My Skinny Jeans are Red

Spencer?

2014-04-04T10:39:00.001-07:00

just a quick one.
-A.

Rage Quit

2014-03-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

Spencer is actually pretty good at Hearthstone. I drew 2 comics today, but I’m only posting this one. The other one involved roommate drama & eating toilet paper.

I bought a new sketch book a few weeks ago along with a brush pen. What resulted was this doodle of Finn the human with a huge pencil.

more.

2014-02-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

Still a work in progress. I'm almost done with the 3rd hour (a full 3 panel comic).

it sorta happened

2014-02-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

This was my first year trying to draw hourly comics on hourly comic day. It takes longer than I thought… so here is just one finished one.
-A. Painter

Time Well Spent part 2

2013-11-25T22:56:00.001-08:00

Do you play Star Wars: Tiny Death Star? Ever wonder what happens when you close your game with people still in the elevator?

Well now you know.

I really enjoyed drawing this strip. In fact, I probably spent too much time working on this. Look at Greedo's eyes--beautiful. That Ewok mean business. Who let him carry that spear past security?

-Aaron

Weeze

2013-11-15T14:12:00.003-08:00

Today's strip was based on actual events that took place in a fictional world. It's titled 'weeze' not because I was wheezing during the run but because we were listening to Weezer as we ran.

This was my first attempt at painting a background in Photoshop. I'm super happy with how it turned out. I like the background painting better than the actual finished comic.

Oh, and if you hadn't noticed (I didn't) this is the 100th post of MSJAR! Crazy!
-Aaron

Time Well Spent

2013-11-13T16:56:00.001-08:00

I hadn't played 'Tiny Tower' before I started playing 'Star Wars: Tiny Death Star' so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Here is a basic overview of the game from the App Store:

"Amidst a civil war in a galaxy far, far away, the Emperor is building a Death Star level by level, and he needs your help. Intergalactic war is expensive, and space stations are, too. Do you have any idea how much it costs to build one the size of a moon?

Live life on the dark side, and join Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader on a mission to attract Galactic bitizens, run intergalactic businesses, and build an all-new Death Star! With that hard-earned money, fund the Empire’s evil schemes to defeat the Rebels and conquer the galaxy once and for all! "

I've really enjoyed the game so far. I love the 8-bit style and the music is awesome! If you have an iPad or an iPod I recommend downloading this game. Oh, and it's free by the way.

Self Reflection

2013-10-25T07:27:00.001-07:00

Last one for the week. Enjoy your weekend--and perhaps take some time to reflect upon your own life, while reading comics? (its a good idea).

Running Advice

2013-10-24T08:47:00.002-07:00

I think I like the black & white one better. This is my first attempt at painting backgrounds.

Crazy Train

2013-10-23T06:40:00.001-07:00

it starts again.

2013-10-17T22:44:00.002-07:00

~~Hey. Dearest readers. Howdy. Greetings. Aloha. Hello Internet. 'Sup?~~ How does one properly greet readers after a two year absence? I returned home from being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a few weeks ago, and as you can see My Skinny Jeans are Red (MSJAR) is starting up again. Enjoy this preview and look for new comics in the next few days!

Love,
Aaron

p.s. Alton is currently serving as a missionary in Brazil.

Hey, Hey Listen!

2011-08-17T11:44:00.002-07:00

This is the last MSJAR. I will not update this blog or any other site of mine for the next two years. Drawing MSJAR has been a good experience and I am grateful for what I have learned. I am also eternally grateful for those who stuck around and read my comic even though I complained a lot and didn't update as often as I should. The reason for my hiatus is the fact I will be busy serving a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am super excited for this opportunity.

With All Due Respect,

Aaron Painter

Doctor Who?

2011-08-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Today's guest strip is by Khail Ballard and is about everyone's favorite tv show: Doctor Who. Khail is one of the new character's in MSJAR and when I was asking for guest strips he offered to draw one. Khail enjoyed it so much he has started his own webcomic. You can find it at capriciouscomics.blogspot.com. The name of the site will probably change soon though. We found out that Capricious Comics isn't very original. However, unlike MSJAR, Khail's comic site updates daily. Khail shows a lot of promise and personally I enjoy his comic. So go check him out!

Understanding a little about Doctor Who is essential to understanding the joke in today's comic. Here is a quick summary of Doctor Who which will help those of you who don't watch or know about the Doctor:

"Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS (which looks like a police box). Along with a succession of companions, he faces a variety of foes while working to save civilisations, help people, and right wrongs."

-Source (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_who)

The show started back in the 60's but it only worth watching at the start of David Tennant as the Doctor. My favorite Doctor is Matt Smith. Below are the trailers for the newest season to give you a taste:

-Aaron Painter

Do You Know?

2011-08-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

True story.
-Aaron Painter

Let There be Light!

2011-08-12T07:48:00.001-07:00

-Aaron Painter

guest strip-Problem Sloved!

2011-08-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

Today's comic is a guest strip token of Alton the site's manger.

-Aaron Painter

Bad Life Decisions

2011-08-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Would you look at that? A new MSJAR? I have been planning a limited run reboot of My Skinny Jeans are Red for a while. I planned and thumbnailed the crap out of like twenty or so comics and was planning on revisiting some of the fans' favorite characters from the first run. But Summer and Spring term have been more work than I thought and I recently received my mission call. Basically there have been a lot more important things to worry about than my jounral comic.

