I am knee-deep in finishing pages for the first volume of Where the Rainbow Ends, as well as working on some new top secret projects.

I will share some sneak peeks shortly after the holidays!

I started some activity blogs for illustrators and other artists to help break up their busy day and the response has been amazing!  Come check it out and contribute. I allow about ten minutes per sketch for myself… just long enough to break up the workflow and stretch creatively.

Here’s some examples:

http://thelinegame.blogspot.com/

http://geeplusart.blogspot.com/

Come check them out and play along!

Hello again, friends!

It’s been a little while since I posted the original “Is Sketchbook Pro For You” articles, and since then, much has changed in the feature set of the program.  There have been two updates to the software in that time, expanding on the usefulness and intricacies of working lightweight and expeditiously.

This series is about you and what your needs are.  I will be responding to questions I get from others, questions I would have asked about the program, or highlighting creative discoveries other artists have made. Since I am in no means an expert on Sketchbook Pro, I invite any other users to contribute unique ways they use the program for inclusion in the series.

Today, I am going to investigate if Sketchbook Pro can produce Hard-Edged Variable Lineweights like the ones some of us are used to using in other programs.  The usefulness of this would be if you are producing a lot of traditional comic or illustration work, or need sweeping gradual radius changes to your strokes, without changing line integrity or opacity. Sometimes we want a small stroke that organically grows into a larger stroke, similar to an ink brush.

Can Sketchbook Pro do THAT?!

Let’s begin our quest to find the answer!

Answering the question is as easy as taking an unhurried look at the brush system.
The brush system in Sketchbook Pro seems to function similarly to the one in Photoshop, with a few caveats. First, the options for your tools change for each tool and will be more limited generally than you are used to in Photoshop.  This means that with some tools, your pressure sensitivity will not be able to increase or decrease the opacity or in some cases, the radius.

That’s ok. We are imaginative people and can think out of the box… let’s see a little breakdown of what we can use to create final lineart.

When I am doing “final linework” in Sketchbook Pro, this is the tool I use the most. (A) The problem is that when you let up on your pressure for a fine line, the opacity changes.

You would think the ballpoint pen would do the trick, but the lines don’t flex and grow with your strokes. (B).

Sketchbook Pro’s brush system natively softens bigger brush sizes (C) The structure of the system works against the crisp line we are seeking.

Hm.  Does this mean all the brushes in Sketchbook Pro are “puffy” and unsuitable for lineart?

Not necessarily.  I use the pencil tool as final lineart in my work and find it works well for what I do.  When I am creating in the program, I tend to leave a lot of room for color with my lineart and choose to do all of my influence, shading, lighting, and weight with color instead.

What if your linework is more traditional though? Do you crave a fine line? Do you ink with a brush when you work analog?

I’ve got just the thing:

Manga Studio is a program made by Smith Micro designed completely around creating full comic stories.  Don’t let the name turn you off, it’s quite a capable little program.  The highlight is definitely the vector inking system.

There are many settings for optimizing lines, reducing shakiness, and editing after your strokes are placed… but the true strength lies in vectors… the power and crispocity (haha) of the lines!

Look at the lineweights I created in this pen and ink drawing of Dorian. Yes, I am not the greatest inker, but the scalability of bending lineweights and keeping a smooth, sharp edge can’t be denied.

Sometimes, clients or projects come up where this is important for me to achieve, and when that happens, I create the lineart in Manga Studio.

I import the finished lineart using the “add image” command in Sketchbook Pro and color it there.

With as useful and encompassing as Sketchbook Pro has been for me, I hope that one day an equitable vector inking system will be added to the toolset.  Until then, when I need the Hard-Edged Variable Lineweights and properties of the sable brush and ink quill, I turn to Manga Studio.

Your needs as an illustrator as well as your client’s needs will dictate the breadth of usefulness or limits of constraints that Sketchbook Pro sets with it’s current brush system.

To gain a full understanding of the software, I strongly suggest visiting Autodesk’s site and checking the demo out for yourself.  I promise that you will spend less time learning the software and be producing more quickly than any other program I have come across.

Until Autodesk includes something equitable to Manga Studio’s vector brush tools, Sketchbook Pro can’t quite give inkwell and sable brush results yet.

If you have a recommendation, question, rebuttal, or process you would like to contribute to this series, please contact me at daimyoprophet (no spam) @ gmail dot com 

I’m putting together an all-new revised Sketchbook Pro series using the newest version.
I’ll be touching on the new functionality as well as showing some surprising ways Sketchbook Pro can be used, not only for preproduction asset building, but production-ready asset building as well.
Anything you want me to address in the series?

I want to give you some information on what is going on with Where the Rainbow Ends. I’ve signed with a publisher for two 90 page trades which will hold the entire story beginning to end.

