Fun time post

Thanks for the feedback everyone! This post is gonna have lots of crap in it.

To get started, an uninspired and weird picture!

Try and interpret it! Oh I'm so deep (lie).

Also in the comments of my last post a few people asked for inking tips. I'm gonna talk a little bit about how I ink, but remember that there isn't just one way to do it- if you are looking for lines that are more like old fashioned cartoons, then this could be helpful. Lots of people ink their drawings in other ways and that's perfectly fine too!

So first I chose a drawing to ink!! I chose this one because it's simple and would be easy to ink quickly since it's just an example. Note: I know this drawing isn't great- her elbow is in a really weird place...but ignore that for now!


So before I got started, I went over the basic rules to remember for inking:

1. No parallel lines!
2. The larger the shape, the thicker the line
3. The smaller the shape, the thinner the line
4. The closer a shape is to you, the thicker the line (example: a foreshortened hand coming towards you)
5.Follow the drawing you are inking- don't change interesting shapes
6. Follow the lines through
7. Avoid tangents
8. Use thick to thick lines (lines taper at the ends)
9. Don't round out corners and angles in the art (this is easy to overlook)
10. If you are inking traditionally, flip between the ink drawing and the original art to make sure you aren't toning down your drawing.

Also- and this is important!!!!! Inking isn't going to fix your drawing! If you aren't confident in the drawing you want to ink, then fix it before you try to polish it up. Inking is superficial- anyone can learn to do it with practice. The drawing underneath is what counts!

Here I inked the drawing poorly at first, then did it over again trying to follow the inking rules that guru Fred Osmond taught me so long ago. Also I inked it in Flash, but the rules still apply (getting smooth lines in Flash is kind of a bitch, let me warn ya).


I hope this makes sense! Inking is hard to explain with words.

Here's the colored drawing, just for fun! I like her color scheme!



I think a lot of people assume I ink with brush pens, but I'm horrible at it...on this post I explain my tools!
Also, more inking tips HERE!!

On my last post Ben suggested drawing different types of girls, like American girls, French girls, etc...I like that idea! I'm gonna look into it...for now here are some Russian cutes that I found on a mail order bride site.


A lot of people suggested cool ideas for blog posts! I'll have to get on some of those. One person asked for more theories and crap, so if you are into that kind of thing, you can read some theories in the second part interview with Jason Anders here! Or you can click this weird drawing!


I know not everyone likes reading long winded crap, but I hope some of you will! Jason's questions were really interesting and fun to answer and I almost went off on a few rants. Check it out and then come back and tell me if you agree, disagree, or think I'm weird!

Lets see what else...oh, here are some notebook doodles drawn veeerrrrrry slowly and absentmindedly because I was watching a movie that I was into and not paying attention. Also the pen doesn't work if you draw fast. Does it even look like my normal drawings??

I kind of like Miss Squirrel

OH and another thing! This week's Skadi comic (the one explaining bush beasts) had a couple of "in jokes" in it, but so far only one has been discovered. Check it out and see if you can find it! Click for a direct link to the comic!


And lastly...I found an old sketchbook from '93/'94, and thought these primitive Beatles drawings were funny, as well as almost cute! Ah, a young girl in love!


That's all folks! Thanks fer lookin'!

Even MORE Flash inks and Skadi

If you've been checking my blog for a long time you might recognize this drawing...it's an old one! I always kinda liked it though so I finished it up in Flash. I based the colors off of the hillbilly drawings I did lately...I liked those colors a lot but they lose their warmth on the computer, don't they?

OH YEAH! It's Wednesday which means a new Skadi comic at DummComics.com. Please check it out!

Here is the rough for this weeks...I drew this right into Flash, although most the roughs are on paper. These drawings are SUPER rough, I hope they won't turn people off. I have to draw really fast when coming up with ideas or I'll forget stuff and get unexcited.



Here it is after I gave it to Luke, and he fooled around with the poses, backgrounds, and overall layout.


After we get a layout we like, we decide on colors (usually Luke is in charge of colors, although I helped out with this week's comic), and then I draw and ink and color the characters, while Luke goes crazy on the backgrounds. Well that's it! I hope you liked these drawings, feedback is always welcome and appreciated!

(go on, do it...)

P.S.
Some people asked questions in previous posts, and I've only now just gotten around to answering them. Sorry I'm always late! If you asked me a questions before, go check ! Thanks!

Flash cleanups and more Skadi

I got a Cintiq!! I'm still in my drawing rut, but now all I wanna do is clean up old drawings. Here are some that I inked in Flash! I hope you like them!

Dance dance dance boogie boogie

I'm not all the way used to doing this yet. I want to get a printer so that I can print out these Flash inks and color them in marker, or maybe even try to paint some with washes or something. Can you buy printer ink that won't smear when you marker/paint over it? Anyone know?


