ever take a picture and one of your friends or maybe a stranger gets in it and makes a funny face? that’s me. 
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Archive for December, 2009
6 items.
well, last strip for this year and i think we’re ending the year on a good note! the only point i have here is hey, just gotta enjoy the simple moments. i know i’m guilty of keeping too busy and sometimes more focused on accomplishing and getting to the next thing on the list. sometimes it’s ok to give yourself permission to just relax, and enjoy life. do nothing for a day. play PS3 for 16hours straight. whatever you do, just enjoy and take frequent bathroom breaks.
i don’t know why i didn’t think about it before, but how about some snow for winter and the holiday season! i gues living in florida with no physical difference between the seasons, i’ve been jaded. in any case, pretty happy with the way this one turned out. when i was drawing this, i was NOT looking good along the way. but i had invested so much time into it already, i just kept with it, and turns out i had to wait til the end to see the full impact. i actually inked the whole thing and applied white out on top of i to portray the snow sitting on the branches and falling. (photoshop to clean up of course!)
did this awhile back and finally getting around to posting it. this is the first step i do, which is just pencils. the next couple steps, inking, scanning, coloring, touch-ups, and maybe lettering are all challenging in their own ways, but as an artist, this is still my favorite step!
as i was drawing this, i knew i wanted to draw real-life finn sitting in the center, flanked by elle and ivy. i always have a hard time creating backdrops, so i just stole this one from where i was sitting, at a starbucks coffee shop. the lighting apparatus was a google image find and the ottoman was actually from my house. (love ottomans!) now, the painting in the background was something spontaneous. i knew the backdrop needed something, but obviously not to dramatic as to overwhelm the foreground. so, to drive home the point of elle, finn, and ivy, i just drew their comic strip version. i loved the way it turned out, and hope you do too!
friends date friends. given a circle of friends, some of them are bound to date each other. and if things don’t work out, maybe that friend will date another friend in the same circle. i guess when you’re looking for love, it’s understandable to look where you’re most comfortable and familiar. the tough social etiquette here is can you date a friend’s ex, and if so, how to go about it. one wrong move and you could be forever labeled a back-stabber. but several right moves could lead to a great relationship. is it worth the attempt?
artwork-wise, we play around some more with silouettes and i’ve definitely got to make my characters more identifiable with just their outlines. according to the guys of How to Make a Webcomic, one thing i should strive for to make my characters outstanding, is that their profile or outline should be immediately recognizable.
ahhh, the age old question – do you chase after an angry partner if they walk away? and honestly, i don’t think there’s a right answer here, just preference. maybe the partner that walks away angry really needs some time to just cool off before they can talk rationally again. or maybe you need to run after them cause any delay signifies “younot caring.” hmmm, tough one. my approach is just never get in a fight! ha, yeah right! seriously, my approach would be to pose this hypothetical question when you’re both calm and just ask him/her what their preference is! and voila, i am now armed with what to do in that situation (hoping you don’t have to use it often)!
artwork wise, it’s all perspective here. i never said anything about the actual strip being funny, but i really enjoyed the different angle here. it was inspired some random party picture i found online and took it from there. i find when i get an imagination block, instead of wallowing, i just subject myself to online pics or just walk around.
it’s probably a social norm that it’s wrong to date your best friend’s ex. probably. what it comes down to though is just understanding. what kind of understanding do you and your friends have? if this rare situation should ever occur, it’s definitely a good idea to go ahead and discuss it with your friend first, get the ok, and then pounce! just imagine the repercussion if you don’t have that talk first!
artwork wise, it’s definitely inspired by calvin & hobbes, as is much of my work. it was definitely fun having a continuous background ‘run’ through the storyline. i tried something new with the tree in the background. i colored it by hand with a Sharpie black marker and then used a thin white out pen to get some texture into the tree. unfortunately, the white out pen didn’t have nearly the control or thinness like i wanted.
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