~mcflynnthm

I posted stuff! 4 things in one go! Holy damn.

I like this 3-vertical-panels format, honestly. I just need to (a) do it bigger, (b) do it with better pens, and (c) erase better. Some of those don't look half-bad, if it weren't for all the awful pencil marks (the first two panels of #4 and the last panel of #3 were done with my good pens on good paper).

Anyway, those are the two new characters I mentioned in my last journal. They even have names! We'll get to that. I like think I've totally established them via their appearance in one of the Huge Mistake comics.

I have another comic almost ready to go, but I just need to finish the background. Maybe today or tomorrow.

So, while kind of up against a wall, writing-wise, in A Huge Mistake, I started on a series of comics that's been bouncing around in my head for a little while now. It's going well, I'm really satisfied with the art in them (for now). Unfortunately, I inked them all (3 of 4) with these Micron pens that do NOT take well to erasing. I need to get another set of the Staedtler ones I was using. Quality implements, there.

Another unfortunate part of this mini-story is that I'm using characters that I've not introduced anywhere, though they've been seen a few places (notably: Recent WIP 002, and A Huge Mistake p4). This doesn't go much to intro them, either; it just kind of drops in. Their dynamic is a lot like my usual characters, I guess.

In other news. Uh. I dunno. The Penny Arcade game is sweet? I finally started seriously playing Half-Life 2, a game I bought years ago? I saw the new Indiana Jones and it was entertainingly meh? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME.

u dont liek mudkips?

I love April Fool's Day.

The unfortunate part about how I do comics is the complete lack of scripting/planning. I have rough ideas and instead of fleshing them out, just start drawing, assuming it will come to me. Unfortunately, I have the first panel of Huge Mistake drawn, and have no idea where to go from there. I mean, I have a basic idea of the plot, but not dialogue, or how to progress.

I should lock myself in a quiet room and write.

EDIT: I'm keeping the Mudkip avatar. I actually quite like it. It makes me chuckle whenever I see it.

So ever since I got my new computer- running the dread Windows Vista- I've been without Photoshop. This has been partly responsible for the change in style seen in the last few deviations. Also responsible- the stuff I've been into has been more B&W, I like it more, and honestly it's easier. But so yeah, no PS. Which leads my recent deviations to have a sort of... unfinished quality. And Paint.NET isn't cutting it, or at least, I can't get it to do what I want.

I will pistolwhip the first person who suggests using the GIMP. Both GIMP and GIMPshop fail. At life.

EDIT: I also got a kneadable eraser today. I used it once, to great effect, then it managed to get dropped on the floor and rolled in my chair wheel. Oh well.

So I uploaded stuff. Stuff! To be honest, those five things are a very, very small portion of all the stuff I've been idly tinkering with. Most of it hasn't progressed anywhere yet, but I thought a couple were worth showing. Y'know, to prove I'm alive.

Despite how terrible it looks when on a computer, after erasing most of the pencils and touching up some parts, I'm pretty pleased with "SECRET PROJECT page 1." Of course, I now have to redo page 2 to match up with page 1. Well, there are several reasons to redo page 2, the most obvious being that page 2 is not very good. So this is a good excuse, making it flow with page 1.

Speaking of erasing things, though, I need recommendations on what to use to erase pencils. I currently use whatever eraser is on my (somewhat high-end) mechanical pencils, but I suspect real artists use nicer stuff. In my brief time in drawing class (that didn't last long) we had a number of erasers, but I didn't really learn to use them.