Laugh at the Monkey

There's something written on my scanner bed. I don't know what it is, and I don't really care, either, I just want it gone. Anyways, I'm performing again, tonight, so that's been on my mind. I didn't bother thinking up something original. Sue me.

Keep to themselves

This is Aunt Lily, from Pushing Daisies. I used a reference, obviously. You have to watch this show! It's amazing! That's pretty much all for today.

I just realized how absolutely AWFUL friday's image was

This was actually drawn yesterday, I just never got around to uploading it.
My brain's completely fried, right now. It's nice how short daytime naps (when you're incredibly tired) have the capacity to totally fuck your cortex up. You wake up feeling brain dead. Like a zombie chicken.

Half-heartedly

Today's my name day! I'm planning a big party tonight, so I barely had time for sketching. Her face is a little off, and I wasn't planning on including the one on the right, but it looked ok, so I said "why not?"
I'm starting to wonder whether this blog is simply forcing me to accept mediocrity in my work, rather than helping me improve.
Quality updates will resume come next week. Please stay tuned.

Goodbye my love.

I don't like how this turned out. I need to work on my anatomy skills. A LOT!

Fatal Attraction

Not much to say. I wish I hadn't rushed this so much, I love this pose, someday I'm going to do it right.

Emily said four words I didn't know.

Remember when I said Mel bought me a book on Drawing Crime Noir? She gave it to me yesterday, so I decided to give it a try. Expect more along these lines for the next couple of days.
I love the look of hard shadows, but it's hard to pull off correctly.

Don't Look Into the Weaving Room

I've been listening the The Crane Wife by The Decemberists a lot, today, so I guess this isn't what you'd call "unexpected".

Couple of Drinks

I'd been thinking of drawing something in my old, less brush-y, more cell-shaded style for a while, now.
That being said, when I started this, it was just another throwaway sketch for the blog. I was attempting to draw someone sucking in smoke from a cigarette and that went on to become a hand drawing study (many of my "sketch sessions" end up being hand studies). His left one gave me trouble... One thing led to another and I ended up with a fully colored image. I didn't "think" about using my old coloring style, it just... happened. Which was nice, and unexpected.
I took my time with it (something like 3 hours) but it turned out nice :)

The texture on the hat is from Mayang.

Brain farts

I started acting classes (or going to my acting group) again, today. Hadn't realized how much I'd missed it... The first lessons are always the most fun (since we play various improv-style games) and I missed the people there a LOT.
I'm a bit conflicted about how I'm going to fit it into my program, but I think I'll manage, in the end.

A friend also told me she's starting her own studio. Or art space slash workshop or whatever, which is amazing in a universe-conspiring-in-my-favor way. I was thinking that, next year, I should name some place outside home my office (I was actually thinking of Project Athens, until recently), and go there for a couple of hours every day to "work" on art-related projects. Associating a place with "creativity" would really boost my productivity and help me focus, compared to drawing at home where I tend to procrastinate and keep getting sidetracked.

Also, Mel bought me a book on drawing noir comics! How cool is that! I can't wait to read it...

All Quiet on the Western Front

Once again, it feels like I've drawn this already (millions of times). I need time and practice to get to the point were I can feel proud about my work, again...
I was going to upload a sketch of Buffy (the vampire slayer!), too, but upon scanning it, I realized it sucked very badly and decided not to. I might remake it at some point in the future.

I've always wondered why some people keep drawing the same characters again and again in different situations. If you're not going to do a comic, why bother with fleshed out characters?
Lately, I realized it helps a lot. For one thing, if a character has personality, you can think of various situations to draw him in, rather than repeating the same couple of poses again and again.
Not to mention, if you ever feel like actually doing a comic-style story, you've got characters ready!

The Office

I'd like to take this chance to plug two artists that I think are absolutely amazing.
The first is Makani (aka Heather Campbell). Her work is pretty much everything I want my work to be. The lines are clean and the colors are bright and vivid. Her (or, let's face it, J.K. Rowling's) characters are cartoonish, yet not exaggerated. And most of all, her art looks so alive! Her panels are like screenshots from an animated film. It's as if motion is their natural state, but someone has forced them to a standstill.

The second artist I wanted to mention is Vera Brosgol (you might have seen her comics in the Flight Anthologies). Her work is, at times, weird, sweet, cute or just plain adorable. I could keep on linking to images I like, but I've run out of epithets.
It feels like she's bursting with fun concepts. Bird hats? Turtledogs? Her use of simple lines and just-enough detail might look simple at first, but it's that particular quality of her work that allows it to so clearly and powerfully convey all her ideas.

I was meaning to write this yesterday (notice the title was "transitional period"), but I got sidetracked with my thoughts on what deserves being uploaded to the net.
I've been feeling, lately, that I'm at one of those points in my life (or in my evolution as an artist), again, were I need to change my style. My characters' poses are stale and it seems like they scroll through the same 3 expressions. Seeing other people's work only makes these feelings stronger. Maybe it's time I started taking life drawing classes. I'll have to ask around.

Transitional Period

Just a quickie I managed to squeeze out right before my self-imposed deadline expired. It's not great.
Which sparks an interesting debate about what is "worthy" of uploading to the internet.
I've been casually perusing Your Webcomic is Bad and you Should Feel Bad lately, where, while I get what John Solomon is doing, I don't really agree with the way he does it.
In any case, he makes a very insistent point about not uploading to the web stuff that is - to put it frankly - shit.
And, after all, it's hard to think of a more illustrative example than webcomics (which, I just noticed, Firefox doesn't recognize as a word).
I find a lot of merit in the opinion that you should polish something as close to perfection as possible before presenting it to the world. The fact that you can upload your crappy scribbles where anyone can see them doesn't mean you should.
Of course, other stuff factor in, as well. Intent, for example. Obviously, I'm wondering how all this pertains to my blog.
Let's face it, this is not good art. Then again, this is a completely personal project - I don't believe it appeals to anyone but me and (perhaps) a few close friends. I'm not trying to gather a following, I'm not trying to prove anything nor is this blog going to be my big break. Just as advertised, this is a crutch, a promise I've made to myself to help me improve my art. Nothing more. The only reason it's online is to help give me the sense that I'm accountable to more people besides myself if I ever miss an update.

