Tuesday

Despite some unexpected delays, work continues.

99.9% finished dialogue

I’ve made a good deal of what I guess you could call “indirect progress” on the current little project. Indirect in the sense that, for example, if your project was to build a brick wall:

• direct progress could be summed up as adding bricks
• indirect progress might be things like: figuring out a more efficient brick-laying method, developing better mortar, etc.

The wall isn’t any higher than the last time I wrote here, not really – and maybe by some points of view that’s all that matters. But for my purposes I’m satisfied with the progress that’s been made since, indirect or not.

For whatever it’s worth, the dialogue (picture above) has been polished again – to a place that I am 99% satisfied with, and confident that I know what will be said on each page (which gives me a solid idea of how many pages I’ll actually be working with)

There’s been a lot of waffling back and forth over producing the finished pages digitally (Photoshop via Tablet) or traditionally (pencils & ink, scanned into Ps and cleaned up)

Last month I finished about five pages digitally before realizing the pace was just too slow. Slower than the scope of a small project calls for. The digital pages were taking 2+ hours to complete, and at 28 pages and a 4″ by 4″ page size . . . it just didn’t add up.

Above are some updated thumbnails and sketches of me messing around with the character design.

That’s all for now

-Taylor

 

Page Process

pencil sketch

digital sketch over pencils

final digital linework

So it’s the new year and I’ve set myself a schedule for finishing the Seed project. I’m working on the pages in sets of 5, estimating that the finished product will be somewhere between 25-30 pages.

It’s going well so far

Sketch Stream

I recorded (streamed) a quick sketch before work today. Mostly to test the software, but there was a distinct (& enjoyable) aspect of drawing while being aware that my process was being recorded.

finished version of today’s sketch

My knowledge of photoshop is really pretty rudimentary, but I’ve got a working knowledge that’s sufficient to get me by (for now)

It’s interesting to go back and watch myself draw – it’s easier to see strengths and weaknesses, realize where I’m slacking off and where I’m improving.

I’d like to keep doing these, even if it’s just for fun (and my own sake)

-Taylor

Evening Sketch

done with a regular ol’ “uni-ball Stick Micro Point Roller Ball Pen” (not exactly a pen intended for drawing, but it’s one of my favorites)

 

-Taylor

Character Drawing

Even as the thumbnails are finished I seem unable to stop modifying (hopefully improving) the character designs for the Seed project. I’ve also spent some time refurbishing some plot details after coming to terms with the fact that using time travel as a pillar of your narrative immediately creates an endless stream of unanswered and exhausting questions. Why didn’t the characters just do X Y or Z? If they change the past won’t that affect the blah blah blah blah.

It’s simply too massive of a concept to cram into what is supposed to be a very small story. Seed is meant to be an introduction to an introduction, as in the barest framework/outline of a larger WORLD world world *echo*

All for now. I’m going to try and upload a very boring video of me doing the linework for one of the above drawings, if you happen to have 8 minutes to waste.

-Taylor