Here are some little friends for you. Each has a different super power (lie). Choose one to live in your pocket and be your spirit guide (you don't have to if you don't want to).




ALSO!!!!!!!! You guys gotta go look at dummcomics.com again, as it's Wednesday which means SKADI DAY!!! Hooray! A second brand new comic! I made a banner for it!


Also, here's the rough for the comic that's up. As you can see, when I draw roughs it's kind of like the equivalent of jotting down a grocery list. Quick and messy (and weird).


After I do a rough, Luke and I work on getting the layout to work together, then Luke does the backgrounds and I do the characters. Fun! Please tell me what you think!

Those Darlins fanart (+ 100th post)

So when I did my hillbilly drawings post last month, Baby Pop alerted me to this really cool band!

Those Darlins are a three-girl band, Nikki, Kelley, and Jessi. Their songs are great and all three girls are extra cute and charismatic! I was inspired to draw and sing as soon as I saw their page.


I suppose anyone who reads my blog a lot knows what a huge old country music fan I am, so you can imagine how cool it was to find the music page of these gals.


I wanna do more drawings of these girls! Maybe I will post some more soon! I wonder if I should try and send some fanart their way. Too nerdy? What do you guy think? I'll probably do it anyhow.



Hooray for girls who sing country music!

Go visit them!!! They're awesome!!
DO IT!!!
P.S. 1ooth post! Yippee!

Dragging myself from the rut

RUT RUT RUT
I've been in a drawing rut, which I hate! However, I've discovered a temporary solution for ruts...drawing friends! Those familiar heads always cheer me and make me excited to draw again.

Here are some sketches, taken from MySpace and friend blogs. I'm sure a lot of you will recognize where I stole these funny poses and expressions from! Go check these guys' blogs for hillarious photo stories!

Dapper Eddie and stunning Marlo! I tried to color this one but messed it up. OOPS! You'd think by now I'd know how to use markers.

Hi Eddie! You have the best expressions in the world.

Kali is pretty. It looks nice when you put lavender in her hair.


Some of these drawings feature friend Nico! I've never drawn him before though...so they're super sketchy.


I did some more, but I'll save those for later. Here are the sketches before I inked them:

Bye fer now! Thanks everyone so much for the suggestions on my last post...if you think of any more, let me know! :D

Trying to be conventional

I always wanted a chance to try illustration. I'm so envious of people who get jobs doing those spot illustrations in girls' magazines, or for fancy make-up companies. I sometimes think about pursuing it seriously, but I wonder if my stuff would fit in. I used to do more graphic-type illustrations, but stopped when I realized I was just ripping off other, more talented and established artists. My "illustrator" drawings were just more boring versions of other people's pretty pictures.

Anyhow, I was thinking about it today, and tried to cheat by cleaning up one of my normal weird drawings with what I thought might be a gimmicky inking and coloring style. Here's the original doodle:
...and here's the cleanup:
Of course I like the original better...it always happens that way! I might add a simple background to it later anyway.

I am going to try and experiment more with clean up- maybe even bring out my dried up water colors and crap. It'll be fun!

Here's another doodle from the day. I was trying to draw a more normal-type cutesy bad-ass girl, but it kind of just turned out the way I usually draw girls. Sometimes I wonder in the middle of drawing something if I should try and make the girl prettier, or weirder. I couldn't really decide with this one.

Inking

Lots of people have been asking me about inking lately, so I'll try to remember what I learned about it a long time ago and post it here. My first job ever in animation was inking for Spumco's "Weekend Pussy Hunt," and there were so many rules that they were all written down on a 2 page memo for all the inkers to post up in front of them. I wish I had those now, cause I'd just post them! Fred Osmond was one of the guys who taught me how to do it, so maybe he'll talk about inking some and fill in the blanks where I forgot stuff...he has some inked pictures on his blog, and they're really good examples of excellent inks.
http://cartoonsandcaricatures.blogspot.com/

So anyhow, here's a picture of the pens I like to ink with best:
Those black and white pens on the right are "boldliners' made by Eberhard Faber (that's what they're called, right?). I'm pretty sure they don't make them anymore, which is awful because they're the easiest inking pens I've ever used. They're cheap marker pens with felt tips. They're good because when you start out using them, they have nice sharp points, but after a while begin to get mushy at the end, making it easier to put pressure on them to get thicks and thins. There are other felt tip markers you can get, and they work alright too. Then I use Microns for small and delicate lines, and for fixing up any wobbly lines that the boldliners made. The white out is my best friend when inking, because I tend to put my hand right into the wet ink and smear it all over the place.

