Weekly Drawing Prompt Thread

i am *so* busy with maps this January (I have, like..9 or 10 to draw with tight deadlines) so i'm probably going to be quiet a bit for a while until things calm down. But, for now, here's that first scribbled page of the comic i was working on with Clocky's writing.

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/page1-rough2.jpg)

and this is as far as i'd gotten with it previously...

IMAGE(https://smackfolio.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/page1-wip.jpg)

Higgledy wrote:

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.

A comic strip would be super fun, and I think it would lend itself well to the idea you've presented.

As for my drawing, I almost always draw on paper. I never got really good at drawing digitally, but I might try to do one of the short stories digitally to experiment.

Also, pyxistyx, that looks great! Those first two panels really pop!

This should help me. I've only skimmed the surface in terms of Procreate's functionality.

IMAGE(https://scontent.fman4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/p526x296/271630833_5230218476991609_1268308390765232097_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=yN3y9BUfkUkAX8sDCME&_nc_ht=scontent.fman4-1.fna&oh=00_AT8ZKan5Po2TeiI_tRhlLdTR4F5qe6VkM__LNcYjHddKWQ&oe=61DD257F)

Higgledy wrote:

This should help me. I've only skimmed the surface in terms of Procreate's functionality.

IMAGE(https://scontent.fman4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/p526x296/271630833_5230218476991609_1268308390765232097_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=yN3y9BUfkUkAX8sDCME&_nc_ht=scontent.fman4-1.fna&oh=00_AT8ZKan5Po2TeiI_tRhlLdTR4F5qe6VkM__LNcYjHddKWQ&oe=61DD257F)

As a Procreate user myself, I'd be interested to know how you find the book. I'm generally of the 'figure it out as you go' school as far as puzzling out how best to use tools like Procreate, but that can obviously be a slow process. On the other hand, a lot of information can go over my head if I haven't acquired the 'experience' to realise its value (which is why I occasionally re-skim the Procreate documentation to see if it gets me any new insights). Also I don't like spending money.

As far as recent work has been, I've got the usual ideas rattling about in my head, but haven't found time to do much about it, even in thumbnail form. But since the first week of the year is almost past without me contributing anything, I'll throw in a self-portrait I drew on the 2nd, which I did because I figured I needed a new avatar for Discord and a few other places—an essential first step for all sorts of projects, honest.

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLdBdhh125Ehn4VGIqPj0K8dYN6nkewoYXnRfIhXCI1g8nowgCfyFhlsrG_zY88yYgvldXvmWKg8UMoUnKiBMunl4AtPD_ttv28gSz34ofhBfSnoMHucQEStpDl0wKpuxvm2-hLdbkPra_JLzhUvIyjN4SzFDUTJD-UvSqKt3xZsyXkSlzNZTp_kULbg)

When it comes to 3D modeling, I have always shied away from tutorials because I have found that it makes people good at following tutorials rather than 3D modeling. There lacks a lot of the "why" in them because there is so much "how".

I'd gather a bit of that follows for 2D as well. So my recommendation is at several points in the tutorials, try stretching the technique, experiment or trying what it tells you not to do. Seeing it for yourself can provide a lot more growth than step 1, step 2, step 3.

That book looks goooood, Higgledy! Let us know how you like it.

I try doing some video tutorials every now and then, but it is very ironic that, for someone who makes a living as a teacher, I have zero patience when I become the student, hahaha. I always end up stressed and give up halfway through the videos. Shame on me.

Going back to the book, I see the name Jordi Lafebre at the bottom, so I will use that as an excuse to recommend you his amazing, amazing, amazing graphic novel "Always Never." It's a tale of star-crossed lovers told Memento-style. If that sounds good and you look up pages from the book and like his cartooning, you must get the book. I absolutely adored it.

Finally, looking good, Ravanon!

The reason I picked up the book is because a friend who uses Procreate and does online courses to broaden his skill base, was showing me all kinds of hidden aspects to Procreates interface, including two and three finger swipes that do very useful things. I doubt I’d ever have discovered those on my own. Drawing and painting digitally is also a very different animal from analogue painting and I really need help adjusting my approach.

