As I had mentioned last week, I’ve gone back to the drawing board on JP&TM. The first step in this process is actually a two parter… I’m trying to resolve the art direction a little, and I’m working in speeding up my production process. My problem is that my drawing style is rather complex, and also very tight. While this is all good for certain things, it doesn’t work well for comics when you need to produce a large number of them quickly.
As I’d mentioned other times, I work digitally. I also use Painter, which is a program designed to replicate working in natural media. I bring this up, because I made an observation the other day. I noticed that even though I’m working in a manner that makes changing the tools I ink with a very simple process, I’d found myself always using the same brush (digital in this case, but still a brush) for everything. I think one of the first things I’m going to try and work on is getting in the habit of trying to consciously switch tools based on what I’m drawing.
The above sketches feature a number of trees all rendered in various art brushes (although undoubtedly some of the detail is lost in the transition to web) and a couple quick character sketches where I tried to loosen up my line work. I’m pretty excited to see where I go from here.
Anyone looking for the new comic, I posted it at the panel mammal site, right here.
2nd tree from the left…that seems like money.
I think all the trees work. I especially like the smudgy weedy things at the base of the second tree, though it seems to continue to feed into your need for more and more detail. As for the character sketches, it’s hard for a long-time reader to judge because I have an expectation in my head when I see them that’s your tighter line work from before so these look like loose sketches that you’d do at a book signing or otherwise. It’s still good, either way, and shrunken down to print size, it may not really matter, but at this size, it looks too sketchy for me. Although, for encouragement of loosening your lines up, I’m currently reading Berkley Breathed Opus 25 year anniversary collection with all the colored Sunday strips. As I dissect the artwork now as an artist, it’s amazing how loose those “controlled’ drawings really were. Though every line has it’s place and importance, there’s still quite a bit of relaxed gesture in his work. Maybe you should check that out for inspiration.
Yeah, it’s a fine line between loose artwork and the unfinished look… It’s tricky.
I haven’t used Painter much at all so I’m really not that familiar with how much variation in line weight you can get when you use the same brush. I mean, when I use my trusty W&N Series 7 #3 I can get all kinds of variation in line weight. And it’s quick on top of it. As quick as digital inking? Hmmm…
Your digital inking is quite cool here. I’m a big believer in line weight and I find that a lot of the “digi-inking” I see is done on the light side. Generally I find it quite tight, stiff, and weak (I actually did a breakdown of the digital inking on All-Star Superman (and what I don’t like about it) at http://vonandmoggy.livejournal.com/299541.html).
I think, fundamentally, you have to do work you can live with at a speed that’s acceptable to you. Hell, I’m still trying to figure that part out myself. For what it’s worth, I really enjoy Jetpacks. And I’m missing not being able to read it regularly right now. I can understand the search, of course; I just hope it doesn’t take too long.
Von Allan, are you trying to guilt me? I refuse to be guilted!
As for digital inking… Personally, I think a lot of people use photoshop for it, but I find there are a lot more options for variation when I use painter.
Nope, no guilting! Just longing!
I think you’re right about Photoshop, too. That seems to be the focus of a lot of the tutorials I see.
wonderful post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector don’t notice this. You should continue your writing. I am confident, you have a huge readers’ base already!