Weekly Drawing Prompt Thread

RIGHTEOUS!!!!!

Prompt number 29 (29!), Rikku from Final Fantasy X:

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhrWpxlpLDy5jGGGmum5jaaKXIew0u3SI59ZG6io16kSwDRqsNqwEyHJczRvaFMgj0M2iEz0qEI9P7A4NqSk_4U_IigD3Bt_MSLCUuIjDbLX145qn9AWrjzDK9HzJHL4oIyjOWXiRYeqsW6TMKAY3xiqkIyCBW-CKmHfXUNSYf70Bjr53ym1fBTf2CEqQ)

I played Final Fantasy X (PS2 European edition, so with Dark Aeons and such) a number of years ago I'd rather not count. Probably one of my favourite Final Fantasies, at least in terms of gameplay.

Very cool, Ravanon! I actually think I've seen this character around! (The only Final Fantasy game I've ever played is XV, which I enjoyed tremendously.)

Here's mine:

On his twenty-ninth trial, the Battle Shrimp descended the Termina Trench:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/wiBYri0.jpg)

Today's prompt is 'Fathom Aspen', who is apparently a comicbook character:

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmj-P8_9GC4W5qwbI2BaTxUIpw9tEKMeZJLqU2lfz3Iy70h7i4GLPW0JC0AiNAJ5op5b3_2nokGQLp3yJAoUMkkD99p2I3-nAKbUPqIXMc304o-x_cwW6rYvv6Lf1ay7gqhwbSeiRBiUDj0DDJ64jxyTqgh906z2oGTW-UENeEEgo96neAyRKYXXrRjg)

Tomorrow is the last drawing!

Nice!

Aspen from Fathom is definitely the character I'm the most familiar with from that whole list. I read the first volume of the series (12 issues, I think), which was created and drawn by the great, late Michael Turner. I even read some related miniseries, such as Kiani and Cannon, and then other early Aspen Comics books such as Soulfire and Shrugged. Good times!

Anyway, here's my drawing:

On his thirtieth (and last!) trial, the Battle Shrimp obliterated the Ancient ArthropoGod:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/sAGZl68.jpg)

On the thirty-first day, the Battle Shrimp was heralded as the Hero of Heraklia:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/bo0HpHB.jpg)

I had planned for this drawing to be more elaborate, but it is Halloween and I am going to be quite busy, what with our family and our dogs, so I kept it simple.

It's funny how between June of 2007 and September of 2021 I had only drawn the Battle Shrimp 7 times, and this month alone I drew him 32 times (33 if we count an unfinished drawing I discarded). I guess that averages 2.7 drawings of him a year, hahaha.

And speaking of Halloween, Happy Halloween to everyone! To celebrate it, here you have all my dogs and cats (and my wife's chipmunk friend) wearing Halloween costumes. The dogs' are their actual costumes they'll wear this afternoon when we take them on a walk around the neighborhood, because we are those people.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/7JFeug0.jpg)

One last picture this month from me. The Arttrober prompt list designated day 31 as a 'free pick', but of course I (slightly inadvertently) have already agreed to draw one particular thing...

...that being one final Battle Shrimp drawing of my own, as a kind of addendum to Mario's epic cycle:

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzZIExnE6BtN9v5tD_DMdxDieGfIM4g7WZJfC68BtNXW-c-H-F880QUHf_Zd4fJOSjh1RHU-signC5WbxZMsXbCKlFfioSOokp6CrcV2IdFwWkfaLDaDLqj-8iShyvvigjlJWFBqTKb4LVOEW7ln8lZddn_hyOk1MttuoGF6r-lymFx0sVpWqsHkAd6w)

This depicts Battle Shrimp standing proudly atop the rocks of, uh... Cephalonia. Yes.

Happy Halloween!

YESSSSSSSSS!

Your Battle Shrimp is a million times better than mine! SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!

I can totally see this version of the Battle Shrimp having his own animated show!

Mario_Alba wrote:

YESSSSSSSSS!

Your Battle Shrimp is a million times better than mine! SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!

I can totally see this version of the Battle Shrimp having his own animated show!

You're too kind (possibly literally ).

It's taken a few days for me to get back to this thread, having run out of the door screaming "I'M FREE!" at the end of last month and gotten lost in the streets of Edinburgh. Now I need to think about what to do next (again). Need to dust off some old project ideas with illustrative aspects, I think. I'd do a webcomic if I could think of anything vaguely original for it to be about.

(Proceeds to procrastinate.)

Web comic about procrastination seems like peanut butter and chocolate to me

Ravanon wrote:

You're too kind (possibly literally ).

Haha. Thanks.