I’m obviously super excited and am knee-deep in finishing up the first volume. Of course one of the things I’m doing is revising a couple pages to what used to be the first issue; addressing critiques on storyflow and pacing.

Here’s some work in progress on that portion of the volume. As soon as I have clearance from the editor, I will share more information on who is publishing the story, as well as where you will be able to get printed and digital versions.

One thing that’s certain is the manga sized printed edition is going away in favor of a standard print size, due to popular requests :)

enjoy the work in progress shots and I’ll share more soon!!

Where the Rainbow Ends #2 is not going to be released in it’s current form.

I know, it sucks because it was so close to being released.  I fully intended to publish it at the illustrated section this month, but some things came about that totally changed those plans.

Please be patient and I will let you know what the good news is when it is time.

P.S. it is very good news

Why OVERCOME?

Life is hard for many right now. Not gonna mince words about that, and I don’t think I would get many arguments.
This world is filled with obstacles that try to keep you from your goals, dreams, or desires.  If you vault over one, there’s surely another to take it’s place.  Sometimes it feels like that’s the only thing you can consistently count on.  All around you are platitudes and placards celebrating easy victories and easy living to try to keep you right where you are. A slave.

 I want to tell you that you’re not alone in feeling this way.  I want to tell you that your sacrifices count for something.  The ones you love are rooting for you because they believe in you.  Those that discourage you are jealous of you.  They never answered the call from that deep place in their heart to pursue their great adventure.  Do you know how jealous they are of you? Very.
It’s in their interest for you to fail because it makes them feel better about themselves.

You see, you are a warrior.  The place you’re going is on the other side of that seemingly giant mountain in front of you.  Before you head off though, you have some choices to make.

Are you going to OVERCOME? Or not?

If you are going to give up eventually, you might as well do it now and save yourself the trouble of going halfway up that rocky mountain.  Go ahead and tell the people that supported you and sacrificed for you to get this far that it was all for nothing.  The progress you made and the things you’ve learned to this point were just part of one massive detour.

Close the book halfway through, it doesn’t matter how it ends.

What kind of ADVENTURE is that?

Can you imagine reading Lord of the Rings and halfway through Frodo turns to Sam and hands him the One Ring and goes home?

Worst of all, if you give up you might even end up bitter about the whole thing.  You might live the rest of your days facing unavoidable mountains that made this selective one look like a river stone.  It’s possible that you’ll look back and wonder what your life would have been like if you had given it your all, pushed through, and persevered.

Possibly not, though.  For all you know you could quit and choose a different road; living out a peaceful life in the countryside and a comfortable salary helping other people get wealthy.

Well then, why overcome?

We OVERCOME because we consider it an HONOR and a PRIVILEGE to be given the CHALLENGE.

Our hands are scarred from battle and our life experiences give breadth to our craft.  Defeating our obstacles gives new wind to our sails and a sharper edge to our sword.  The path ahead is dripping with victory, should we just set our feet to it. Our blood pumps to the beat of the drum. Our bodies covered in the accoutrements of war.

Because for you and me, war is all we know.

We enter the battlefield every time we are tempted to walk away from what we know we must do.

Lets take that first giant step together and hang on to the memory of it.

When we’re older, we will look back and laugh at the brimstone and fire that pumped through our veins as we recklessly jumped at the chance to fight and to live.

 Whatever it is that you are facing, consider it an honor, a privilege, and your duty to take up your sword and fight!

Victory is just a step away.

In the meantime, come add me on google plus!

https://plus.google.com/114324572122696049251 

and check out a short article I was featured in for The Atlantic:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/07/4-reasons-artists-are-loving-google/241970/#

Check it out!
thanks guys :)

Reworking the front of the ride entry to have the cars slowly pass over guests entering the ride. The outside shows no fast moving vehicles, all that is now handled inside the show building behind the facade. The story is that the explorers are asking the public to come in and take the treasures out but there is a sinister reason behind it.  Anyway, from the outside it looks peaceful but once you get inside it’s a whole different story! haha, anyway… here’s the updated entryway rough sketch.

—-original post follows—-

Inside SlumberGround, I thought it would be awesome to have a Gerstlauer Eurofighter coaster run through some ancient ruins or a forbidden temple and have some show scenes your ride vehicle goes through and stuff like that.

I think about these kinds of things all the time so it’s about time I jot them down I guess.

In this first draft there’s a few problems I’m going to fix in the next revision, one of which being “why is there a mass of ruins with a roller coaster in it?”

I intend to fix that story problem with the next revision as well as fixing the boring, BORING entryway I’ve drawn up.  That’s what sketches are for though, working through visual problems before you invest time in a finished piece.