I found out about this show from my friend Chloe, a grad student at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She and I are going to be in the Artist Alley April 25th and 26th, showing off and selling our work. If you can make it, I would love to see you there!
And if you want to help fund another campaign, Pink Dollar Comics (the soon-to-be publisher for Seeing Him) is raising funds to get to Flame Con. So if you can, pledge and spread the word for them too!
When I come back (on Tuesday), I’ll tell you all about my trip.
And, who knows? There may be a sale on my Storenvy soon after. ;)
This post is the first in a week-long blog post update extravaganza! (It’s when I update my blog everyday, Monday through Friday, just for this week).
I just finished a new illustration in colored pencil! So to celebrate, I wanted to show the progression of how I made it and the tools I used. And at the end of the blog post, you can see the finished piece.
To start, I grabbed my Prismacolor 72 piece colored pencil set (which I had left over from my first ever art class in college. Hold on to your supplies, students!) and an 9 wide inch by 12 inch pad of Strathmore Toned Tan paper.
Once I got those, I drew the black and white version of what I wanted to color. I sketched in (lightly) where the shadows would lie with my trusty F hardness sketch pencil. I use that pencil for all of my drawing and sketching.
Then I go over those lines with my mechanical pencil, which I believe is a B hardness in lead, so it’s darker than the F.
Next, I color over the whole sketch with a white colored pencil. I do this so that…
I don’t lose my shadows
I have a layer of colored pencil between my pencil lines and my actual colors, thus
making my art much cleaner and less muddy.
Once the white is laid down, I lay down the brightest colors I’m going to use, and color from light to dark.
The first layer of colors end up looking a little like this:
Click to enlarge.
It’s not the prettiest…yet.
Also, I did not use light peach straightaway for the skin tone. I laid down the highlight color, which is a mix of Cream and Beige.
Alright, so I drew the light colors first. What next?
The shadows!
Click to enlarge.
I really wanted to try and find colors that would compliment Roxie’s hair, which is why I went with fuchsia industrial piercings, dark blue gauges, a purple camisole, and an orange-yellow tank top.
Also, use the color wheel. It is your friend.
I got this sucker for around 6 or 7 US Dollars at a craft store in college. (Click to enlarge). One side is tints and the other is shades.
I used this to help me find the complimentary colors mentioned above, and it also helped me find what colors to use for shading.
So at this point, I have colored the highlights and the shades. There’s just one layer missing…
Oh I know! The mid tones!
I took the colors I wanted for the mid tones in each area, which went a little like this:
Mohawk: Spring Green
Shirt: Canary Yellow
Gauges: Cloud Blue
Camisole: Violet
Piercings: Magenta
Skin: Light Peach
Teeth: Cool Grey 20%
But after I colored the mid tones and finished out a few minor details (like the teeth), I noticed that the shade tones got lifted up a little.
So I went back over the mid tone layer with the shades again. Which went like this:
Mohawk: Dark Green
Shirt: Dark Brown
Gauges: Ultramarine
Camisole: layers of Violet Blue, Ultramarine, and Indigo Blue
Piercings: Mulberry
Skin: Sienna Brown
Teeth: French Grey 60%
Then I added some neutral tones like brown in the linings of the mouth.
The last step was VERY LIGHTLY adding Black on the edges to help delineate shadow.
Finally, at long last…
FINISHED! Click to enlarge.
This portrait is finished!
Looking at it, there are still some errors that I notice (like her nose), but I have to say…
This is the first colored pencil piece of art I have made in a little over five years. I think I did alright. It’s not the best, but it’s not the worst. With practice, I’ll get better.
So what do you think? Should I do more portraits in colored pencil? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
In other news, the KickStarter for Seeing Him is wrapping up, and, to be honest, I don’t think we’ll make the goal.
But that’s ok! Kia and I have been talking behind-the-scenes and we have a few ideas for what to do next. I’ll be able to share them with you soon.
There’s actually quite a few house-keeping things I want to take care of in this blog post.
First, I’m taking December off from making comics.
I’m doing this for a few different reasons.
So I can make presents and finish up private commissions for folks.
