2015

Yes, I know it's early. Shush.

I apologize for being absent from DA at the end of 2014. If you're wondering where I was, well, my latest deviation should explain that. As per usual, I intend to clean out my DA at the start of the new year and do my level best to keep up with everything here going forward. Each year I manage to do it for a little longer, maybe this time I'll make it the full year, haha! The downside of this is that by the end of the year I let too many things crowd my inbox, and I end up having to just clear out everything to get a fresh start.
So, sorry about being absent, I'll try to be a bit more present going forward.

Now, what's happening for the coming year?

Well, I've finally gotten a new Wacom tablet! Whoo!
I plugged it in and was trying it out last night and this morning. It's going to take a bit of getting used to, but the possibilities it opens up are immense! My old tablet had such a small surface area that I would have to reorient my hand every other stroke. This new one has a large surface are and covers the whole screen! It's going to take some time to train myself out of wanting to reorient the pen every few seconds (I was working that way for a decade, after all) but once I do that's going to make everything so much easier! Also, this new tablet has pressure sensitivity, which my old one did not, and it's really throwing me off in the early goings, haha!
Because of my work schedule with the comics, I had to go ahead this morning and start the next page of FFC. I kind of hate to start with the new tablet in the middle of a scene like this, because I'm afraid the coloring is going to change somewhat drastically mid-scene and I don't want that...but I also don't want to put off hooking up my new tablet for a couple of months either, so we're going forward with it. I'm of two minds about what I discovered with the tablet this morning. On one hand, I don't think I'm going to be able to make it look like it used to even if I wanted to, the pressure sensitivity alone is making working in my old style very difficult (though I am going to at least attempt to keep some continuity for the time being since, as I said, we're in the middle of a scene). On the other hand, though? Damn, but the coloring I did yesterday is closer to the style I've always WANTED to color in than I've ever been before! The sensitive pen makes doing a more cell-shaded look SO much easier! I'm not one to blame my lack of artistic ability on my tools - I firmly believe that there were ways to achieve the look I wanted with my old tablet, or even just with a mouse if I trained myself properly - but good lord is it so much easier with this new tablet! I was able to accomplish in one night a style of coloring I haven't been able to approach in YEARS of trying!

...now, if only I could figure out the drawing part, I'd be set.

So what does this mean for my art? ...honestly, I don't really know yet. FFC's going to be kind of up in the air while I figure it out and settle into a new coloring style that matches well enough, but is more compatible with this awesome new tool. (To be fair, it's not like this is the first time the coloring style on FFC has changed...and it likely won't be the last. That comic is nothing but one big experiment, haha!) I have a couple of silly pictures in mind that I might do just as excuses to experiment with the coloring outside of the deadlines that FFC demands, so I can take my time and get it just how I want it. So you might be seeing those in the not-too-distant future. I'd also like to experiment again with digital painting now that I have an up-to-date computer, up-to-date photoshop and up-to-date tablet. We'll have to see. I have some ideas, but nothing concrete for the moment.

Other things I have planned for the new year? Well, I'd like to get vol 3 of Twisted Mirrors finally together and printed. That's pretty much been on hold for a while now. I'm working on a project with (Which I HAVE started the writing for As soon as I get the first scene done, I'll send it your way!) I also still have the sketches for TM2 to work on and I'd very much like to get back into posting sketches to my Tumblr since I really think that was doing me the most good out of everything art-wise.

Whew! That's a lot on my plate, but man, I'm excited for it and itching to get into some of this stuff! Thanks for sticking with me and I'll see you all in 2015!