Hanging Out On A Park Bench  – Sketch From 1990

Here’s a sketch from my old sketchbooks, this one from 1990. The importance of sketching from life can never be overestimated.

There was something about the attitudes of these four people, three girls and a guy, the girls in shorts and t-shirts, the guy in long pants, jacket and hat, that held an incongruity that appealed to me. Each one had their own pose and I felt there was a story there. So, I made a quick sketch of the scene as surreptitiously as possible. I didn’t want to attract their attention as that would break whatever mood or deep discussion they were involved in.

Even now, I look at it and wonder who are they? What’s their relationship to each other? Are the two on the right girlfriend and boyfriend? Brother and sister? the girls seemed to be athletes. Was the guy a trainer?  Were they just hanging out relaxing after a workout?

Or were they discussing some strange thing that had happened and that they were on the verge of investigating? Something perhaps that they thought would make them sound crazy if the rest of the community found out about it. But these four had experienced something that they are on the verge of investigating that could lead them to interesting life changes –interesting in the Chinese proverb way. Could it even end up being dangerous…?

What have you done lately to refresh your drawing skills, to invigorate the life in your drawings? Do you sketch from life? From the web? From photos? From TV or movies? Or do you go outside and look for serendipitous compositions of form and gesture that you couldn’t find elsewhere?

~~~

Process

This last week just blew away. Working on music and art, playing games, and moving a couple of projects forward, the pdf for Aedre’s Firefly, and getting the supplies in order to mail out the artwork for Bearman and George Ford.

My glasses arrived but when I tried them on I still couldn’t see. It was kind of frightening. But then I remembered that I hadn’t been using the eye-drops regularly, so I’ve started doing that again morning and night. Without them the five layers of the eye separate, hence the sensation of seeing four or five overlapping versions of whatever I was looking at. Since it happened gradually I hadn’t noticed how bad it was getting and what it was that was causing the problem.

But I can feel the difference after only five days or so. I’m starting to be able to see better. Enough that I can start colouring George’s piece tomorrow (today as you read this). When that is done, I’ll send both out in the mail. Sorry for making you guys wait!

Other News

Alien Artifacts: Audio Book plans

I’m really happy to say that Mal has gotten back to editing his novel, Alien Artifacts! I’m so excited! Once it’s in a form that he’s happy to publish, we’re going to try teaming up to create an audio recording of it. That is going to be incredible fun. Though I’m sure there are pitfalls we know nothing about at this point. :`D

Further Updates

Mal suggested that during this break from publishing Aedre’s story I upload more of my character creations from the couple of years of doing the 30 Characters challenge AND the NaNoWriMo challenge simultaneously. This would include the short stories/descriptions I wrote for each character.  Would you guys like to see those here?

Digital Colouring Tutorial

I’m seriously thinking of taking Bearman’s advice and making it a video tutorial, so it may have to wait awhile.

Thanks for reading!

  ♥

Aedre’s Firefly Chapt VI Cover Revamped

This week I’ve been working on the PDF of Aedre’s Firefly Graphic Novel. Time has been more limited lately due to doing more stuff offline (more about that in the Other News section), but I’m trying to keep in touch with Aedre’s story during this break.

I’d like to keep the cover art in the PDF in full colour, but as I pondered this cover for chapter six, it struck me how cluttered it seemed. The black panel lines particularly bothered me.

Of course, removing them changed the composition quite a bit, and so I needed to make some changes in the art as well. Can you see what I changed? The original cover is on the right.

~~~

Apology:

Sorry I didn’t get the Colouring Tutorial finished for you in time for this week’s update. I ran into a couple of snags and then the weekend we did a huge cleaning and had company and my dog ate my homework…

But seriously, I realised that I have my Photoshop set up a certain way and that I need to make sure that those details go into the tutorial too. Like the fact that I usually work on transparent layers and use the gradient tool with colour to transparency. Also there are modifications to the layer properties. But I’ll get it done eventually. I really want to share this with you. It makes things so much easier.

