|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Facebook:
StudioNJ
|
|
Updates, News, Announcements, Etc. |
||||
|
I've been thinking that, in order to step up
as an artist I'll need to attend cons. But it's hard to do that! If anyone
has any thoughts or tips on conventions (like how to get a table, or which
cons to go to, etc.) that would be appreciated. I've only exhibited alone
at tiny conventions, and they didn't turn out so well. =\ But I'm willing
to get back on the saddle, hopefully by the time Bite-Size vol.2 is done.
May 27, 2013 - Calibrations Begging pardon - Today's strip represents yet another of my experiments. Having switched to a larger drawing size a few months ago, it occurred to me that I could try using nibs again. (Drawing big means mistakes are less noticeable when you size them down.) A nib is the type of pen tip which you attach to a holder and dip in ink. One of the advantages of using a nib is that you can use a technique called "feathering", which means the pen tip has variable pressure. The more you press, the thicker your line becomes. Likewise, slight pressure produces a thin line. A skilled artist may produce all kinds of beautiful effects and really bring their line work to life (whereas ballpoint pens and felt-tips produce lines which could be described as "flat" - not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that). I've always been the most comfortable with Sakura pens, and have used them to produce the majority of my work thus far. They're convenient, easy to control, portable and require no maintenance. They even also offer variable line weight, but to a much lesser degree than nibs of course. (They're not supposed to be used that way.) Drawing at a big size I kept running into the wall of wanting to have more versatility, to use super thick and thin lines. It was annoying to keep switching pens: An 0.1 for fine details, an .03 for faces, an .05 for general lines and an .08 for clothing and fabrics, a 1mm for panel borders, not to mention a 2mm or 3mm chisel tip for spot blacks. I often ended up with my "Wolverine claw", keeping several pens between the fingers of my left hand so I could switch quickly. Many artists whom I admire use (or used to use) nibs. Inoue and Schulz are great examples. Inoue has since moved on to a brush (sitting firmly next to Watterson) - but I'm not ready to move on to that legendary tool yet. (I use a brush for big ink spots, but that's about it.) Digital is still something I'd like to avoid for now. So, yeah. I've been trying to learn how to use a nib for years but I think this is a good opportunity. My nib of choice, for the one or two curious people out there, is the Japanese manga industry standard "G-Pen." It's fantastic - you can get razor-sharp lines as well as thick ones. It may turn out to be the ultimate tool, if I could just harness its power... The reason I write this totally uninteresting post is in case some upcoming strips look a bit different than usual (for better or worse). After a few dozen, my hope is that using a nib will become second nature and the art will look a bit more "alive". I guess in a few months we'll see. So far so good, I'd say. (Update: I've also made a few changes to the Bite-Size's layout. While not perfect, I do think it might be an improvement and a good test for when I eventually overhaul the website's design again.)
(Update 2: It just occurred to me that the new
layout requires readers to scroll up every page. >_< That's a pretty big
design flaw. I'm gonna have to figure out a clean way to fix that... for
now I've just pasted the navigation bar at the bottom of strips.) May 15, 2013 - Bite-Size will now update Monday, Wednesday and Friday (Gulp.) Well: The rocky patches have more or less passed / the dust has settled, and I feel like I've gotten my equilibrium back. I bit off more than I could chew (trying to make video games, comics, graphic novel scripts and working at my regular job at the same time) and was overwhelmed, but life has simplified now. It looks like this summer will be pretty mellow, so I'd like to resume Bite-Size updates on a regular schedule. I've chosen the three-per-week format. Let's see how it goes. At this pace I should be able to publish Bite-Size vol. 2 by the end of the year. o_o In researching other webcomics,
seeing what helps them succeed, I'm looking at things like regular
updates, news posts, maybe even merch... but I dunno about that last one.
