March Report (Patreon)

Happy April, everyone and welcome to the First Quarter Smut Art Progress Report, please find your seats. You'll find the prospectus on the table in front of you. (I don't know if you all enjoy this doofy pseudo-corporate mumbo jumbo as amusing as I do, but I'm wearing a suit, and have a line graph here so let's continue.

MARCH REPORT:
Gibson Girls as a comic concept has proven to be not at all easy and simple as I hoped, which has led me to one conclusion: My opinions are not to be trusted. 😂

I think one thing with which i struggle the most continuously is judging my work and project scope. I could draw 8 comic pages that take 30 minutes each in one single day, but if those pages take, let's say 2 hours, then the comic will probably take 4 weeks. 🙄 The math doesn't add up, right?

Complexity not only adds more labor, but as soon as something takes more than one sitting to complete, the next time you return to it, the weather is different, your mood is different, maybe you're feeling discouraged or insecure, and suddenly the simple task has an infinite number of weak points at which it can be derailed and progress slowed.

I'm changing my work schedule this quarter so I am taking less freelance work so I can focus my attention more consistently on this work and thus make it more efficiently. The Gibson comic really shouldn't be taking this long and it's just because March had so many distractions that it's gone this way. 

I'm pretty analytical about my process and I know that with a liiiittle bit more structure in how I approach this, it would go significantly smoother. I only got through 3 pages in March, I think I let myself get a little too distracted by other things.

This month I solicited some suggestions for fanart that would be fun to try in the Gibson style and I went with a very sfw Adora drawing to start with. I've learned a lot from the challenge of drawing different material types with nothing but lines!

I also did some unsolicited princess Daisy fanart with a bit of lithograph/aquatint kinda color on it. Colored prints from the turn of the 20th century are very dainty and cute.

As much as I enjoy the Gibson style I still want to use color in my work and also just can't keep away from this soft, bleedy brush I'm using a lot in Photoshop right now. And halftone. Always halftone.

That theme is basically what this month's sketches were all about, indulging in non-Gibsony things with non-Gibsony brushes.

Things got kinda stylized more often and even turned a little manga style at some points. I started watching more anime again this month and I think that had something to do with it!

Working on the Gibsony project has made me hyper aware of lines and just what you can do with them in a drawings in a way that I don't think I was before. I think I'm going to keep using hatching in my work more frequently even when I'm done with it, I really am enjoying the texture.

I'm still addicted to the ochre-y background color for sketching and drawing on and used it for  more than a couple of my sketchbook pages and pinup drawings from this month.

I am still really into thinking about Conan-esque witches and things. In a way I think it feeds into the Gibson look, all those flowy garments are a lot of fun.

Another example of me watching more anime this month--adding this roasted newt from Spirited Away into the background of one of my witchy drawings. :)

The last notable thing about this month is doing more tutorial-ish content. It seems like a natural fit since the Gibson project is so hyper focused on a particular set of creative problems. I think I'll continue as I work on it and make more very micro-tutorials. They're easier to complete in one sitting.

All in all, I've had worse output in terms of past months, but I really want more consistent progress on the comics above all else. They get more difficult the longer I spend on them because then I have to contend with my attention span. 😔

This months goal is going to be about scheduling. Which doesn't sound sexy, but I'm sure will have sexy results 😎

Thank you all for reading all this and I hope you enjoyed the progress this month! Thank you for your continued support! ♥
Wint