Getting the Words Down

I’ve been struggling this year getting the words down.  Part of it is that I’ve actually been sleeping better (thank you, exercise).  But part of it is that I’ve been finding excuses not to write.  I’ll be too tired or there’s something else I need to do (or just wind up doing instead). 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Up until this year, I’d tracked my activities in a spreadsheet as they related to my writing career.  I’d track words written, time spent illustrating, time spent working on the blog(s).  I wanted to see how this year was stacking up to last year.  According to my spreadsheet, I wrote just under 28,000 words last year.  I was a little surprised.  That’s pretty low, about half of what I did in November, 2011.  At that rate, I’d only be able to crank out a first draft of a novel every 2 years.   That just wasn’t going to cut it.  I needed to kick start my motivation and improve my word count quite a bit over my 2012 figures.

So, I decided to find something that would help me set and achieve a goal.  I thought an app might do the trick.  I’ve had pretty good success tracking my blood pressure and foods eaten since I found apps to do that (and my BP and weight have both come down, for which I give credit to those apps for helping me).  WriteChain looked promising, but there was no Android version, and the Android apps I found just weren’t quite what I was looking for.  So, I kept hunting.

I eventually found this word tracker.  Since I was on my computer to write and use my existing spreadsheet anyway, another spreadsheet was just as good in my eyes as an Android app.  I liked the pirate’s color scheme best, so I updated it for 2013 (the first date in the date column on each page must be updated; I’ll probably change that at some time to point to a single cell somewhere in the workbook).  Without a good idea as to the goal I should set, I stuck with the default of 200k words.  I’ve still been tracking in my original spreadsheet, since there I can input activities besides writing (like illustrating), but I’ve been using this, too.

What’s the result?  Well, I seriously doubt if I’ll hit 200,000 words this year, although I’ll almost certainly participate in nanowrimo this year to get a bump in my word count and try to get closer.  It hasn’t had the impact I thought it would, and I’m nowhere near where I should be for this time of year to reach that goal, but I did see a 41% uptick in my word count for February versus January after I started using this (March, however, was abysmal, since I spent nearly all my spare time trying to get Derrick the Dog finalized).  So, I consider that a small win.  I also think that once I get Derrick published, that I should see some further gains.

 

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The Compromise of Art

I’ve been hard at work finishing up the illustration work for Derrick the Dog and so haven’t posted in a bit.  However, I read a forum topic yesterday about traditional versus digital art.  I guess it bothered me more than I thought, hence the reason I’m awake at 2:30 AM, writing a blog post instead of sawing logs.

Comparison of Leonardo's self portrait and the Mona Lisa based on Schwartz's Mona Leo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You’ve probably heard the argument:  digital art isn’t real art.  Those digital guys cheat, letting the software do the work for them.  They trace their work.  They just use the software to make a photo look like a painting/drawing/etc.  And etc.  Etc.  Etc.  So, I ask who are you to judge what is and isn’t art?   In fact, I have some questions for you, art snobs of the world.

Ever made a mistake in your artwork?  What did you do?  You maybe erased it, probably leaving behind remnants.  Or if it was in paint, that wasn’t really an option was it?  So, you either had to hide it, live with it, or start over again. 

Do you trace?  Ink over rough pencil work?  How about sketch before you paint?  Project a photo onto canvas and use that as a reference?  I know Norman Rockwell, a beloved American artist, did those last two.

Are you an impressionist or a realist?  You think the artists in the other camp produce real art?  What about children, working with crayons, producing a work that’s to the absolute best of the abilities, that they slaved over, but that looks like nothing in this world?  Would you tell them what they produced was not art?  Would it matter if they’d used MS Paint?  What about graffiti, can that really be considered art?  Is not art, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?  I don’t care for the Mona Lisa, but I would never say it’s not art.

