Don't Break the (Creative) Chain–March, 2020

I had more daily creative work in February but the quality definitely increased in March. COVID-19 has played a huge role in my creative output last month, especially starting from the 17th (the first day I worked from home).

As I said in my last two posts, being furloughed from work, confined to my home and not having to worry about food, shelter and my health has contributed to an explosion in my drawing and anatomy studying.

This time is a huge opportunity for creative people who are in my blessed and lucky situation. Let's not blow it.

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Grateful Furlough Friday—Obliques Anatomical Studies

Due to the pandemic, this was my first week furloughed from my job of 16 years.

I didn't panic. I didn't worry. I have leave time, some savings, a home, food and most importantly, my health.

So I made a conscious decision to make the most of this time.

I'm doubling down on my anatomy instruction! 

I talked before about how I've been trying to learn artistic anatomy for…oh…TWENTY-SIX YEARS!

ARGH!!!!

Over the last 10-15 years, I've accumulated lots of anatomy instruction with the most comprehensive being Stan Prokopenko's course. If you want to learn artistic anatomy, Proko's course might be your best choice (and he's extended his trial period for his courses.)

But what I've always lacked was the time to dedicate to the course. For me it required extended periods to focus on the doing the lessons and those periods never seemed to materialize. As a result, I've rushed through some of the course and didn't see results.

That changed this week when I found myself with LOTS of time. I'm dedicating the time that I've always wanted to dedicate to drawing and seeing great results! Now, when I say great results, I mean me drawing better than I have in the past. I don't mean I draw great. I still have a lot of mistakes and a lot to learn. But these drawings show the difference between now and 2 years ago:

These drawings are of the same pose and were done almost exactly 2 years to the day apart. On the left I was guessing where bones and muscles are placed and on the right I have a better idea of where things go.

It's amazing what you can accomplish with some focus!

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Austin Kleon's "Keep Going"

I can't BELIEVE I just now learned of this book!

And discovering it at this time, while the world is overwhelmed with battling COVID-19, is truly a gift.

Kleon's book was published in 2019. As he says at his website: "The world is crazy. Creative work is hard. How do you keep going?"

I've never before needed to hear these words as much as I do now. After just 4 days of working from home due to the virus, I got a call from my employer's HR guy on Saturday telling me that the company was putting me on furlough. The news was initially surprising…then it wasn't. My work is half marketing and half design and there was little need for either of these at this time despite my supervisor saying otherwise.

Suddenly, I saw an opportunity. I could finally do what I've been dreaming of doing for the last 10 years: focus ALL of my time on creating art!

Admittedly, I'm in a non-scary financial situation, at least for a few months, so I don't have to worry about rent and food. That frees up ALL of my psychic energy on creating.

But it's still a struggle to stay focused in these crazy times that just got crazier. And Kleon's book does an amazing job of helping to reset your brain and get you focused on creating.

I consider the discovery of this book now, at this particular time in history and in my life, as a HUGE example of synchronicity. The Universe wanted me to read this book now. I listened to what The Universe said and read, annotated and took notes from the book in one multi-hour reading. Going forward this book will be the last thing I read before going to bed and the first thing I read in the morning.

Yes, it's that important.

If you're a creative person and you're struggling to stay focused or are questioning your creative choices, this book is a must-read.

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Designing a Logo–Step 10: Choosing Colors

The first step of designing a logo was research.

The second step was word associations to brainstorm ideas.

The third step was thumbnail sketches.

The fourth step was designs in black and white.

The fifth step was designs in black and white feedback and revisions.

The sixth step was designs in black and white feedback and revisions part 2.

The seventh step was a disagreement in direction.

The eighth step was a breakthrough.

The ninth step was getting back on track.

Now it's time for color!

The client and I agreed that earth tones would be best. To avoid wasting time, I sent swatch ideas and requested feedback of their opinions of these colors:

They got back to me with their preferences and I applied theirs and mine to the next proof:

In the next installment, we'll see how the client responded to these first color choices.

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Ann Nocenti–Her Work in Comics

In November, 2019, I attended a Comic Artist Workshop meetup featuring Ann Nocenti.

Her bio per Comicvine: Ann Nocenti is a comic book writer who was nominated for the Will Eisner Award of "Best Writer" in 1989 thanks to her work on Daredevil. Also known as an editor for Marvel comics on the Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants. Nocenti helped to create characters with artists (John Romita Jr. or Art Adams respectfully) help, like: Blackheart, Longshot, Mojo, Typhoid Mary and Spiral.

Here a few takeaways from her talk:

• Have people read your comics dialogue out loud
• Every panel should be interesting individually; they should stand alone
• If collaborating, best to do it in-person
• Less is more. Don't overwhelm with content.
• If can't fit the text and art elegantly into a panel, need to cut
• Since speaking in pictures, she sends lots of reference to the artist
• All artistic choices need to have a purpose and make sense

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Moebius's "Arzach" Animated—Page 2, Panel 4

Original panel four, page two of "Arzach."