Process

As I work my way through the files for Aedre’s Firefly preparing them for the PDF version, I am experiencing a growing conviction that I really need to stop updating the story, start rewriting it and continue until the re-write is finished no matter how long that takes. Then finish the strips to the end of Volume One. Completely.  Then, and only then, start publishing them online again.

I’ll tell you my reason for this.

I’m happiest when I’m creating Aedre’s Firefly, the graphic novel. I’m extremely UNhappy going through the process of publishing it online. I’m relieved once it’s done, and I’m enormously gratified by your acceptance and appreciation of Aedre’s story so far and of my art. Then I’m happy again. It doesn’t last long, however, due to the next publishing deadline getting in the way of the creation. I worry about it. I worry about missing it, I worry about how long it takes to write these blogs, and yet I need to write them for me as well as for you. Ya, ya, I know. I worry too much. But that’s the way I am about things I feel passionately about.

I believe (but I’m not 100% sure…) that if I can get the story finished, that is ready to publish on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, then I can relax and just concentrate on writing the blog to go with each post, get back to doing some more reviews, and best of all having time to read other comics again and to comment on them, and socialise with you guys like I used to do. I really miss that. But there is only so much one can squeeze into the ever diminishing space of time.

You guys have been incredibly supportive. I know you’ve told me time and again to do what I need to do and to come back and finish Aedre’s Firefly when it’s ready. But I hate to stop updating the story even temporarily. I can’t help but feel I’m letting you down. On the other hand, I think I’d be letting you down even more if I didn’t do everything necessary to ensure the story continues to its natural completion. That would be best served by separating the creation from the publishing. I think it would.

I’ve learned so much about how to go about the process of creating a graphic novel webcomic by simply diving in and doing it. When I first started. I didn’t even know my way around Photoshop. I’ve learned a lot in the last three and a half years. I know now that I will do things <i>much</i> differently for the next one. :`D

I have notes for at least three more graphic novels, as well as the novels I’ve written for nanowrimo so far. But Aedre comes first.

Other News

Music

I found a ton of music videos on YouTube that have reminded me of my other passion, music. The videos are from when I was just coming into my teens when it was the most important thing in my life. Just about the time the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc, displaced Bobby Vinton and the boys and changed the face of music forever.

I’ve started practicing and singing again. It makes me feel so alive to be playing and singing my songs and working on the songs that Mal has written. One of these years I’m going to get into a proper sound studio and record them all.  There is no way to sound-proof this place, and the studios can multi-track and add cool effects and the best part is that I won’t have to do it. A studio tech will handle all that stuff. I just tell them what I want done. I don’t have to learn to use the equipment. And I can hire studio musicians for backup, too. *sigh* Just the thought makes me get all excited. lol

Vacations

So things are changing. We’ll be going off to NC soon for our daughter’s graduation ceremony. All kinds of summer social stuff coming up. But I will be keeping this site updating every Wednesday with good stuff for you.

Deviant Art Updated

I uploaded my watercolour landscape (which is not in landscape format but portrait –I guess it’s a portrait of a landscape!) Mountain Pool  to my DA account. As soon as I manage to figure out what resolutions they want I’ll put that one up for sale.

There’s More?

I keep thinking there’s so much more I want to share with you, and now I can’t remember it all. So I guess that’s it for this week.

Thanks for reading!

  ♥

New Colouring Technique

On the right is the scan of the original ink sketch on the birthday card I made for Mal. It’s pretty rough. It was never intended to be made public. But Mal suggested I use it to fill in here while I’m on a break. Instead it has become the vehicle for a new tutorial with screenshots I’ll be uploading later this week. In the meantime, I’ll walk you through the technique briefly in the Process section.

So I thought I’d use the rough ink sketch to create a book cover or a poster,  create some rough colour comps, and take some screen shots to help show you the colouring technique I learned from watching Chris Oatley paint in one of his videos.

Chris is now teaching painting online full time at the Oatley Academy. Check that out when you have time. He’s a pretty amazing teacher of the craft.

Process

The purpose of this digital technique is to allow the rapid application of light and shade to various parts of your scene to enhance translucency, luminosity, and depth.