Do you make your own paints?  I mean, do you mix pigments, binders, and all the other ingredients?  No?  Then, I say you’re cheating.  Come on, you say, nobody thinks that way anymore.  Maybe.  How about when commercially-available art paints first arrived on the scene?  Do you think those who used them at the time were considered “real” artists?  Maybe, I mean they were still painting, but that pre-mixed paint was totally a cheat.  Hmmm.

So-called “real” artists, I say if you’ve ever made a mistake in your medium, your art’s been compromised.  I can cleanly erase, make the errant stroke disappear as though it never existed.  I certainly couldn’t do that when it was a physical pencil (or worse, pen) on actual paper.  In fact, I can take more chances than you, because I don’t have to to worry about ruining what I’ve already done.  The software doesn’t do the drawing for me; I’m still making the strokes, but they’re on a slab of plastic instead of a sheet of paper.  Oh, sure, some people cheat, but it’s pretty easy to tell the hacks from the artists.  And yes, there are software tools that help speed the process, but that’s called efficiency.  Sort of like buying pre-mixed paints or pre-stretched canvases. 

I’m a child of the 20th century, only recently switched over to digital art in the last couple of years.*  Before that, I grew up with paper and crayons and pens and pencils, just like my peers.  I’ve painted in watercolor and oils.  And I can say that I absolutely prefer digital to analog the vast majority of the time.  And I don’t consider it cheating or that I’m no longer producing real art (it may not be real good, ha!).  Then again, I’m using ArtRage, which mimics real-world artists’ tools.  Now, those guys who use Photoshop… they’re total cheaters.  :)

Before you dismiss someone else’s art, or the medium they use to create it, perhaps you should actually investigate, try that medium for yourself.  You might even want to take a step back and look at your own art.  Or you could just stick to your narrow world view.  The rest of us will be creating art… and ignoring your archaic views on the new mediums and methods available in this millennium.

 

*I expect the children of today and tomorrow will grow up to view digital as just one more choice of medium for expressing their artistic urges.  I believe they’ll be more comfortable and adept with it than I’ll ever be.  And I expect that they’ll think it’s a cheat no more than those who buy tubes of oil paint do today.  And I suspect a lot of parents will be happy about the lack of real paint on their real floors.

 

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One Year In: What I’ve Learned

On Illustrating

In my last post, I talked about what I’d learned in my first year of writing for publication.  I learned a lot in that first year.  I’ve also learned a few things along the way in regards to illustrating.  It’s been an exciting time, and I’d like to share my top 6 tips for aspiring artists.  I hope they help.

1. Digital art is freaking awesome!  As long as you have the right tools, that is.  Have you ever tried to draw with a mouse?  That’s an exercise in frustration.  With a good drawing tablet, it’s sublime.  My fabulous wife bought a Wacom tablet for me last Christmas… er, the one before the one that just passed.  This thing is great.  It’s pressure sensitive and pretty accurate.  With digital art, you get easy layers, undo, perfectly clean erases, and you never run out of materials.  I’m just giddy.  It’s a little slower than traditional art because you have to reconcile where your physical pen is with the one on screen (unless you have some major bucks), but beyond that digital art is just sublime.  I wrote about my initial experience in more depth here.


