I have a ton of personal projects in the works, and I realize that it may be super confusing for you to keep up with all of them. Sometimes I myself have a hard time keeping up with the ones that don’t update online.
So, to make things easier for you and me, I’m making Wednesdays into a new feature,
The SuperMegaUltraMaxi Update! Continue reading “The SuperMegaUltraMaxi Update”
I don’t have a review for you today because I’m still reading through a lot of comics.
However, I’ve been doing a lot of sketching.
Mostly I’ve been drawing for the new eBook I’m making, Goth Punk Girls. Here are the new sketches I made for it!
I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from the Tumblr Punx of Color, which I definitely recommend you follow! They even feature occasional musicians and zine creators (I love love LOVE zines).
Speaking of punks, though, that reminds me that I should talk about Charlie & Clow for a moment.
I’m going to update a few things on the webcomic site, including adding some more to the FAQ section.
There are new Charlie & Clow comics every Monday via my email newsletter, too! It’s a good way to know what the two monster hunters are up to in between chapters. Here’s the first comic, to give you a taste:
While that’s going on, I’m also doing costume designs for Chapter 2, like this one:
Clow MIGHT be getting a haircut before then though: people keep mistaking him for Roxie, the awesome punk lady in Validation. I don’t like it when two characters from two different stories look alike to me: It makes me think of Same Face Syndrome.
But I’m not sure what new style to give him! If you have any suggestions or ideas, please leave them in the comments below.
Ok, I need to get back to work.
Thank you for reading!
You. Are. Awesome.
I’m hitting the road again, this time for Savannah, Georgia.
Why?
For SWARM CON!
I found out about this show from my friend Chloe, a grad student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She and I are going to be in the Artist Alley April 25th and 26th, showing off and selling our work. If you can make it, I would love to see you there!
In the meantime, there’s a lot of webcomics available for you, from Validation to Johnson & Sir to the first chapter of Charlie & Clow.
(Johnson & Sir are still looking for guest comics! More info is available here.)
And of course, the KickStarter for Seeing Him, the Webcomic is still going! So pledge, spread the word, and help us reach our stretch goals before May 4!
And if you want to help fund another campaign, Pink Dollar Comics (the soon-to-be publisher for Seeing Him) is raising funds to get to Flame Con. So if you can, pledge and spread the word for them too!
When I come back (on Tuesday), I’ll tell you all about my trip.
And, who knows? There may be a sale on my Storenvy soon after. ;)
Thanks for reading!
This post is the first in a week-long blog post update extravaganza! (It’s when I update my blog everyday, Monday through Friday, just for this week).
I just finished a new illustration in colored pencil! So to celebrate, I wanted to show the progression of how I made it and the tools I used. And at the end of the blog post, you can see the finished piece.
To start, I grabbed my Prismacolor 72 piece colored pencil set (which I had left over from my first ever art class in college. Hold on to your supplies, students!) and an 9 wide inch by 12 inch pad of Strathmore Toned Tan paper.
Once I got those, I drew the black and white version of what I wanted to color. I sketched in (lightly) where the shadows would lie with my trusty F hardness sketch pencil. I use that pencil for all of my drawing and sketching.
Then I go over those lines with my mechanical pencil, which I believe is a B hardness in lead, so it’s darker than the F.
Next, I color over the whole sketch with a white colored pencil. I do this so that…
Once the white is laid down, I lay down the brightest colors I’m going to use, and color from light to dark.
The first layer of colors end up looking a little like this:
It’s not the prettiest…yet.
Also, I did not use light peach straightaway for the skin tone. I laid down the highlight color, which is a mix of Cream and Beige.
Alright, so I drew the light colors first. What next?
The shadows!
I really wanted to try and find colors that would compliment Roxie’s hair, which is why I went with fuchsia industrial piercings, dark blue gauges, a purple camisole, and an orange-yellow tank top.
Also, use the color wheel. It is your friend.
I used this to help me find the complimentary colors mentioned above, and it also helped me find what colors to use for shading.
So at this point, I have colored the highlights and the shades. There’s just one layer missing…
Oh I know! The mid tones!
I took the colors I wanted for the mid tones in each area, which went a little like this:
But after I colored the mid tones and finished out a few minor details (like the teeth), I noticed that the shade tones got lifted up a little.
So I went back over the mid tone layer with the shades again. Which went like this:
Then I added some neutral tones like brown in the linings of the mouth.
The last step was VERY LIGHTLY adding Black on the edges to help delineate shadow.
Finally, at long last…
This portrait is finished!
Looking at it, there are still some errors that I notice (like her nose), but I have to say…
This is the first colored pencil piece of art I have made in a little over five years. I think I did alright. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst. With practice, I’ll get better.
So what do you think? Should I do more portraits in colored pencil? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
In other news, the KickStarter for Seeing Him is wrapping up, and, to be honest, I don’t think we’ll make the goal.
But that’s ok! Kia and I have been talking behind-the-scenes and we have a few ideas for what to do next. I’ll be able to share them with you soon.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you back here on the blog tomorrow. Or in comments at Validation. Or Johnson & Sir. Or Charlie & Clow. Or Tumblr… I’M EVERYWHERE.
There’s actually quite a few house-keeping things I want to take care of in this blog post.
First, I’m taking December off from making comics.
I’m doing this for a few different reasons.
Second, though I’m taking a break from making comics, all of them will still update regularly in December.
This is because I worked extra hard in October and November to make extra pages.
So don’t worry! Validation will still update Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir will still update on Tuesdays, and Charlie & Clow will still update on Wednesdays.
Third, I’ll still be promoting the “Seeing Him” KickStarter.
Speaking of which, we are down to 13 days left and we’re not near our goal! Please help by spreading the word and contributing if you can.
But yes, there will still be a lot of posts about Seeing Him, mostly because Kia and I are super eager to get this story out. While Validation is a cool webcomic about a trans girl, Kia and I don’t feel like there are enough webcomics about and starring trans men. We’re hoping that by making Seeing Him we can make a story to fill that gap.
Those are the major updates at the moment. There will probably also be tweaks made on this site, like updating Sketches.
Hopefully, too, there will be more, better blog posts here. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments below.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you on Friday.
