It's lucky for us that Long John decided to chill out right in front of this helpful wall.
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Sketch Fridays #88 – A Dog

May28
by on 28 May 2021
Sketch Fridays #88 – We Rate Dogs

In a rare moment of inspiration, I drew something so I could practice making art. I’ve stated at various points that I don’t really draw unless it’s either for the comic or the comic itself. Generally, that’s held true. Ultimately, the Sketch Friday exercises are about content for the website, space to fill between comic updates. While I do try to stretch my skills with the Sketch Friday posts, the idea that it’s for the website is always in the back of my mind.

And while today’s drawing is a Sketch Friday, it didn’t start that way. It began when I saw this image from our daily calendar, from the popular Twitter account, We Rate Dogs:

The calendar page that inspired this thing.

And I thought, “I must draw this.”

More specifically, seeing the inherent cartooniness of this droopy cocker spaniel, Narcos, it immediately reminded me of the pseudo-painterly style I’ve used on a few occasions and how I wanted to try drawing like that again because it seems like a style I should always keep in my back pocket.

The original post from the @narcos_cockerspaniel profile on Instagram.

It was a rather quick exercise and, upon completing it, I realized that I now had a Sketch Friday for this week. I took a beat and accepted this as a victory––I actually drew…for fun. Weird. We’ll see if it happens again.

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Chapter 5 Update (Video)

May21
by on 21 May 2021

With summer about to begin, that means that I’ll be diving into getting Chapter 5 drawn full-time. Below is a video telling you about where I’m at and the process of getting from idea to the page.

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Sketch Fridays #87 – “Call Me Home” Page

Apr30
by on 30 April 2021
Sketch Friday #87 – “Call Me Home” page 5. Click for a larger version.

While work on this short story has been slow going in some ways, it persists in the back of my mind every minute of every day. It’s not a matter of if it will get finished, it’s more a matter of when. With my day job taking up so much time and wanting to keep the fifth chapter of Long John on track, I’ve had to put “Call Me Home” on the back burner for a bit as I prepare to jump headfirst into Long John once school lets out for the summer.

As I piece this story together, I’m learning a lot about drawing comics digitally––becoming much more familiar and comfortable with it along the way. To the point that making comics on the iPad seems less an exercise and more a possibility. This has grown to the point now that I’m inspired to come up with new stories, other stories that I want to tell. As with any person hit with the euphoria of inspiration, it can be hard to not drop everything you’re currently working on to play with the new ideas.

In the process video for this page, I discuss the fun challenge of drawing these pages, though. They are the things that keep me coming back to it because the art here is more about suggestion and implication than detail and accuracy. It’s an even more extreme version of the limits I gave myself with Long John‘s limited color palette; it’s like I’ve imposed a limit on visuals as well––how much story and scene be implied with few lines and shapes of color. Whether it’s a success or not depends on when it gets finished and in the hands or screens of readers.

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