However, I did draw a few comics and I collected a few guest strips. So for the next week you should see a new update almost daily (expect for Saturday and Sunday). Unfortunately I still haven't drawn the salad girl series of strips based off on some experiences with Ken last Winter and I also bagged an idea for another LA comic. I realized that I've been over her for quite a long time and don't see the point in revisiting stupid high school romances.

As an added treat here is my thumbnails for the above comic. I love see the behind the scenes work for other artists so I figure I'd post this suck up.

You can tell I was still being infulenced by Scott Pilgrim when I drew this.

-Aaron Painter

more spider-man

2011-07-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

I've been sick this past week and haven't drawn very much. However, I've started to focus on drawing the human figure. Right now I'm learning about different muscle structures and blah blah blah. Here are some doodles:

Personally, I'm a fan of the skinnier Spider-Man. I grew up watching the 90's television show where he was way too buff. I'm okay with him being buff as an adult, but as a teenager he needs to be skinny.

Hopefully next week there will be more art to post. A limited run 'reboot' of MSJAR is in the works. More details later.
-Aaron

doodles-spider-man

2011-07-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the teaser trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man came out. It seemed fitting and ironic that yesterday I also wore my favorite Spider-Man shirt. I'm super excited for this movie. I was too young when the first Spider-Man movie came out and I honestly I wasn't a huge fan of Toby's Peter Parker.

Today I did some Spider-Man doodles. Spider-Man is my favorite superhero, but I can't draw him very well. I look forward to my first figure drawing class so I can at least start to pretend that I know how to draw the human body.

Here is the trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man!

Let me know what you think in the comment section below.
-Aaron

doodles-true story

2011-07-18T14:17:00.000-07:00

If you missed last week's Friday Favorite, make sure to hit that older posts button.
-Aaron

DHARBIN!-The Original Inspiration

2011-07-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Friday Favorite #7
Dustin Harbin

Dustin Harbin was the original inspiration for My Skinny Jeans are Red. Up until a few mouths ago, Dustin did a daily diary comic. He was original inspirited to create his daily strip by Kate Beaton, the artist behind the brilliant comic Hark, a Vagrant!. In Dustin's own words he is "the fourth product of a carpenter/seamstress union [and] a cartoonist and freelance illustrator who lives and works and loves in Charlotte NC USA." Unlike the other artists I have done for Friday Favorites, I don't know a lot about Dustin other than what I've learned from his daily comic.

http://www.dharbin.com/strip/diary-december-2-2010-important-preparations/

I love Dustin Harbin's diary comic and its cool that he is friends with Kate Beaton and Mare Odomo, two other artists that have been spotlighted as Friday Favorites.

In addition to being an amazing artist, Dustin has been nice enough to get advice to new artists. He recently has been doing blog posts about his process that have been really helpful. Something I really appreciated that he said was:

"IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT TOOLS YOU USE TO MAKE COMICS. It especially doesn’t matter early on. Do you know why? Because everything you do for the first couple of years you will one day hate with every iota of your being. They’ll probably be fine more or less, but when YOU look at them all you’ll see is mistakes and bad jokes and too many words and not enough black and so forth. The one thing you WON’T think is “hmm these would have been better if I’d used a #0 Series 7 brush.” I promise you. Save the important tools for when you make some important comics. Which, for most of us, will be never. So just have fun and relax."

-Dustin Harbin

(source)

I recommend checking out Dustin's work, here are some links:
DHARBIN! (main site)
Daily Diary Strips
Flickr
Twitter
Facebook (who uses this anymore now Google+ is out?)
And if you like his stuff, why not buy some? Store

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
-Aaron

What does it mean?

2011-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

What could this mean? New character designs in the style of My Skinny Jeans are Red? I wonder. . .

Hipster in a Blazer

2011-07-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't even finished thumbnailing the secret project and I am already working on character designs for a follow up comic.

These are just quick doodles to get some ideas out. I want him to look hipster-ish. This hair style was inspired by Matt Smith. I wasn't using a reference and just going off of memory, but for (d) I use a photo--I don't like it as much. (a) is still my favorite but this character will have to go through a lot of editing if Daniel decides to use him. I want him to look quite different from the other characters, so far he looks pretty different.

I need to start using a new brush pen. . .

-Aaron

doodles

2011-07-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Just some random doodles. You can tell I just read Scott Pilgrim.

If you haven't been checking the blog recently I would recommend hitting that older post button. I have been updating a lot this past week.

Later this week there will be some more exciting news for those fans of MSJAR.

-Aaron

newspaper couch video

2011-07-05T17:40:00.000-07:00

Winter Semester BYU 2011

Ken, Alton, Justin and I made a newspaper couch. It was going to be three times as big, but we settled for a third of a couch. I really liked having it. I used it as an extra table for art and when we had guests over they had a place to sit. It did start to get in the way though. Ken didn't like it much after a while.

For my final project in 2D Design I used the couch to make a collage. You can see the process for that piece here:
http://myskinnyjeansarered.blogspot.com/2011/04/2d-design...

Justin and I cut the couch up and recycled it at the end of the semester.

R.I.P. Newspaper couch you will be missed.

music: Scott Pilgrim by Plumtree

-Aaron