Ravanon wrote:

It's taken a few days for me to get back to this thread, having run out of the door screaming "I'M FREE!" at the end of last month and gotten lost in the streets of Edinburgh. Now I need to think about what to do next (again). Need to dust off some old project ideas with illustrative aspects, I think. I'd do a webcomic if I could think of anything vaguely original for it to be about.

(Proceeds to procrastinate.)

I know the feeling. I haven't even thought about drawing anything since the 31st --I need time to recover! I do have plenty of ideas, but I don't think I have the energy right now. But soon!

What I would like to do is an anthology in which I do short three- or four-page stories so that I can put a bunch of my ideas on paper. In addition to being able to do something with all those ideas, having the stories be so short has the added benefit of making them seem doable instead of daunting. We'll see what happens, though...

fangblackbone wrote:

Web comic about procrastination seems like peanut butter and chocolate to me :D

So true, haha.

So question for you guys:
Have you ever sold any of your drawings online like in epub format?

As per the table top thread, I am looking to join a DnD group because I have a character/class I am itching to play. If that doesn't pan out or perhaps I will do it anyways, I am considering creating a subclass booklet of the character and perhaps selling it online.

Do you think people buy those sorts of things? Would it be better to do something like a 3 subclass pack booklet instead? Like would people see more value and be more interested in a larger book?

What I am planning is an 7-8 page book consisting of the character's origin, the subclass and its mechanics and lots of pictures. The detailed mechanics will be the least drawn section and I would plan it to be side by side split between drawing and text. The front and back cover would be all drawing and probably a continuous mural. I envision some really cool ornate border work on the pages.

Thoughts?

This isn't something I've done before. It's difficult for me to conceive being able to sell anything that isn't part of a larger 'product'. I guess that's what you mean by creating your D&D subclass booklet, though I'm not totally clear on what you mean by that. Is there an existing example of such a thing being sold online for anything more than free? I'm aware of things like the DM's Guild for 5e, but what you're describing seems to be more of a character study rather than a custom content supplement.

I only have a comic book from a few years ago on ComiXology/Amazon, and a collection of Inktober drawings on PDF on Gumroad, but that's it, so I really don't know. I'm not sure what the market for something like that would be. I guess you could always have both: a subclass booklet, and another one with three for a little bit more money, see which one sells better.

Maybe that is the way to do it. Run a Kickstarter for X dollars and then give the end product away for free. Have some tiers where behind the scenes, outlines and early access drawings and sketches are offered.

I am not sure if something like that exists. It just seems like the way 5e is organized, it would lend itself to that sort of thing. With one shots and such plus some of the stuff Pix is doing and SRD, it seemed like a good idea.

I think it is more of a goal for follow through rather than getting rich and famous ploy. I really like this character, backstory and subclass idea and want to get it out of my head and into the world.

Subclass books sell pretty well on DMs Guild I think. Or at least, they tend to be more popular than DM-specific facing stuff by virtue that they have a larger audience. Though it's quite easy to get lost in the flood of stuff that gets added each day.

The main thing to be aware of is that DMs Guild takes 50% of any royalties and is specifically for D&D licenced settings (or stuff that is neutral enough to not matter). Drive Thru RPG is probably a better choice for SRD based stuff that doesn't use any licenced material, since it takes slightly less of a share of profits (i think it's 40%?) However if you're relying on the SRD then the classes you are legally able to use (i.e. create subclasses for) are limited to the basic rules / PHB stuff, off the top of my head. So you couldn't say create an Artificer subclass.

People also add stock art on these sites a well, since creators are always desperate for art to drop into their stuff.

* * *

Also on topic - I did a revamp of my Stars Without Numbers character since we've picked up the campaign again after a break!

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/ariadnev2-colour.jpg)

Thanks for the insights Pyxi. Wow, 40-50% is a steep cut. Yikes!

What is Stars without Numbers? All RP and no stats or dice rolls?

The folds on the clothing of your character are fantastic BTW!

Eh no, swn is osr, so, kind of a cut down 5e / old school d&d. Probably crunchier than 5e tbh. I'm honestly not a huge fan of the system itself, but it does the job.

Clearly, we need to get this thread moving again.

As I said a few weeks ago...

Mario_Alba wrote:

What I would like to do is an anthology in which I do short three- or four-page stories so that I can put a bunch of my ideas on paper. In addition to being able to do something with all those ideas, having the stories be so short has the added benefit of making them seem doable instead of daunting.

And as I said even before then...

Mario_Alba wrote:

We could work on our own projects and commit to post a weekly image/panel/page/whatever here to kind of "force" us to produce while putting that effort into something "meaningful" like "Ravanon's Woman in the Heather: an Illustrated Fantasy Romance," for example.