I’ve always found tutorials and guides to be very useful and often up my effectiveness in a particular programme considerably. I’ve gone as far as I can with poking about and see what works and I really need to fill in my background knowledge of what the app is capable of. Especially since, as it turns out, there are a lot of hidden features that I had no idea were even there.

I’m also resistant to spending money. The book was on and off my Wishlist for a long time but I realised that sometimes you can be holding yourself back by not spending a modest sum.

Great self portrait Ravanon.

I’ll check out the graphic novel. Thanks!

Higgledy wrote:

I’m also resistant to spending money.

I know exactly what you mean!

Anyway... progress!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/ttJg4g5.jpg)

(Way ahead of schedule!)

I'm home sick today, which is bad, but I got all this extra time I wasn't counting on to devote to my comic, which is good! So, page 1 is done and ready to be colored:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/hTAcA8y.jpg)

Now I need to decide if I want to color the pages as I go, or if I want to draw all five before I start coloring. Hmmm...

Let inspiration be your guide

Very nice. Your style is a bit like Oeming’s from Powers.

fangblackbone wrote:

Let inspiration be your guide :)

I'll probably keep drawing --it's less scary.

Higgledy wrote:

Very nice. Your style is a bit like Oeming’s from Powers.

Interesting perception! I wish I had a fraction of his success!

Also, something else I drew today was portraits of our dogs (yes, again), now including a 4-week-old puppy we're fostering:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/3N8ecHp.jpg)

It's time for lame thumbnail #2, now with extra sound effects! Sigh...

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

First page looking good, Mario! I'm interested in seeing what you're thinking colour-wise.

Second page... maybe I'll wait for the next revision to comment.

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of regularly drawing after the Christmas break. What I'm trying to do is develop a simpler, more dynamic style for creating artwork that I can use for a project like a comic strip, but I'm finding it difficult to not slip into the much more labour-intensive style I've gotten familiar with. Case in point, I started the image below wanting to do something 'quick', but I ended up doing it my usual way, then got sidetracked playing with Procreate brushes.

IMAGE(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhH0Vb9BNdjeQO5KKHY7Ya-kGKMj2_O1CtC51QIxkxDBSDSBxPVkSLyCZL4CoJSvvTUcrl6XyQCtMJPkdOUrC8NdmFbbMuW63UmeW2Tk7grQwr56dhO5PwmwwMavx3C3T5XcPukTtMg8B2i6ggs59cFE8WSTl9hUVZ3jfXDV1KzRxLB-nQjMV1wy1c9AQ)

Not that I'm terribly unhappy with the result or anything, but putting the same amount of labour into every character / panel in a comic would surely kill me.

That sounds like me a lot of times when I model something. It takes me ~2 hours to get something workable and instead of finishing it, I spend another 2-3 hours looking at it from different angles. there is maybe some tweaking the lighting or materials a bit. I have so many cool concepts that are anywhere from 40%-75% complete, my hard drive is filled with them.

The good news is I have a real talent for modding things I've already completed. Where one mech or character gets revisited later and either updated or overhauled to turn into 3-4 distinct mechs/characters.

This is one of my old low poly and simplest examples. I used to mod a new one in 30 minutes as a sort of meditation exercise:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/Fb4dGcQ/ldys0001.jpg)

Ravanon wrote:

First page looking good, Mario! I'm interested in seeing what you're thinking colour-wise.

Well, I'm thinking about keeping it as simple as possible. Everything in two or three blue tones for the underwater panels, and then... I don't know how to approach the last one. It's supposed to be nighttime, but I also want all the pages to feel moody and "blue"... but there are no more underwater panels in the next pages, just action and dialogue above water. Maybe everything purple to denote "nighttime"? I welcome your ideas so that I can use them and take the credit!

Ravanon wrote:

Second page... maybe I'll wait for the next revision to comment.

You make it sound like there's basically nothing there in those bare-ass thumbnails doodles!
(My thumbnails are so freaking sad.)

