Blue Jay (Popcon) Way

I didn't want to do this 'till monday, but this last miss threw my schedule off and it looks like I actually have a lot more work to do than I thought.

So here goes.

ARTIST'S BLOCK IS GOING ON HIATUS.
And I'm not entirely certain when we'll be back.

To start off with, I'm forecasting our return for Monday, November 13th. When we get back we'll have another site re-design (yes, again) and, hopefully, a bunch of new pages to post.
Right now I'm mainly shooting for a redesign.

So why the hiatus? Well, mostly because I'm going to J-popcon 2006.
This'll be my first time there, and I'll be sharing a table in the gallery-alley with my webcomic colleague of awesomeness: Ida "Hamster" Kierkegaard. Some of you might know her from a comic I have idly mentioned every once in a while: Mechagical Girl Lisa A.N.T.
We'll have prints, postcards, flyers with our names on and everything and possibly even a very limited number of A3-sized posters for whoever manages to get them first. Our prices will be very reasonable, so do feel free to stop by and give us your money :)

Also, we're open to the idea of chatting with you for a bit and maybe doing a nice sketch or something. Hey, we might even do it for free, if you're lucky ;)
No, being serious: whoever is able should stop by and say "hi" if nothing else. Otherwise we'll be so LOOOOOONELY.
Or, well, I will, anyway. Not Ida. She's frikking LOADED with friends. Don't know where she finds them all. Did Friend Mart have a sale or something?
Anyway, to recap:

1. Artist's Block will be going on hiatus at least until Monday, November 13th.
2. When we return we'll have a new site-design for you all to browse about.
3. I will be at J-Popcon 2006 with stuff you'd like to buy for money.
4. There is no 4, only Zhuul.

So until next time, peeps. Stay healthy 'till November 13th!

Minor annoyance

School eats time. Make comic later.

Artist's Thoughts #48

Well, I haven't much to say. It's smaller than usual because I got pressed for time. That is a fairly common occurence in webcomics.
Why it's smaller isn't interesting, though. Why I'm pressed for time is. See I'm doing new things with my comic work. Going grayscale, for instance.

And more recently: creating a strip 100% on the computer. I was mostly inspired to do this by looking at Questionable Content. Sure, the artist uses templates for backgrounds sometimes, but my main interest there is that he updates - without fail - every day from Monday to Friday and it's all computer-work.

Now, I do have a tablet... It's not extremely high quality, and it's a little irresponsive from time to time, but it works. I've never been much of a master with it, but there are - mildly put - a LOT of benefits of working directly onto the computer.

The normal process goes like this:

1. Do the pencil-sketch for the art.
2. Ink the pencil sketch.
3. Erase the sketchlines.
4. Retouch the art and scan it.
5. Clean up the lineart in Photoshop and darken it and such.
6. Get to work on colouring, editing and correcting the lineart where neccesary.
7. Make the panels and word-bubbles.
8. Assemble and layout.
   

On the computer, the process is more like this:

1. Make a panel-sized image.
2. Do the sketch.
3. Clean the sketch and line it up.
4. Get to colouring, editing lineart where neccesary.
5. Make panels and word-bubbles.
6. Assemble and layout.

Two whole steps cut out. It's actually somewhat faster if you do it right.
This being my first try, I didn't do it right. I haven't really got a feel for the tablet yet, and it sometimes bothers me that I can't get the same kind of surface resistance on a little plastic board that I can on paper.
So I need to practise a bit. This is exactly what my comic is for, so no worries :)

The computerizing-thing is not all the reason I'm pressed for time, though. See, this spring, I'm going to Ireland with the people in my class for a week. It's something third- and second-year students get to do: go somewhere.
This means we need money, and not all of it is given by the government. This is because american capitalist values are corrupting our society (all hail Socialism!), but I can't do much about that, so the bottom line is my class needs money.
No, I'm not going to flash a "DONATE PLZ K THX"-button. It just means we have to run a little café at our annual party at the school, and we need to advertise for that. I'm playing a leprechaun in a little "play" of sorts we're doing to advertise, and being a leprechaun takes a bit of practise. Especially because I'm supposed to run with a pot of gold and get caught in a net. Takes choreography n' shit.

