This was took longer than I anticipated, and I couldn't get the images to line up, so still working out the kinks in the scanning process.

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Hi all:

Tooled around with the cutting technique I used last week, think this one works.

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So yesterday after watching a youtube video on art hacks, I thought I came up with an ingenius way to scan 11x17 art boards using the regular 8.5x11 scanning bed.  I cut the boards at the center line but not enough to cut clean in half.  The board was still one piece but could be folded, so I would scan in half, flip it over then scan it again.  I thought this revolutionary and opened up limitless possibilities.  Unfortunately this morning while trying to stitch together in photoshop, I realized some very big errors I need to work out before posting a completed piece.  Mainly that the scanner didn't pick up the edges so there's missing pieces of the page that just didn't get scanned.  So after much frustration I'm going to have to try scanning those pages again and getting all the image on the scanning bed.  

But I did get at least two together and did some touch up work.  The 2nd image is one I completed this week. 

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Limiting the page to less than 6 frames did give me more time to draw, still details were very intimidating.  Inking I feel is improving, though I still see shaky lines and I'm doing all I can (or know how to) to make smooth and straight lines.

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This will be the last page I setup so crammed like this.  My original reasoning was I had to put as much action onto each page to get the story moving.  A few comments left on previous blog posts have advised against that.  So now the challenge is bigger frames on each page and less of them.  Now I'll need to start adding detail, which with inking can be a very big challenge.

Hi all:

Still inking and learning how to ink.  So this week I decided to post the 2 page spread with dialog.  Took my longer than I planned to finish, but here it is.

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So I have made some improvements in inking, but it all came yesterday when I had alot more time to draw.  I even strapped a paint brush to the back of my wrist so I would use my elbow and shoulder more in inking.  Think it helped(?)

So I'm trying to learn inking.  Really trying hard to learn inking.  Went back over the previous pages of this project and inked them.  I'm a novice at inking, what can I say.

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(any tips on better inking techniques I'm open to 'em).

Hi All:

My plan was to post my progress from my art project this week, and I was hoping to go to fedex office (formerly Kinkos) and use their large format scanner to scan in some previous stuff so I could touch up in photoshop and start posting online.  Unfortunately the pencils were too faded and could not get a decent render.  So the truth became inescapably obvious: I was going to have to start inking.  Never really wanted to ink to be honest, just wanted to draw and contribute to the story.  So I pulled out a 2 page spread I did as part of an art project last year and spent pretty much the rest of yesterday and this morning inking.  More frustrating than I thought and I did learn something.  Now I'm hoping I can adjust my routine at the drawing board to incorporate inking as the last step to save some time.

First two pictures are before and after, and the last is the touched up image in photo shop.  Post one like and one dislike, but if you wanna dog the inks I wouldn't blame you, it's my first time.

have at you.

I got the impression that with the modern way Comics flow from page to page, I thought the 2nd page of the book should be a full page or 2 page spread.  Guess I read too many comics.  Anyways, 2nd page is a full page comp since I didn't want to do a 2 spage spread this early in the story, and finished early for the week, so I'm ahead of schedule for this month(knock on wood)

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It's definitely been a week of change.  Typical for the first week of the new year, but this one feels like alot more change has happened than in the past new years.

Anyways, first page is done, and I'm stoked.

I have a loaned laptop with photoshop and did some touch up, but since I have photoshop now, I need to scan in for better quality.  Of course my scanning bed isn't that big, so I may need to start scanning in at kinkos, (possible money drain).

Here it is, comment on 1 thing you like and one thing you don't like.

Happy 2018 everybody.

Either I take longer than I should on model sheets, or I underestimated how long I should spend on model sheets.  Here's what I've worked on this past week.  I didn't post last week because of Christmas and being out of town to spend it with the family.  And getting back fighting jetlag, shortened work week and my parents stopping by, I didn't have much time to work with and didn't utilize the time I did have.  Guess time management should be my goal for 2018.  

These are some characters I'm working on for my first project of 2018.  I hope to get this one done in under 4 months.

Hi All:

With this page my Echelon project is done.  The more I draw the more I learn.  Got another project setup and plan on starting that before the new year.  So glad I've made progress and can now setup a whole page which gives me more time to put in details.  Post something you like about the page and something you dislike.

Pg 20 I had actually finished the week before last, but finally took a photo last night to post today, so that's progress I guess.  Page 21 I finished this week.

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Confession:  I actually finished this last week, but didn't want to hassle with my slow computer taking so long to upload one photo let alone two.  I have been working this week, don't worry, and will post next week showing next week's progress.  

Time to kick off the Christmas season with the Rockin' Reindeer.  

Thanks all.

This comp I did today, first time in (pretty sure) over a year I've done inks.  One of the church's I go to is asking for donations for a nearby Foster program, one of the requested items is beginner art kits for kids and teenagers. After seeing that I thought an art kit would be cool, but the best thing in my opinion to give any youngster looking to start drawing is just to draw.  As you can see from the comp, I just want them to draw.  So when I saw a black Friday deal for art kits at Blick, I bought one, drew this comp and slipped it into the package.  I figured just telling them to draw would fall short (like it did me honestly) but to see a (relatively)decent drawing just for them saying "hey, forget about everything else, and just draw" would have an impact.  I would rather see kids draw with abandon and ignore all the haters, than see them tool around afraid to draw something or even show that work to others for fear of being told it sucks.    

Here's the page I've been working on for the past 2 or so weeks.  I was trying to do 4 pages a month, but with Jon Acuff's advice of cutting goals in half, I feel I can put more detail into each frame on the page.  My problem still is consistency though, making an honest, intentional, conscience effort to draw.

So I got a new scanner/printer and I'm hoping to post something new each week for critiques or just to show that I'm still drawing.  Of course the problem is I can only scan in Grayscale and I don't have the money (or the time) to ink digitally.  If anybody has any suggestions for quick touchups that are cheaper than schilling out for a full Photoshop subscription, please let me know.

This one is older, think I drew it last year sometime.

Never been confident I could freehand, but I thought it I started with the jawline and go from there, that would be a good starting point.  Though outside input is always helpful: does this suck or is it not bad?

Can't remember if I posted this concept before, but got the urge to do it over last night.

Leave a comment if you got the time.