Tests

So anyone who reads this blog knows I've been punting around a comic idea in my head, but there are a variety of obstacles in my path. One, I need to find a method of cleaning things up that's fast but still appealing to me. Two, I need to find a method of coloring that also fits those criteria. I've yet to come across a clean-up method that I like as much as my sketch linework; cleanup is notorious for murdering the life of a drawing. I wasn't satisfied with the linework and coloring of the two test pages I did before, so I'm going to be experimenting with a couple different approaches in the next few days. I also still need to get some color issues worked out so that what I update on my main monitor looks like what I drew on my Cintiq. I've just been kind of hoping that what everyone else sees is closer to the latter than to the former.

Then there are story issues, but that's a massive pickle in and of itself. I did want to age up the boy character a bit, he was too young for where I would want to take the story.

Basically, "working on it" for the past week has meant idly sketching some characters, plotting vague story points and structures, and playing a lot of Fallout 3.

Quick Manga Studio doodle

To try it out. It's ruler functions sound amazingly useful for background work; I figured that kind of thing was something one would wish for but would never actually get. Honestly haven't tried it yet, though, so it might not be as amazing as I'm hoping for.

Fun fact: in Japan, Manga Studio is called "Comic Studio," because manga is a word in Japanese that means comic. Despite the name, it seems like a useful tool. John Allison uses it, after all, and he's never, ever wrong.

One last

Here's one of the last things I did for my GDC portfolio, which I figured I should post up since I haven't posted anything for a while.

Pretty sure GDC was a bust, job-wise. Haven't heard anything from the handful of places that had openings I could apply to.

I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing next; probably a mix of working on a Flash portfolio, taking some CG animation classes over the summer, and applying to some TV places I haven't applied to in a long while. There's the CalArts job fair in a month, but I haven't had much luck with that in the past and the alumni table is notoriously overlooked.

Run-veeeeigh

So Lissa had gotten me season 1 of Project Runway, which I plowed through earlier this week while working. I ended up picking up season 2 today while I was at Fry's (our old router went bust after some 9 years in service) and started watching it tonight. I sketched out my two favorite designers at the end of the first episode, and it's interesting that I did this because the very next episode revealed one of them (Andrae) to be totally effing crazy-pants. I also liked the nerdy Asian girl initially, but the tight time constraints of the show really don't allow her to incorporate any goofy wrist computers or hoodies with thermoptic camoflauge, so her gimmick is kind of lost. Also Austin Scarlett from S1, because he's super-fab.

That stupid Fidel Castro dude was appealing initially, but he's such a raging asshole that I can't stand him anymore. And yeah, I know that we're waiting on season 6 now and season 2 is old hat, but whatever. I'm slow that way with television shows. I also know who wins in the end, but don't know anything else, though the urge to check Wikipedia grows stronger by the episode. Right now my favorite for second place is Nick.

Also, I finished up a card the other day and took it to a place to print. I ended up going with the steam guy; I did like the girl but the drawing was irking me and I just felt like the trooper dude honed in a little better on the target demographic for next week (sorry, Nicole!). I kind of stopped working on her about 2/3 of the way through.

I can shut up about these cards now; I kind of just wanted some more finished drawings on the top of the page.

card designs

So a couple of the drawings are kind of crappy because I'm coming down with a massive, massive headache today, but I'm trying to solicit opinions on designs for business cards to hand out.
I'm worried I caught something at Disneyland, that notoriously filthy vector for diseases, over the weekend.

Other things

So I need to get a few other things ready for GDC and wanted to get some input. One is the spine for my portfolio, in the past I've just had my name info but that's kind of boring. I figured I'd get some artwork on the spine, with just a small bit of room for my name and info or maybe just putting that on the back. I was thinking of going with a group shot of the modern characters I designed a while back:

Alternatively, I could go with the some other guys. There's always something cool about dudes streaking through the air on rocket packs.

I've just got a cheap Itoya portfolio; I can't afford to spend $100 on a fancy portfolio case. There's always this niggling doubt at the back of my mind that recruiters look down on people with the same cheap Itoya portfolio as everyone else, but rationally I know they're more concerned with the contents than the delivery. I thought it'd be cool to do a wide aspect ratio portfolio, too, especially since I have a bunch of lineups.

I also need to get some business cards printed, I was thinking a design like this:

What do you guys think? Do you like them, do you like the idea but would rather other characters, or would you suggest something else? Obviously they'd be tricked out with color later.

I've still got like four major things left to do, and I'm running out of time. Gotta be working harder.

Man

So I have hit artist's block so hard the last couple days. I can't do anything I'm happy with.

On the other hand, this has been great for my Killzone 2 score. I was in the top 6% of the world last week. How? By being a sneaky little bomb-laying bastard, of course.