Notes on Regression

Legit Resources

KoPilot — 2008-11-29T16:59:44+09:00

Well, I was over at the Strand last night, so I went hunting for some legitimate sources of information on Mayan and Aztec sculpture. I didn't come across any really good books on the Aztec, but I did find this:

Which is basically really awesome. Like I told Streaky, if I'm gonna be drawing Aztec and Mayan inspired mecha, I'd better do it right.

But seriously. I hadn't really given mesoamerican art much thought other than their twisting turning decorative designs, but their figurative sculpture is freaking amazing. Their postures and faces are extremely telling and expressive... more than I'd ever have thought if I didn't bother to research it.

I also paid a visit to the Central American section of the Met today and took lots of photos. I recognized several of the pieces from the book, and was more excited than I thought I'd be to see them IRL.

At any rate, that's about it. I've been busy drawing lots of extra pages for AP to make the story... existent, and that's 4 in total. I'm also working on refining my coloring technique, so... yeah. That too.

AP/CTHS - Updates

KoPilot — 2008-11-24T10:37:55+09:00

Well, asked one of my cartoonist friends to give Aquapunk a hard crit, and boy did he comply. He said a lot of really good things, though. I knew what I had so far needed improvement, I just didn't know the whys and wherefores. Apparently illustrators have the same problem when trying to go from single images to sequential visual storytelling types, and I'm starting to realize just how much of a challenge this is going to be to overcome.

I'm going to go back and redraw some panels, and I'm working on a page to stick between 01-01 and 01-02, because my plan of not having a real establishing shot until after the action is over isn't turning out to be such a good idea. So I'm working on that.

I also really want to learn simplicity from asian cartoonists. As it is, I'm having a hard time avoiding complicated coloring, so as I get better, I'll probably go back and fix these first pages which are still just a little more complicated than I want.

In other news, CTHS is going well. I was really really inspired by Joana LaFuente's coloring in the Blurr spotlight (I liked how she made all the white and gray interiors look... not boring and grayscale) so I went and decided to rip her style of coloring all in the name of artistic education. :D

CTHS updated today, AP should be updated tomorrow.

01 - 05

KoPilot — 2008-11-21T03:57:57+09:00

This page has been posing an immense amount of problems for me in terms of composition. Actually, that's a lie. I know what the 3 little bottom panels are going to look like, but it's the big frame up top that's giving me an artistic hernia.

I worked through pages and pages of thumbnails like this, even scoured through some Transformers comics for inspiration on composition, and unfortunately, I think the one I settled on is still really static. I want to maintain this underlying sense of (almost boring) routine throughout the whole battle sequence, so I didn't want it TOO dynamic and action-packed.

Still frustrated with how to execute this, I went though and traced a few panels from All Hail Megatron to see if I could toy with them a bit. Well, I found one I liked and transferred the basic structure of the image onto my own. But man, Coron's gun is ridiculously difficult to draw well, just due to how it's held. So after getting the body down, I went back over with tracing paper and tried to find a good position for his arms and the damn gun, eventually settling on him holding it with one hand and not quite prepared to use it yet.

I hope I like how it comes out.

**Edit: I lied. I'm probably going to rework it again. Ugh.

AP - Aztec Inspiration

KoPilot — 2008-11-18T02:02:10+09:00

Man, the pre-columbian (Aztec, really) aesthetic is really hard to nail down. I'm working on it, though. I really am.

But holy crap, I was looking on google for some concept art of sci-fi/high-tech firearms and stuff because I'm terrible at drawing guns and such, and I ended up finding this guy's gallery: http://www.eduardovillacis.com/ev/gallery.aspx which is freaking amazing in so many ways. Not only is he making art with obvious commentary on central American history, but he's taking that cultural influence and applying it to things that they never had real access to, like guns and massive ships. Completely inspirational, right there.

As for an Aquapunk update... I'll have lines done tonight and colors done tomorrow.
CTHS will be updated this weekend. My semester final for Digital Coloring is in fact 4 sequential pages, but I've basically been doing that anyways, so... I'll just keep at it. xD

Hokay.

KoPilot — 2008-11-17T18:24:26+09:00

Alright, I think I've got this thing down. Made it pretty-like and whatnot... now I just gotta figure out what I'm gonna put here. I think this is going to basically be my fandom/art/internets journal because LJ is beginning to bore me to pieces.

Yuuuy.

BBL.