Way-in-advance preview time. I've drawn eight Biffo the Bear mini-strips for Beano Annual 2023 which will be out in August 2022! That's a long way off so I can't show any panels from it yet but I thought you might like to see a section of one panel when it was in progress.
Earlier this year I decided to take advantage of a cheap offer for Clip Studio Paint software and try my hand at digital drawing. I bought a graphic tablet at a reasonable price too, and set to work.
Frankly, it's all new to me, and it took me longer to draw digitally than it would with pen and ink. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it eventually though, but I was pleased with the results of what I've accomplished so far. I drew two of the Biffo strips entirely digitally, and it took me a while as I'm still learning the techniques, but they turned out well. You can judge for yourselves next Autumn when they're published!
At the moment I've gone back to drawing traditionally, with pencil and ink on Bristol Board. I still colour digitally though (with Photoshop) and have been for about 20 years. I prefer colouring digitally far more than colouring with inks.
Anyway, at the top of this post you can see part of a panel I've zoomed in on, and my digital vector "inks". I'll use Clip Studio Paint again when I have more time to get used to how everything works! I don't think I'll switch to digital entirely though. I've always enjoyed drawing with daylight on my board, rather than staring intensely at a screen all day, but learning to draw digitally will definitely come in handy!
4 comments:
Thats great Lew!
Your linework always looks crisp so digital really suits it. Imagine all the ink and materials you will save on. Also no need to scan and remove blue pencils :)
But not having originals to sell is a downside I imagine.
DC Thomson frown upon artists who sell their pages anyway so I won't be selling any Beano or Dandy pages for a long time yet. Can't afford to upset them and lose any potential futuire work! Perhaps when I retire, if I live that long!
At the moment I'm not sure how often I'll draw digitally. It's not good for the eyesight to spend too long staring at a screen. I've put it on hold while I clear some tight deadlines as it'd take longer to draw digitally at the moment until I know how to use it properly.
Retirement Lew? I suspect the Government’s hope/plan/intention is for the worker drones (us, at the bottom of the pile) to conveniently pass away immediately prior to reaching state pension age. So, keep on working/contributing/paying taxes as long as we can but then die (so “they” don’t have to pay our state pension etc…).
Two years, six months and two days - not that I’m counting. 😀
I’ve now had both vaccine jabs, plus the booster so hopefully I’m reasonably well protected. I’m still wearing a mask in places with lots of people, as a significant number of our fellow citizens seem to have forgotten all about the dreaded pandemic.
Take care & keep safe,
Geoff
Yeah, I nipped in Poundland today for a couple of things and was the only person in there wearing a mask. Got some funny looks too, so I think some people do actually think the pandemic is over. Depressing isn't it?
I reach retirement age in March 2025. Seems a long way off in the current climate so I'm not getting my hopes up. I doubt I'd give up working but it'd be nice to have that steady income.
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