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The angst of art

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

I've been working on the first two pages of the BS comic; got it done this weekend. It took a lot longer than I expected -.-... several hours of having to deal with PENCIL SMUDGES!! AUUGHHHH!! And then once I'm coloring, there's teh WAITING[!!!], since my computer can barely handle the 20MB PSDs. *goes berserk*

It's been good fun though, and kind of interesting to see how it turned out. In the past few weeks, I'd been sketching the first frame of the comic over and over in different notebooks at different places. I wanted Vol to look serious, but with some blocky features. I was also thinking of complicating her outfit, since it always seemed a too simple.

Sadly, once I drop my pen for a pencil and put it to a blank sheet of paper instead of lined notebook paper, I can't draw the same way. Dreams of the whole spirit I wanted to convey in the line-art slowly passed with each bout of disgruntled erasing. Past midnight, as my brother saw me bent over something like this, he pointed out that it deviated a bit too much from my style. In fact, it reminded him of the Ctrl-Alt-Del/Penny Arcade artists. I don't think I really agreed with him until I saw it the next morning o.O bleh.

I decided to go with a chibi style, more similar to my Baroquen comic than any of the presketches. This is how Vol in the first frame ended up. A bit cuter than she was ever supposed to be... but, who can argue with CUTE!! ^__^. So I'm happy.

And here is a even cuter image where you can see my Ian McConville mog wallpaper, guaranteed to make you squeal in delight. WEEEEEEEE!!!1 You can also catch a tiny sneak peek of the second page of BScomic, nicely framed within version 2.2.6 of the great GIMP. Oh, but the improvements of 2.2.6! I'd discovered in the makings that I had been working with an old version of GIMP this whole time. Makes me weep bitterly!

So that is the story; I'll be posting the comic somewhere in the near future.

Other news would include that Praise Symphony had its first performance! We did it at Sunrise Assisted Living and I think it went very well compared to the amount of time I stressed out over it =/. Hopefully I can convince Finale, my much neglected friend, to spell out a nicer arrangement for their next performance.

Oh, the drama.

7:02 AM

Comments

Could I possibly have the first comment?! w00t!* Tonikaku, I shall be eagerly awaiting posting of the BattleSong comic, and am entirely thrilled with the art you have posted so far. Its interesting to see the different takes you did on Volaris. And is that a scabbard I see her removing her sword from?!* Glad to here of the greatness of Praise Symphony's first performance. I think I'll attempt to check myself in to the center.
May your stress levels be low and your pencil cooperate.
Ag

Posted by Ag at April 20, 2005 9:37 AM

Man, I can't wait to see the BS comic. Neither can John. It looks good from the screenshot. This is really going to make Battlesong come alive in a solid manner, for those readers that lack the imagination to like reading it. It will also give me your perspective on things in a pictographic rather than textual manner. Good luck, Vic!
Kash

Posted by Kash at April 21, 2005 2:54 AM

Good thing for them deadlines, ja? Hm... Battlesong the comic--hard to talk about it here since it's already real life. But you know what I mean, I'd probably just say something nice and silly, a quick and fading gag laugh. Something like an alien corn of sorts.
Though, you did forget to post that one version of Vol--the second, like the serious one except less sketchy? ^^ That one was the BOMB (well, I'm just saying that to make all your readers go, "wait, what? What!?"). Course you don't want me blabbing a secret but... your art is really something. Like a magic bean you sell all your cattle for...
In conclusion, stay on the straight and narrow path and remember, every time you step on a mushroom, first of all, it's probably basidiomycota. Second, you didn't kill it, you just spread maybe a couple million spores. Thirdly, the shrooms aren't harmful, they're your friends, and if you look at them too closely, they'll make you want to pick them up and hold them close. Just be careful out there, trooper. The fate of the world and all.

Posted by Weien at April 22, 2005 12:57 PM

wow, ive missed so much....*breaks down into tears*

Posted by PJ at April 24, 2005 11:29 AM

cool layout

Posted by jr at May 2, 2005 1:35 AM