Do I Really Need Another Place to Post My Art?

One of the original reasons I started this blog was to have a place that wasn't (ugh) DeviantArt to post my drawings.

But to be honest, I've really grown to love Instagram as a platform to share my art. If you want almost constant updates, click that link back there to go to my account.  But that's just it: I can snap a pic with my phone and post my sketches almost instantly, without scanning and trimming and uploading them.  I've met a lot of supportive and cool people online through Twitter and Instagram and it's a much more positive experience for me that DeviantArt ever was.  

I guess it doesn't hurt to post some stuff here, too, but mostly finished, colored stuff that is already on my desktop.  Sketches and works in progress will be more on the Instagram side of things. Below, you can check out some of my recent bits of art.  Though if you follow me on Insta, you have probably already seen them.

I'm constantly toying with Curt's design.  Since I settled on a rounder style, less angular, I've been much
happier with it, but I actually have a lot of trouble with male hairstyles.  I don't really know why.  Since
this latest incarnation of my comic has them as aging hipsters, I felt like this was a good look, and a bit
of an update on the existing one I'd been drawing him with for awhile, just combed instead of spiked.

The idea here was kind of a punky Batgirl, bright, dyed RED hair, kind of wildly escaping the mask, blue lipstick,
and a punk-rock sneer.  It's pretty quick and dirty, because I just kind of wanted to get the idea out, but I would
like to revisit it, given enough time.  I'm like, super, super lazy about that kind of thing, though.

Here's a panel from my upcoming webcomic relaunch!  More on that in January!  But I am very
proud of this drawing, and I put some extra detail into it so I can use it for promotional purposes.

Just a punk girl.  I really like how the color in the face turned out.

Doc Brown, from my favorite movies, Back to the Future!  The original color is much more vivid, but I liked the
washed-out look whatever Instagram filter this was, so now I consider that to be the finished version, haha!

My Best Comics

For years, I've done a webcomic called Downfall.  I write it and draw it as time allows, because I'm a big fan of comics and it gives me an excuse to practice consistently.  I'm well aware of the shortcomings in my art, I'm self taught and I don't have the time or probably attention span to get REALLY good, but I enjoy it as a hobby.  I'm pretty critical of myself, so it's hard for me to go back and look at a lot of my own stuff, but there are a few that I really think are good, artistically to varying degrees, but as a little story told in words and pictures, sometimes I think they work pretty well for amateur stuff, and I'm proud of them.

So I'm gonna post what I feel are my personal best examples of comics, because sure it's self-indulgent, but it's my blog about my writing and art, so I can do that.  Also, as I'm putting this together, it's kind of cool to see my art change through a bunch of strips all in a row.

If you enjoyed these pretty good ones, and are interested in seeing lots more mediocrity, you can check out the Downfall homepage for all of the strips, fanart, and more.

Constructive Criticism

I like to draw girls.  Years ago, when I started drawing, I really struggled with the female form, and I worked way harder on it then the male form, then hormones kicked in and I was like "girls are fucking awesome" and I just kept drawing them.  I dig old pinup stuff, like 40's and 50's style, and I like sort of hyper-stylized cartoony stuff, the influence of both of which I think you can see a lot of in my stuff.

I have gotten the expected, and fair criticisms about objectification and impossible proportion and just the usual "eh, it's not for me."  One thing I DIDN'T think I'd ever get criticized for was not drawing super skinny women.  I'm not talking obese, but I like boobs and hips, so I don't exactly draw waifs.

Years ago, when I was in college, the group of friends I hung out with included this awkward older woman (maybe 35 at the time, but it's weirder when you remember we were early 20's) who sort of shared our interest in artwork, animation, cartooning, and all that stuff.  She eventually started dating one of my friends and even before that, she was always hanging around with him.  So we saw a lot of her, is what I'm saying.

I was drawing a lot then, really working on getting better and trying to find my own style and doing my comic strip for the college paper.  One day I was sitting on the couch drawing, and she happened to be sitting next to me while we were all watching TV, she looked over at the girl I was drawing, and was like "ugh, that's just not good," which was a little insulting.

"Why?" I asked.  At the time, I thought it WAS pretty good.

"There should be a gap between her thighs, and she's just too fat," she replied matter of factly.

I was kind of taken aback because, again, I just never thought I'd get flak from a woman about not drawing a skinny woman.  Especially from a frumpy fan of sweatshirts who certainly didn't have a gap between her thighs.  (Of all the specific things to comment on, by the way..."thigh gap."  Sigh.  As if anyone not high-fiving a fellow douchebag while browsing the Chive could even give a shit about that.  My god.  But I digress.)

I remember looking at the sketch, and kind of thinking, but that's how this character looks, she's NOT super thin, kind of shrugging to myself, and to my credit, continuing to work on the revolting gapless blob.  I'm sure I still have the drawing, buried in one of a hundred old sketchbooks, if I can find it, I'll edit the post to include it.

Anyway, a while later, she made another comment on another drawing, but by that point, we'd sort of had it out over other things and she decided she didn't really care to be around me anymore, so she and the guy she liked usually hung out elsewhere, so while it was strange that she broke the silence to once again say I drew women too fat, it was sort of her last word on the subject.

It did always stick with me, though, and it pops into my head way more often than I'd like to admit when I'm drawing.  I don't think I've ever let it change how I draw or anything, but of all the criticism I've gotten, constructive or otherwise, what a weird thing to have rattling around in your head about your art.

Pictured: A big gross cow-pig, apparently.

Pink, Green, and Blonde

Another sketch that I was messing around with on a whim and really liked the results.  The softer shading was actually done with my usual hard-line shading and then blurred in another layer and trimmed to fit back in the lines.  Totally just goofing around but it turned out really cool.

Mini-Comics, A Personal History of Failure

Every so often I get the urge to do a mini-version of my webcomic.  I'll draw up designs that are a little cuter and toonier and have the grand idea to do it on the side, but for some reason it never works out.

Or I'll get an idea for a new strip entirely.

I'll get really excited about it...

Do a bunch of work on it...

Then realize it's pretty much the same strip with different character names.

I get one done, or half of one done, and I realize that I don't have time to even do my main one weekly anymore.  So my computer is full of half-finished mini-strips and cartoonier character redesigns.

Ali: Now with 50% more emo hair

Last Monday I was rolling it around again as a way to try to kick the drawing slump I've been in.  The idea was to do Ali and Naomi as the two main characters and do shorter joke strips.  I thought I'd use Curt in the first to establish things and then go off from there.

Of course, that never took off, I struggled with really having anything to say with it.  I've just had writer's block AND artist's block to the point of wanting to just give up for a while.

I actually do kind of like this latest batch of designs, though.  They're cute and goofy looking but still recognizable.  Well, except Ali there, on the left, I gave her a total makeover, because drawing her weird hair straight on before was impossible.

I'll almost certainly revisit the idea again, but looking at all my aborted attempts in the past for this post is sort of sobering.  I did do about twenty at one point years ago, but the art was rushed and half-assed, and I don't want to fall into that again.

Power Girl

I've always liked Power Girl's design, you don't see too many white costumes.  The line-less white here was an afterthought.  Actually, finishing it at all was, I was just doodling and I started to really like how it was turning out, but I didn't sit down to do a full color drawing.