This technique will work, with slight adjustments, for both colour comps for paintings (digital and non-digital), and for colouring/shading flats in cartooning.

In Painting

Choose a mid-toned base colour. Fill a new layer beneath your sketch (or ink) layer with it.  This will provide your painting with an underlying visual unity. Adjust the transparency of the layer to your liking (I use a white layer under the base layer to help me adjust the transparency of layers above it).

On a new layer above the base colour layer, select an area of the painting you want to colour.

Choose a gradient tool and set that tool to circular.

That is the key to this technique. The circular gradient tool allows for the appearance of light hitting an object and falling off, or curving over, its surface. With a little practise you can judge at what level of transparency you want to set the tool for each stroke.

To my mind this technique works a little like using an airbrush in real life. You start with very transparent strokes and build to the colour or light effect you want. This results in a glowing vibrancy.

If you keep your colours or areas of colour on separate layers you can more easily make subtle adjustments of colour or transparency later on.

Your lights can be stroked from the direction of the light source. Shades can be stroked from the opposite direction. And your base colour under those strokes will show through beautifully as soft transitions to mid-tones.

Remember that if your light source is cool (light from outside, sky reflected from water, or from most fluorescent lights) your colour choice will be cool for the lit side of what you are painting, and your shades will be warmer.

If your light source is warm (incandescent bulbs, firelight, candles, red dwarf), your shades will be cooler colours.

In Photoshop, you can then use the “Colour Balance” adjustment for either the layer or the image to change the colour values to something completely different without changing the lovely lighting you’ve created.

I’m not sure what Colour Balance would be called in Gimp or Manga Studio.

In Comic Creation

Prepare your flats as usual on layers beneath your linework. Select an area you want to apply light or shading to and gently stroke in your chosen colour with the round gradient tool. You’ll see the difference right away.

That’s the short version. More of a description than a proper tutorial. Hopefully I can get the pics up on Friday or Saturday, if I can get WordPress and ComicPress to co-operate.  (Never had so much trouble getting the text to go around the pictures!)

This week I’m working on finding ways to “spray on” some texture using this technique as well.

Feedback

Let me know if any part of this is unclear. Your feedback will help me turn this into a proper tutorial. Often we forget that not everyone knows the language that has evolved around our particular craft.

For instance, last week, Mal had to ask in the comments what a “rough colour comp” was. That was ever so slightly embarrassing. lol  However I’m very happy he asked. I do welcome questions and concerns, so please don’t hesitate to ask if you find I haven’t been clear enough. Or if something doesn’t look right in the art.

Colour Comps

Colour comps (comps=compositions) describe the same painting with the same light sources, but each painted with a different palette. The change in colour composition changes the overall mood of the piece. You can use colour comps to try out various  palettes before committing your more expensive non-digital materials to Bristol or canvas.

Some artists create them with cheap watercolour, pencil crayon, or acrylic washes. I prefer doing these digitally, to work out problem areas quickly using Photoshop’s Colour Balance settings to completely change the mood of the whole painting, or to more subtly change a single colour or layer of colour, as well as its transparency.

If you’re working up comps for a client, you can offer them the two or three versions of the same piece, just coloured differently, that you like best. They can pick the one they prefer and feel involved in the project. This also gives them something to do to feel involved rather than pick your work apart. ;’D

Other News

Not much new other than what I’ve written above. I’ve been keeping indoors as much as possible until the pollen count drops down into the green. This year it stayed high with the tree pollen still high when the grass pollens started. Usually there’s a couple of weeks  of a breather in there between the end of the tree pollen and the beginning of the grass pollen.  Hope it all dies down soon or we get about a week solid of rain. I’m getting a bit stir crazy.

Oh yeah, and I promised Bearman I’d upload my “Don’t Text and Drive” cartoon. Here it is:

Thanks for reading!

