battling plague-infected zombies

okay, maybe it’s just a bunch of kids with chest colds, but with the minions randomly falling victim to a virus, all while having a sore throat & no energy myself…not much graphic noveling gets done.

i did work on some postcards. in the midst of quitting facebook, i promised a newsletter would happen. it hasn’t…yet. but! i made some postcards! okay, i had help. i let iggy & misha paint all over some card stock, and then cut them up on my new-used paper-cutter (aka katana) and then looked at the lines of the paint to determine the picture to be drawn. it was fun.

i had more, but when fidgit saw what i was doing, he took off with them & did the rest. his look cool too, but i was all like, “dude, that was my art project.” oh well. i can just put the minions back to work to make me some more paintings….

so moses jones & the first page of trials of the moonfish are still half finished. if i can get my roller coaster of a personal life & the cranky & infected victims of this chest cold to behave, i will have something for you in the next couple of days.

stay tuned!

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trying to draw once a day

that’s what they tell ya to do.  draw once a day.  if you’re serious about getting better….

so.  i have been trying to open my journal once a day to do so.  while moses jones is on my mind–i am trying to catch up on sleep and haven’t had a chance to draw all the stories in my head.  meanwhile, i keep my hand, imagination, and rapidograph pen loose by drawing a doodle a day.  at least.

i added watercolor to this one.  i think it may have been better if i had left it just pen.  or added ink brush instead.

oh well.

plus!  i have been reading a lot of graphic novels to see different styles and writing ideas, etc.  i loved david small’s stitches.  the art work was wonderful, and i love to hear about other people’s fucked up childhoods.  i am also enjoying some jesse reklaw and alex robinson.  i like reklaw’s art a lot.  i like robinson’s stories.  i have read so many graphic novels at this point that i am seriously afraid i am no longer able to read books without illustrations.

[sigh]

i finished, but if i had the time & energy & extra paper–i would re-do it.  i messed up a bunch of stuff, even photographing it for this post did not go smoothly.

 

i feel “meh.”

i have my critique today.  hopefully it will go okay.  there are some very talented very stunning watercolor artists in my class.  i can’t help but compare my limited capabilities to their impressive ones.  then i have to remind myself of my strengths.  wait…i will think of one…later maybe.

this whole project has left me missing moses jones.  missing black & white.  missing my ink.  watercolors are cool.  i love the way they flaw and leave their mark, but my heart is in ink.  if i do continue this series, i will do so in ink.

maybe a watercolor every once in awhile.

almost done…

i finished the last character profile painting last night at one in the morning as my ex-husband held our wide-awake baby and glowered at me.  that was simon starbuckle’s painting–perhaps my favorite & the one i am most happy with.  maybe i should have my ex glare at me while holding the baby for all my work.  ha!

i finished.  despite depression.  despite thoughts of–why don’t i just drop out of school?  despite feeling like i’m a fraud to call myself an artist.  despite four kids and an ex plotting against my project.  i finished the four character profiles.  now i have one more of the big paintings to finish before my critique tomorrow at 1:20.  will it happen?  stay tuned.  meanwhile i have to give a presentation today in another class.  meanwhile i have the toddler hitting the baby.  the cat attacking the nine year old.  and the six year old screaming at me that i hate him.  dishes to do.  dinners to cook.  toilets to clean. diapers to wash….

my watercolor professor says i need the fabled “room of my own.”  yes, that, perhaps, and a visit from mary fucking poppins.

onward!

2nd installment of TotM

i did finish in class today.  just the second of a seven picture series though…due tuesday.  ay, i do love the pressure of a deadline!  i am doing one more like this one, in yellow, featuring simon starbuckle the third (my six year old loves saying this name over and over again.)  then on to the character profile watercolors.  i’m thinking they will be a simple ink drawing with a couple of props to establish character & some splashes of watercolor.  now if only the baby would sleep for more than a half an hour at a time!

being sparse with setting & background, this one was a challenge for me.  you can probably tell i am not great at doing city scapes, but considering i don’t usually do them, it’s not half bad…right?  my nine year old tells me that this is the best sperm whale he has seen other than actual photos of sperm whales–even though he thinks my blowhole is a bit off.

i like it.  i’m very happy with it.  especially bluejean (who some may notice looks a bit like moses jones)–that’s not a coincidence or a statement on the artist’s inability to draw different faces.  bluejean, like moses jones, is a character based on some of me.(portrait of the artist as a very tired mama)

work in progress

battling cats, infants, and toddlers, i have been working on this painting for my watercolor final.  a second story board for trials of the moonfish.  this is my second attempt on this particular painting.  in the first, i made bluejean’s head too big, madam buttons’s sweater too bulky, the moonfish too chunky, the sperm whale ALL wrong, and there was too much color.  i should get this version done today in class–where there are no curious cats or snotty babies with grabby hands.

dr. buttons & mr. wright

here is the first (almost) finished part of my final project in my watercolor class.  a story panel from my newest comic in progress “trials of the moonfish.”  here is where gertrude buttons meets harvester wright at a cocktail party.  we don’t know yet why mr. wright is approaching dr. buttons, but i suspect he has a proposal of sorts….

i, of course, find this very amusing.  my six year old keeps asking me what the buttons are for.  i keep telling him that when he figures it out, he should let me know.  i am not happy with the final panel’s portrayal of harvester wright, but at this point, i am not going to re-do it.  i need to do several more paintings before this project is finished and only a few weeks remain of school.

over all, i am pretty happy with this piece.  (this last panel is how i hope to become more consistent with the looks of harvester wright.)

simon starbuckle III

here is the last of the core cast of characters.  a very ambiguous character.  i am not sure of his story–& i don’t think i am supposed to be sure.  i like this about his character.

now i will work on some story lines and background pictures.

ps. i am officially an art major now.

A Most Manly-Man Chin

i kinda went over the top with this version of harvester wright, but i like it.  i had a “Remington Steele” kinda vibe going with him from the moment he was conceived to be the male energy that would offset the female tsunami of professor buttons & her girl, bluejean.  think bruce willis in “Moonlighting”…both or either Simons in “Simon & Simon”…or all of “The A-Team.”  Yes, as a dysfunctional child of the ’80s, I am highly influenced by crime solving men of TV…that oh-so-masculine, aren’t-i-charming assholery of ’80s prime time men.  just look at both of my failed marriages for further proof….

nonetheless, here he is, harvester wright.

he’s not the hero of this story…but he thinks he is.

harvester wright…not quite….

in previous pictures, harvester wright has had a prominent chin.  in this one i did the other day, his chin is relatively small.  he appears more effeminate and not so pompous.  but how do i want him to appear?  smug and confident or thoughtful and a bit sad?  apparently it all has to do with chin size….or my mood when i am painting.  ha!  i am going to try another draft today.  also!  i am going to do a new page or two of moses jones over the weekend.  and on monday, i change my major to art.  i have tentatively registered for a full spring schedule.  my half-time snail’s pace of schooling is driving me slowly insane.  but i need to apply for scholarships because my schooling is also driving me deeper & deeper into debt.

   big chin pictures…