a little more somber than I was envisioning, but, as I'm discovering, they kind of tell me what's going on as I draw them...she's a workaholic so she doesn't like being forced to take time off in December.

So she's kinda in shellshock mode without the constant buzzing and bustle of her regular work "life" to fall back on.

Next was Fred, which is a revamp of his first color scheme, based on a sketch from a random session.

This piece determined what I wanted to do with this little series: corresponding, minimally busy backgrounds using red or green, with a Christmas-themed hat.

Usually the guy of the pair is Santa and the girl is the elf, so I thought it'd be funny to switch it around since Vicky's the boss anyway. So, having done these relatively more straightforward shots, I knew I wanted to do the ZLM duo with a little more care next.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_TheFirstStarISee

A lot of Coverage Draft-related drawings lately...but we're building to it. Anyway, I kept imagining this scene when listening to "For Me This is Heaven" by Jimmy Eat World, upon discovering their older songs recently.

Actually, speaking of which, isn't this the more appropriate Jimmy Eat World song today? Yes, looking at the calendar, but as for the drawing, no. I love how "For Me" has a sort of senior-explaining-to-junior vibe, that's precisely how Fred and Vicky's relationship is...she has to sort of break stuff to him, explain stuff to him, watch out for him. But at the same time, she tries not to let him in too much; it's a bit of a one-way street. She's his boss, after all.

Anyway, I imagine Vicky and Fred both kinda go into an exhausted, utterly spent numb-state after an event ends, and they're sorta aimlessly sauntering home to the "real world" after determining every possible ounce of work has finished. Fred is just kinda bummed the action is over, but for Vicky, there's that mild-but-growing post-gig depression immediately creeping over her that she always has to scramble to mask.

Events ending just hits Vicky harder, but again, looking out for Fred (and ultimately/mostly herself insomuch as not to kindle his suspicion she's only human), she doesn't admit how hollowing it is for her to step away. Fred just assumes his workaholic boss is just feeling a little tired or maybe is similarly bummed another action-packed event has come to a close. She must have some last minute details to wrap, so he's loyally, patiently waiting for the final word.

So tonight, they're strolling along and prolonging the night, yet not really accomplishing anything in particular. Vicky still keeps from outriht dismissing him from duty, not out of fondness for him per se, but just so she doesn't have to deal with the finality of calling it a day--of having to face the inactivity of missionlessness, the silence of solitude. There's nothing for her outside of work.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_TokyoComicConStory

I used to do a "shake" after SD Comic-Con, to use our old Herald terminology, where I sort of analyze what we learned from the event--so here are some things I got out of Tokyo Comic Con that I hope to keep at the forefront into the new year. I should note, while the event was much, much, much, much, much smaller than SD, it was even smaller than I was realistically hoping for, so there weren't a lot of review or meeting opportunities at all. I also don't get how some people would refuse to review...there was nothing going on a good part of each day. I've been on the other side of the table multiple times, I know there are thumb-twiddling, not-accomplishing-anything moments at every event, and people were not being hounded for reviews here as they might be in SD. If I am ever in the position to help anyone, carve it in stone: I will help whoever I can, whenever I can, if approached when I'm available. What cruelty otherwise.

Anyway, first thing off the bat, it's been a while since I've "showed," and I had an absolutely gross, roller-coaster feeling in my stomach all event--I could barely sleep (just laying in bed with my eyes closed, a phenomenon I absolutely hate, hence I tend to go to bed only when I'm about to collapse...I hate being in bed and not being asleep, but trying to go to sleep), so I just need to power through that..I'm not a social person, so it could be a "crowd" of one person, I still dread it. San Diego's easier because the days are longer and it a 5-day event, so you have plenty of time to numb your nerves. So, to try to deal with the nerved, I drew the little Zero sketch above the night before the event because I couldn't sleep or focus on more productive work, like prepping my files for print.

During reviews, I tend to focus almost entirely on note-taking, but I feel I should have asked more questions and generally been more active. The first reason I tend not to try to ask too many questions is above all, I feel awful taking up people's (anybody's) time, and asking questions always feels like a blatant "spend moar time on ME!!!" demand--this includes anything from an art review to asking the dude at 7-11 to microwave my bread. But I suppose if they're deciding to take time to review me, then I should take some liberty of ownership over the time they're granting me.

