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!

Goals for the New Year

Just finished this today during art class. :)
I hope to continue taking classes, but considering where my life is right now, we'll see.

Starting for the New Year, I hope to get back into drawing. My plan is dedicate each month to drawing a certain category such as animals, buildings, people, hands, cars, etc.

So in January, I will probably dedicate it to anatomy and spend a whole month working on that and try to do a sketch every day. Then in Februrary, I'll do buildings and perspective, and etc etc.

I hope to do this for the next 3 years or so until I feel like I am good enough. I was talking to my art teacher today about my slump and she said that I was growing. So perhaps all my doubt will be erased with time...of course, I must be training, lol. I also hope to start visiting my local comic book store more often and start reading some graphic novels and widen my horizon, visually.

I also hope to develop a lot of disicpline and gain a lot of skill during this time, so we will see where 2011 will lead me...

happy holidays everyone.

=)

Doubt

I posted in my last entry that I would be doing a oneshot, but this is no longer the case since my personal life has gotten a bit rocky again and none of my drawings or ideas seem to be flowing.

This has happened once before and I always seem to stop at a certain point making me even doubt if I can do a full serialization, a 10 year one for that matter, which is probably how long Spoon will be.

During my student teaching internship, I started to realize how much of a lazy human being I am and how hard my cooperating teacher works. Teaching was never my dream goal, but I do not even work diligently on drawing. Always at a certain point, I get lazy and just doodle away...or drop a project simply because "I do not feel like it".

The more I think about it, the more I realize I cannot accomplish my dreams and it terrifies me.

I've been reading about self publishing comic artists like Terry Moore (Echo, Strangers in Paradise) and Jeff Smith (Bone) and they have been drawing a series for 10 years...how do they do it????

I feel as the older I get, the more I do not believe in myself simply because perhaps I am seeing the reality of things and how the world is changing. I have posted about this before where I see so many people with dreams trying to achieve their goals and yet nothing happens. Nothing.

We only hear about those who succeed, yet we never hear about the millions who do not, or more like we do NOT want to hear about them. I am so afraid that will happen to me.

Yet I spend most of my nights with friends or drinking. And I have read so many stories that this is NOT the life of a true artists or mangaka for that matter. I know I am a naturally social being who loves being with friends and enjoying the good life talking about my dreams and aspirations, yet here I am not going anywhere....fast.

Already I am 23 and before you know it, I'll be 30 and I'll say, "Wow..I never even published Spoon yet..have I?"

I know I will have to make sacrifices, but I'm really afraid of WHAT sacrifices I will make...

Frogilic Chronicles

Frogilic Chronicles:
"A young man named Katsuyo was once a frog and was kissed by a beautiful queen, but an evil sorceror interfered, so the spell was only half complete. Now Katsuyo is on a quest to find the queen and either become a full frog or a full human...what will he choose?"


This is the the title of my oneshot for the Yenpress contest and I have penciled in about half of it, so I hope to pencil in the rest by the end of the week...

I've shown this design to various people and they have all said the same thing:
"It looks like Naruto". LOL.

I am determined to finish it though and submit and get some sort of reaction, but in the meantime, I am still diligently training...wish me luck.

:)

Progress

This is an attempt at a self protrait of me and my girlfriend, Betty. :)

As you can tell , my skills still need a lot of work, but I am practicing, so this is proof, lol.

On the other hand though...

I finished drawing my basic shapes (well my instructer helped me a lot, but I am getting there by understanding how to shade), so I will continue to take classes and hopefully get tons better with time....In other news...

I will not be doing Spoon for the Yen Press contest, but rather a different one shot.. I will unveil it soon, so I hope I can manage to finish it admist how busy I have gotten with student teaching..and as for Spoon, I might do it in monthly releases rather than biweekly, so we will see what happens.

:)