  ♥

I’ve been working on setting up a page that shows my rates for commissioned art. Of course this meant going through the hundreds (thousands?) of images in my sketchbooks and files and making note of how long each took to draw/ink/colour/letter.  I kept finding stuff I wanted to scan to show you guys, so I did scan a few. The one above on the left is one of those. It’s a 3-by-5-inch sketchcard I made while waiting in the car for Mal to get back from the shops.  (I keep a pack of those blank cards in my knapsack along with pencils, erasers, sharpeners, and pens of various sorts and sizes. Like I said in reply to Bo’s comment last week, I’m never bored.)

Aedre’s Firefly is on a short break while the author deals with some important offline issues. Stay tuned. There will always be new content here and  the Aedre’s Firefly storyline will continue.

~~~

Process

The original sketchcard above inspired me today to try out some new ways of doing things digitally in the hopes it would speed up the process when I get to colour for Aedre’s Firefly. It did! I coloured all of those images in one 8-hour day.I really like being able to do colour comps before I attempt a painting. So much can be worked out quickly digitally before committing oil paint and canvas. I still haven’t worked out how to paint this guy, yet. A few more colour comps will help with that, but I did have a whole day of relaxing fun doing these.

I can’t remember where I saw this particular technique on the webnetz, but most likely it was on Chris Oatley’s website. I’ve watched a few of his videos. After a few weeks of thinking about what I think I saw, I finally figured out what that was he was doing. At least I think I did. I don’t see too well these days. Then again it could have been from a video made by my other current favourite artist, Noah Bradley. Anyway, I’ll let you in on my new technique next week. It’s fun! :`)

But the whole day I kept thinking… I wonder if anyone would want to buy these original sketchcards, small sketches, bookmarks, coffee-cup art, etc.  And once again the idea of a store came bubbling up to the surface. I need to get saving for my “retirement” years. lol

Anyway, the commission rates chart, with examples, will go up on it’s own page, once I feel comfortable with the pricing. When I was dying from thyroid disease before I got diagnosed, I had to turn down jobs. Now things are much better and I’m doing commissions again which is really really nice, but I’ve never posted my rates before, just worked out agreements with people. But, hey! I can still do that AND post my rates, right?

On the right is a slightly blurry scan of an original piece created in dry-brush style on Bristol, with an older Copic Brushpen that I hadn’t got around to refilling. I do like to keep a couple of the dryer brushes around to use for dry-brush techniques. It measures 8.5″ x 1″. It will make a fine bookmark for a larger sized book, or can be framed and hung on the wall. The original looks a bit crisper. I’ll try to get a better scan of it up soon.

Other News

We had a reasonably relaxed weekend for a change, even though Mal had to go Kayaking without me, due to the pollen season. *cries* He did, however, come back with some awesome photos. :`D

We’ve started watching some (newer) episodes of Dr. Who. Tom Baker was the last Doctah I watched. So far, I don’t think they’re as good as they used to be. Leaning too much toward the horror genre for me, and not campy enough. lol

That’s it for this week.  I still need Bearman’s snail mail address to send him his original art that he won, and George’s piece is awaiting my new eyeglasses so I can see what I’m doing to colour it.

Let me know if there’s anything you see on this site for which you’d like to purchase the original, for yourself, or for a friend or loved one.

Thanks for reading!

Aedre’s Firefly Awesome Guest Art by Mark Stokes

You can imagine my delight when I opened up my mail and found this beauty by one of my favourite cartoonists EVAH, Mark Stokes, creator of Zombie Boy comics!  In quite a different style from that of his webcomic and yet still inimitably his, he seems to have married the cuteness with a slight spooky quality. I love the eyes and the reflection therein! 

And now there is a slight puzzle: Why is there an American penny, next to the cute froggy on that lovely teak surface, in a comic about a Canadian girl in her own tiny hometown of Maple, Ontario?  Is Mark’s sketch prophetic in nature? Has he been reading the author’s mind in some way? I guess we’ll have to wait until the penny drops.  :`D

What a delightful piece it is!

Thank you, Mark! ♥

Be sure to visit Mark’s delightful Zombie Boy comic, starring Gorr, the Devil Dog. You’ll be delighted!