Painting of a Macaw using ArtRage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Photoshop is not the end all be all.  Photoshop is the 800 lb. gorilla.  There’s probably nothing more powerful out there.  I know that at some point, I’m going to want to use it, so during breaks from writing and illustrating the 2nd Derrick and Max book (yes, I finished illustrating the 1st one!), I’m gradually learning Photoshop.  Until then, ArtRage is pretty sweet.  If you’re just making the move from paper, it’s way more intuitive than Photoshop (and way cheaper, too).  You owe it to yourself to check it out.  Think it’s only for amateurs?  Think again.
3. This is a great time to learn how to draw.  The Internet is a fantastic classroom and source of reference material.  YouTube is filled with videos of people drawing, teaching technique, showing examples, etc.  It’s inspiring.  And if you need reference material, there is no shortage of it out there.  If you can use Google, you should be able to find anything you need.
4. Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re doing it wrong or you’re not good enough.  There will always be critics.  If it makes you happy, then you’re doing it right.  If you like it, chances are there are like-minded individuals out there who will like it, too.  Love your art.  That’s the main thing.
5. Trying something new can be fun.  Challenge yourself to try and learn.  Until I started illustrating Derrick the Dog, I’d never tried to make up cartoon characters.  I didn’t know how to draw something that would need to remain consistent over several images, things like head and body shapes, colors, backgrounds.  It was all a learning process.  And there are definitely some things in my Derrick the Dog drawings that I don’t love.  But overall, I’m pretty happy with them.  I learned a lot, and I know I’m just going to keep getting better.  Most importantly, I had fun along the way.
6. Above all else, enjoy yourself.  Art is supposed to be fun.  Maybe if illustrating is your job and you work for someone else, you might have to do things that aren’t fun.  But for everybody else, it should be fun.  Remember the joy you had when you were a little kid with a piece of paper and a pencil or some crayons.  That’s the kind of fun you should have.  Don’t worry or beat yourself up because you don’t think it’s good enough.  Try again.  Practice your technique.  Study the technique of artists you admire.  If you keep it fun, you’ll keep at it, and before you know it, you’ll be better.  The more you draw, the better you’ll get.  And that’s a good feeling.

Well, those are my tips.  Make 2013 your year to try something new and take some chances.  Get inspired.  The Internet is the great teacher and equalizer for artists with something to say, whether your art is words, images, or something else.  I wish you all the best.

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One Year In: What I’ve Learned

On Writing

Well, a tad over.  I tackled NanoWriMo in November, 2011.  It was a great experience.  It provided the impetus to finally finish Three 15 years after I’d started it.  I’ve learned a lot since then.  I also have a lot left to learn, but perhaps by sharing what I learned over the past year, I can help someone coming up behind me.  So, here’s my top 6 tips I’ve learned about writing after my first year.

1. Writing a novel takes a long time.  I can type fairly quickly, or at least I think I can (someone in the comments may prove me wrong).  My average cruising speed is around 1,100-1,200 words per hour.  Sometimes when things aren’t coming easily, it’s more like 600-800 words per hours.  On the other hand, I can get up to 1,600-2,000 words per hour when I’m really flying.  So, I could theoretically get out an average 70,000 word novel in as few as 35 days.  Not bad.  But writing the first draft is only part of the process.  The first draft is likely to be awful (more so if I didn’t outline first).  So, you have rewrites.  But in order to come at the work with fresh eyes, you need to let it sit and mellow while you tackle other projects.  Which isn’t bad.  It’s good to have a couple of projects going at a time, so you can bounce back and forth.  Then, after you’ve done your rewrites, it’s time to turn it over to a real editor, which is going to introduce new rewrites, and possibly work with formatters and cover designers.  So, if the idea is to jump in and start cranking out 3 or 4 novels in the first year, that’s not going to happen (unless you shortcut, which is going to mean turning out an inferior product, practically insuring you’ll never get many of those desired readers).

   

   St. Augustine writing, revising, and re-writing: Sandro Botticelli's St. Augustine in His Cell (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Find out what kind of writer you are.  It turns out that I’m an eternal editor.  And I tend to rush to get the story on the page.  So, I no longer give myself permission to edit (unless I see something glaring) as I’m writing the first draft.  I’ve also taken to writing outlines, something I’d previously avoided,  which has caused me to slow down and get more of the story out as I’m tackling that first draft.  It also acts as a roadmap, so I don’t wind up writing myself into a corner, or finding that things aren’t coming along as I wanted.

3. Budget.  You can’t start a business without startup capital.  I thought that I could do this for next to nothing.  And I suppose I could, especially if this is just going to be a hobby that I was going to play at.  But I decided that this was going to be something I was really going to go for, so there have been some small investments along the way.  I’ve done a good job of keeping them under control by shopping around and doing a lot of the work myself.  But, knowing that you only get one chance to make a first impression, I have 2 much larger expenses on the horizon because I did the next step.

