Tag: comic

Concerning Worth and Big Pictures

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Byrd

I’m feeling very undeserving as of late. It began when I started creating a “timeline” of the projects I’ve finished and the projects I’ve yet to finish.

It’s a lot of work. I’ve done the math, it will likely take my lifetime (at my current pace). When I map it out like this, I start to feel like I’m not good enough to tell this story, or that it shouldn’t be as big as it is. That I’m not good enough for this, or that the idea itself isn’t worth illustrating; that “The Imbibe Universe” is only worth devoting a little space to it.

I don’t really have an argument against all that, other than I want this and that I’ve spent a good deal of my life thinking about it. It’s part of who I am as a person. It’s not a part I share very often. And I’d like to change that. Because it seems to be an awful shame for it to rot away in my skull after death. Regardless of whether or not it deserves telling.

Concerning Music Selections for a Medium That Is Silent

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Byrd

I miss doing songs with the comics. Maybe not with every page, but every episode should have a recommended song. Because Tapas Comics had a feature where you could add a song, there’s an entire Original Soundtrack for “Deep Circuitry”.

I really enjoyed that, because most of my comic projects were meant to be either live action or animated. Overall, I really miss audio. I miss the music and working with voice actors. I miss the collaboration and the spontaneity that would come with working with others.

Groph didn’t get music accompany. When I started illustrating “Groph’s Green Wizardry”, I didn’t have any music in mind. In retrospect, I think the soundtrack for “Groph’s Green Wizardry” would just be lofi.

For “Enter Cedar”, here are my initial thoughts on a recommended song accompany.

Episode 01: Smog “In the Pines”
Episode 10: Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld “Hey Hey, My My”
Episode 11: Philip Glass “Tagore-Scene II”
Episode 12: Tom Waits “Come on Up to the House”

Concerning the Log Children

Posted on February 12, 2023 by Byrd

This is an early piece depicting the Log Children. It was done digitally, because I thought I didn’t have an option to not do digital. You’ll note the lack of loincloth in the actual comic.

Original designs also incorporated a lot of lazy appropriation of Coast Salish elements. I had a lot of conversations with friends over this. The native elements are not super important to the story, as the gods behind the masks are not the actual gods, just beings who feed of the follower’s faith. Therefor, would that being use native elements to appear to people? They would to those they would be tricking, like someone who believed in the raven spirit. But would Ian see this? He’s just a white boy, with no affiliation with local tribes and customs, and since the appropriating beings use the thoughts and images they’re living in, they would appear with what’s available in Ian’s head. Thus, logs and blue tarps.

The added benefit is that this imagery is lot more personal to me. Making my stories personal to me is challenging.

Concerning the Details

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Byrd

“Paying attention to things – it’s how we show love.” – The Last of Us

That quote from last week’s episode hit me hard. I’m not one for details, both in my art and my personal life. My fear of not getting things done before my focus deviates causes me to seek the fastest method to get what is in my head outside. That means skimping on the details and embracing messy.

These are lichen hounds and mushroom tripods. I’m transcribing a script that happens about 6 books after “Enter Cedar”. It’s the same sort of creatures that form the “black mold boy” and the “moldies”.

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.