TopHeavy

Daily Update 9/2/24

Most of this inking I did over the weekend. I decided to use a different method. The method makes flatting and coloring much easier, but it could look tremendously different than the surrounding pages as a result. A risk I'm willing to take.

I'm also having second thoughts about this page.

 Not sure what it is. I like the idea. It's just the execution.

I do like these pages much mor...

Weekly Update 8/31/24

Alright, so I rendered only 1 page this week, but decided to redraw 3. I'm going to try to keep this simple.

Here's the rendered page.

 
This next page

is going to be replaced by this page (May make the...

Daily Update 8/27/24

Render on the next page complete. This page was inspired by "Angel Blade Punish." If you know the scene you know. I tried to make Azula a little more bothered and sultry than the character in Angel Blade.

 Once again I am redrawing another page. This is the basic thumbnail. That makes three. I'll post comparisons on the weekly update so you get an idea of where I'm going. I'm still not happy wit...

Weekly Update 8/22/24

I got a lot done this week. Thanks insomnia. Starting with "finished" renders.

 Next, I was looking ahead at some pages that are coming and I realized that I needed to make some changes.

First, I'...

Daily Update 8/20/24

I still think this needs some work, but I'm 90% of the way there. Also, something I noticed on other monitors is that the "ambient occlusion" tended to turn the shadows pink-ish purple and I think that looks kinda bad, so I made an adjustment.

 I also adjusted the previous page, and cut out her hand and colt...

Daily Update 8/19/24

So I was working on this during the weekend and decided to remove a panel from this page. I felt the panel wasn't drawn very well, wasn't communicating what I wanted it to communicate, and was getting in the way of something I wanted to see more.

For reference, here's the page with the panel I removed. I wasn't that far along in the render process when I decided it wasn't working, and b...

Weekly Update 8/15/24

Back to Toph Heavy. I've been feeling under the weather this week and slept for like 17 hours yesterday so I only got through rendering one page.

 
and since I've been asked this a few times without dialogue, Toph is explaining that she can move her eyes, if she couldn't she'd be cross-eyed, that her parents hired someone to train her to move her eyes for polite conversation, that she ...

"It's Periwinkle"

Here it is, the final of the long overdue Lois commission. You may notice some coloring and shading changes. Here's why I changed them:

My main problem with my cel shading is that it's too contrasty in situations where it shouldn't be. I do this because I'm following a recipe. I've learned that to make better images I can't be slave to a recipe. I must use my knowledge in tandem with that recipe so that I can make better images. In this case I know that the contrast between light and sh...

Weekend Update 8/11/24 - Almost Done w/ Lois

OK, so I call this part the "step back" Basically, in painting, when you're almost done it's a good idea to mount your work, step back and take a look to see if anything needs adjustment. That's what I'm doing here. If I see any minor mistakes like spelling errors, errant lines, or minor color adjustments, they will be adjusted.

The final upload will be on Thursday. It will include a zip file that has high-resolution pages and pages with no lettering. I'm thinking about adding P...

Daily Update 8/9/24

Almost done. I need to tweak some proportions here, some lighting there, and fix some details. Oh, and actually add the dialogue and SFX lettering, but that will be all finished on Monday. From there it's back to Toph Heavy for the rest of the month as I plan the next one of these short comics.

As you can see, I'm in the process of readjusting her arm proportions. They were way too long before....

Weekly Update 8/8/24 - They're Periwinkle

I'm almost done with this. This whole thing was an experiment in doing things quickly, and it was supposed to be done today... but I'm trying to figure out what methodology I prefer for things. I'm still not happy with some stuff in this so far. Some of it isn't even finished. Once I have a better handle on how I want to approach this style it will be much quicker than painting.

 The color of t...

Daily Update 8/6/24

Still working on that Lois comic. There was a power outage today, so I didn't get as much done as I wanted. Had a scare that I lost a page, but that didn't happen thanks to DropBox.  Still haven't decided on a color for the Kryptonite. It occurs to me that Kryptonite only affects Kryptonians. Well... green kryptonite gave Lex cancer... but that's kinda not what I'm talking about. Should I make these gems something different, or should I make note that its affecting her in a different way...

Daily Update - 8/5/24

I couldn't sleep so I decided to do some work.... and I'm still working on that Lois commission. I've started flatting and coloring. I'm going with cel-shading on these short 4-page Paizuri Comics because it fits the aesthetic I'm going for. Please remember that this is a WIP, I'm still establishing lighting and need to paint the background. The shadows could be darker/lighter or even a different color

2024-08-05 10:56:32 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 8/1/24 - Commission Work

Hey there, I've taken time this week to catch up with a long overdue commission. I see horror stories of people losing contact with their artists and not getting what they paid for. I've had that happen to me, and I don't like the idea of being one of those kinds of artists. I'm just slow and overwhelmed 90% fo the time.

I also kind of needed a break from Toph Heavy. I was going a little crazy. If I can't get commissions, expect self-directed work that isn't related to Toph. 

Weekly Update 7/25/24 - Smush and a Personal Update

Trying to get back to posting on Thursdays regularly, which means I don't have much more to share than I did during my last weekly update.

First, I scrapped a page and replaced it with some paizuri. I also did a complete render on it because I was in the zone. I just need to add dialogue.

 I also finished blending on the last two pages of this chapter.

