I really am getting in my own way of getting anything done. And the key do doing this comic stuff well is to do it a lot, so I have to commit to doing it all the time, and getting it out there, even when it’s not perfect. I didn’t do any touching-up on this to emphasize the point. No more using “it might suck” as an excuse not to do work!

Also, I’ve realized (and it seems pretty clear from this one) that making comics is a physical act, like running, that requires training and practice. I don’t have the stamina to finish a one-page comic without getting pretty sloppy towards the end! That’s going to make doing the 24-hour comic a ton of fun, I’m sure. But I need to do it- it’s time to stop putting it off!

I’m taking some time off starting Thursday, so sometime after Brad’s Wednesday radio show (I might take a power nap beforehand), I’ll be starting in on my 24-page comic, with no pre-planning, and I won’t stop until it’s finished or 24 hours have passed, whichever comes first. I’m really excited, and kind of nervous. I can’t wait to try.

Tags: 24-hour comic, art, being blocked, comics, drawing, journal comic

I’ve started doing this exercise that sits me down in front of pen and paper every single night. I’m making more drawings than I’m posting on the blog here, and I’m okay with that. I’m making doodles that I can see developing into stuff and that’s good, too. Then I did this last night:

I haven’t forgotten about SnoogleZoo, I just needed to take a break. I don’t think doing a serial webcomic is for me- it’s not exactly the time commitment, like I thought it was, because doing all this constraint-free drawing is taking up the same kind of time that working on SnoogleZoo was. I think it’s more like feeling trapped within a certain framework. It felt like homework and I think it was stifiling the art. Not to mention all my other art that I wasn’t doing.

I’ve been kicking around a couple of ideas of what to do- I miss the characters more than I thought I would, so I’d rather not abandon them to the realm of silent, one-off illustrations. But I don’t want to get trapped slogging through an un-interesting story arc just to meet a deadline. I’m thinking I should just do stories on a whenever-I-feel-like-it basis, which I think will serve my desire to do something of quality, and also prevent me from growing a readership of any respectable size.

But you know what? I don’t really care about that right now. I really need to be making art before I can concern myself with things like making art on a schedule.

So don’t worry, Pan. We’ll be back soon enough, and you can pick on Efram and get extra whipped cream from the Kitties’ cafe and have all kinds of fun and silly adventures with the rest of the gang real soon. But sometimes I will have to give my attention to killer robots and pin-up girls, too. It’s better for everyone this way

Tags: being blocked, comic, drawing, snooglezoo, work, works in progress

I’m doing a little series of portraits of the women of Oz, starting with Ozma. It’s an exercise to give me something to draw, and to practice some new materials. I like the way she came out, but I had a funny little mishap:

So I’m working on my inks and things are going well. The paper’s not great for the croquil pen I’m using- it tends to bleed a little and the nib scratches it up, but I’m proud of the control I seem to have. I’m starting to get distracted by the idea that I could sell the series on Etsy, when suddenly, BLUT! My hand skips and I drop a huge perfectly round circle of ink right on the edge of Ozma’s eye!

You know that sound you make when you burn your hand on the stove? That kind of inwardly-drawn scream? That’s the sound I made.

You can actually still see the blob in this picture- I covered it up with gouache, but it’s still somewhat transparent. I meant to take a picture of the damage because I was immediately aware of the lesson the universe just dropped on me, but I decided to refocus and just finish inking instead, which was the original purpose of the whole thing. So I did. And I’m still happy with it.

I set out to do this set as practice. Not to sell it, not to make Deathless Art, but to work on a particular skill set. So I worked on it, in spite of the mishaps. I feel good about that. I won’t be painting this one in real media- I’ll do it on the computer because the gouache will interfere with the watercolor I had originally planned to use.

Tags: croquil, dip pens, drawing, ink, oz, ozma, practice, works in progress