Took some time outta today, and thus, the comic is smaller. Leprechaun-practise ate some time.

...

Hey, it's better than "the dog ate my hard-disk", yeah?

(PS: Sorry Artist's Thoughts #47 wasn't up 'till now)
(PPS: Major changes ahoy! On Monday the 30th of October, there will be news both great and terrible)

Artist's Thoughts #47

I thought I would be late, but it turned out, I wasn't.

See, I've tried doing it all in greys today. For one thing, it's more with the mood of the story, I think, but also, it's faster to finish in Photoshop.

So I'm going to do this story in greys from now on.
And don't worry. Next story: all in colour.

... I'll not be doing lighting and shading, though, 'till I've found a better way of doing it. My soft-shading techniques fall horribly, horribly short of effeciency when put to greys.


Anyway, check back wednesday for next update. I'm pretty sure to be on time :)

Artist's Thoughts #46

Aaaand there goes my buffer... I'm glad I've got the next comic inked and ready but...

It's odd. It's holiday, and I haven't been able to draw ANYTHING artblock-related. I've been able to do two random comics about other things, but not a single artblock-thing.

I think it'll probably clear up once I get to school. Nothing motivates me to draw like sitting in a class that bores my sandals off. That's right, sandals. I bore them off even when I wear shoes.

Artist's Thoughts #45

First off, yes. Monty Python.

And here is what, exactly.

Now, why would I use their sketches and convert them into my own comic?
As any modern philosopher would say: "the question is irrelevant". The relevant question is "why not?"

Because what is the primary functions of my comic?

1. Artistic training for me.
2. Comic funnies for you.

I like to believe what I did with these Monty Python sketches was funny. Thus, the two primary functions of my comic are fulfilled.

So what would be the d00d's point? The d00d's point would be that by not writing my own material I am capitalizing cheaply on work done by others, in a sense "stealing" their work and using it for my own benefit.

One thing to rebuke that is that that's exactly what musicians have done since the frigging advent of music.

Anyway, the point of my comic is to be funny and Monty Python are funny. I don't think it really matters who wrote the funny, so long as credit is given where credit is due (to the Monty Python crew for the jokes, to me for the art). If it made you chuckle or smile, there is no problem.

No no, you don't understand: theeere is nooo proooo-bleeeeem *waves hand in a Jedi way*

Artist's Thoughts #44

Aaah, c'mon now. You'll have figured it out :)

It's culture, people. Culture.

Other than that I don't have much to say... Check back Wednesday for an explanation of this whole madness :)

Artist's Thoughts #43

Okay, somebody is BOUND to figure it out with this comic. Anybody who's ever seen shows from the Hollywood Bowl or watched BBC in the seventies has to figure it out.

On a related note: yes he did. Just now.

Anyway, I know, I've copy-pasted. I've copy-pasted and then mirrored a full panel, save for the background and dialogue.

And why did I do this? Well, it has to do with the repeating nature of the dialogue. They really aren't getting anywhere; just going in circles.
It'd be fair to say I should have simply drawn the fourth panel similar to the third, with a few changes in the mimickry to show the change. And I should. But I'm lazy, and cutting a corner here and there every once in a while lets me finish comics faster.
Not that I'd sacrifice content and quality for a faster update-rate...

Artist's Thoughts #42

(NOTE: ACK! I totally forgot to upload this post!)

Is Jester insane? Or is he perhaps the only one who is truly sane?

The world might never know.

I do like this comic. It's very rare I manage to use stick-figures and make it even remotely proper to look at.

Other than that, I don't really have much to say about this one. So relative to nothing, The Dubliners rawk and there's nothing quite like throwing up the horns to a rousing chorus of "The Molly Maguires"

SOOO make way for the Molly Maguires,
They're drinkers and they're liars, but they're men.
SOOO make way for the Molly Maguires,
You'll never see the likes of them again

Artist's Thoughts #41

Well, huh... We're fast approaching the big Five-O. 41 comics and still going strong.