Ravanon wrote:

I'm still trying to get back into the swing of regularly drawing after the Christmas break. What I'm trying to do is develop a simpler, more dynamic style for creating artwork that I can use for a project like a comic strip, but I'm finding it difficult to not slip into the much more labour-intensive style I've gotten familiar with. Case in point, I started the image below wanting to do something 'quick', but I ended up doing it my usual way, then got sidetracked playing with Procreate brushes.

The drawing looks very cool, as always. As for what you're saying, it makes perfect sense. It's going to be hard to not do what you're used to, so maybe just get started that way, and you might find your style simplifies itself as you move forward without a conscious exploration of said simplification ahead of time. I think it will probably happen naturally, and then --boom! Problem solved.

This, of course, might end up leaving some inconsistencies behind, I know, but if the alternative is to spend time looking for something that ends up preventing you from starting your project, maybe it's not worth spending all that time to begin with. Maybe?

fangblackbone wrote:

This is one of my old low poly and simplest examples. I used to mod a new one in 30 minutes as a sort of meditation exercise:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/Fb4dGcQ/ldys0001.jpg)

Those look super cool, fang!

Here's Page 2, shaping up nicely!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Ss8jdoo.jpg)

I am wondering if:
you guys want to do your own comics,

Maybe it would be a good exercise to spend some days making thumbnails for 20+ pieces that you can then use as an inktober style prompt. I think it would be interesting since you can choose which ones of the thumbnails you want to do in what order. So it may foster that "OMG I am behind" style of healthy urgency to get work done. The natural tendency is to front load all the thumbs that interest you. But at the end you will get that urgency and tend to stick with it since you already have so much done already.

That seems like it will be constructive, no?

It is a good idea, but I have found that I am not creative enough to do so many thumbnails at once (or throughout a few days), as I need time to think things through. For example, the story I'm sharing here right now, "Unknown Shores," is going to be 5 pages (I think), and even though I have a script (read: dialogue and narration) for all five written down, I was only able to do thumbnails for the first three pages before running out of gas... and if you think my first two thumbnails were lame, wait until you see the third one, hahaha. It is so bad I might actually redraw it before posting it here. (That is something else I've found over the years: my thumbnails get progressively worse the more I do in a row: 2 is always worse than 1, 3 than 2, 4 than 3... so I have to stop after a couple or I just know I'll have to redo whatever I did past number 2 or 3.) The panels and composition for the last two pages of this story are still bouncing around in my head, but they will have to be finalized soon because I have to show weekly progress here! And that weekly commitment is pressure enough, at least for the time being.

No worries. It was a thought. Artists always struggle solo with the drawing/sketching equivalent of "feature creep". I thought this was a way to help outside of generic "that's good" or constructive criticism that can be often taken more personally than intended.

Absolutely! And please feel free to continue sharing thoughts and ideas as often as you have any.

What you're saying is absolutely true. In my case, I've found that what helps me produce is to NOT do a ton of prep work precisely because of that: because I get more and more ambitious, and in the end nothing I draw will live up to my complex, lofty expectations. If I just get going and figure things out as I go along, I feel much better about the final product. Also, the more everything is pre-planned and laid out and rehearsed, the more stale it feels and the less interested I am in doing it because, in a way, I've already done it, if that makes sense. OR, this could all be just excuses for not being a careful planner or for the way my stuff looks like, haha.

As for the constructive criticism, I don't know what it is about artists, but you are right --it is sooooo easy to get upset when someone points out something that could be better. I would say that, most of the time, the artist is angry with him- or herself for having allowed themselves to release something mediocre when they should have known better (probably knew better, but didn't know how to fix it/improve it or didn't have the time or the energy to do so. I know that's happened to me a bunch of times!).

Finally, as far as I'm concerned, feel free to point things out in my stuff --I know you friends won't be mean about it and won't be trying to make me feel bad about anything. Also, I know I'm far from perfect --otherwise, I'd be making a living publishing my comics through Image!

But I thought you were Madeira's protégé'?

