Tag Archives: #inktober

Twilight

I’m going blind

I have glaucoma. It’s pretty far along. They were supposed to operate but I can’t afford it and now my right eye is almost completely gone. My left is down to 86%. And I’m freaking all the way out.

I’m not sure if they can save my eye. I hope so. But I’m really scared right now. I’ve drawn all my life. I don’t have any memories of not doing it. My job is photographer/video editor/ artists.

What happens when I lose my sight? Forever?

I don’t live with anyone. There’s no family nearby. And I suffer from the kind of mental issues that are mocking my continued efforts to not give in to despair. Suddenly that suicide thing that I’ve been holding at bay feels like a mercy killing.

As an artist, if you’d ask me what I feared more than anything, it would have been losing my sight, with losing my hands a close second.

I’m not close to anyone. I’ve been dealing with this by myself for months. The surgery can only save what’s left, maybe. And because it’s the optic nerve that’s dying…well, maybe it’s already done.

I gotta have the surgery. I need to. But my window is closing and soon it won’t matter. I’ll be in the dark. And I’ll never come back.

Starter for Self

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It’s officially #inktober! I get to make an image a day for the month 😁. And they have to be own and ink.

Since I’ve been doing a lot of that already, it’s not taking any real effort. All the speed work I’ve done helps with the actual images; usually it takes about two, maybe three hours.

The real issue for me is the themes.

I have ZERO interest in drawing someone else’s choices for fun. I get that this is supposed to be an exciting time for art, but honestly?…

It feels a lot like crowdsourcing.

Why do I need to create something that thousands of others have? No. I’m making original work. Going on my own tangent.

Too many people are actually cheating anyway. I’ve seen different people repost the same image in multiple groups!

If you’re going to cheat, at least be original.

Beginner’s Luck

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I missed Otakon.

More specifically, I worked through the anime convention this weekend and couldn’t attend.

So the anguish in this picture is very heartfelt.

Could I have made it Sunday? Sure, if you don’t mind getting a lesser version of the event. But that’s not my style. Real life and bad scheduling on my part ruined a great weekend.

So I took the time to work on my comic book style. I picked it up during #inktober a few years back, but haven’t really worked on it much recently.

My dream to do a comic is long dead; I want to make a self contained story because those are what I enjoy the most. Episodic works can be wonderful, if you have the time and interest.

But I am not sure that I can maintain interest in any story that long, honestly. I think I have a few big graphic novels in me and they could MAYBE break up well….

But I doubt it.

I know that it sounds as though I’m being negative; still, six great stories or a bunch of mediocre crap? That’s no contest.

I’ll take the Icarus option.

Halloween

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I made it! A buttload of pictures were completed for #inktober! Including a very special one…

So, it’s never come up but I have a couple of wily and fun ginger sisters in my life. I’ve drawn them before as Jean Grey and Dark Phoenix; it seemed appropriate, given the personalities involved. But one of them REALLY loves Halloween. So… I made her the Goblin Queen!

I started out with a couple of thumbnails to get the design I wanted.

Then I did a rough sketch. This is when I decided to add a pet goblin. A queen needs her subjects!

After doing a clean line version of my image and choosing a pallet, I begin coloring, doing the leather and skintones first.

Next came the cape. If you know the character, you know her original design by Marc Silvestri was very sketch and tattered looking. I didn’t want to go THAT far, but still wanted to stay in the spirit of the original.

Next I added some background accents. I was going to make it feel a little more Dante at first, with suffering souls and all that. But I decided against it.

Finally I added an appropriate sidekick and made sure all of the focal light fell on the main character.

My friend was really happy with her gift. But I’m no dummy. I have to draw the other one soon. They ARE sisters after all.

Double Down Wide

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Another week down, one more to go! It’s been fun so far and I intend to finish the next three days off right!

There were days of colour and I enjoyed those most of all. I’ve been selling my house and it’s a little hard to get in rhythm when you have to leave every couple of hours!

Couple that with the fact that my VERY supportive local Starbucks has been closed for renovations and it makes things extremely difficult.

Oh well…

I still managed to knock out a few good drawings (and a couple of poorly done concepts, ugh), so overall I’m pleased.

Who knows? Maybe next year I’ll stick with the official theme of the group or maybe tell a self contained story within the allotted time.

All I can promise for certain is that I will be drawing, alive or not. It’s my function 😉

An Undiluted State

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Man, these days are starting to blend together! I’m churning out a lot of images both for work and for #inktober.

I noticed that a lot of folks only work in single Colorado during this event. Must be nice! I tried it with Godzilla and didn’t enjoy it as much. I’m sure that if I were to continue, I’d lose interest.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate a good doodle. It’s just that the demands of my everyday life and projects mean that I have to make my sketch time count!

So, yeah, I end up doing random subjects. I have more fun that way.

Isn’t that kind of the point?

Ordinary

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You know, I have to admit that I do get a kick out of doing characters for others. Bringing someone’s idea to life makes for a good experience… usually.

But I REALLY love doing work for myself. Nothing fancy, just fun little images. I think all artists tend to feel this way, whether they have time for their projects or not.

This week has been a little tough for art because I have the flu. But I got it done.

Next week I won’t be medicated, lol.

Involuntary Mitch

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Hey guys! Welcome to my #inktober! As some of you may know, the entire month of October is dedicated to drawing ink based works, a new image a day.

It’s one of my favourite things to do and doubly so this year, thanks to the #baltimorecomiccon being the first weekend. I went out and met a lot of cosplayers for this and I’m drawing each one!

So here’s hoping that I don’t burn out and have to stop, hahaha…

Work has been chugging along and even though my personal life is a huge mess I feel better about everything else. I get to draw for a living!

Some of my favourite projects have been completed on the commuter train ride home. So far the same rule applies this year, with my appetite for creating only growing in recent months.