Meh, more on that some subsequent post.

Right now: no. 41.
There's some real big hints in this comic as to what's going on.
Here's a hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink wink, say no more, say no more!
And no, it has nothing to do with Metal Gear. Piece it together. Big points to whoever does :)

Useless points, but points nonetheless.

Now, technically, I'm pretty happy with this one. It's damn hard not to get caught in the talking heads syndrome. Especially when most of the points are in the writing and not the mimickry.
I'm not entirely happy with the last panel, but I'll live. I've inked scanned and coloured it, I'll live.

You may notice I've stopped using outlines for the word-bubbles. This is because I find I don't need them. I do give them a light outline of semi-transparent black to set them apart, but the horrid, confining lines are all gone. Also, photoshopping backgrounds isn't so bad. It lets me finish lineart faster. I've got the lineart for the next two comics lined up and ready for inking. I'm hoping maybe I can start building up a buffer. I wouldn't count on it, though...

Welp, 'till wednesday!
Cloud out.

Artist's Thoughts #40

... Or technically, #1, as I'm only taking this up now... I thought I'd start posting my thoughts on the comic.

Sooo, here we go. This storyline is actually one I've had in mind for ages. The scripts have been lying about on my computer for a long time now. It was actually planned to be directly after the "Loud"-story, but I kinda... forgot, actually. But now it's going to happen. So far, I'm forecasting that this "Big Monty"-story will be about 9 comics long. Maybe 10. Probably 10, in fact.
Actually, maybe you shouldn't. It helps keep the illusion.

Now, this comic you see before you on the "Latest Comic"-page came into being as most Artblock-comics do: in class. I'm ending physics and natural geography this christmas, so I don't really need to be paying attention in those classes. Therefore, I pay attention to the comic. Don't you all love me for sacrificing such worthwhile knowledge, all so you can have your triple-weekly dose of Artist's Block?
(On that note: yes, we're back to thrice-per-week updates. Mon/Wed/Fri, if you recall :)
I've also gone back to creating the panel-borders on the computer. It's just more practical that way in terms of layout. Other than that, I've thrown my artistic integrity to the wind and surrendered to the beauty of Photoshop-brushed for making the backgrounds interesting. Go me.

Lessee... I like the third panel, but I haven't got much heart for the fifth or third.

Aaand, that's about that.
Cloud out.

Aw, frack!

UPDATE:
Colours for yesterdays comic are finished and on the way up. I'll see what I can do about tomorrow. It'll be late, but I might be able to upload the finished piece on the wednesday it was supposed to be uploaded.

--------------------------------------------

So no, there won't be a comic tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. I know. Major suckage from my side, I am not worthy, ect. ect. ect.

School-project got in the way, I've got that done now, I might finish the colours of yesterdays comic today and I can get to work on tomorrow's comic tomorrow. Well, not so much "comic" as "front page", but it still needs scanning, cleaning, linearting and colouring.

And if things go somewhat relatively close to something that is similar to well, there'll be a real comic on friday, with panels and punchlines and stuff.

Cloud out.

Ack... my brain hurts

So there was SUPPOSED to be colour on this update. And there ain't... yet.
Now, see, have you ever heard of a device called the "PlayStation 2"? I thought you might. And have you also heard about the game called "Kingdom Hearts II"? Some of you probably have.

Yeah, see... Kingdom Hearts II is - for the lack of better words - abso-fucking-lutely awesome.
It is so awesome, in fact, that I've played it 22 hours straight yesterday and about 17 hours straight today. And the only reason I stopped after clearing the final boss was that I had a good bit of homework due for tomorrow I needed to do. Guess what happened to the comic-work? Yep. Right outta the window.

So what's happened is I've scanned and put together the comic. I will add colours and such the moment I have time. And no, I am not entirely sure when that will be... I've got some... things that need taken care of.

No, it's not another game I mean (although have also recently bought Psychonauts...)
It's real-life stuff. Y'know, the things you don't neccesarily feel like doing but have to do anyway.