Gifts That Give

Do you ever get a better idea for the project you're working on the second you finish it?  Well that's what happened here. These were done for my Christine's monthly orchid society newsletter. I knew that by doing a second cartoon would exceed the amount of time allotted to work on it, but I had to do it. I knew the right hand was better and funnier.

And it's almost Christmas! I can afford to be generous, right?!  Right.

Regarding the cartoon on the right, I like the line work (a round brush flattened so it naturally creates some thick and thin. I have to keep rotating the brush (if you're listening Adobe, I'd like a "brush rotation" hotkey for Christmas!) to work as I want where I want.  It's also a dark blue line, which is really quite nice and not harsh like a black line.  The jewel on the left side king's hat is pretty good, but I really like the body language of the characters and the way the one king's elbow overlaps the other.  It really helps both to show their proximity; they weren't so close in the rough, but it looks better and funnier if they are crowded together a bit and it also to suggests one is elbowing the other. The colours could have been nicer, but (confession time), I'm not very good at imagining colours.

I know the word bubbles are a bit unconventional in that the tail is just a line, not a sharp ended thing, but I think it still works AAAAND, in my defense, I'm sure I've seen it done somewhere (just can't remember where). It was only when I finished the bubble on the right did I decide to break the line which as you all know is the way to show someone is whispering, which really improves that comment.

But enough about what I think. Which do you like better and why? And of course, any comments about improvements are gratefully received and learned from.

Fanks!

Half Life of a Drawing

This one is inspired by a photo I saw of a small fusion reactor. I went to a concert and expected to be there for a couple hours, so after a few false starts, I drew my version.

For a while I wasn't very pleased with the drawing.  The lines looked too rough, then too clean and straight and the perspective wasn't so believable, but since I had nothing else to do, I kept at it and kept at it.

I like the tonal and contour lines. You can feel the dimensionality of the tubes. At some point I realized it was a bit too sterile, so I put the dogs near the steps which helped add some life to the piece.  The wires are good, but if I did another version (or had another hour) there'd be more and chunkier ones and I would have added more pipes and tubes and other gak. The way the floor tiles don't make a flat grid, but suggest a circle and add a bit more drama to the machine. 

So the moral of the story is, if at first you don't succeed, stay a while, and try again.