~~~

Process

Analog Penciling and Visual Impairment

I’ve been spending a lot of time chilling out as much as possible by means of working on non-digital art. My eyes have been really bad lately, but even at the best of times the loss of contrast is a big problem. Less of a problem working in digital media of course, but analog art requires that I pencil in a high contrast colour so I can still see it when I ink over it.  Non-repro blue just doesn’t work for me, so I had been using a crimson coloured pencil, scanning that art into the computer then inking on a separate layer in Photoshop.

On the right is a scan of some pencil work created with the crimson art pencil. Fortunately this one is to be inked and painted digitally. No worries about smearing the red and being unable to remove the stain from the Bristol.

Unfortunately that doesn’t work for me in non-digital/analog. I made a couple of pieces that turned out well, but when I tried to erase the crimson, it wouldn’t erase completely after inking. Red is the colour that provides for me the most contrast in the thumbnail/pencils stages, but where do I find a pencil of that colour that will not smudge while penciling, and will erase properly?

I’ve ordered a set of 6 Derwent Drawing Pencils from Dick Blick art supplies in the hope that they will suffice.The sanguine looks like it may be the closest match.

Though slower than working digitally –even on my beloved Cintiq, drawing and inking by hand is the more satisfying way to go. I never lose a piece of work due to a computer/program crash, and I always have original art to sell. I just wish it were feasible time-wise to do Aedre’s Firefly non-digitally.

Other News

Life the Universe and Everything

Life is full of unexpected life-changing events. Some can bring us great joy or even a little more peace of mind, while others immerse us in hassle, frustration, or even grief. And then there are some that we can do nothing about but sit on the sidelines and watch those we love struggle through events that are beyond their control. Sometimes it can all be totally overwhelming. That’s when it’s really good to know there are people out there rooting for us.  –just sayin’. ♥  Thank you, guys!

Be sure to visit the websites of the people who comment on Aedre’s Firefly. Every one of them is a creative person in their own right, creating awesome art and stories, and music, too.

Diminishing Eyesight

A trip to the eye doctor today has me getting new distance and new reading glasses. Once I get them back and try them out for awhile, I’ll see if I can get my polarised prescription sunglasses upgraded too. Eyesight has gotten worse. I can tell by when I look up at the moon and see five of them overlapped. lol Seems strange when you only have two eyes to see five ghosts of everything.  During the eye exam to determine how the eyeglass lenses should be corrected, nothing was really clear. He told me there was nothing that could be done about the ghosting. It was an artifact of the underlying Corneal Dystrophy. Oh well, back to the drawing board –preferably in very good light.

Allergy Season

On top of everything else the allergy season is going full swing and all I want to do is sleep, sleep, sleep. :`P  –At least my body does. I don’t! I got things to do! Sheesh!

How are you guys holding up against the oncoming tides of life?

I gave this to Mal last night with thanks for all his support and got his permission to publish it here. I wonder just what the blackbird and the groundhog are saying to each other about those footprints. and whose footprints are they? 

Thanks again Mal for playing in my caption contests! Enjoy your prize!

The ground hog in the sketch is based on the amazing photo Mal took of the one that lives in our yard. He, or she, is incredibly shy and darts away at the flicker of a leaf in a breeze.But Mal got a very closeup shot of it. Maybe Mal will let me show you that pic, someday.

Bearman’s sketch is done and I’m just waiting on getting some padded envelopes in which to send it. (Also need your address, Bearman.)

George’s is fully sketched and waiting for inks and colour.