4. Evaluate your skills.  I’ve done most things myself.  I’ve setup the sites, customized code, wrote, self-edited, and I’m going to try my hand at formatting.  But I tried to make a cover, and it looked amateurish.  It seems design and illustration skills don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.  The cover is a crucial part of the book.  There’s a reason you hear “don’t judge a book by its cover;” it’s because people do.  The cover’s important enough that you need a good one, so I’ll be paying for that.  I’ll also be paying for professional editing, because I want my work to shine, and I know that I can never be truly objective, or as good at spotting areas that could be improved as someone who’s been editing for years.  At some point, I may decide I want a better looking site, and hire someone to do that.  There’s no shame in admitting that you can’t do it all yourself, or as well as you could pay someone else to do it.  You’re a writer.  Writers write.  They don’t necessarily do all the other pieces that are required to produce a book.  Even if you can or could learn, it might not be worth your time.

5. Writing is hard work.  It’s good work, though.  You’re not outside in the elements, no one is actively trying to maim or hurt you, and if you’re self-published, you don’t even have deadlines except for the self-imposed variety.  But it can still be mentally taxing, and it’s easy to get distracted by the other parts that go along with this sort of career, like social media, marketing, blogging, email, etc.  You also have to keep track of minute details, especially if you do your own taxes.  If you’re doing this for fun, then no big deal.  But if you intend to run your writing career as a business, then this is something you have to stay disciplined about, consistently pumping out words, maintaining high standards, doing the research, self-editing so you can turn in the best possible draft to your editor (so he or she can then take it that much farther), and then editing some more.  All for the possibility, but not guarantee, that people will buy it, like it, and bring in enough money to let you keep doing this.

6. This is one of the best jobs I’ve ever had.  If you’re looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, this isn’t the best choice.  But this is fun.  Since I still have my day job, I can do this when and at a pace that I enjoy.  I get to make up stories, detailing the lives of people who don’t exist.  I get to hear my kids talk excitedly about stories I’ve made up for them.  They want to know when the book is going to be done, when the illustration I’m working on is going to be done.  They tell their teachers about the book I’m writing.  That’s a mighty fine feeling, and a good motivator to keep going.  Plus, once you’ve written the book, it can keep making money forever.  I’ve never had a job like that.

So, that’s what I’ve learned about writing after the first year.  I think I’ll take a whack at what I’ve learned in the past year about illustrating next.  If you have some other good tips for new writers, please share them in the comments below.  Oh, and Happy New Year!

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On Outlining

I’d meant to get this out in October, but we got busy with Scouting and popcorn, and then we ping ponged illnesses around the house for a couple of weeks, so this is going to be my November post, instead.

I hated outlining.  I think I can blame school for that.  Most of my teachers who had assigned some sort of writing project (book report, essay, etc.) wanted you to turn in an outline before you ever started writing your paper.  I’ve always been an organic, or discovery, writer.  The outlines pissed me off for 2 main reasons:

1. I had to figure out, in advance, the entirety of what I was going to write and the order I was going to write it in.
2. I was then compelled to follow that outline when I got ready to write.

Since the outline was usually due far before the writing assignment, often without a lot of advance notice, that didn’t give much time to plan out what you were going to write.  It was even worse if it was something that required research.  Then, you were stuck with an outline for a topic that wasn’t fully researched that you were stuck following when you actually got ready to write the damn thing.  I hated those pre-outlined writing assignments.

Fast forward to the present.  I wrote my first novel Three (working title) without the

English: Book and apparatus for writing. Engraving (prints). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

use of an outline.  Well, I sort of had an outline, but it was in my head.  I knew pretty well what was going to happen, although some things changed along the way.  After all, if it’s good enough for Stephen King not to outline, it’s good enough for me. 

