Tools of the Trade

I can officially say that my computer is now back up to working condition! All of my previous comic files are now nestled in their home, and I've made several different alarms to make sure I back up everything I have. (Honestly, can't be to terribly careful anymore.) Since I'm still trying to figure out a good time table on the comic itself, I thought I'd give a little tour of some of the tools I use on the computer. 

And yes, post-it notes are Kind of a Big Deal.

While I've been doing a lot of the extra work for the comic in Photoshop, I'm starting to lean away from using them in favor of other programs. The brushes and blending that I use are prevalent in Manga Studio 4, but I will be upgrading to Manga Studio 5 in the near future. 

The inking and flat coloring have been fairly simple so far in MS 4 EX, but I've heard enough about MS 5 (considering it's on sale right now) and that it's coloring capabilities are on par with Photoshop. We'll see where that goes - hopefully, it'll help me settle on a style for the comic. (or at least kick that perfectionist feeling out of high gear. )

Photoshop is enough of an industry standard that I really don't feel like I should go into it. I've been using Photoshop for around thirteen years at this point, but when they shifted to the subscription model I sort of lost that "Adobe Fanboy Glow" in my eyes. I have CS5 and it's still one of my apps I use a lot (and adore), but I'm shying away from it outside of teaching work. There are things far more affordable. 

I've also been experimenting more and more with Mischief since I got my laptop back. The situation's improved a lot as far as lineart goes, but I'm still floundering about with coloring. I've kept it as my sketch/doodle app for now, and I do recommend people give it a try. 

Coffitivity is a site (and application) that generates coffee shop white noise. They did a study about people working better against the calmer background of a coffee shop as opposed to office noises or just general silence. I've been using it for a few days and so far have really enjoyed using it. I tend to pair it with listening to podcasts (don't know if that's weird or not) but the balance has been acceptable for me. For music, otherwise, I just use Spotify. 

Another webcomic artist turned me onto Frenden and his brush sets. Since then, I've bought both the PS and the MS 4 brushes and they are smooth. I've always struggled with achieving beautiful line weight variances like this, but with these brushes they're much easier to achieve. Before it was like painting calligraphy with the dirtiest, nastiest, split-hair brush you could find. Frenden does reviews about both wacom and monoprice tablets, and has convinced me that if I ever upgrade I should move to a yinova as opposed to a cintiq. 

In the end, that's a fraction of the software I use, but it's a good start. Catch you next week! 

There's no other way to say it: Guh.

So hey! Last weekend's misadventures included a trip to help out a group of people I consider my adoptive family. I have many a tale I could spin about the SCA but suffice it to say, check out the society's main website to see what it's all about. Then check out one of these GoPro helmet cam vids because the fact that this thing occurs on a yearly basis is mind blowing. As much as I love the armored combat, I am more of an archer mostly because I got to a point where I was utterly terrified of getting my hands beat in. I made some friends that weekend and, despite an injury from an accident back in April, I had a fairly good time.

I did manage to make some headway on pages despite having to spend part of the week in repose. I'll be releasing some of the unused panels from the recent edits I had to do with importing the pages into Manga Studio EX 4. I'm hoping I can keep up with the schedule I set for myself between the physical therapy and the puppy coming home next weekend, I believe I'll have my hands full.

Part of the reason I keep up with weekly updates and this weird style of writing is that when I'm going over the days, things will come to me. Between seeing Thor 2 this weekend with my folks (which I admit I enjoyed even with a great deal of the movie being The Loki Show. Even if Loki's my favorite, sush.) and the tornado that unfortunately wrecked a great deal of local area, I missed the second annual ComfyCon.

ComfyCon was made as an idea between Danielle Corsetto of GirlsWithSlingshots and Randy Millholland of Something*Positive, it's a weekend of panels and livestreams based entirely around webcomics: from getting into the "business" of webcomics to attempting to manage your first anthology. I only managed to hit the opening ceremony on Friday night, but (almost) all of the streams should be online as recordings so I plan on taking some time in the next week or so to look through a few of the panels. If I had been on top of things I would've suggested it earlier but y'know how things get.

That's really all for now. Tune in next week if I haven't drowned from puppy bliss.

Busted Wrists, Distractedness.

So, I know about a month ago I said I'd start posting more regularly again. Time has a funny way of slipping out from under you and slapping you on the face as a parting gift. To attempt to make up for this, I figure, I'll try to do a bit of a recap of this year so far (since a few of you are indeed, folks who kind of know me.)

Earlier this year the bf and I had a conversation that basically ran like this -

Boyfriend: Man, rent's going to go up when we renew our lease again this year.

Self: With the way rent and utilities are, hell, we could probably afford a mortgage on a decent house.

Boyfriend: .....

Self: .....

Self: I'll start looking.....

Fast forward to April and we've closed in on this lovely ranch-style home that I'm currently sitting in. There's still bits and pieces to the place that need to be fixed up. (Bathrooms, deck, downstairs, etc) But so much of it is cosmetic adjustments that we've been happy with so far. Hell, three months down and I've gotten settled in here nicely, myself. Just sometimes feels a bit...empty. We're working on fixing that. If any of you know of a (reputable) Pembroke Welsh Corgi breeder in the Midwest States, I'd be happy to hear of it. We've already gotten scammed once. I should've figured out beforehand but the idiots wanted us to pay in Bitcoin. Bit. Fucking. Coin.

Anyway. There have been enough personal changes in my life that started me thinking about trying to publish my own work. I got serious about it, as opposed to sitting back and worrying that my art/writing/etc isn't good enough to put something out there for the world to see. It's been two years since graduating Bradley University, and I can definitely say that my work has gone up leaps and bounds since then. Plus, it seems like that's the advice I keep seeing from several artists: Keep doing what you love, the work will come to you. Or something similar. I know I'm chasing down leads as fast as I get them, but in the meantime, I'm pushing to launch my comic and it's website by the end of the year. If I can get it out sooner, well, the more's the merrier for me.

I've started working with a couple of local groups, Start-up Peoria and Dr. Ardonaut's Lab, on some various projects. If even a singular one sees the light of day, I'll be delighted. I'm hoping that with the locality of each group I'll see some responsibility taken on all ends - the last few projects I was asked to work on left me incredibly jaded about pro-bono work, to the point where I think the only way I'd consider it is if everyone had an equal stake/amount to lose in the process. That and I have extensive knowledge of the person. Too many times it's been a start and stop - on my part too, admittedly - and several times I've produced a few pieces for a group only to have the people involved stop returning my e-mails.

As of late, I've had a carpal tunnel flare-up in my right wrist, so things have been somewhat slower. Even though I'm left-handed, the medication they gave me is incredibly draining. I will be posting commission prices within the next month for things inbetween comic pages, so be on the look out!