Both sketches make me giggle, so I hope you guys like them. :`D

~~~

Process

Original Sketches In Non-Digital Media

The pic “Speculation” above was sketched first with a Copic Multiliner and then coloured with Copic brush-markers. Then I went over the inks again with a black Prismacolor brush-pen. The Multiliner tends to create fairly static linework, so going over parts of it with a brush-pen helps the work look more dynamic.

This from memory sketch of Merida from Pixar’s animation called “Brave” was also sketched and coloured on the spot, while I was sitting out a game of Princess at the local game shop. We played a brisk and exciting game of RoboRally before that and I was the first off the board. It’s a programming board game (sort-of) and I love it. I can even read the cards! There was some glare off the shiny board, but it wasn’t too bad. But I tire easily playing board game. Too much strain on the eyes, so I sat out the next one and did some art. I made three or four sketches while they played princess and coloured a couple more. But here’s Merida: The colours got washed out by the scanner, so I tried to quickly put them back in Photoshop. Not bad for a rough sketch, I guess. :`D

Other News

May is once again Bearman’s Charity Challenge Month

Check out his site, promote it, add yourself to his social media, place a banner on your own site, etc, and he will donate a specific amount to up to three of his favourite charities. If you donate to those charities yourself, he’ll match your donation for a specified amount. That’s the way I understand it. Check it out: Bearman Cartoons Charity Challenge. Now go and empty Bearman’s pockets!

Last year, for the challenge, I made Bearman into a Redshirt. You can watch the 8x-speed video of it’s creation here on YouTube.

Thanks for reading!

I’m not sure if this is someone Aedre is going to meet on her journey, and if it is, I’m not sure if this is the final version of how he/she/they will look.  But I find that making character sketches is an important part of the story-telling for me.  I sketch these out, usually (like this one) not even bothering to pencil first, and then spend time ruminating the possibilities. Who is this, what are they like. Just how “alien” are they. Of what kind of religion are they a priest? What could this creature have to do with Aedre? Or do they have their own story to tell?  What do you think?

~~~

Process

Since I have no guest art to show off to you this week I thought I’d share a character design I started working on yesterday. I thought you also might like to see the original, sketched out with a Copic Multiliner. I started the sketch with the weird eyes and then added the nose, they eyebrows and the head. The hand got out of hand (I really should pencil first) but it now really does look like an alien hand. :`D  The came the clothing and the background and finally the details.  Those curliques have religious importance to the character. They represent the Life Tree, and all it’s branches.

Sorry about the fuzzy pics. Shot with my little 4th gen iPod.

Next time I’ll show you some sneak peeks of the original sketches I’m working on for Bearman, George Ford, and Mal for playing in my Easter Caption Contest. I’ve finished the one for Bearman and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out! :`D

Other News

Computer System Upgrade (kinda)

I haven’t been online for most of the week. I’ve had my internet computer off in anticipation of revamping my work set-up as I add in a second APC BackUPS 1500. No more worries about losing work when the power goes off. Both computers will now shut themselves down in an orderly fashion about half an hour after the power goes out.  That will give me plenty of time to finish up any details and save what I’m working on. This makes me exceedingly happy! It’s like having a huge comic buffer, only with power! :`D

Got both computers back online at about 10pm today (Tuesday) and then had to rush to get this blog written before midnight. lol

Guest Art by C.A. Morgan for Aedre’s Firefly: Aedre and Moira

I love this truly beautiful digital painting of Aedre with Moira, the mysterious child from beyond the portal from Chella Morgan’s “The Drako Universe Graphic Novel”.

There are some strange coincidences between TDUGN and Aedre’s Firefly. Aside from them apparently being close to the same age, another coincidence is Moira’s full name, Moira d’Aerde. Pretty close, eh? Another is that both stories involve portals between worlds/dimensions. Also, it’s possible that Chella and I may be related somewhere in the distant past through the Morgan side of the family. We are also both musicians and composers (see Chella’s “EXTRAS” pages) as well as writers/artists. I do like strange and wonderful coincidences. :`D

So go and read TDUGN. Chella is doing awesome work and is currently revamping pages and adding to her story. She assures me she will be starting to update again *soon*. Stop by and give this talented lady some comment love.

Process

Shhh! Don’t say the “H” word!

As you may already know, I’m on a break for awhile, but still doing character sketches and working on completing the strips for this chapter which will hopefully be the end of volume one of Aedre’s Firefly.

Once that is done I’ll start updating again, and will release a pdf of volume one. In the meantime I hope you will enjoy here the guest art of other talented comic creators, and visit their sites and read and support their comics, too.