I have even broken down my first short story into pages/thumbnails with lame text to go with it, but I haven't started drawing it yet because of... excuses. I do want to color it on the computer, though, but ever since I was forced to update the OS on my Mac my version of Photoshop is no longer supported, so I had to switch to Clip Studio and try to learn that program... and now after the latest update my Cintiq is not even working properly anymore, so if I want to use it, I have to bust out my old Mac, which does not hold a charge and has to be plugged in at all times, and whose trackpad does not work anymore (it's a MacAir) and I have to use a USB mouse with it. See? What did I tell you? Excuses!

So what do you think? Not about my tech woes, but the idea of working on something personal and posting on a weekly basis?

i'm terrible to committing to things, and a lot of my drawing related spell slots are taken up right now with maps n' stuff, but colour me interested.

I have a short comic that i was working with Cloquette on (they did the words, i'm doing the imagery!) which got stalled because of covid and like, a million other things, but which i really want to get back to. It's a daunting thing but maybe - as you say - one panel at a time might be do-able... *thinky face*

i got as far as storyboarding out each page...

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/storyboard.jpg)

I remember you've shown some of these before! They look cool, and in a much more advanced state than my ideas.

As I was walking my dogs this morning I was thinking about the story I mentioned yesterday that I have broken down into thumbnails... and realized I left those sketches in my classroom right before the Christmas break. See? Excuses! But I started thinking about another of the short stories I have lined up, and maybe I'll start on that one during the holidays!

And hey --one panel at a time does sound achievable!

It is my goal to restart things here next week (2022, woohoo!) with a lame thumbnail of a page layout for the story I'm hoping to start drawing then, and then post weekly updates. I invite everyone to join in on the fun!

And while we're here, here's a drawing I did today that has absolutely nothing to do with that story. This is a fanart of Blaster Kid (or perhaps Blasterkid), a character created by Richard Friend for an upcoming comic book he'll be writing and illustrating.

And while we're here, Happy New Year to everyone!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/GDOTYOc.jpg)

I’d like to have a go at something. I tend to be all talk though. I’ll have a think. I’ve had an idea to do a Peanuts style cartoon with the main characters being npcs in an mmo. I’ll perhaps have a play and show you the iterations. I’d like to keep up drawing on the iPad because I really enjoy it when I can get myself to do it.

Yes, Higgledy! Join us and show us everything! Hmmm... That does not sound right... But do join us --the more, the merrier!

Mario_Alba wrote:

It is my goal to restart things here next week (2022, woohoo!) with a lame thumbnail of a page layout for the story I'm hoping to start drawing then, and then post weekly updates. I invite everyone to join in on the fun!

It is 2022! Happy New Year to everyone!

As stated above, I am restarting things here with a lame thumbnail of the first page of "Unknown Shores," a five-page story that would actually be more like the first chapter or the prologue for a longer tale. You've been warned about the lameness, so proceed at your peril:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/feN6oME.jpg)

The idea, as I said at some point in the past, is to draw 3-to-5-page stories that would all serve as first chapters for their respective longer tales, and then put them all together in a sort of "Stories by Mario, volume 1" collection. That way, I can put all my ideas on paper without having to draw several dozen pages per story, I can keep it fresh, I can experiment and/or change styles from story to story, and it doesn't seem as daunting a task as trying to draw a "regular" 20 or 24-page issue of a comic book. Sounds super doable, right?

In any case, I commit to showing some progress next week. That could be the full page penciled, or just the first panel penciled or, if I get very ambitious, the first panel penciled and inked. (Maybe even colored? Nah, let's not get too crazy.)

I hope some of you join the fun with your own projects!

Happy New Year! Ok I've done a few sketches. I've added copyright notes which feels daft to do but there you go. The first is my main character who I haven't finalised the name for. I'll call him Flynn and the second is other anthropomorphic friends of his. They are the characters of people playing in an MMO. How that'll work I'm not sure.

IMAGE(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ded38b_95c9ce03a0b34318a9c5dd6ce5247be9~mv2.jpg)

IMAGE(https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ded38b_7e7d5376927d4d76b89e4985a0f85003~mv2.jpg)

I thought it was cool to have a character who was just a bird but I need to change that one so they can be more active. I devised the name 'Trainset' because some PSN names sound like someone just looked around the room and called themselves what they saw. One memorable one was 'Beansontoast.' I find the idea of a stealth elephant funny in itself. It's also occurred to me that Peabody can never sneak up on anyone apart from Flynn who he consistently catches by surprise because he's so self obsessed.

I'm thinking Gumball has a rat assistant who brings him ammo for the grenade launcher and positions a bipod for him. The idea is that Gumball has great difficulty using that weapon but won't part from it.

That sounds like it would be a fun comic, Higgledy! I especially like the idea of a stealthy elephant.

I’ll have a go at drawing a sequential strip. You posting an actual, analogue drawing is good because I often draw in pencil first so I might follow suit and show pics of a pencil drawing or two.