Or so I thought.  That novel is a disaster and is going to require extensive rewriting.  I started my second novel the same way.  I quickly started getting off track.  So, I sat back and rethought the outlining angle.  Around the same time, I read an excellent article on Novel-Writing-Help.com.  You can read it here.  There were a couple of points that jumped out at me.

Under Step 10. Write the First Draft:

“If you choose to skip all the planning material above and jump straight into the writing, that is okay. Chances are, though, the first draft will end up being a structural disaster zone - and you will then have to apply all my planning techniques to it during the twelfth step: revision.”

and

Under Step 11. Revise WHAT You Have Said

“The good news? If you did plenty of planning before you wrote the novel's first draft (like I advised) there will actually be very little to do here.

“(What if you pretty much skipped all the planning and wrote the novel by the seat of your pants (i.e. you made it up as you went)? Then you will have a LOT of work to do here. Unless you are a genius, the first draft will be a complete mess, and your job is now to go through all the planning steps above in order to make sense of everything.)”

So, you can plan out your work ahead of time -- outlining, note taking, character development, and all that jazz -- or you can just start to write.  With the first option, you’ll already have worked out major plot points, seen problems ahead of time, and can make adjustments rather easily.  Both options are going to require rewrites, but the latter much more so, and more time spent overall.

So, I stopped my work on Parts (that 2nd novel), and outlined the thing.  It took me a day or two.  I worked out the order of how things were going to happen.  Got in some of the dialog I wanted to see in there.  Worked through a couple of sticky plot points (and had to make some changes).  So, I decided I’d try and write to my outline, but I with the following caveats.  I would:

1. Give myself permission to veer off from the outline.  If the writing started going someplace else, I would go with it, and then see which was better:  the outlined version or the inspired version.
2. Give myself permission to change the outline as needed.  If the inspired version worked better than the outlined version and didn’t set up any problems that I couldn’t work through, then I would adjust the outline to take into account the new material.
3. If stuff popped into my brain, I’d see if I could work them into my outline.  If not, I’d just write the notes or scene and throw it into an orphaned scenes folder in Scrivener and see if something came of it later.

By doing that, I discovered three things:

1. I had an easier time actually writing the novel, because I’d already worked out what was supposed to happen and when.
2. I was able to slow down and enjoy the writing more.  Before, I was rushing through the writing, afraid I’d forget what I’d set out to write and what I had rattling around in my noggin.  Afterwards, I didn’t have to worry about it, because I had it all outlined out and kept open in the top pane of Scrivener while I wrote in the bottom pane.  By slowing down, I’m able to get more of the details down on the first round.
3. I was basically outlining all along but doing so poorly.  I was trying to carry the outline around in my head.  That rush through the writing was sort of like a super outline, but more problematic because the writing of it was way more spread out, and I forgot things (details, for example).   And without a proper, not-in-my-head outline, I didn’t have a good reference that I could look at quickly and easily.

So, I got Parts all outlined out, and it was coming along fairly well.  It’ll still need revising, but less so than it would have without the outline.  Yes, I did say, “…was coming along…” as in past tense.  I’ve set it aside for the time being as I work to finish illustrating for the 1st Derrick and Max book.  Then, I’m planning to illustrate the already-written 2nd Derrick and Max, and then I have a few shorts rattling around that I’m thinking of making into a collection.  After that, I’ll probably get back to Parts.  Oh, and those other works – I outlined them ahead of time.  And the writing has gone really smoothly. 

I hope this helps some of you out there.  What about you?  Are you a planner or someone who just jumps into the writing?  What were your experiences when it came time to edit?

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When do you find the time to write?

Writing’s a marathon, not a sprint.

English: Chris Derrick at the 2009 United States Cross Country Championships (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Work, commutes, after-school activities, family time, TV, meals, exercise, shopping… what am I forgetting?  Oh, yeah, sleep and writing.  Doesn’t it seem like there’s never enough time for everything, especially that last?  In fact, to get the writing time in, it seems like sleep is often the only place to carve away a little time.

