2022 COMICS JOURNEY from the artist's pov (Patreon)

I am extremely grateful for the art progress you've allowed me to achieve during 2022, so I'd like to talk about what happened from the artist's point of view. In particular, I'll cover how I've directed my efforts towards improving my comic making skills!

✧ 1 YEAR LONG JOURNEY AT COMIC MAKING

In December 2021 I had posted a Thomato comic: Master's wishes.

I knew a long comic would've been enough of a challenge for me, so I decided to go for a greyscale comic. Regardless of the style choice, I realized I was not satisfied with the result. I was disappointed but determined to do better because I had ideas and I really wanted to bring them to life in comic format.

In order to succeed, I knew I had to:

• Become faster, and be more sure of my lines.
• Develop an adequate coloring style.

So this is how I proceeded:

Dec '21 - Feb '22 | I had been doing daily warm-up sketched before working on a complex illustration. I gave me less than a hour to draw a kiss; time restraints would've helped me realizing which lines are necessary to define a shape and not overdo, while going for kissed was a way to get better at drawing natural human interactions.

Mar - Apr 2022 | I experimented with colors. A lot. I haven't even posted all the illustrations I had done at that time because some experiments were simply atrocious for the eyes, I felt they didn't meet my quality standards...

By that time, I had a flat colors style and a fully rendered one - I needed to find a middle ground simple enough for comics yet enough detailed to be nice to look at. 

In the pic above, progress from 1 to 7.
► 1, 2: "sketchy" painterly style. Still too much time-consuming in both attempts.
► 3, 4: I started with flat colors and progressively added layers forcing myself not to paint over additional details. I failed.
► 5: Cell shading test, bad bad color choices. So bad I've given up on the illustration after something like four attempts...
► 6: Cell shading with a background. Failed again because I ended up painting over it... just a little though. Still scrapped because the image turned out too dark.
► 7: Good? GOOD!! 

Test n. 7 seemed promising, despite I could only know it worked without a background, so I tested it in a couple comic pages... remember?

May - June 2022 | I felt like I needed to improve in a new area, so I stopped with kisses warm-ups and focused on expressions instead, as I knew in comics I would've used a large variety. I asked Patrons on Discord to suggest characters and experimented with different expressions! 

May - June 2022 | At around the same time I wanted to test all that I had learnt until that point with a bigger project... that's when I drew the ZhongChizhu comic Not just a show!!

I was (still am!) proud of this but it took me so long to complete! Not only because drawing a 3some is definitely tougher than a couple, but I ended up over-rendering (again)... 

Additional delay was caused by the format choice: I decided to use once again the column format (I love the potential of it!) which resulted in loooong canvases that my PC couldn't handle well. I wasted HOURS just because of it.

July 2022 | Considering the previous experience, I decided to work on a shorter comic, forcing myself to not over-render at the cost of being disappointed in the final result and cutting the height of the page... turns out the result is probably the most efficiently colored comic so far!

In the Kaeluc ⛓ comic, the colors are simple enough to keep it manageable but the atmosphere is set and additional details here and there help driving the eye on the important parts...

Aug 2022 | I wanted to try greyscale again! I wondered if the Thomato experiment was not exciting because it was missing colors or just because the lineart itself lacking...

So, in the CapiTaru Surrender is not a valid option and he won't be gentle comic I played with black and white only! I've had the most fun ever drawing this comic!!

The same month, I tried cell shading again. I used a hard brush only in hope that the absence of blended colors would keep me from over-rendering. I also wanted to take an additional step further than the Kaeluc comic, which, despite effective, looked too flat because of the absence of cast shadows (in other words, you couldn't tell where the light comes from and areas in the light/shadows aren't well defined). 

I did this TighCyno comic page. Turned out good, even more effective than the tests made back in April because the shadows here also suggest the direction of the light source. Not enough though, because these colors don't set any atmosphere, I needed additional tests... 

Nov 2022 | Except for another round of CapiTaru in October, I had stopped experimenting on comics (I paused experimenting at all, actually, those had been uneasy months).
In November, the #StripGame happened and I decided to get the chance to experiment again with cell shading; I knew I had to be fast with drawing the following part, so I simply had to resist to the temptation of over-rendering. 

I succeeded (🥳). The result didn't satisfy me one bit BUT it enormously helped me to realize how to manage contrasts and what was lacking in the technique I was testing.

Later that month, I was eager to apply that knowledge to a new comic, and so I did with the HaiKaveh "Missed me?".

Dec 2022 | The direction of the HaiKaveh comic seemed promising, so I tested a similar (slightly simplified because I used 1, not 2 layers for highlights) style on Ittorou Noisy Ghosts 👻 comic! 

The second part of the HaiKaveh "Missed me?" comic had to be colored the very same way of part 1, except that I ended up adding an additional layer of shadows because, without clothes, all that pink on the page was just boring*

*note to self that I need to find a way of increasing contrasts and making pages look interesting from a colors point of view even when characters are naked and have same/similar complexions. 

Besides the above comments, there's still something about the Ittorou and HaiKaveh comics that I don't like, and it pains me to admit I still can't figure out what  it exactly is. I want to figure it out in order to realize what I need to practice the most. I'm not sure if it's the lines or the colors... Is it the strokes variation? Is it the colors choice? Is it the contrasts balance? Is it the extra details scattered here and there that don't help driving the eye across the page? Can panels transitions be improved? What else can I do?

In search of the answer, I've been doing many sketched in order to improve my anatomy of bodies and faces! I've realized that most of the times my faces look off and I only can fix them after hours of painting - but if I want to draw comics, I need them to be better at the lineart stage already!
To exercise it, I've been studying from @tomfox's Anatomy for artists. Drawing form and pose book, which I ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND!!! Below, 3 screens out of countless others (I've actually been doing more sketches than actual illustrations lately):

You'll see me doing more experiments in search of my comics style! There's so much I want to improve and so much I want to learn, discover, test... art is a marvelous journey and I feel so blessed for having you who believe in me! I owe you everything I am and everything I'll become.

Thank you so much, I look forward to draw more art for you 💖

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I love to hear from you! If you have a favorite out of my comics, let me know which one it is and why!! 😉

I also want to apologize for all the English mistakes you'll come across in this post. I didn't feel like asking anybody to proofread me rambling about comic making so you'll have to forgive me - I hope it's still readable and that you find it somehow interesting!!