I still need more Guest Art in your own style, featuring your own characters with Aedre or with any other of the characters you’ve met here so far, if anyone can manage it. 1200px wide and a height of your choice. Please keep it family friendly. (talking to you, Bearman) ;`)

Other News

Aedre’s Firefly Chapt VII: Choices (Part 27)

Looks like someone is obsessed by the idea of finding Aedre and… and what, I wonder? How will Mrs. Gryffin react to Mr. Gryffin’s parting remark. Will Mr. Gryffin temper his… ah… temper… once he cools down enough? Or will every moment of time that passes serve to enrage him further? And what’s happening at the shack in the Gorge? How’s that picnic lunch coming along? How much trouble is that interfering young froggette in? These and many other questionss will be answered as the tale slowly unfolds after a short-ish break.

This will be the last storyline update for awhile. I’m still penciling the next batch of strips and I must admit I’m getting a bit burned out. Summer’s rushing in on me, vacation with the family will happen soon. I have open spots for guest art if you’re interested. Keep it family friendly at 1200px wide (any height). Any fan art or guest art I receive will find its way into the ebook/pdf, and, when it comes time to publish it, into the trade version as well. Thanks for helping out!

Aedre’s Firefly Easter Caption CONTEST WINNER:

We had a low turnout for the Easter Caption Contest, a total of three entries. I guess everyone was pretty busy. (I hope it wasn’t the art that was the problem) I had a hard time deciding between two of them. So I’m going to give prizes to all the entrants. Bearman gets a small collectible art card just for joining in the play, Mal gets an 8×10 sketch of his choice, and George Ford will also get an 8×10 sketch, but of my choice. All will be original art sketches by me. I’ll be in touch when they are ready to mail out to you.

Thanks for playing guys! ♥

~~~

Review: graphic novel online  Snow By Night

I think you will enjoy this strange fantasy tale as much as I am. It takes place in a world called Corthis:

It weaves together the fates of a couple of rapscallion thieves and a winter spirit who is looking for her heart. And you can almost see how the whole thing is making life more complex for the hapless thieves.

There is very much a colonial atmosphere to the story, including some somewhat sinister aspects. There are Guilds. One in particular governs things like how much life-force an alchemist may suck out of any person unlucky enough to badly need the money that is paid for this. (“Blessings” is what the coinage is called there.) The period costumes are delightful. The architecture ranges from interesting to stunning. The relationships are intriguing. So far it seems to be a delightful romp.

The comic is put together by a veritable host of people. So, once you’ve read and commented on the story, check out the creators of Snow By Night.

There is also an Almanac page “…to provide you with the facts, rumors, and cant of this new world .”

This is the first really good long-form webcomic (#lfwc hashtag on twitter) I’ve found in a while. If I had the time I’d go into greater detail.

Process

Once again, a week has simply blown by in what seems like seconds! It’s one of the problems that comes with aging. Mal took Monday off work though. The sun was shining for a few hours. We thought about doing the Jumble. We went to our favourite bakery, had lunch and coffee, and for a couple of hours we both drew stuff. I made three small book mark designs and another collectible art card. Mal came up with a cool creature design!

It was nice to get away from the computers for an afternoon and relax and do art. We never did look for the paper and do the word Jumble©.

Sometimes its an important part of the creative process to simply change pace and venue.  Here’s a pic of what I made:

I also made a collectible Art Card of one of Wheeler’s relatives which I’ll show you at a later date. I’ll be adding colour with copic markers to the pieces shown above.

Other News

My second APC UPC arrived as I was typing this, but I’m pretty tired right now, so I’ll put off adding it to the systems until tomorrow. I’m really pleased with these, especially the software that shuts the system down properly if battery power drops below a certain amount –(an amount that can be set by the user). Fan noise is a bit of a problem, but the whole house is full of fan noise, from the air cleaners to the furnace fan, not to mention all the huge computer fans.

But now I’m broke again and can’t afford to do any kickstarters for quite awhile. I really really wanted to get in on Travis’ Art Book kickstarter though. I love his work and his style.

I guess that’s it for this week. Keep working to realise your dreams and keep creating. ♥

Aedre’s Firefly Chapt VII Part 26

…But one it was inevitable someone would ask. Now that mummy has gotten her way and is being driven back to her place of work it’s time to take the edge off by placing the attention back on the family scapegoat.

Mummy’s being somewhat evasive n’est ce pas? I’m not sure every family has one. Mine did. Did yours? Or have you been acquainted with a family where one of the people in it was thus designated?

