Tag: sketch

Concerning Memory

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Byrd

So I got covid this week. It hasn’t been the worst illness, but it definitely put the kibosh on my weekly posting.

Aside from worrying about the potential day in which diminished mental and physical wherewithal prevent my artistic ambitions, the fever made me realize I wanted to start chapter 11 for “Enter Cedar” differently.

Like, I had already nearly finished this weeks posting, but then I got Covid, and then during the height of the fever, I got the idea for this new page. Which was actually an older thought, but I never wrote it down. If I don’t write things down, they enter one of those game show “money booths” that people get inside and grab dollar bills. I might grab the idea again, but I’ll likely remember months after I’ve published the larger concept, and I’ll just need to deal with the frustration.

Concerning Thumbnails

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Byrd

I like doing thumbnails first. Small scribbles that provide a blueprint for the bigger sketch.

But I always talk myself out of doing them because I want my sketch to be the blueprint. I want as few steps as possible. Ideally, it would be (script already written):

  • Sketch
  • Ink
  • Inkwash
  • Digital formatting

Like, these 4 steps I can get done in five 2 hour desk sessions (10 hours total). Which is the time I alot for each weekly page/post.

But I find that after I’ve finished posting, I’m often daunted by the big white page of the next part. If there’s thumbnail, it’s less daunting. But a thumbnail is just another stage to this work. But it’s a stage that gives me the confidence on what the sketch process needs. A script alone is not sufficient to start the sketch stage.

So I think I’ll start thumbnailing from now on. Scheduling wise, I find if the sketch is done before the weekend, so I start Monday with a full sketch, that the ink/inkwash/formatting stages can get done by the Wednesday posting deadline.

And thumbnails are stuff I can bust out in the cart or watching tv or before bed. It’s not something I need to be at my desk for. I’m always trying to identify parts of my process that can be done away from my desk to speed things along.