Day 5

So this one is actually just a sketch. Mostly 'cause I don't feel like doing much of anything else right now, but also 'cause I'm supposed to be doing stuff right now.

This is for my friend Melissa. It's her, sitting outside of the house we clean. Drew it in SAI. The end.

Day 4 - Not really a sketch.

Well...It's not really a sketch, is it? But I'm feeling a lot better today and after yesterday's abysmal update, I'm not complaining about this boom in productivity. In fact, we need more updates like this one. Not that I'm raising the standard for this blog or anything, goodness no! But I like when I can do something I like looking at after I'm done with it.

First of all, let's talk about the technical, since that's been how I've doing it and why mess with what works? Lines, and background were done in SAI and colors were done in Photoshop. The process is really simple, but I think the end result looks really nice.

The character is Adelaide. And she's got so much work put into her characterization that didn't get to be utilized, because she was for a d20 Modern zombie apocalypse game that I never got the chance to be introduced to. She's probably one of my favorite characters I've ever made, and I hope I get a chance to put her in something someday.

I keep giving tiny introductions to these characters I have but I don't bother getting deep into their stories. I really want to share about them and give their whole stories. Maybe in time I'll get all that written out here for people to read!

Day 3

I don't really like this one, but I wasn't really having an easy time drawing anything today. Just one of those days where it doesn't really want to come to me, I suppose. Today we have a self-portrait, I guess. Again in SAI and Photoshop. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it.

I was going to just upload this picture of Natalie I drew yesterday, but I felt it defeated the purpose of a daily sketch. If I didn't draw it on day 3, does it really count or is it cheating? Since part of the project is to make sure I draw at least one thing each day I'm going to have to say it doesn't count. I do like the picture, however, so I'm going to go ahead and post it too. Done in Chibi Paint (an oekaki tool) at an oekaki that I lurk and occasionally post at.



I watched The Big Lebowski today. The end.

Day 2

I end up drawing a lot of stuff like this simply because I don't know what else to draw sometimes. I don't want to get stuck in a pattern where all I draw is attractive young ladies doing nothing but being attractive. But it's easy so when I'm at a loss it's what I end up doing, I suppose. Again this was drawn in SAI and colored in Photoshop.

I absolutely adore using SAI for my linework. The way I do my lineart is actually a little bit tedious, and a lot of people ask me why I bother. Most artists I know draw an undersketch and then make a new layer, where they either draw cleaner lines on top of or use a line or bezier tool to do so. While I do that occasionally, I really prefer to sketch out a picture and then erase and redraw on that layer until the sketch is cleaned up. In SAI I can do that and the whole process just seems to go faster because the program is so much smoother. Or at least it seems so to me.

The character here is Savoy. She's also for the project I mentioned in my previous post, though her part is much smaller. It's really a shame that she doesn't get much time in the story, because I ended up really liking her as a character. She started as a stock character without much depth to her. I just needed someone who was fundamentally the opposite of Natalie to act as a sort of antagonist without being a villain. But she ended up growing so much in my character creation process that I got really angry at myself for putting her in a role where I couldn't really do much more with her. What I'd really like to do is give her a completely separate side project and explore her history and backstory so I at least get a chance to play around with her a bit more.

An Introduction - Day 1

A little over a year ago I tried to start a "sketch-a-day" journal, which is exactly as it sounds. A journal where I tried to draw at least one picture every day. Most times they were more than sketches but less than completed images, but it was easiest just to call it a sketch journal. Some days I would upload more than one picture a day as well. However, the project went awry and I abandoned it after about a month (and since it was started in February I didn't even go for a whole real month!).

I'm trying again, for several reasons, not all of which are related to my art or getting better at it. Sometimes my posts will detail why I sketch what I do, sometimes I may talk about things completely unrelated to drawing. Sometimes I might not even say much at all. Every post will be accompanied by a picture. Some will be digital, some will be drawn on paper. Sometimes I won't be able to update because I haven't been near my computer, but I'll still draw on those days and I'll post the pictures once I get back. Most people following this already know me somewhat, but I not-so-secretly hope to get interest from complete strangers as well eventually.

Now that all that's established; welcome to my very first update! Drawn in paint tool SAI and colored in Photoshop. It wasn't meant to come out looking so sad, but when I start to draw sometimes my hand just moves on it's own without me realizing what's coming out. I've been feeling pretty down lately (though I won't get into why, mostly because I don't like broadcasting my issues, but also because I don't want to bring down the party), so that's likely why this took the direction it did. The character pictured is Natalie and she's from a project I keep wanting to start but it perpetually gets put off because I don't feel my current skills are good enough to do it justice. Hopefully if I keep up with this journal I'll improve by leaps and bounds and can some day tackle it, though. Either way you will most likely be seeing more of this girl in the future, as she's a particular favorite.

Anyhow, it's getting late and I should be heading to bed. Look for another exciting update tomorrow!