I am very unsatisfied wit...

Daily Update 7/24/24 - Smush won

So smush won, and I was far enough along that I decided to complete the render. Unfortunately, I still feel like it reads a little weird. I imagine a comment in the future where someone says "I don't understand what's going on." my instinct is to think "oh this person is stupid." but that's arrogant and not conducive to becoming a better artist. Readability is important. The audience needs to understand what is happening, but you can't go overboard describing something lest you create visual ...

Smush or no Smush, you decide

Hey guys, I was rendering the new Paizuri page and I wanted to check with you on the readability of something.

If you've ever looked at anime illustrations, occasionally you'll find an image with a girl pressing her breasts against some glass. It looks something like this.
2024-07-22 17:53:28 +0000 UTC View Post

Weekly Update 7/21/24

I'm late again! Sorry once again. I got caught up in replacing a page.

Lets start with the final render of this page.

I really like where this ended up. I mostly finished this all at once to sort of remind myself of my rendering process. I think some parts may be too muddy/airbrushy, and I may clean them up.

Move on to some blended pages

2024-07-22 00:40:36 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 7/19/24

really, I'm only an hour late, this was supposed to be for 7/18/24. Today I decided to make an executive decision to scrap a page. The page is drawn badly and adds nothing to the plot. So it's outta here. But lets get in to it.

minor adjustment to this, just painted in her other leg.

 This...

Daily Update 7/17/24 - Part 2

A double update?! Yes it is. I noticed some stuff I needed to change and I couldn't sleep until I made the changes. To clarify from my last post, I bemoan my lack of success, but only blame myself. It's my fault. I need to be better. I am striving to make better work and to continue to be worthy of your support.

 I forgot her other leg, also softened some of the lighting. I still think I ...

Daily Update 7/17/24

I apologize once again for the lack of updates, but we had some more drama here. One of the trees in my yard fell onto my neighbor's property and damaged their fence. So I've been dealing with the insurance company and finding a tree remover these past few days. These are the perils of living in a forest.

Things have not been going well lately, and the patreon numbers continue to plummet. I need to find a way to make sticking around worth it, but I don't know how beyond trying to make...

Weekly Update 7/13/24

I didn't get as much done this week as I wanted because I had to go to the doctors and get a diagnosis on a pain I've been having for around 3 months. The diagnostic procedure was extremely painful and had me laid up for a couple of days. I'm feeling better now, and got some good/bad news. The good news, it wasn't the worst case scenario. The bad news, its still a chronic issue that is going to cause pain for a long time.

Anyway, back to what I did this week. Lets start with some stage...

Daily Update 7/9/24

Sorry that there was no update yesterday, but I had to spend the day scheduling an appointment with the doctor. The doctors where I live are few and far between and getting a hold of them can be difficult. I don't want to go into too much detail, but I've been dealing with an issue for the past two months, and I've finally decided to go to the doctor to get it checked out. The reason why it took so long for me to schedule an appointment was that the problem would get better for a few days, a...

Weekly Update - 7/6/24

I meant to upload this yesterday, but I got distracted by redrawing a part of a page. This week we finished the basic lighting of chapter 4, and started blending. Sometimes I regret not sticking with Cel-shading, but I think the painterly style feels more sensual and that's more important. The feeling for the viewer.

 2024-07-06 15:17:59 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 7/4/24

Happy 4th everyone! Today I began blending, and it went a little quicker than I thought (which probably means I'm making mistakes) . I had an art teacher once that told me "if you think what you're doing is easy, you're probably doing it wrong." and time has proved that adage true.

 2024-07-04 21:57:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Daily Update 7/3/24

This is the last of Chapter 4. From here I will blend each page so it looks more painterly. It isn't just about smoothing out transitions but about clean-up. This is an important step, and all other steps in the render process dovetail off of it. It makes this secondary shadow and ambient occlusion and highlights easier. It's one of those "too much haste is too little speed" steps where if I rush through it and mess up, I must spend more time fixing it. So Daily updates may be one page a day...

Daily Update 7/2/24

Still continuing to establish lighting sources via Cel-Shading. I've been thinking about doing some Cel-shading for some personal work, but man, my shapes are so rough. I NEED BLENDING.

...

Weekly Update 6/28/24

I know it's technically Friday, but my sleep schedule is screwed up it feels like Thursday to me. I said in my Daily WIP updates this week that I have no desire to post things publicly right now. I'm going to take a moment to expand what I meant by that.

 I've been watching other artists and content creators releasing stuff regularly on Patreon and other pay sites and then releasing a bunch of content all at once. I released pages of Toph Heavy because I wanted to maintain relevan...

Daily Update 6/27/24

I am continuing with the basic pass of lighting. They're a little rough but designed to work as Cel-Shaded work. Cel Shading is a great way to establish light sources; I use it for all of my painted work. We'll clean it up later as we smooth transitions and paint. The plan is to do 3 to 4 a day M-F.

  ...

Daily Update 6/26/24

Spent most of the day re-inking, re-flatting, and re-lighting this page. I'm pretty happy with the improvements. I'll be the first to admit that it isn't perfect. I'm always learning and improving. I'm sure a year from now I'll notice all of the errors I don't notice now.

Here's the before.

and the after

2024-06-26 07:34:14 +0000 UTC View Post