I had to ink an older drawing a couple of days ago for a poster, so I took a few pictures to show the ink in progress. I don't know if it'll be helpful to the people who asked about inking...I hope so!
I always start with the thickest lines first, and leave any details for last.
I think that the head on the right girl has nice thicks and thins, but the rest of her body and arms need to be made more consistent...right now all the lines are the same thickness and it's not as interesting looking.
Here's the finished ink, which turned out alright, even though there are some things that could be better...for instance, the place where the middle girl's hip comes too close to the right girl's dress. The lines get all mushy in there, so I'll probably have to fix it later. It's hard to avoid tangents when inking something crowded like this drawing, but I think I avoided some that were in the original drawing.

So here are the rules I remember from when I inked for money!

-Use nice thicks and thins.
-Thick lines are for larger shapes and shapes that are closer to you.
-Thin lines are for smaller shapes and details.
-Details within the drawing, like smile lines or clothes wrinkles, should help to describe the larger shapes that they are a part of.
-Try not to ink inside or outside of the lines, but stay on top of the original drawing.
-Make sure lines follow through. For instance- if I took away the instrument that the girl on the right is holding, the lines on her body and arms should look like they would connect.
-Floating lines, like smile or cheek lines, should go from thin to thick to thin, with the middle being thicker. It looks meatier that way!
-Lines that end should taper to a nice pretty point.
-Pay attention to subtleties in the drawing, and try not to dumb them down when inking over them. That brings me to another thing...

I scanned in some inking notes from John's Bjork Video, and they're better for understanding a bad ink from a good ink.
This is a really helpful piece of paper here! And besides the notes that are written here, there are some other things that are missing from the ink...Bjork's cute butt has some nice organic angles in the sketch, but turns into a boring curve in the ink. It may seem like nitpicking, but when enough lines get dumbed down it makes Bjork look like a balloon girl instead of a real flesh and blood girl, which is how she started out in the sketch.
Here's a nicer ink...the lines are pretty and the thicks and thins are in the right places. For the most part I think it's a really nice copy of the original, although some subtle curves in her cheek look like they got lost. It's not easy to get perfect, but the result is a lot better if you don't think about it just as putting black lines on a piece of paper!

Now it's plug time! The ink I did is for a poster that will be sold as prints at an uncoming art show...it'll be fun! The show is May 27th through June 4th, and it'll be featuring John K's art (although some of my stuff and maybe some other spumco people's stuff will be there too). There's a big to-do on the 28th, with the gallery show at "Ever Picture Tells a Story" and cartoons at the Aero Theater across the street. John will be there and there will be lots of art for sale. John's got more details over at his blog, so check it out!
http://www.johnkstuff.blogspot.com/

Also, my pal Chad just put up his blog, and it's going to be great!! He's really really good, and here's proof:
Say hi to him at his blog and tell him to post every day!!
http://cartooncrap.blogspot.com/

Unfinished projects and interview

Just a few years ago, my main reason for drawing was so that I could ink and color up my doodles all nice and pretty...I'd rush through the drawing and leave in all sorts of crappy mistakes figuring I'd just cover them up with a clean line and nice photoshop colors. Nowadays I make tons of plans for art projects, but I'm just too lazy to ever do anything with them. This is the closest I've come in a long while to a finished drawing.
A couple weeks ago I became overly excited about Rex Hackelbergs paintings, and decided I would try to be like him and start some new projects that I could be proud of. I drew a whole stack of hillbilly girls with the intent to paint them up all nice and pretty, but as it turns out I still can't paint, and these still aren't going anywhere.
Some more drawings that I planned on inking up all fancy-like. I was going to learn to use the brushes in photoshop to color them...but everytime I sit down in front of the computer I end up stalling or suddenly remembering something "extremely important" that I have to do and go running away.
On a happy note, here is something from a project that will actually get finished- and it's not girls! A couple layout poses from the Weird Al video:
So anyhow, where does this overwhelming feeling of obligation to finish drawings come from? I'll admit I love a beautiful painting or carefully rendered drawing, but often I enjoy looking at a rough and dirty sketch just as much, especially since so many finished drawings lose what makes the original drawing look interesting. It seems however that a lot of people greatly prefer a finished drawing. I have been told in more than one email that cleaning up my drawings would make me seem more legitimate. I suppose that's sort of true, but I'd rather think that I'll become legitimate when I learn how to draw as well as the people I look up to. Maybe I'm just making excuses because learning how to paint seems so time consuming, ha! I think this sort of thing isn't even an issue for people who are actually able to get the spontaneity and energy of a scribbly drawing into their finished artwork. There are people out there like this (you know who you are), and I curse you! Actually, I want to be just like you...anyhow, this is turning out to be longer than I intended. If you want some more to read though, you can find it here: http://www.readersvoice.com/interviews/2005/December/222/
It's really long though, so watch out!