COMICS
In case you missed it, here is the comic from May!
Available as a print at INPRNT!
ART
Last month…
In May, I worked a little bit on a lot of different stuff!
As for the goals I had set, I didn’t do as many comics as I would have liked. And I didn’t do any additional formal artist studies like I had planned…but I still kept fairly busy.
For sketching, early in the month I did some drawings as study for the illustration I was working on. Scribbly trees and weird cartoons. (I still love Santa Shark).
The monthly Patreon sketchbook theme was Castles. I did not enjoy that theme as much as I had hoped. I normally love drawing buildings, but I wasn’t feeling it this time. They’re oddly complex but also really simple, and I didn’t know how to make them effectively cartoony, you know?
Separately, I did some pose studies to get back into drawing characters and I really enjoyed that, despite how simple it was. It was just fun and it felt like it clicked. (Credit to Carlianne Tipsey’s book How to Draw Adorable for the inspiration/instruction).
Anyway, I went back to the theme and it was a lot more fun when I started drawing castle-themed characters instead!
I don’t know why I worked in pencil. I never do that anymore. It felt old school, like drawing in high school or college for me. But I was just playing with values and while I meant to go back over it in ink, I didn’t feel like the drawings needed it so I just left it alone.
Recently, I also participated in a Draw This In Your Style (DTIYS) challenge on Instagram. I always think about joining them, but never make the time. This one, by Pachestage, was announced right at I had both free time and energy! So I played around with my take on it — first in my sketchbook. When I liked how that turned out, I decided to turn it into a finished piece in Procreate and actually share it! For being just a little doodle, it was a lot of fun!
And finally, I worked on a new illustration! The Summer Myth #1
I took my time with this piece– worked on it off and on all month, doing lots of preliminary sketches, thumbnails, and drafts to get it just right. And while not perfect, I’m very pleased with it! I tried to build the composition using what I had learned from Natalie Andrewson’s delightful work and Domestika course. And I tried to push the colors and textures a bit more like Dan Hipp’s work. I realized I’m a big fan of grainy textures and gradients, and while I may have overdone it on this piece, I love it!
So overall, I’m pleased with what I did accomplish in May and hopefully can keep the momentum going in June!
This month…
It would be great if I could get back on track with my comics again.
And I’d like to keep sketching more often too (always), particularly the pose studies and characters again (especially since I’m enjoying it and seem to be improving at it!). The Patreon sketchbook theme for this month is Monsters, which I’m super excited about. And I have a few other DTIYS challenges I want to participate in. And some fan art I really want to attempt for fun!
The Summer Myth #1 is obviously the first, in what I have planned as a three piece series. So I’ll get started on the next one right away!
And slowly but surely, I’m getting back to work on Super Secret Project #1 — my graphic novel!
So much to do! Time to get back to work!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. – You can support my work (and get cool stuff!) by shopping prints, shirts and more at INPRNT and TeePublic! And can you tell I’m on Patreon now? Because I’m totally on Patreon!
There’s also a big update to my TeePublic shop! They’ve started offering hats!!! I normally keep my designs limited to shirts and stickers, but I LOVE HATS. I have sooo many hats and wear one most days. So I couldn’t resist and now a selection of my designs are available as hats!! YAY!!
Bee Sauls Art 