So I can get some writing done for next year.
So I can spend more time with my family for the holidays.
Second, though I’m taking a break from making comics, all of them will still update regularly in December.
This is because I worked extra hard in October and November to make extra pages.
So don’t worry! Validationwill still update Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & Sir will still update on Tuesdays, and Charlie & Clow will still update on Wednesdays.
Speaking of which, we are down to 13 days left and we’re not near our goal! Please help by spreading the word and contributing if you can.
But yes, there will still be a lot of posts about Seeing Him, mostly because Kia and I are super eager to get this story out. While Validation is a cool webcomic about a trans girl, Kia and I don’t feel like there are enough webcomics about and starring trans men. We’re hoping that by making Seeing Him we can make a story to fill that gap.
Those are the major updates at the moment. There will probably also be tweaks made on this site, like updating Sketches.
Hopefully, too, there will be more, better blog posts here. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in comments below.
So in my hurry to get ready for Youmacon and also keep afloat on commissions I’ve been asked to do, I…lost track a little with Johnson & Sir. I missed an update last week. But rest assured! It’s back to a normal update schedule now! You can read the new page here.
Here’s a preview to further entice you:
I’ve also been working really hard on my new webcomic Charlie & Clow…
And it launches tomorrow! Read it at its own website. It even comes with a surprise!
This is not the surprise I’m talking about. This is just to show off a taste of what’s to come.
In case you haven’t heard, Patreon is a voluntary subscription service where you can donate as little as $1 a month to your favorite creators. In exchange you get gratitude and really cool perks! Christian and I would really appreciate any support you can give over at Patreon (and if you’re broke, spread the word on social media! That helps, too).
In even more product-launching news, I added a new listing at my store: Avengers Assemble! In bookmark form, of course:
Click for fuller view.
If you’re interested in ordering a set, click here.
The rest of this week, I will be MIA, as I’ll be with my family and then immediately going off to Youmacon. I won’t be a special guest there, but I’ll be attending (probably in costume). I hope you can find me!
As such, I won’t be updating on Friday like I usually do, because I’ll be either on the road or at the con. So you’ll see another update on this blog next Tuesday!
In the meantime, I’ve got comics for you to read: Validationon Mondays and Thursdays, Johnson & SirTuesdays, and now Charlie & Clow Wednesdays! So there you go.
Here’s hoping this gets posted properly, because for some strange reason my internet connection has become spotty in the last 24 hours.
Anyway, I wanted to share some sketches I did this week!
This is one I did to a) practice drawing chubby girls, and b) practice pencil sketching nature and showing depth.
These are sketches I made to practice drawing masks and African/Native American-inspired nature spirits (they were also for visual development of aspects of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, a comic project I’m making). I also used my brand new Prismacolor pens on them and oh my god they are as smooth as butter to use!
These ones I drew to use my Prismacolor pens again. But also I drew them to develop a style I want to use in The Swan Prince (working title, formerly “Rosetta and the White Swan.” I talk about the story and Jamie Roberts in this previous post).
I drew a lot of influence from the Ottoman Empire and Russian textiles. I love the patterns, the costumes, the characters…
I think I know what I’m going to write for National Novel Writing Month next month.
The young lady is Rosetta and the young man is Ahmad.
And this one is a peek into a page of my new webcomic, Charlie & Clow, in progress! Have I mentioned I love my Prismacolor Pens? This sketch uses the brush pen and it is the most beautiful tool I have ever used!
Just look at that line quality! It’s the kind of quality I have dreamed of having for the past two years!
Seriously, I have fallen in love with the Prismacolor pen set. I splurged and got a 7 pen set, and these things are going to permanently replace my crappy Pigma Sakura pens.
In other news, Charlie & Clow will be coming online October 29th! Next Wednesday! At www.charlieandclow.com! I’m polishing up the site now but soon you shall see the new webcomic I’ve been working on for one and a half years!
And also! There will be a KickStarter coming in November! I’ll be writing about that one soon.
So what do you think? Excited for Charlie & Clow? Or The Swan Prince? Or maybe giving the Prismacolor pens a try? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.