I started this project by animating the Arzach splash page.

Then I animated the first panel on the second page.

Then the second panel on the second page.

Then the third panel on the second page.

Here's the fourth panel. I liked the idea of Arzach flying into frame and hovering as the woman maneuvered her clothing:

Next, the fifth and final panel for this page.

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Don't Break the (Creative) Chain–February 2020

Consistency was 100% but…I still have to work on quality of creative time. That's the goal for March, 2020.

Jeremy Nguyen–The Cartoon Life Talk

In January, I attended a Comic Artist Workshop meetup featuring Jeremy Nguyen.

From Jeremy's website: I am a New Yorker cartoonist, illustrator, humor writer, and co-producer of a reading series called Panels to the People. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York. 

Here are some things I learned:

• When starting to contribute cartoons to the The New Yorker, it's best to go in person
• Helpful to go in with someone who can vouch for you
• When he first submitted, he came up with 100 ideas (10 ideas submitted over 10 weeks)
• When starting, send as many as possible. The magazine wants regulars, wants readers to establish a relationship with regularly appearing cartoonists.
• If no magazine purchases the cartoons he submits, he uploads them to Instagram
• He didn't sell any from his first batch
• He sold his first after three weeks
• You don't know when your purchased cartoon is going to be printed
• The New Yorker buys about 20 cartoons per week. They have hundreds available that they've bought.
• He draws each cartoon in  an hour
• His goal is to sell one cartoon per month
• He also get some royalties from Cartoon Bank
• In order to become a New Yorker magazine staff cartoonist, you need to sell 25 cartoons per year
• He spends two days per week exclusively on New Yorker cartoons. He does 5-6 in that period. He writes all day for one day then spends the next day editing.
• The New Yorker accepts collaborations
• He feels that the new cartoon editor likes surrealism, surprise, and subjects that are topical or are about New York City
• Lots of the cartoonists aren't artist, they're comedians
• Many people struggle with creating single panel cartoons
• Illustrating for board games pay well. It's a significant industry. Board games make up the majority of Kickstarter campaigns.
• Draw all the time, even if the drawings are bad. Constantly make observations.
• The New Yorker wants to buy a voice, a different perspective.
• Think about what you're angry about to inspire your cartoons
• The New Yorker has first printing rights for 90 days for a purchased cartoon, then you can sell your cartoon elsewhere

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Designing a Logo–Step 9: Tweaking the Final Designs

Now it's smooth sailing!

The first step of designing a logo was research.

The second step was word associations to brainstorm ideas.

The third step was thumbnail sketches.

The fourth step was designs in black and white.

The fifth step was designs in black and white feedback and revisions.

The sixth step was designs in black and white feedback and revisions part 2.

The seventh step was a disagreement in direction.

The eighth step was a breakthrough.

Now we were back on track!

The client liked both designs with a preference for the stone version. They requested some minor tweaks of the labyrinth openings and the placement of the bricks to accentuate the labyrinth openings. The client also chose a typeface for the tagline.

These were the tweaks:

First attempt tweaks.

Second attempt tweaks.

The differences between the first and second attempt tweaks are visually minor but they were important to the client. That's all that matters, pleasing the client.

The final tweaks were approved and the choice was made to go with the brick version.

Next we talked about how the logo would be applied across multiple areas (letterhead, business cards, website, clothing, etc.) and we talked about color. We all agreed that earth tones would be best and the client wanted to be sure that the color choices would not become dated.

In the next installment, I'll show you the logo's first color choices and how the colors were applied.

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1 Mastered Skill vs. 3 Average Skills

Robert Herjavec, Dilbert and Scott Adams

In my continuing quest to reach my potential, be productive and live my best life, I'm constantly absorbing self-improvement books, videos, blogs and podcasts. 

One of my favorite self-improvement leaders is Robin Sharma. I've been following his advice for years and even paid for some of his material.

So it was interesting when the YouTube algorithm brought my attention to a motivational video of Robert Herjavec. I don't watch Shark Tank so I'd never heard of him before. The title of the video was "It Will Make You Rich" so of course I watched it.



My ears perked up when Herjavec said, "Nobody makes you wealthy because you're OK at something. The world does not reward mediocrity nor does it reward average. It only rewards exceptional. So you got to find that one thing that you're good at and you've got to become great at it."

What struck me about that opinion is that it's similar to Sharma who talks a lot about becoming "world-class."

But what also struck me about it is that it's in contradiction to the opinion of Dilbert creator Scott Adams. In his book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, Adams explains his success formula: Good + Good > Excellent. Adams explains that each skill you acquire doubles your odds of success and that with a few exceptions (like athletes and entertainers, for example). He presents himself as an example of "the power of leveraging multiple mediocre skills." 

And the essential aspect of Adams's belief is that by you simply believing that each new skill will double your odds of success, you trick your brain to be more proactive about acquiring the new skills.

My opinion is that both approaches are valuable depending on the person. The master approach works for those people who have a gift that they can then improve upon: Kobe Bryant, Serena Williams, Quentin Tarantino, etc. 