I know one of the traps I can fall into is "They like the color?! What about everything else?! I spent a lot of time on that and they like the color... I hated that color. It is the first thing I want to fix!" Another one is "That looks like a mix of X and Y. Gee, thanks! (I hate X and was trying to avoid comparisons to Y and I do not see that at all)"

I am really good with taking criticism, except with my art. I mean it is only natural since it is inherently so personal. So across the board I am sh*t with complements and with my art, I am also a curmudgeon with critique.

What I wouldn't give to be Madureira's protégé! He's been on fire since that original Deadpool miniseries from the early 90s, and he's only gotten better and better. He can make anything look amazing and exciting!

fangblackbone wrote:

I spent a lot of time on that and they like the color... I hated that color."

Absolutely. What happens to me all the time is the drawings I like the most don't usually get the reaction I was hoping for, and then the drawings that I feel are even worse than usual tend to be the ones people like the most. Isn't it strange? Or if I'm really proud of a specific element in a drawing, it gets completely ignored, hahaha.

fangblackbone wrote:

Another one is "That looks like a mix of X and Y. Gee, thanks! (I hate X and was trying to avoid comparisons to Y and I do not see that at all)"

Yes! That one can also be particularly irritating. People's perceptions are interesting. Many times I will think someone looks like someone else, and people will be baffled. I can only shrug...

fangblackbone wrote:

I am really good with taking criticism, except with my art. I mean it is only natural since it is inherently so personal. So across the board I am sh*t with complements and with my art, I am also a curmudgeon with critique.

I understand. I like to think I can take criticism well, but when you spent so much time working on that hand and someone points out it looks like a deformed bunch of bananas... Well, it is hard to stomach, haha. I also try not to be too free with my critique, especially if no one has asked for it because it's not as I know everything or do everything right, and honestly: don't you think the artist already knows his hand looks like a bunch of bananas? As a teacher, I have learned to phrase criticism in the best possible way, but I also try to keep in mind the famous "If you don't have anything nice to say..." because nobody wants somebody else raining on their parade, right? I think people in general should be more thoughtful and tactful when pointing "mistakes" out. A recent example:

I was commissioned to do a drawing with a bunch of mostly female cartoony characters. When I submitted the finished lineart, somebody pointed out the black splotches I usually put on the neck under a character's chin to indicate a shadow, and said "Those look like beards. I know what he's trying to do, but it's not working. He must remove those." Boy did I get angry, because not only the criticism is phrased in the most obnoxious way possible (he knew what I was trying to do but it wasn't working --the nerve!), but because I was completely baffled and could not understand how those stylized shadows on the necks of women could ever be interpreted as beards, even by the thickest knucklehead. The whole thing was so ridiculous that I couldn't even see it from this person's perspective. Needless to say, I erased every single shadow, but I was enraged, hahaha.

All that said, please feel free to point things out in my drawings... if you can/dare!

Even Rav totes puts beards on his women! (and a 5 o' clock shadow to boot!)
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/gzgWGd4/girlbeard.jpg)
I know. I know. Now you can't unsee it

Hahaha! Priceless!

He's going to be delighted when he sees this thread tomorrow morning.

Oops!

*Ravanon wakes up one cloudy Friday morning, looking forward to one more productive day before the weekend. Browsing 'Gamers With Jobs' during breakfast, he sees updates on one of his favourite threads, and takes a look.*

fangblackbone wrote:

Even Rav totes puts beards on his women! (and a 5 o' clock shadow to boot!)
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/gzgWGd4/girlbeard.jpg)
I know. I know. Now you can't unsee it :D

SON OF A—

*Hurls breakfast bowl across room and punches wall, then runs off screaming obscenities and crying.*

don't listen to him, he's just jealous of high cheekbones.

That reaction is even better than I dared hoping!

Anyway, here's Page 2:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/vwSz40a.jpg)

There aren't any backgrounds because I'm lazy because there will be plenty of text. Also, open waters at night, so hey --I'm justified.

I'll see if I can redo and post the thumbnail for the third page this weekend. I actually had a good idea to retool it as I was falling asleep last night!