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Sep 2017

Writing. It's always been my weakness and since I'm finally freeing up time to work on comics only, I now no longer have anything holding me back from putting more planning and thought into my stories.
Also I feel so nervous and unsure with this thing I've had for over a year where I run into script-related crisis every other month. I mean I usually figure it out, but I want to provide professional results so I'd rather just... not.

Also trying to approach art and writing in more of a "cuz I feel like it" way rather than "k this has to get done cuz deadline". Usually get more done that way and instead of being stressful it's calming and enriching. Plus I'm improving my diet and exercise, so if I just poison myself with stress and bad sleep those efforts would go to waste.

I am quitting certain patreon reward tiers that require more work than they are worth (I would earn at least 5 times as much out of the hours they take, and have 100 times as much fun, if i put them into comics instead) and I am so glad to not have to cram out all these colored yaoi pics every month and actually be able to focus on comic-centered and health-related improvements instead ;w;

Since I write, I'm always trying to improve my craft. I want to get better at description, world-building, and plot.

Surprisingly, I feel I'm good at character development already.

As for drawing, I'm still working on the basics, like anatomy. My goal is to hopefully draw a one page short comic by the end of the year.

This is super important to me too. Working on - and completing - small pieces of standalone illustrations has helped me a lot, allowing me to get into the habit of finishing things that I started. Sorta like building that task completion muscle.

Changing your approach to 'because i feel like it' is a great way to mitigate the stress of an oncoming post deadline. Thanks for that tip :heart_eyes:

Though I really want to focus on backgrounds and scene composition I'm spending a lot of time lately working on anatomy and fluidity of motion. It's honestly painful when I look at a drawing I've done an the character's look stiff and blocky so working towards making certain characters feel a bit more lively and active while still remaining right in anatomy has been a big focus of mine.

Also just staying motivated :persevere:

I'm practicing on coloring techniques and higher quality art in my comic. Basically I take a break in between every step. (I.e. Draw the sketch, work on something else, then go and do the line art, take a break, do the base colors, take a break....etc)

I figured out taking a break in between most steps can REALLY improve the way you perceive your work, and it makes the quality a lot higher. I don't usually take very long breaks in between, I'll take like fifteen or so minutes if I feel like I need to do a lot in one night. Though, I'm more inclined to take longer breaks in between base colors, and detail work.

I might give that a go.

I need to get better at showing motion. It's my Achilles heel. Some of my older comic strips are incredibly stiff.

That's cool! I'd like to improve on my character poses as well. How do you intend to go about it? I love the 'disney' style where everything is so soft and curvey and flowy. My manga-type art makes characters look stiffer than they should be.

Just my art in general, you know, lineart and shading really. I'm also looking to improve my story I'm working on, and I don't really know how I plan to do that, but I'm gunna try!

I'm always working to improve my art, but I also want to keep working on my writing. I want to be able to write more effectively and to the point.

welcome to the" we have problems finishing stuff club", here's a pin and a t-shirt, the snack bar opens in 3 hours and the conferences is at 5 enjoy your stay

Backgrounds!!! I tend to avoid them like the plague. Although at the moment my webcomic doesn't call for them, when the scene changes I'll do my best to make sure the backgrounds are good!

An aspect of my work (especially with my comic) i've noticed should gain more attention is "Fluidity".

By "Fluidity", i really just mean the smoothness of the overall image. The way i illustrate the characters in my comic seem...rigid, coarse, rough.

Speed lol I wish I have 8 more arms so things got done faster :joy:
I had alot of problems with drawing more perspective-ey human pose and I solved that issue by using action figures, posing them, took pictures and draw on top of it. So the overall look seems more right than if I drew it freely with zero reference.
There is a drawback to this method by creating dependency to stiff reference instead of being able to draw it freely from your mind, but I guess at this point I just do whatever it takes to get it done cos I don't want it to take any longer than it already is lol

Drawing background with buildings also my weakest point, so I use this technique called photobashing, which is used by alot of matte painters in games and movies to get things done faster. I mean I could draw everything by hand but I don't think the comic will ever be finished lol