Finding the time for the writing job has been tough lately.  I’d hoped that one day a week, I’d get to telecommute, and I could apply some of that commuting time to writing, but it hasn’t happened yet.  I’m currently illustrating my first children’s book, Derrick the Dog, the first in my Derrick and Max series.  I’m making progress but much more slowly than I’d thought.  I’m happy with how it’s going, however.  It took a while to come up with figures that I liked, but I’m pretty pleased with them and so are the other family members (or so they say).  I’m still penciling the first drawing.  For some reason, I decided to start with the most complex drawing in the book.  It’s not even the first one.  I don’t remember what I was thinking.  Oh, well, it’s coming along nicely, so that’s all that matters.

So, here’s what I’ve been doing to try to carve a little more time out of each day. 

• I’m trying to exercise and get to bed a little earlier, on nights when we’re not tied up with the Scouts. 
• My insomnia, once so reliably granting me extra hours each day, has kind of trailed off.  I’m still trying to make it a point to get up about 5, though, giving me about an hour before I need to start getting ready for work.
• Try to already have a plan for what I’m going to do when I start to work, so I’m not wasting time figuring out what I'm going to do that day.
• Try to remember that my job is to write, and sometimes illustrate, books.  Which means I need to write shorter blog posts.  Like this one.  So I can get back to writing and illustrating books.

And that’s about all I’ve come up with.  It’s slow but steady progress.  Except for software crashes (which recently happened and I lost an hour’s worth of *#*$& work), once it’s down, I’m that much farther along on the path.  So, fellow writers and illustrators, how do you find (or make) the time to write?

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Wacom & ArtRage, Part 2

In part 1, I talked about my Wacom tablet and ArtRage and the first drawing I created from that.  It was like an overview.  In this part, I’ll break down how I created the drawing.  Consider this the tutorial, for those people interested in that sort of thing.  It’s not an exhaustive tutorial, though, because I’m doing this from memory several weeks after completing the drawing, so I can’t say that I used this and that exact setting. 

Disclaimer:  I used this as a learning exercise.  There are some issues with the drawing, I know, particularly in the shadows.  I worked on this over a period of weeks, a little here and there, and somewhere along the line, my idea as to where the sun was must have shifted.  Actually, I think as I progressed in the drawing, it got later in the day for each element.  :)  This is more, then, a tutorial on the tool and technique, not producing a flawless illustration.  Also, I used reference images that I found online.  Not thinking that I’d turn this into a post later on, I made no notes on where I got the images from.  Oops.  Finally, I didn’t take screenshots along the way, so to simulate the progress, I’ll be hiding layers.  End of disclaimer.

Conceptually, I don’t recall exactly  how I came up with this.  I remember that when we used to go for walks in our old neighborhood, there was a pair of sneakers hanging over a power line we’d pass each time.  I suspect that was the catalyst, and I came up with the idea of using skulls.  I’m also a big fan of The Crow, especially the graphic comic, so it made sense for me to add a crow to the picture.  Somewhere along the line, I decided it might be more interesting looking if I substituted a Crow-like comedy mask for one of the skulls.

I’m using Artrage 3.5.5 Studio (3.5.4 at the time).  So, I started off in Artrage with a basic canvas, sized to fit the dimensions to the picture rotator at the top of my site.  Except for the background (more on that later), I did the entire drawing in pencil.  I primarily used the Soft Tip preset, adjusting settings as I went to get the effect/size I was after (sorry, I didn’t record which settings I used for which).  I also used the Hard Shader preset for most of the shading, again adjusting the settings as I needed.  For both of those, I went with a straight-up black color.  I also used the Thin Precise Liner preset for some of the work around the glass.

OK, so to start with, I began working on the pole.  Below is a screenshot of that, minus some of the parts that I erased for higher-level layers.  This was free-handed using the Soft Tip for the linings and shadow and the Hard Shader for the overall shading.  Notice I made a newbie mistake, combining my drawing and shading on one layer.  Much better to keep them separate until you’re sure you’re ready to combine them.  Also shown are my reference images for this layer.  You can see where I went back to erase for some of the later parts so that this wouldn’t be showing through.

