Assorted sketchbook stuff, etc.

Let's start with something new.

I bought a new sketchbook yesterday, which was totally unnecessary, and this is the first thing in it. It's sketchy and quick, but I kind of like it because it's one of the better pictures of Raen I have. It's also pretty illustrative of the kind of relationship he has with Gabriel.

This is the big sketchdump I put on Deviantart a few days ago, but now I have the time and I feel like talking about it a little. Gabriel has been showing up a lot in my thoughts and sketches lately, but I'm not entirely certain as to why.  He is my oldest muse and I depend on him quite a bit for direction. So yes, in order of appearance:

Top Left: Gabriel in an elven style sweater outfit. It's almost Hollowellian in design, which I guess would make more sense if I ever shared my concept and costume designs for the Hollowells. Haha.

Top Right: A thumbnail sketch of the Junk Sphinx. One of the other cyborg monsters that roams the wasteland.

Directly below Gabriel: Privilege in a winter bunny outfit. I ended up liking this sketch so much that I took it into photoshop and posted a colored version on Deviantart. I am now more pleased with the sketch than I am with the final version. Oh well.

Next to Privilege: 3 AM is a great time to scribble mindlessly while listening to Beyonce. I don't know, I guess the thought was that Raen is a whiny romantic so of -course- he'd transcend time and universes to sit around in women's lingerie sobbing over a telephone in the desperate hope that Gabriel will FINALLY PAY ATTENTION TO HIM. Again, I don't know, but it's funny.

Directly below beyonceRaen: Tiny Junk Sphinx head.

Below Privilege: Yep, the Luka chibi again. It never got a makeover in photoshop because I am lazy.

Next to the Luka Chibi: You know those "draw this again" memes that keep popping up over deviantart? I didn't really want to share any of my super old and embarrassing art, so I just decided to reconfigure one of Gabriel's old costumes. It's pretty skanky, but I get the impression that sorcerers are expected to bare some midriff while they toast the country side with flaming pillars of destruction.

Below all of that: The Junk Sphinx! It didn't really deviate far from the barebones sketch at the top of the document, which is cool. I usually go through a long and exhausting process of designing my cyborgs and I am rarely pleased with the results.

Finally: Gabriel and chibi Gabriel. This is how he currently appears in my head.

After having typed all this up, I realize I never crossposted my first sketchdump to this blog. It's not super interesting, but maybe I'll do that later. Once we get a little further along towards New Year, I'll probably do a self evaluation post with a summary of  my art in 2011. The only other thing I can think of that is pertinent to art is that my stupid tablet pen is jacked up, which is making it nearly impossible to do all the comic work I set out to do! Argh. I have some replacement nibs coming soon, and if that doesn't fix the problem, I get to pay more money for a new pen. Crap in a hat.

Maybe if I coax and coo and smile prettily enough, my stupid pen will behave enough to let me do a little more work on my current page. Then I can put up a teaser pic. In any case, I feel kind of crappy, so it's time to lie down and play more Minish Cap.

Honeyed Words

So. I finished him. There is a lot that needs fixing, but I really need to take a step back and work on something else for a while. If I don't I'm just going to get sucked into tuning it until I start to eat my own hair out of frustration. I had something to say about this, but my brain is a bit foggy and I don't actually think any of my rambling will be even halfway entertaining. I am, however, getting better at facial anatomy. Also, I can't seem to stop listening to The Knife, which I think has a direct influence on how my pictures come out. Trying to decide if this is a good or bad thing.

Anyway, I need to get back to writing and thumbnailing. Maybe eventually I'll have something interesting to share.

A shot from my drafting table.

Fuck, it's been a rough week. I've been such a wreck lately, but I'm trying to get back on the horse and push through. I don't have a lot of terribly interesting things to show for, partially because I've been writing and thumbnailing for some rather smutty comics in between episodes of distress.

I will probably only finish the portrait of Gabriel. As my oldest and most critical muse, he demands a special kind of attention. I finally managed to get a quality white ink! Kinokuniya is carrying Deleter 1 and 2 White inks now, which are probably better than the Holbein stuff I was using forever and ever. A single pot of the Holbein ink saw me through probably two and a half years of heavy use, so I do still stand by it, but I am enjoying my Deleter White #2. Do not waste money on Higgins white ink, for it is thin and not very versatile, in my experience.

I think I might do a separate post with all my projects in progress, but that depends solely upon whether or not my rather scatterbrained sense of direction will allow for it. I have to work my ass off for all the conventions I'll be at next year, so I am trying to make a more varied and interesting body of work.

Sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time talking to myself.

Too much BL. XC

Yeah. I needed a new sketchbook like a hole in the head, BUT I BOUGHT ONE ANYWAY.

And I christened it with some naked making out with Lucifer and Canta. Obviously this is still very much a WIP.  Oh, also, this is the worst thing I have ever drawn.

Canta uses his shapeshifting know-how to mimic Gabriel. Not a very good idea unless you like getting on the bad side of a sorcerer with a napoleon complex.

Moleskine sketching

Left: Gabriel and some spellcasting nonsense. R: Comparison sketches of Lysandra and Gabriel.