Maybe that's the key. Improving oneself. The whole reasoning behind this blog. I know my art isn't great, but I'm working on it. As long as I have that self-awareness I'm fine, and anyone who accuses me of adding to the shitty side of the internet is just missing the point.

One of those days again...

I had a lot of trouble drawing something acceptable, today. Once in a while, a day comes along when, no matter how I try, everything that comes out of the end of my pencil is just ugly crap. Proportions are off, ideas are unoriginal, the lines themselves look... wrong. Usually, I just give up.
Today, thought, I managed to push through the mediocrity and get through to the other side. It took me a couple of hours to create something... nice, but I'm especially proud of it. Without this blog, I would've just stopped trying.

Are you coming?

This is what happens when I remember about the blog at 23:45... Still, considering the circumstances it's not my worst work. I gotta admit, though, I blatantly ripped off some french guy.
Have a nice day.

Magnifico

... or not so much. At least I tried a speedpaint again. This time, start to finish completely in Photoshop. For 30 minutes' work, it's really not that much. But practice makes perfect, I guess.

Sometimes I feel like I'm not... mature enough to be happy. Other times I just think my keyboard needs cleaning.

Soon I Will Be INVINCIBLE!

I'm still not really enjoying Soon I Will Be Invincible. The writing is... weird and, at times, hard to follow. Not to mention I have yet to find the "humor and attitude" it's supposed to be filled with.
And yet - possibly because I'm supposed to be studying - I find myself oddly compelled to read more.
Forgive the image's bad quality. I've switched my pc off, temporarily, in an attempt to lessen my distractions and concentrate on studying. I'm writing this on my dad's computer. I had to use Microsoft Image Editor to resize the scan.
Aaaanyways. Back to work.

Aboard MY ship?

If what I draw is a reflection of what I'm thinking about, today I've been thinking about elderly spaceship admirals (and yes, it might not be obvious, but he's commanding a spaceship, not a... well... sea ship)
He actually started or, at least, another sketch -which you're not going to see- started as a supervillain. You see, I bought Soon I Will Be Invincible (just what I'd do: buy a fun novel during my exam period).
I also haven't managed to start studying since... well... two days ago. I go way too easy on myself. I need to get my ass in gear.
I've noticed that my sketches tend to look like they've been stretched vertically. I imagine it's because I draw on a table (or in bed) and not on an angled drawing board. I'll have to see what I can do about that.
It's nice that the fact that I'm producing a lot of work (or, at least, more work than I used to) makes it easier for me to spot the things I need to work on while allowing me to make general statements like the one above about my art.

Nothing to see here

Nice to know things are back to normal. The planets have realigned. I spent all day procrastinating, I failed another class, and I'm still an antisocial self-hating fool who would rather feel sorry for himself than take control of his life.
Also, my drawings are too stiff.
Have a nice weekend.

MUSE! LIVE!

Gotta run! See you later...

Zippadeedoo

Hey there! Where've you been? We haven't talked since yesterday! I missed you! Why didn't you call?

Let me tell you about my day, today. It was a good day. I went to bed at 2am, last night, and woke up at 5 to study for my Internet Applications exam. It went pretty well, so that's nice. At 12 o'clock, I rushed back home, checked the internet, then had to look after my baby brother. He was sleeping peacefully, so I joined him and napped 'till 2pm. Then back to the University for an Economy exam I was completely unprepared for. I still managed to pass, I think (with a little help from my friends). In fact, I might even get more than a passing grade.
I'm not sure if it's because of my change of attitude, but this exam period is starting to look especially promising.
I haven't eaten anything apart from a slice of apple pie and a donut, so I'm pretty hungry - still, not hungry enough to try my mother's spinach pie.

I totally default to cute chicks whenever I have no inspiration. I like her shoes. Her hair is nice, too.
I love fall fashion. And spring fashion. I think it's because of the variety. My eyes love diversity. Autumn, like spring, is a sort of transitional period between airy summer attire and warm winter clothes. Women have a lot more freedom to improvise and mix and match what they wear, and I get to enjoy the results. What can I say? I'm a sucker for girls with style ^^

This has been done over and over and over again

... still, it's a nice concept, and this blog was never supposed to be wildly original, anyways.
She looks more disgusted than sad, though, so I pretty much failed at that. In any event, I'm pretty pressed for time (it's hard to tell, but it's true) and, considering the circumstances, this is more than acceptable quality of work.
Today wasn't a good day. I failed a class, got a parking ticket (80€ although it could be 40 if I pay it in time), and spent hours lazily surfing the net when I was supposed to be studying.

This stops now.

As soon as I post this, I'm turning off my internet connection and picking up my books. Procrastination ends tonight!
... temporarily. At least until my exams finish on October 5th.
I'll still be able to use the internet at work, and I've allowed myself an hour every night (I have to keep updating this blog, after all) but that's it. Let's see if I can make it. I'll feel a lot better about myself if my exams go well.
Wish me luck!

the people I see

This doesn't count as late, since I sketched it yesterday, before midnight. I still need something for today, though. Maybe later. I'm beat. Today is not a great day.