It would have to be done right. Can't be cheesy junk, lame cash-ins, or
sweat-shop manufactured. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to let
me know. May 10, 2013 - In with the old, in with the new This morning, I remembered a certain manga competition and it got me thinking about the old days... so filled with hope, passion, vibrancy. I went and dug up some of my old J-pop and K-pop CD's and let the nostalgia wash over me. Old anime soundtracks, back in the day when I used to download subbed episodes of my favorite series on my 56K modem... we even had a sort of black market in my high school days, trading episodes of this or that anime when we couldn't wait for Toonami to air them or pick them up. We were so alive back then! My buddies would supply me with sweet mixtapes (CD's actually) and all we'd talk about is how awesome these cultures were. (Or at least how we perceived them.) I could even brag a decent Japanese vocabulary thanks to the music and anime, memorizing the language phonetically. Man, those were the days. THOSE WERE THE DAYS! What happened?! I don't know if anyone out there watches anime, but man, it was so good when I was in my teens. I feel like my heart is going to burst listening to this stuff. It's cheesy, but in the best way possible. I realize this is sung in English, but anyone remember this song? Now I remember why I learned how to draw... it was love! Pure, sincere, innocent, naive adoration for a culture. I suppose, as I got older, I lost touch with it. That really sucks. I want the fire back! On a related note (maybe?) I'd
like to tackle a more regular schedule for Bite-Size this summer. Two
strips per week, possibly three. I spend too many days moping around when
I could be moping around and drawing. April 27, 2013 - Backlogs I spent a huge chunk of yesterday trying to organize my scripts and thumbnails for Bite-Size. I definitely didn't plan for this pile-up to happen, but here's what I ended up with before running out of steam:
There's still a lot to do. That pile might increase by another 50% by the end of today, as the above are only strips which were drawn as thumbnails on scraps of paper. The rest are typed but haven't been sorted through and printed. Also, I haven't taken the time yet to determine an "order" for the strips as some are dependent on others. (For instance, I can't put a "spring" comic before a "winter" comic.) Other strips require certain events to happen prior to them being drawn. (I couldn't have comics based on Duncan and Francine's upcoming wedding until they were engaged, etc.) It's all sort of a mess right now, but we're getting there. -_-
The natural question is, "If there are so many
ready to be drawn, why haven't there been updates?" I'd like to know too.
That artist had sure better stop moping around and get to work!
April 6, 2013 - Hm Testing another change... I think I like this a bit better. Instead of using a font I'm trying to draw the strip at a bigger size. We'll see how this works out. I've deeply considered
commenting on my recent adventures (or more accurately, unadventures),
but... it's all a bit too fresh right now. Maybe I'll write about it when
I've had more time to process my emotions and whatever. What a mess,
though. -_- March 27, 2013 - Testing the Waters
I've made a semi-minor change in today's
Bite-Size strip, sort of to see if it's something I want to continue doing
in the future. I wonder if the pros outweigh the cons. March 15, 2013 - Wedding Cake Topper #3 If I were a better businessman, I imagine I could run a little business going making these. Then again, I wouldn't want to soullessly churn these out on a regular basis and only do them for money. I want each one to be special, something that people might even keep for their whole lives, maybe. I was commissioned to make another wedding cake topper and got permission to share it. I'm very pleased to do so:
March 13, 2013 - Let's Do Some Thinking I sometimes wonder if my posting these types of videos or discussions is a little too "spicy" for some. Discussing or sharing one's beliefs and convictions in America is often met with hostility these days. I suspect I've even lost some friendships or serious career opportunities because I try to be open about it. It's possible I've lost readers (or have failed to gain new ones) because of it, too. I don't have proof of any of it; it's just a hunch. If I've said this before, forgive me if I'm being redundant - but I believe in being as absolutely sincere and open here as I am anywhere else. The George who posts his art and writes on this website should match who he is when he's alone, around his friends, or in any setting. I don't want to "do" fakeness. If I'm in a good mood, or pensive, or crabby, or whatever, I want to be open about it and don't want to ever be "phony". Call it integrity, character, whatever you like - that's what I value. I won't be attempting to trick anybody by masking who I really am - for the sake of, what? Money? Popularity? Career opportunities? No. If I did that, I wouldn't be me anymore. I'd become one of those faceless, anonymous nobodies who are so adaptable they have no personalities at all. I'd only tell people what they want to hear and share "safe" opinions. By extension I'd only be able to create worthless, generic "art" for mass consumption. Art that might fill the stomach, but provide no nutrition. My relationships would be the same. That's no life I'd want to live. My point is, I sincerely hope nobody gets frustrated with me for sharing stuff like the video below. I was listening to it as I was inking the latest Bite-Size strip and I was shaking my head constantly at how deeply and profoundly relevant the message is. The thought which kept occurring to me was, "I wish I could share this with everyone I know." It would be in my character, so that's what I'm doing. Please give it a try - you'll know within minutes if it's worth your time. The speaker, Ravi Zacharias, is my favorite for a reason. I've listened to hundreds of hours of him, and I never get tired of it. "Is Tolerance Intolerant?" (Links to YouTube)
|
||||||
|
|
|
|||||