The skills combination approach, however, I think is better for us mere mortals. For example, I have moderate drawing skills, moderate graphic design skills and moderate storytelling skills. It makes sense for my success to combine those skills to create something of value instead of trying to be the next Glen Keane.

For those of us whose goals include creating animated films and comics, consider taking several of your average skills and see how you can combine them to create excellence.

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Moebius's "Arzach" Animated—Page 2, Panel 3

Original panel three, page two of "Arzach."

I started this project by animating the Arzach splash page.

Then I animated the first panel on the second page.

Then the second panel on the second page.

Then things got a little tricky. Doing the top row of panels was straightforward:

Top panels, page two of "Arzach."

But continuing with the individual-panel-reveal approach with which I had started meant removing the top panels from the camera frame while revealing only the bottom panels:

Bottom panels, page two of "Arzach."

Once this was determined, I made a new Composition in my After Effects file. The current Composition had the animation from the page one splash page and the first two panels from page two. There were many layers and a lot happening. Putting the next panels in a new Composition would be helpful in preventing confusion.

In Photoshop, I made a layer of the panel frame, separated Arzach from the background rocks, recreated the hatching in the rocks, separated the guy at the top of the rocks and the sky.

In After Effects, the panel frame, Arzach and his cape, the guy and the sky were animated:

This came out as I had hoped, mirroring the placement on the page of the actual book. 

Next, panels four and five to complete the page.

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Gamal Hennessy—The Business of Independent Comic Book Publishing Pt. 2

In October, 2019, I attended a Comic Artist Workshop meetup featuring Gamal Hennessy.

This is the first part of what I learned from his talk. Below is the second part:

• "How will readers get the comic"?
• choose idea
• set goals
• own the idea
• get money
• build team
• find market
• determine distribution
• "How will you produce the comic"?
• What form will it take?
• web. 1 panel-20 pages
• single issue. 20-24 pages
• trade paperback. Collection of 4-8 comics
• graphic novel. 96-192 pages
• anthology
• When will you publish?
• Define production schedule
• Never deliver a book late.
• Ensure there are redundancies for team communication
• "How will you inform the market about the comic"?
• communicating only with your audience
• for advertising—
• cover art
• pedigree (of the creator[s])
• hook
• description
• purchasing information
• find the biggest voices for target market (influencers) to use for advertising
• press releases to comic book press and comics adjacent press
• can use social media paid advertising once exhausted free social media
• get the word out in the right channels at the right time
• "How will you sell the comic?"
• revenue with selling books
• monetization
• sponsors
• affiliates
• now is the time to crowdfund
• will use sales funnel
• social media → web → mailing list → free content → digital issues →  digital graphic novel → print graphic novel → merchandise
• "How will you divide the revenue?"
• outstanding liabilities
• division of profits
• recoupment
• royalties
• taxes
• "What happens after you publish the book?"
• merger
• sale
• IPO
• continue indie publishing
• freelance
• creator-owned
• media outside comics
• will need to determine what happens to the comic and company after you're gone

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Watercolor Painting for Presidents' Day

Now that I look at it, the shadow looks more like blood. As though I'm suggesting the country is bleeding…

One of my reasons for doing this quick-ish paintings is that I tend to overthink…EVERYTHING!

It’s the reason that I can’t sleep. It’s the reason why I’m still learning how to draw at age 50. It’s the reason I’ve produced so little work. I suffer from analysis paralysis. And perfectionism.

By telling myself that I’m going to design and execute a painted piece for a specific day forces me to toss the perfectionism and lack of complete knowledge away and to just make the damn thing.

To that end, I made the above piece for Presidents' Day.

BUT…it's not what I originally wanted to do. Here's the sketch of what I really wanted to do:

Original idea for watercolor cartoon for Presidents' Day, dated 2/2/20

It covered several of the creation bases that I want to cover: cartoon drawing, single panel idea creation and painting.

This idea was unusual. It came fully formed late on the night of February 2nd and the biggest question was which President I was going to use for "Good." I settled on Jimmy Carter.

But I quickly ran into some obstacles. I've never been good at caricature. It takes a lot of sketches for me to get to a likeness. I didn't spend enough time on the sketches, searching for the best likeness.

I started my sketches of Carter. They began poorly and improved but at the rate it was taking me to find the likeness, I wouldn't get it done in time for the holiday. Not only did I need to draw this whole thing but paint it, too.

First attempts at Jimmy Carter caricatures

Second attempts at Jimmy Carter caricatures

Third attempts at Jimmy Carter caricatures

So I needed a new, much easier idea.

A Google search of "Presidents' Day" provided all of the cliché images. But that's what I needed, something I could do easily that communicated the subject clearly.

I settled on the hat at top.

Just getting paint onto paper in the right place is a challenge. As I said in the painting's caption, the shadow is looking more like blood which wasn't my intention. I'll have to get better with doing shadows. I'm just satisfied that I did something.

There will be more watercolor paintings and a how-to coming soon.

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