To the left is a typical example of what my art looked like before I lost the drive and lacked the time to continue making comics in notebooks for my own amusement. As my job took up more and more of my time, I just didn’t have the energy to work on the comics. I wrote the name/issue number of the comics in the unused margin space as well as the day I wrote the page. (I was convinced that someday I’d have to prove that I came up with certain characters long before someone else, or at least independent of them.) So I can tell you that July 16, 1995 was the last time I wrote and drew an actual comic page.
Until now!
If you’ve read the novella that is my “About” page, and made it past me complaining about my high school years, you may have read this paragraph:
The other comment one gets when creating these blogs are “well, if you thinks it sucks so bad, stop complaining and do something about it/make your own”. I say “why not do all of it”? This is where BW Media Spotlight comes in! Yes, I’m going to complain where I think comics, TV, movies, video games, and music are screwing it all up, but I’m also going to spotlight what they’re doing right, and what they did right and wrong in the past. However, I also plan to start creating my own stories, because if “they” won’t tell the stuff I want to see and hear, I’m just going to have to make it myself.
Well, I finally bring proof that I’m working towards that end. The last time I drew a comic panel was this page from Starfighters #1. (Actually, there was a splash panel of the pirate’s ship, but it’s terrible.)
In this galaxy, people are pink. Because I did have a "peach" coloring pencil.
I think that was supposed to be a pleasure cruise. I was trying something sci-fi-ish there, because most of my stuff had been super hero stories. Even back then, that’s how I rolled.
The guy on the right in the first panel is supposed to be invisible. I swear.
I still kind of cringe looking at that art. Recently, however, I’ve gone back to try and improve my art style. I think the big problem was that I wanted to draw just like the DC and Marvel styles, or something close to it. So obviously I was never satisfied. Recently, however, thanks to webcomics, independents, and the Johnny DC titles I’ve collected like Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam and the constantly missed Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, I’ve said the heck with it. Looking like William Johnson and Kyle Baker (who did the best Transformers art Marvel Comics ever produced) isn’t in the cards for me, much less Ig Guara of Marvel Adventures fame. Then again, look at the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics. Seriously, click here, select “Comic Books”, scroll down, and enjoy.
Am I in that league? Clearly not, as you’ll see (I’ll stop teasing soon). More like this or this. Or even look at some other comics I’ve reviewed. A more cartoony style, or at least something less “real-looking”, still works, even in a more serious (yet light-hearted) comic. So why fight it? I have my own art style, so why not just work with it, and tweak it to serve my needs? And the result of this thought pattern?
You know what the oddest thing is? All it really took for me was to notice how hair looked on the head, and things have been falling into place ever since, like how our ears are not in the center of our heads but almost near the back. Or where eyes are or how big a typical forehead really is. It might be an odd thing to boggle the mind with, but I’m in the neighborhood.
Lately I’ve been doodling, sketching, and drawing whenever I get a moment, from the line in the back to waiting for my food at the restaurant. I even draw on my ComiXology print outs, because why waste the paper?
My willingness to embrace the “stick figure skeleton” I’ve seen in various how to draw comic periodicals I’ve read and/or own may be helping me, but there’s still some basics of anatomy I’m working on. I picked up one of those wooden “manikin” things to help my posing. So after 14 years I actually drew not a doodled panel but a full comic page based on a disconnected scene in my head.
Cops in spaaaaaace
Not perfect by a long shot. For one thing, I should start really using the straight edge for more than the panel borders. Actually making sure the lines are connected would be a good idea, too. I really noticed that when I went to color it with the trial version of Paint Shop Pro X2. (Yes, PSP and not PhotoShop. And stop giving me travel destinations, I hate the heat.)
Cops in spaaaaaace--in color!
I didn’t get the dialog in by post time, and I was really goofing with the PSP trial version. Frankly, I can do just as good with the old PSP version 7. (Did Jasc get bought out by Corel?)
Cops in spaaaaaace--in color! Again!
What few benefits that exist in the new version really isn’t worth the money to me right now. Plus some tools work differently and go against certain practices I’ve established when coloring other artist’s black and white artwork or my pixel art diversions. (Many of which were lost along with my sprites. Yes, I made sprite comics, and what did I just say about travel suggestions?)
I still have a lot of work to do. In addition to the above, drawing from behind is something I need to practice, the “lower half” still seems off, and I haven’t even gotten to practicing women and children. And don’t get me started on animals. I’ll be doing that soon enough.
I’m debating doing further “progress reports” here or making a new site. I know I said this in the second to last paragraph:
The primary purpose of this site, and the final hosting site of my work, is to showcase what I can do, and to practice and improve my work with the (hopefully) honest and helpful criticism (”you suck” is neither, but kissing my butt or stroking my ego hardly helps me improve anything, does it?) of my readers. The blog posts mostly serve to turn the spotlight on what inspire me, both positive and negative, to give potential critics an idea as to what I’m trying to accomplish.
But to be honest, the blog’s been mostly about me going over various narratives out there on the shelves, on TV, and on the net via shows, comics, and occasionally games and music. I wonder if the Spotlight’s mission hasn’t changed seeing how long it took to get this kind of post up? Who knows. As I continue experimenting and improving more, we’ll see how things go. But at least now you all know (the very, very few who cared–I hit 30 reads a few times, so things are looking up there, too) that I really am doing more than chewing out Didio, Quesada, and Hollywood.
BW Media Spotlight 