Month: January 2023

Concerning Thumbnails

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Byrd

I like doing thumbnails first. Small scribbles that provide a blueprint for the bigger sketch.

But I always talk myself out of doing them because I want my sketch to be the blueprint. I want as few steps as possible. Ideally, it would be (script already written):

  • Sketch
  • Ink
  • Inkwash
  • Digital formatting

Like, these 4 steps I can get done in five 2 hour desk sessions (10 hours total). Which is the time I alot for each weekly page/post.

But I find that after I’ve finished posting, I’m often daunted by the big white page of the next part. If there’s thumbnail, it’s less daunting. But a thumbnail is just another stage to this work. But it’s a stage that gives me the confidence on what the sketch process needs. A script alone is not sufficient to start the sketch stage.

So I think I’ll start thumbnailing from now on. Scheduling wise, I find if the sketch is done before the weekend, so I start Monday with a full sketch, that the ink/inkwash/formatting stages can get done by the Wednesday posting deadline.

And thumbnails are stuff I can bust out in the cart or watching tv or before bed. It’s not something I need to be at my desk for. I’m always trying to identify parts of my process that can be done away from my desk to speed things along.

Concerning the Black Mold Boy

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Byrd

On my Tapas Comic page, I have the following listed under my profile:

“Toot toot! If you’re reading this comic, all aboard the Attention Deficit Train…”

Because I can’t focus on anything. Just doing weekly pages in a single installment of the Imbibe Universe is painful. So here’s some character design for the Black Mold Boy, a character in the series “This Bitter Earth”, which is scheduled to be illustrated 5-8 series down the line.

Concerning the Googling of Oneself

Posted on January 9, 2023 by Byrd

I’ve been on the hunt for jobs for longer than I care to admit. The modern job hunt includes more than just submitting your resume. Ensuring that an online presence is positive (at the least, not offensive) is important. So googling myself is not a frequent activity, but it’s not uncommon. On my last googling, I noticed the book cover for Tapas (a webcomic site) was not great.

So I created this new book cover for the Imbibe Universe. I mocked it up first on my phone, and then finished it on my desktop. I might use that method in the future.

Concerning Goals and Mantras

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Byrd

It’s goal setting season and I love it. New Year’s Eve and Day are arguably my favorite holidays for that purpose. It’s a time to reflect on what you’ve done and look forward to what you plan to do. I’ve been setting yearly goals since 2013. Every year’s goals get written on a small scrap of paper that I keep in my wallet.

Instead of just a list of goals, I’ve started to organize them into a mantra that I can repeat to myself. Below each section of the mantra are bullet points with the general list. So last years was “Read, Write, Draw, Work, Self, Live”, with things like comic projects listed under “Draw” or “Write”.

This year things are divided up into “Be Social, Be Grateful, Be Vulnerable, Be Productive”, with the last being reserved for comic projects. I should be able to finish “Enter Cedar” this year, which means I’m looking forward to a new project.

Chronologically, the next project is “Where the Highway Meets the Corridor”, which is “A documentary about a small Washington county bootlegging operation turns into a state wide chase to return a young alien to it’s family.” Are you noticing a theme? This particular alien is supposed to be Gray’s older sibling, the one that was driving the flying saucer that Gray was hiding out in.

Concept Art – WHMC

But we’ll see. I might change things up. Setting goals helps with the attention issues, but sometimes you have to listen to where the attention leads you.