~~~

Thank you!

Thank you all for your kind wishes last week! Though I’m not feeling much better, it’s more of an emotional overwhelm now. Certain (personal) problems have come to the fore that have to be dealt with both inwardly over a period of time and then outwardly. And as is usual these things come in threes.

I won’t burden you with the details. suffice it to say that there will be a slow-down in publishing Aedre’s Firefly and all the more need for some Guest Comics form those of you can spare the time.  If you can help out, I’ll need them to be 1200px wide and whatever height suits you.

I have already received a very touching beautifully painted piece from Chella, the writer/artist creator of The Drako Universe Graphic Novel (TDUGN). It features Moira, an important character from the TDUGN universe. I can’t wait for you to see it! But in the meantime you can check out her graphic novel in the link. It is a mysterious story full of strange magicks. I very much look forward to reading more once she gets through the next set of updates. I believe Aedre and Moira have some things in common…

Review

See above.

Process

We had our first thunderstorm of the year last night. The power going out once overnight for a very brief period and then again this morning as I was  getting breakfast. Though the sun was shining brightly by then,  it looked to be set for the power stay off for awhile so I set about shutting down the computers and unplugging the mobile devices so their batteries wouldn’t drain. And patted myself on the back for purchasing awhile back an Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS), a large battery backup for the computer which will shut down the main computer but not my second one (need to get a second UPS for that when I can afford it).

Then of course I set myself up very comfortably in the front room (on our new sofa!) to try out my new set of lettering and cartooning nibs on various types of Bristol: Plate, Vellum and Smooth. The plate seemed to be supers smooth, and the nibs didn’t work so well on the vellum, but would make for a nice grungy effect. Smooth is what I usually use, and I think I’ll stick to that.

That exercise was fun but then the power came back on, and with it the guilty prickle of a reminder that I hadn’t yet written this week’s update to go with the comic strip.

I found the nibs to be better for drawing panels and lettering than for the actual inking, so I’ll stick to my Copic Brush pens for inking for  now. :`D

Other News

Only one more finished piece in the queue after this one. Quite a few penciled but none finished. I’m trying ot decide whether to ink each one and then upload it, or wait until the whole batch is finished. I’m leaning toward the latter.

When I started this well over three years ago now, little did I realise how much of my time it would occupy. Especially since it wasn’t supposed to be a graphic novel, but a 15- to 30-panel very short story. It has rapidly taken over my life. I’m still writing it in my head, still thinking about it all the time, and of course still thumbnailing, pencilling and inking it. I lately forced myself to start playing games again to give myself  something else to do besides this work. I was burning myself out. I still need to find a balance between work, play, and relationships.

I used to read over a hundred comics, many of them on the day they updated. Now I regret to say I hardly have time to read a few. Most of those comics I do read are being created by you, people who comment here on Aedre’s Firefly. I read those first, then I read some that send updates to my Twitter feed. Not every day, though I do try to catch up. I re-tweet when I can. And I try to spend a few minutes on Twitter, off and on, chatting with people there that I have come to have a deep respect for.

This website needs a complete revamp. I’d like to get things organised so that there is a proper story line with chapters, and a way for people to find their place. Though Comic Rocket and Ink Outbreak both can provide that service, I’d like for it to be available on the site, too. As well, I’d like to have a “Landing page” where new readers or returning readers can click through to the beginning or an earlier chapter without seeing any spoilers in the current strip. I’ve seen that done well in a number of comics. Hominids comes to mind first in that regard.

So much to do, and then life throws a wrench into the already not-s0-smooth working machinery. Ah well. We cope. And as the song says “…get by with a little help from our friends”. Thanks, my friends. ♥