All Quiet on the Western Front

Drawing not quite a fail at the moment but almost... despite being mostly wrapped up in work, kids and the cleansing power of pine floor cleaner I have managed to squeeze in a bit of creativity. Three pages into my new story at the moment but it is a much quicker work rate as there is no colour... getting back to my black and white roots for a while.
I have been deeply pleased with the basic editor provided by microsoft paint which has enabled me to fix the few things on each page which I didn't like (there are inevitably always a few). Paint is so basic it makes me feel like a genius in comparison... I love it!
The new story it is a much more traditional comic layout which scared me somewhat at first as it meant I would need to use a ruler and stringently measure everything- it has worked well mostly- enough for it to be passable, I'm quite happy with it- for a change. The ruler has not quite been consigned to the drawer in which I keep all things artistic which I deem to be anal but there is a space reserved for it...
I don't want to give too much away but the new story is a love story with a twist- thanks very much to Mariammah who gave me the spark in the first place, I shall dedicate it to you if I ever get famous!
Just to wet your appetite here is one cell and a self-portrait which I scribbled down in the same style. (Apparently my nose is too big- not sure if that means in the picture or in real life)

So there you have it- big nosed me and small nosed romantic bloke (whose face I have based roughly on Leonardo Dicaprio's- not because I think he's handsome but because I think he looks so weird he was worthy of drawing) Now as ever, it is just a case of finishing it.

Tis' done....Night Terrors

Was planning on spending maybe half an hour tidying the finished piece off this morning and instead spent a gruelling four hours re-doing art work and cursing loudly when my computer refused to comply with my (what I believed to be) simple requests.

So, I think it has taken me about a week to finish this, which for me is some sort of record- I felt a renewed pressure knowing that I had promised a finished result and it reconfirmed in me that deadlines are not my favourite thing.

A few words on the finished piece....

The layout is incredibly clunky and doesn't always quite work... in response to this I advise you to always read the highest box first regardless of whether it is on the left or right and then read downwards towards the bottom left hand corner.

The writing, I know, is far too bright however my own handwriting is in all fairness pretty darn awful- even when I am using my bestest, neatest penmanship and I decided to spare everyone the pain of trying to decipher it. Plus ever tried using a white pencil on black paper and making it legible? Well, let me tell you- it's pretty difficult without going over each letter about a trillion times and then you are left with one huge mess.

Saul thought that having the backing pages with the smaller frames on top was cluttered- I wanted to give it an atmospheric feel though and felt this added to it. I have though included the backing pages on their own before each page. I have done this because some of them are probably the best pieces of art within the story and I didn't want them to loose their impact.

Here it is... creepy, weird and hopefully slightly wonderful. I hope you enjoy...



An afternote- if you try reading this with any glare on your screen you will probably fail.I had an attempt at fiddling with the contrast of the pictures so they were clearer but again technical knowhow is not in abundance...

What's next you ask? I predict an plethera of whittering aimlessly about old pieces of art. I have a painting to finish and a valentines card to design. A good friend of mine has also given me a great idea for a story which I have roughly sketched. Seeing as the rough sketches of this piece where done in July last year, I wouldn't hold your breath to see the results of that one anytime soon!

Distraction techniques

This is why I draw... to distract my self from all those little things I SHOULD be doing, washing up, cleaning and today the fascinating world of mortgage quotations and rising interest rates- Quick- where are the pencils!?
This blog has become a wonderful alternative, I can justify to myself spending twenty minutes (ha!) on this whilst having a coffee and then of course I'll get right back on the housework... no really I will... honest.
Last year in October, I entered for the second year the 'Comica Graphic Short Story' competition, of course I got nowhere with it but it did manage to fill up some endless hours over the summer holidays whilst the kids increased the likelihood of drought this year with maximum sprinkler usage.
I was very proud of last years entry. The previous year, my frustration with my lack of technical ability to produce something professional looking overcame me even before I had finished it and now although I can appreciate the story itself- which wasn't half bad- I don't even really like to look at it as I feel the art work really lets it down. It's a shame because the 'rough' sketches were much larger and of a better quality than the smaller finished pictures which didn't quite have the effect that I wanted.
This years entry was slightly contentious within the household, Saul felt that the story was weak and the artwork 'not my best' although by the time it was finished I had appeared to sway him towards it!
The spec for the competition is that you have approx 6 weeks to design a fully original self-contained, previously unpublished 4 page short graphic story. It's difficult to get yourself in gear and ensure that your story is a good enough concept to work on (which debatably mine wasn't as it didn't get anywhere!) However I feel it was of a much higher standard than the previous years and for me it has been a great practise in self-discipline in working towards a deadline, as one of my problems has always been finishing things in good time or even finishing them at all.
The story is called 'Yesterday 8.07am' and the rough concept was 3 frames per page, each one with a still of a person and their thoughts for the one minute during 8.07am. Each panel was colour coded, this was partially to try and depict the mood of the character and also, I confess to make the page look 'pretty' from a distance in an attempt to make it stand out from the other entries! I also find I get much better results working in any monochrome pallet. The background was an extension of each panel in black and white line drawing. This was to try and make it appear as if the frame of the picture was in some way allowing the reader to have access to the characters inner thoughts before they passed onto the next.

Here follows the artwork and I hope this time the text is large enough to read unassisted!

I must confess that the second page is definitely my favourite overall. I think the colour mix was balanced really well and the final picture (purple close up of woman) was the best of the piece- however others have stated preference for alternative panes. I would be interested to hear what people think works well and which ones do not. As far as text goes, I absolutely love the mini-stories of the characters who are clearly quite bonkers- the green man on the first page being my favourite- closely followed by the third page bottom pane of the blue and green eye.

Night Terrors continues well- I have finished another page but have to wait to finish the final two until I can get Saul to pose for me after drawing a blank on google images. But hopefully soon....soon....

PS. This took me an hour- not quite the quick break I had envisionaged- surprise surprise!