FUN

So good news.

These past few weeks, I have been feelign creative and been coming out with some crazy ass ideas (ones that I like too!). Of course, I am afraid I will look back and find them not so hot later on and go into doubt. But I am starting to see myself getting better and am getting out of this rut. I think I forgot what it is like to have fun....which is very important!

So I have been coming up with character designs and landscapes of the story before I start drawing...I actually got some nice paper to draw on as well! So I must start that all soon....

More updates soon.

Contest

Hola,

Schoolwork has been piling me up leaving me little or no time to draw of course...haha.

But awhile ago, me and a my rival were talking about this contest:

http://morningmanga.com/micc/

Since I wussed out of the last contest, I believe it is time to try again..and hopefully succeed. Whether I win or not is not the matter at hand, but whether I can finish it. The due date is July 7th giving me PLENTY of time to draw.

I plan to use SPOON, except a little different, hehe. The original chapter 1 I used I felt was a bit too much and for this oneshot, it will serve more as a prequel to the original version where it focuses on Charles being a vagabond. I plan to do everything differently where I ink with a nib and use better paper, so as of now, I feel excited and am still gathering ideas and we will see where this goes!

More news to come along the way....

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Dat! (or single awareness day..haha)

So I have not really drawn in a couple of weeks and I decided to draw this piece, but of course, once I started to ink and color, I thought it sucked making me go into a slump...again.

So I decided to go to the bookstore and look at manga, this time, the earlier Naruto volumes (because I thought the drawings were best back then...not now) and read Kishimoto's little entries about his childhood. It seemed he ran into the same block I did where he thought everything he drew sucked and said he became "afraid of manga". My girlfriend has finally admitted to me that when reading the previous, she felt that something was lacking and the story simply did not allure her, haha.

Well nonetheless, I hope to keep on producing and we'll see what happens....

=)

Going with the flow

So as expected, my training goes through its ups and downs where one moment, I feel pumped to draw and the next, where I just want to do nothing. I do remember before drawing the most recent SPOON, I went through a year or unproductivity. Recently, I asked Terry Moore on his fanpage:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/pages/Terry-Moore/131940990197610

what to do when an artist gets into a slump and he has been releasing chapters every 6 weeks for the past decade, and he was kind enough to respond to me saying:

" I work through the blocks. If I have to stare at a blank page for days, I do. I don't stop trying, because the dame thing is due in 2-3 weeks. The biggest difference between pros and amateurs is that amateurs work when they want to.

Good news is many creative breakthroughs come when you persist past the easy parts. Also, if stuck, it maybe for an intuitive reason- your "muse" stops because you've taken a wrong turn. If you're suddenly bored or stuck, your reader would be too. What would happen next to get you interested again-so interested that you have to write it because you're dying to read it? Keep your interest at that level and you won't lose your motivation because the mystery of what comes next keeps you, the writer, enthralled".

and today, I came across a video documenting Takehiko Inoue, creator of SLAM DUNK and VAGABOND, both of which I have read.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-4V9AbUu1s&feature=related

Seeing his process and how he too, a pro, gets caught up in blocks and also takes hiatuses started to make me realize that perhaps, right now, at the age of 23, I am still finding out my voice and am growing. But my life as of now, is in a bit of a mess, as always simply because I put myself in these situations, lol, but that's a blog for another time.

I hope you will enjoy the links I put up.

Til next time.

straight inking

I inked this image using a nib and a brush to fill in the black areas, then used photoshop to scan it in and make it look blacker, lol. You can still see pencil lines, so theres only so much the scanner can do. To eliminate this problem, I will get a non photo blue pencil, because they do not show up in the scanner.

Recently, I am getting the itch again to do Spoon, but I know from previous times, if I start, I won't finish, so I will continue on with my training....til next time!

I think I am getting better using nibs and will continue to do so. I

Tool

Above, is a picture of my desk with my inking tools.

So this past month (well the month isn't up yet), I've been focusing on inking and drawing the human body. I realized one of my huge weaknesses were feet, so I have been continuously drawing feet, not perfect, of course. Another huge weakness of mine is drawing women, so i have been focusing on the female anatomy as well...

I also have been looking at youtube videos helping me to learn some techniques...youtube is a wonderful thing :)

I found that using nibs are much...better than using a brush. I am definitely still shaky with it and how much ink to use, but with time, I am sure I will get better.

So for Februrary, I have decided to focus on drawing animals.

You can check out all my drawings on facebook!

:)

January

It has begun!

As I have stated, I have started to draw every single day (well tried to, haha). I decided to dedicate the month of January to drawing the human figure and I am using "DYNAMIC FIGURE GUIDE" by Burne Hogarth from a friend of mine, Zaid Jawad, who is currently attending art school in India.

All my drawings have been posted on my SPOON facebook page titled under "January".

While trying to draw everyday, I have also begun using brushes to try inking in a different fashion. A lot of buzz has been going around saying the Windsor Newyon series brush pens are very good for cartooning, so I will probably invest in those when I get the chance.

I hope to dedicate the first year to lots of drawing which includes perspective, animals, houses, real people, etc etc.

By year 2, I hope to explore color and master inking even more.

Hopefully by year 3, all of this will culminate together so I can restart Spoon...for realz.

But life as we all know, has many, many setbacks. I hope to develop a lot of discipline and continue to do this...so wish me luck!