Books and finale: some stuff
Someone asked a while back why I'd drawn the final storyline "in a completely different style."
I don't actually think I did, but there's also a reason it was a bit different: I did the last storyline digitally, after a decade of doing comics on paper with ink.
I had meant to finish the strip out on paper, not least of all because you can't sell originals when the original is just pixels, but I was just *so* into doing my art digitally by that time that I reasoned that doing it that way was about the only way I was actually going to finish it.
I didn't really mean to become a digital artist--there's a reason I held out for so long. But, a year ago, Orv got me a tablet for Christmas. At first I just used it for things like coloring. But, the more I did that, the better I got with it. And, when a friend gave me an extra copy she had of a program called Manga Studio, I was pretty hooked, and I started doing some of my inking digitally, too. Finally, I started doing everything, from sketches to color, with the tablet, and never putting ink or graphite or anything else to paper at all.
And the fact is I love it. I can redo or undo anything I want, I can copy and paste images and alter them for consistency...it's an enormous time-saver.
I suppose it did make the closing strips look a bit different. But, if the models seem to have drifted in the past year, it's also because my drawing style has evolved enormously in the last year. Partly it's all that working with a tablet. But also, it's partly because drawing in one style exclusively had become a bit stifling. A drawing style is something to grow within, and, at least in my case, eventually you've grown as much as you can within it, and you're like a plant that needs to be moved to a larger pot to keep growing.
That's what happened when I redesigned the characters in 2000; I was still into th strip as much as ever, but the style I'd developed several years earlier had become limiting, and so I spent a month redesigning the characters into a broader style that I could continue to grow within. (Fans at the time were not thrilled, but I think most people came around--though I still know plenty of people who prefer the original look of the characters.)
I reached that point again, finally, and that was part of my decision to end the daily strip, and to do future stories involving the characters in a format that might allow me to flex my art muscles a bit more. I hope people will enjoy those.
(My new project, "Raine Dog," will be debuting on Keenspot very shortly. Watch for it.)
I don't actually think I did, but there's also a reason it was a bit different: I did the last storyline digitally, after a decade of doing comics on paper with ink.
I had meant to finish the strip out on paper, not least of all because you can't sell originals when the original is just pixels, but I was just *so* into doing my art digitally by that time that I reasoned that doing it that way was about the only way I was actually going to finish it.
I didn't really mean to become a digital artist--there's a reason I held out for so long. But, a year ago, Orv got me a tablet for Christmas. At first I just used it for things like coloring. But, the more I did that, the better I got with it. And, when a friend gave me an extra copy she had of a program called Manga Studio, I was pretty hooked, and I started doing some of my inking digitally, too. Finally, I started doing everything, from sketches to color, with the tablet, and never putting ink or graphite or anything else to paper at all.
And the fact is I love it. I can redo or undo anything I want, I can copy and paste images and alter them for consistency...it's an enormous time-saver.
I suppose it did make the closing strips look a bit different. But, if the models seem to have drifted in the past year, it's also because my drawing style has evolved enormously in the last year. Partly it's all that working with a tablet. But also, it's partly because drawing in one style exclusively had become a bit stifling. A drawing style is something to grow within, and, at least in my case, eventually you've grown as much as you can within it, and you're like a plant that needs to be moved to a larger pot to keep growing.
That's what happened when I redesigned the characters in 2000; I was still into th strip as much as ever, but the style I'd developed several years earlier had become limiting, and so I spent a month redesigning the characters into a broader style that I could continue to grow within. (Fans at the time were not thrilled, but I think most people came around--though I still know plenty of people who prefer the original look of the characters.)
I reached that point again, finally, and that was part of my decision to end the daily strip, and to do future stories involving the characters in a format that might allow me to flex my art muscles a bit more. I hope people will enjoy those.
(My new project, "Raine Dog," will be debuting on Keenspot very shortly. Watch for it.)
- Dr. Sticks
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ohhh, yeah I forgot about Raine Dog ^_^
I read where someone mentioned it lately, and I assumed they were just still calling you by that old Rain Luong nickname. cool beans, DCS.
I read where someone mentioned it lately, and I assumed they were just still calling you by that old Rain Luong nickname. cool beans, DCS.
http://www.spingain.com/?ref=146518
Well put doog. You never posted anything offensive whatsoever
we know she'll be back, like a good bitch should.
- cougartiger
- Posts:560
- Joined:Thu Jun 05, 2008 1:53 am
- Location:New Jersey
Guess that explains why the O&M characters in my pirate ship commission look a little strange. Still, I love it.
I'm supposing you did my Locke/Mudd gift art digitally as well? Looks like you really took your time with that one as it came out superb!
Now, I just need to find frames for everything and then I can turn one wall of my bedroom into a DCS gallery!
I was going to ask for the original of the second to last strip, the one with Locke's last appearance. Guess that would be silly, huh? Oh, well.
Raine Dog has my interest.
I'm supposing you did my Locke/Mudd gift art digitally as well? Looks like you really took your time with that one as it came out superb!
Now, I just need to find frames for everything and then I can turn one wall of my bedroom into a DCS gallery!
I was going to ask for the original of the second to last strip, the one with Locke's last appearance. Guess that would be silly, huh? Oh, well.
Raine Dog has my interest.
My Deviant Art page, home of my epic biography of Captain Lucius Locke, The Pirate's Tale.
Now including artwork!
http://cougartiger.deviantart.com/
Now including artwork!
http://cougartiger.deviantart.com/
- Burning Sheep Productions
- Posts:4175
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I still have no clue what's going to happen to these boards. But a Raine Dog theme would certainly not be the worst thing.
Who sleeps shall awake, greeting the shadows from the sun
Who sleeps shall awake, looking through the window of our lives
Waiting for the moment to arrive...
Show us the silence in the rise,
So that we may someday understand...
Who sleeps shall awake, looking through the window of our lives
Waiting for the moment to arrive...
Show us the silence in the rise,
So that we may someday understand...
- Tom Flapwell
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I hope so.I'm curious, will this forum switch its focus (at least in Current Strips) onto the new Raine Dog comic once it begins?
DCS, I was just about to try to find out what you're doing these days. Last I heard, you weren't employed or in school, so I'm relieved to know it won't be long before your next comic. Otherwise, I'd worry that you were wasting whole months of your life.
See other much-maligned creatures in my webcomic: http://downscale.comicgenesis.com
I have no idea what people think is going on with me; just bear in mind that the internet is usually wrong.DCS, I was just about to try to find out what you're doing these days. Last I heard, you weren't employed or in school, so I'm relieved to know it won't be long before your next comic. Otherwise, I'd worry that you were wasting whole months of your life.
Actually, in addition to working on Raine, I've begun writing and illustrating children's books. If I can get them published, I might actually get, you know, paid.
- Tom Flapwell
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Oh, that's right; you did mention that before. Didn't know you were writing more than one book before publication, but I guess that is practical.
See other much-maligned creatures in my webcomic: http://downscale.comicgenesis.com
- Dr. Sticks
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DC definitely needs to go towards Raine Dog. We sure can't become a fansite for Tabris's webcomic, and we're already a fansite for DCS's other non-political comic.
http://www.spingain.com/?ref=146518
Well put doog. You never posted anything offensive whatsoever
we know she'll be back, like a good bitch should.
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- Dr. Sticks
- Posts:2319
- Joined:Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:48 pm
- Location:Alabama
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we do for the purpose of always having a pool of potential new members.
http://www.spingain.com/?ref=146518
Well put doog. You never posted anything offensive whatsoever
we know she'll be back, like a good bitch should.
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