After that, I made the bolts.  I used square and circle stencils that came with ArtRage and set them to Guide Mode, then drew them with the Soft Tip pencil.  To keep things looking natural, I rotated the square stencils to a random angle.  Then, I hand drew the shadows and finished up the shading with, I believe, the Hard Shader.

I next did the right and left wires and attaching hardware, each on their own layers.  Again, I didn’t make a separate layer for shading.  Oops.  I used rulers to make the wires.  I cranked up the thickness of the pencil, but it still wasn’t where I wanted it to be, so I dropped the ruler slightly, and drew a second line.  I liked the look with nothing between the lines and the way the pencil played against the canvas, so I left it as it was rather than filling it in.  I stopped both of them before they reached the edge of the page for effect (I did the same for the bottom of the pole, if to a lesser extent).

In addition to free handing, I used some french curve stencils to help me keep the distances between my lines consistent on the curved bit of wire that connects the two sides. 

The pieces jutting out from the pole took quite awhile to get them the way I wanted them.  I lightened my pencil and used circular stencils to get the glass bells looking right.  I used a gradient stencil for the shading and then hit parts of it with the eraser to brighten up where the light was striking it.  The delicate line around the lip was, if I recall correctly, the only part where I used the Thin Precise Liner.  The metal structures were drawn with the benefits of those french curve stencils and a fair amount of free handing.  I’ve zoomed this in to 150% to show more detail.  I found I was usually working around 200% zoomed in.  At that zoom, it’s really grainy with the pencil and the canvas texture, so it helped to zoom out occasionally to see what it was looking like.

Next up, I tackled the crow.  I did this one layer right, at least, starting with a pencil outline.  I dropped down onto the right wire layer to erase the wire so it wouldn’t show through the foot. 

But then on the next layer, I did my crow’s shading along with my comedy mask.  Oy.  The rest of the crow was mostly shading with the Soft Tip pencil on its own layer, darker on the shadow side to lighter on the sun side.  Then, I hit the edge of it with the eraser where the light would have been striking it.  With the outline on a separate layer, it made it easy.

I did the outline and shading of the mask on the same layer.  Nothing terribly exciting there (except that my light source has moved again).  It was all Soft Tip with varying color, thickness, and pressure.

Next, I drew the skull.  I drew the outline and the shadows, but not the shading, on one layer.  At least, I think I kept my lighting the same between the mask and skull.  I added another layer for my shading, which I think helped quite a bit with its appearance and added some needed depth (see below for the skull without shading on the left and with shading on the right).

      

I added the rope on its own layer.  I used the same technique I did for the power lines for the straight pieces and then hand drew in the loop and knot.  Originally, I just had it looping over.  Then, I thought to myself that there was probably quite a weight difference between a mask and a human skull, so I changed it up so that it looped over a few times, thinking the friction and tightness might hold it in place.

Then, I did the background on its own layer.  This is the only place I strayed from the pencil.  I didn’t think it looked too bad as it was (see the completed drawing below minus the background layer), but I thought I could give it a little bit of a darker tone by adding in some background noise.  At first, I thought I’d draw in a background by hand but quickly decided that was too much pain and time for what was only a learning exercise.  So, I used a stencil called Turbulent.  I don’t remember if it came with ArtRage or I found it online.  I expanded it until it filled the entire canvas.  Then, I made three passes with the airbrush set to black.  That was way too dark, so I dropped the opacity of the layer down to 40% and pushed it to the bottom.  Working on that layer, I then set to erasing that layer where it was showing through on the others.  I left it so it would show through the eyes and mouth of the mask.  And originally, I removed it where the pole was, but I decided it did a nice job of bringing down the brightness on that pole, so I undid the erasing.  The picture on the right is the background layer after the erasing with all other layers hidden.

