SHOP
The diptych is finished!
“The Journey” and “The Destination” are now available on INPRNT! Check it out HERE.
“The Journey”
“The Destination”
COMIC
In case you missed it, here are the comics from March:
ART
If you recall from last month, I decided that this year I want to focus on my comic strip, anime-style and cartoon illustrations… as well as sketching characters and backgrounds…
So let’s see how that’s going!
I guess I should start by saying that we lost our beloved cat Chalupa to illness last week. While we’ve had two cats, Chalupa is the one that showed up most in my art. If I’ve drawn a cat, odds are it is inspired by our orange boy. He also loved to spend the day in my studio — so much so we started just calling it “his office.” Taking care of him while he was sick, and losing him so quickly was incredibly hard… still is incredibly hard.
…And it certainly affected my work.
I had started the diptych in February and had the pencils done for each piece. So in March, mostly while Chalupa was sick, I spent a lot of time just sitting with him and working. First, inking, then coloring the two illustrations in Procreate. It was like creating my own coloring book pages, so the work was fortunately very calming during an otherwise stressful situation. And I’m pleased with how they turned out, even if I hate the circumstances.
For the comic strips, I think both turned out well and are really funny. But wow, working on the second comic for the month was a STRUGGLE. I didn’t think I’d do it all. I had the idea, but whereas working on the illustration was calming, working on a comic sounded horrible. I didn’t want to do funny. But I woke up the Sunday morning it was due determined to get it done while just hanging out and watching soccer, and I’m glad I did.
My sketchbook was neglected for most of March. I did some sketching. But not much.
An alcohol markers and ink drawing of Adventure Time. I used one of Skottie Young’s daily sketches as the composition reference.
Loose sketch studies of Gravity Falls characters. The gnome started out very weird, but eventually turned out cute!
So for April…
I’m starting to get back into my routine.
Kinda.
I have a comic due tomorrow, Sunday. It’s supposed to be a single panel comic…and it was supposed to feature Chuck the cat. You know, the silly orange cat from my comics that’s basically 99% inspired by Chalupa…
A better, stronger artist that me might have been able to rally and honor their cat and make the comic. But I’m not that person. I don’t think I could make a fun comic right now about a cute, sweet, orange cat. And I didn’t want to just turn it into a memorial either… so then what do I do?
Nothing, that’s what.
At least not right now. I think with some time I’d be happy to do a single panel comic featuring Chuck. But I’ll want it to be about Chuck, not Chalupa. All I’ll want it to be fun too, because the comics are supposed to be fun.
I have some new comic strip ideas queued up, so I’ll be ready to get back at it for next time. But I am taking this Sunday off. I’m sorry!
For illustration work, I think this last piece leaned a bit anime-style, maybe? So I want to focus a bit more on cartoons this month. Maybe see if I can design a new t-shirt? I’d still like to work on my anime-style drawing more too… so ideally I’ll do both — a cartoony t-shirt and a new illustration project!
As always, I’d like to do more work in my sketchbook… my biggest issue, I think, is that I have ideas for how I want to practice in my sketchbook, but I struggle when the results don’t meet the expectations. In other words, my sketchbook pages are usually not PRETTY.
I’m probably just like, rushing? As if I should only be spending a lot of time on a drawing if it’s an intentional illustration project? But with Peachtober, I would spend all day on some of those drawings, and they were great foundations to turn into an illustration later. So maybe I just need to change my general approach…?
I also really enjoyed doing those fan art studies last month for Adventure Time and Gravity Falls, where I focused more on general ideas and shapes and “how would I draw this subject?” instead of just like trying to recreate it. So more of that sounds fun!
I guess it’s time to draw!
Thanks for reading!
Summer Child Designs 