The second reason I hesitate to ask questions is that I don't want to give any whiff of excuse-making, and I feel like pros are quick to sense that from reviewees, and this is something I myself see in less experienced artists. Almost immediately with rookies, there're qualifiers and explanations and all this fluff, rather than letting the art speak for itself. I frankly hate that, so I don't want to give any impression that I'm trying to lead their interpretation of a piece by asking something after they've given their commentary. It's just like in Magic--never make excuses; take ownership of your decisions and just accept their results, and learn from that, not monologues on manascrew. So even if I feel I have grounds for a question or disagreement, I always second guess myself because I feel it'll come off as I'm making an excuse or trying to influence them in some way. I know this is absurd because I am capable of stepping back and reading a situation as a third party, and because when I would venture a question, we'd subsequently have a productive discussion, but I still can't shut off that "how dare you speak" voice in my head.

That said, I do feel this was the first time I've felt like I was in a conversation with a pro, though, not just a pure student. I get so nervous, though, I totally blanked on Splinter and Coverage Draft, comics I've worked on for months...as if I was just improvising the story on the spot...it was the same way at school--I could know a subject front to back, but if having to deal with a human (not a paper) it was a coin flip if I could pull it together to present myself as informed and as prepared as I was or if I was going to come off indecipherable from some rando off the street riffing on a whim.

The other big takeaway was, as I had feared, I don't have enough variety in composition. All my stuff, as I was assembling it--even pre-assembly, as I was shorlisting files--tons and tons of bust shots; I ended up putting stuff in just because it had more body present. So top priority, I need to pull the camera back, more than just waist-up shots. People liked my comics, though, since those of course have more mobile vantage points. The other thing was one reviewer said I ought to put more story into the images, another suspicion I had during assembly. I've been trying to put more narrative into backgrounds, but the advisory seems to be to hit it head-on with multiple characters in one piece, for more apparent intrinsic storytelling. Appropriately, the last drawing I did before Tokyo Comic Con was that Zero bust sketch above, so to counter that, the first drawing afterward a sketch on the train of Fred and Vicky in front of a news kiosk, trying to put together a quick exploration of what I learned.

The last noteworthy thing I can glean from the event was that I need to pick a lane. This was floating in the back of my head, but hearing it out loud solidified it. I don't know what my "thing" is...am I painting or doing lines?...I love lines, I want to be a killer with linework...I feel pressured into painting and even coloring. But the unanimous winner was our linework stuff. In fact, our little monochromatic Zero was the breakout piece. I included him almost at the very last minute, but ended up putting him on the cover of the packet when assembling leavers in the hotel on TCC eve. I had intended to paint him, but secretly really loved the monochromatic treatment. I included him mainly just because it was as near to a full-body image as I had. But this was the one everybody responded best to, which was quite gratifying, though the Admiral was our best painting piece). Zero means more to me than anything else I could possibly do, so it was a pleasant, if quiet, victory. What were we talking about again? Oh right, pick a lane.

So the vibe my packet gave off was schizophrenic. I have to pick an aspect to focus on and just go all in on that, it seems--one reviewer said that piece to piece, they look like they could have been done by different people. The problem is I don't exactly-laser-focused know what I want, and I've always discarded notions of "style," since that was always like n00b code for "I suck, but these pieces all suck in a similar way, so that makes them good," it's like a type of intolerable excuse-making discussed earlier. I had always learned that style comes over time, eventually, naturally, and unintentionally...only amateurs try to force it. I don't know what my "style" is, and I dread even thinking about thinking about it. I draw as I draw. I don't know. It was unthinkable to try for style. But now, I have to? That's like learning that mothers drinking vodka actually helps their babies grow strong.

What is the goal? I just want to make people happy with art. I'll dance like a monkey to do that, whatever jig it takes, disregarding any personal happiness in the process, as I have for the past decade. My personal wishes don't hold much weight in my mind. But I do know I like lines, and I want to be insane at that more than being an insane painter. Color has always been a lower priority to me that I've felt pressured into. I don't even like most color comics to be perfectly honest...especially in the west, colors too often destroy lines, or even just act as a crutch for poor linework. I love JP comics because it's pretty much all black and white, so you live and die on your lines. Obviously when they do color, it's only a few pages and covers and stuff, and it's gorgeous, and that's more the pace I'd like. So I guess that's the decision, huh? Focus on linework. The rub is that nobody cares about lines. Everyone wants colors...

So as we look to next year, I have to pull the camera out, do more implicit storytelling in images, and tighten up (spam?) a style. Art, like Magic, isn't fun. It's a technical endeavor in the pursuit of perfection. So we need to be more perfect. Oh, also, while I grapple with these art issues, my country is destroying itself and reverting into an abominable amateur-hour version of itself from half a century ago, so good beats.

Not normal,

Reuxben

Fun_HowNow

Fred Roman concept from Coverage Draft.

Just something we're boodling with.

I like that Roman sounds like roamin', also has the core of romance, even man. Close second is "Broadsheet" or "Times..."

Anyshway, that's it for now.

Reuxben