July 2021 - Sketch Exclusive (Patreon)

Unbelievable! Another month has passed. At this rate, I'm going to be an old maid with 28 cats, no house and no husband. 😹 

It's month end, so it's time to take a look at random musings, things that could've been, but never made the cut, things that have been improved, and things yet to come!

I got lucky this month and had a little time off from work so I was a little bit more productive this time around!

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Things That Almost Were...

This month, I feel like I had quite a few ideas, but they mostly got scrapped just after colouring started. I'm not sure why I had trouble finishing these pieces or why I was unhappy with the way I currently draw, but here are some things that almost were...

"Mermaid Princess" cut it quite close for winner of the first poll. In my head, I'd come up with all the possible situations/storylines/designs in case any of the options won, but I usually wouldn't bother actually puttin' them down on paper, till this!

I ended up using a part of my original mermaid idea for another project that I was working on this month. Although we never did get to see Fred become a mermaid, I just wanted to give a little glimpse into what he would've looked like had that option won. ;) 

Process of a Comics Page

July was full of comic page work! (or at least full of me grinding to try to make comic pages for the results of Poll-Time ^^) It's been a bit challenging since it's just me working on it alone. It takes me up to 20 hours to complete a page, but since I don't get 20 hours in a row of free time, this usually results in it being broken down into multiple day's work, like this. 

Step 1: The sketch, and the text (Average Time Spent: Approx. 1-3 hours)

I actually lay in the panels and the text before I start drawing the panels usually. I lay out all of the dialogue (trying to give my characters as much flavour as possible), and then have somebody review the text to make sure my social awkwardness doesn't radiate too much and the dialogues feel "normal".

When drawing,  I'm not a fan of feeling constrained by the boxes, but I think I just have to learn to live with it at this point ^^. I keep my sketches pretty simple, legible. 

Step 2: Linework (Average Time Spent: Approx. 1-4 hours)

Ooooh linework! I used to hate drawing lines, because I could never get them as neat as I wanted, or as perfect and crisp as I expect myself to be able to (still can't) but I'm really warming up to the idea of drawing lines. I want my linework to one day be so crisp and clean and beautiful that people are instantly jealous but know they can never be as amazing ;) 

Step 3: Flats (Average Time Spent: Approx. 0.5-1 hours)

The painful flatting process. It's nothing special and requires no skill, but somehow still takes me such a long time to do. Considering it's mostly clicking the fill bucket like a madwoman, it sure is time-consuming...

Step 4: Shading and Finishing (Average Time Spent: Approx. 2-unlimited+ hours)

This final step is the bane of my existence. This can take such a huge amount of time, even with shortcuts such as using 3D backgrounds. I also don't necessarily want to skimp or compromise too much on the shading style simply because it's a comic, thus adding to the time spent. 

After this process is done, the software auto-crops out the padding. I prefer how it looks with the panels almost edge-to-edge. 

NFT Craze

Outside of TG artwork, I was trying to join the NFT craze, since I had a handful of old original art that could be put into creating a set of trading cards (great to look at, but no fear of tearing or bending a card when sleeving them)

My NFT collection is just original characters, and card designs that I personally find satisfying to look at ^^ and I don't really possess any special skills to be able to do more with these than to just make them into trading cards heh... I haven't sold many, but I accidentally sold one with a flaw in the card layout and now I can't change it cos I don't entirely own it. 😹 

Waifus of Ether 

Next Month's Generic Goals:

• Drawing speed continues to be an issue, need to be able to draw faster without losing accuracy. 

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That's all for this month's Sketch Exclusive~

Thanks for another great month! I can't express how awesome it feels going from having only parents who ripped up my artwork and music professors who mocked me because my parents forced me into that useless classical music degree... to having so many people actively wanting to support and look at my work, so thank you everybody! 💖💖

On to the next month!

xx
Charlotte