      

And that’s how I came up with this drawing, shown completed below and, at the time of this writing, in the picture rotator on the home page.  I hope it was educational or entertaining or useful in some way.  If you have any questions or feedback for me, please leave them in the comments or use the contact form, and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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What’s this site about?

Hello, Brian here.  That struck me as a good question to answer (in fact, I probably should have answered it earlier).  So, I thought I’d lay it out here, so you can decide if it is worth your time to stick around… or come back.

Me

First off, let me tell you a little about myself.  Poke around the site or one of my social media locales, and you’ll see that I’m an aspiring author and artist.  I say aspiring as I am not yet published, because I don’t yet have anything ready to be published.  But I’m working on it, and hope to have something out by the end of the year.  I plan to go the self-published route unless and until I get a favorable contract from a publisher. 

I’m also a DIY’er.  I generally make my own home improvements, do my own auto maintenance, and build my own computers.  I try to know well enough when I’m in over my head and need to bring in help, but I like to do as much as I reasonably can myself and learn to do that which I currently cannot.  That figures in to this site and my work a lot.

I’ve worked full-time in IT since 1999.  So, I bring quite a bit of technical knowledge and knowhow to the table.  I’m learning to apply that skill set and my DIY attitude to the requirements of producing blogs, eBooks, print books, etc.

I’m a former college adjunct instructor, tutor, and Scout leader.  I believe I have the heart of a teacher.

I like to watch and learn about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into producing works of art, whether that’s film, literature, or illustration.

What I’m not is a classically-trained artist.  I also don’t have a degree in literature, English, or a related field.  So, I am not an authority on art or writing.  However, I have a passion for art and drawing, literature and writing.  I’m working to improve my craft. 

This site

I want to invite you to come along with me on my journey as I learn the in’s and out’s of self-publishing and digital art.  I want to give back to the community which has helped me.  I want to teach and help those who follow behind me.  For those interested in the creative process, I want to lay bare what I’ve done to accomplish what I have accomplished and will accomplish.  For future fans, I want to be accessible.  So, I’ll try to address all those with this site.

I’m going to blog about the creative process.  I’ll show you how I produce my artwork.  I’ll talk about how I write, edit, and produce books.  I’ll stumble and make mistakes, but I’ll learn from them and share them with you to save you from making those same mistakes.  I will welcome your comments on my posts and will do my best to respond to email, tweets, posts.  I even put a forum on the site so that I’m not always the one to direct the conversation.  I want to hear your questions, thoughts, and feedback.  I want this site to be useful to you, informative and entertaining.  I hope to learn from you, too.

I’m not going to bombard you with advertising.  Sure, when I have something for sale, I’ll mention it and provide you with a link to purchase it.  But I also plan to give stuff away, and I’ll mention when that’s the case, too.  I won’t harp on either.  Beyond that, you should not see any ads on here.  I’ll let you know about products I use and like, but the only monetization I have going on this site is affiliate links to Amazon.  If you follow those and make a purchase, your cost will be the same but I’ll get a small referral fee.  If you want to support me, buy something or follow the Amazon links.  Or don’t.  You’re welcome here either way.

I try to blog at least once a month.  I may blog more frequently in the future, but right now I’m trying to focus on the books and illustration work I have in progress.  I also have some things planned for the future for the site, like a FAQ, an art gallery, library, and store.

Should you stay or should you go?

You should have a good idea of what I offer and plan to offer, now.  I hope you stick around or come back to see what’s changed, or at least sign up for one of the feeds so you know when I have new content up.  I think we’ll have fun.  I’ll bring you the best content that I can.  I can’t promise you that I’ll always be right or that I’ll always do things the right way.  You may even find information here that contradicts what you’ve read elsewhere.  That’s okay.  The proof is in the final product.  If the other guy’s (or gal’s) stuff is better than mine, probably best to follow their advice.  If you like mine better, maybe my way’s the way to go.

If this sounds good, please drop me a comment (or email or tweet or etc.).  I’d like to meet you and hear your thoughts.

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