2012 Sketch Dump + Wake Up Call

Life has been a bit off and on lately with comics/writing. Some days I get extremely motivated, and some days I don't feel like doing anything at all. I've been trying to get myself to write or sketch a little everyday but things usually get in the way. Still I'm finally getting wisps of inspiration to get stuff done!

I was planning on taking some classes online for Summer Semester but I ended up dropping them. Mostly because I couldn't see spending money on books I probably won't use again and thought I could learn from books instead. The classes are online and I feel that I pretty much have to teach myself when I take classes online anyways so I might as well do it free from books at the library or something. lol Not that you shouldn't take classes online, I just couldn't get myself motivated to do it, especially since the classes will be during summer.

Just read a fairly entertaining book and when I like a book I flip to the back to read about the author. Unfortunately, it turned out the author lost her battle with cancer in 2011 so the book I read was her first and last book. That made me sad because I would have loved to read more of her books. It wasn't perfect but it had potential and I loved the characters. It made me sad that I will not get to see these characters grow and flourish any more than that. The author wasn't even much older than me.

Books to Comics and Books to Movies

I've been thinking a lot lately about how so many books/comics are being turned into movies. With the growth of technology, it's no wonder the movie industry is taking advantage of the situation. The popular book to movie adaptations such as Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Jurassic Park, and yes, Twilight all have a huge fan following. Furthermore, popular comic to movie adaptions are X-Men, Spiderman, and The Avengers also have a huge fan base. The movie industry uses that to their advantage by building a hype which could generate more box office sales.

I'm not saying this is bad. Actually I'm quite excited to see books and comics I like turn into movies. However, more often than not I find the movies just don't live up to my expectations as much when compared to the books. That's just my personal opinion since I know people interpret books differently than what's displayed on the screen. Still I have to say I can be disappointed by such a big hype and having my hopes up only to be squashed at the end of the 2 or so hours. Therefore it's easier if I don't get as excited because then I won't be as disappointed if a movie does not live up to my expectations.

Making Time for Comics

How have you guys been scheduling time for comics?

Well I guess I should mention that I work by stages or phases. I do story/script, thumbnails, blue pencils, ink, bubbles, then tone all separately. I don't finish page at a time and post it online since that doesn't seem to work easily for me. I like to do everything at once so I can get a feel of the flow and fix things as I go instead of realizing I made a mistake and go back to fix it after I already finished a page.

One of my biggest problems is that I have the hardest time starting. However, once I get started it's smooth sailing from there. XD I think I've lost that "Get it done" mentality that I had in high school. Well lately I've been getting better at controlling myself and have the "Stop thinking and just do it" mentality. I've been slowly working and getting the things I want done, not as fast as I would like but it's getting done nonetheless. :D

Do you have a ritual that you go through before you start? I do. I fill my cup up with a drink, go to the bathroom, check my feeds, then pull up some music. Once I'm settled I get that "get it done" mentality and I just get up and pull up the files/pages and get working. Then try to take a break every once in awhile. Get up and stretch, get a snack, or check up with the family. I just keep at it until it gets late and I'm ready to go to bed.

Creative Locations

I'm sure you all have a certain spot where you are the most creative or get the best ideas. May it be it in the shower, in the car, or on a walk. Maybe it in a coffee place or a library away from home.

The places I seem to get my best ideas are when I'm in bed, in a car, or taking a shower. Well normally any place I can daydream or stare off is when I can focus my thoughts on creating ideas usually for my stories. My favorite place is right before bed. However, I'm too lazy to write any of it down as I drift off in never-land. More than likely I'm able to remember the ideas until morning but sometimes I don't. I sometimes eventually remember the idea or it's not worth trying to remember.

I'm not exactly sure what it is that triggers my creativity. Perhaps it's the solitude where I can hear myself think or observing others and basing ideas off of them. Either way, just staying still and focusing my thoughts helps me isolate a problem and allows me to come up with ideas to solve it.

To contradict myself, sometimes I can't stay still for long and I have to move around or do something. If I get stuck on an idea I just do something else. Take a break. Clean or eat. While I move around doing something unrelated to my problem in my story I discover sometimes I find a solution. Maybe the idea is deep down in my subconscious and I just needed to take a break in order for it to surface in my brain. Strange, I know, but it works for me.

How about you guys? Do you have a special creative location? Where you guys get your best ideas? How do you come up with your best ideas, stories or otherwise? Please share your thoughts!

(If you're reading this right now I'm currently in Florida for 2 weeks. Late notice I know but no worries! I've scheduled some posts to be set up while I'm gone. If you're reading this then it was successful! Yay! Hope you guys are having a great week!) 

The Start of my Comic/Manga Obsession

(Sorry for the late post. I had it all typed out and I meant to schedule it for Friday but forgot...>_<;;)

Becca, the author of a great and useful comic blog I follow (Nattosoup.blogspot.com) had asked several good questions on Twitter.

She asked webcomic friends: How'd you get inspired, how was your start, how have you kept it going?

Well I thought those were some great questions and thought I'd share with you all how I became addicted attached to comics/manga. :)

My Start
How I first came across manga-styled art was actually when I was younger and watched cartoons. I actually came across Sailor Moon when watching TV but surprisingly that wasn't what made me fall in love with comics. XD

Story Predictability

I've been thinking about stories and how predictable they can be. I know a lot of you are creators/comic artists/writers, and if you've done your studying on creating a good story you would know the basics of a good story structure. Then based on that certain structure a writer could create good stories and plots. Good story-tellers follow them and great story-tellers follow and break them.

Lately I've found that I can predict some, not all, story plots in movies or TV shows. There are a few well told stories where I'm pleasantly surprised by the ending. That just increases my love for the movie/TV show/writers. How is it for you guys? Do you enjoy being able to predict the endings? Or would you rather enjoy a good surprise? I personally enjoy a good surprise. :)

As I've been writing and creating I feel as if my stories are too predictable and cliched. I want a good well-written plot with a twist ending. I know I can be my own worst critic but sometimes I feel that if a scene is too easy to figure out, I try to twist it so it's less predictable. Then it makes the story much more complicated. I don't know if the reader understands or can follow the story if I use that technique too much.

24 Hour Comic Day Lessons Learned

Haha, I know this is way behind but this is the closest I've been to finishing a comic. :D I know it was supposed to be done in 24 hours but I wanted to complete it anyways even if it's several months later. XD I'm almost done, just need to do a few more pages of backgrounds and cleaning up then tone it. It's a relief to be almost done since I now want to work on other more serious comic stories I wanted to do.

Although the story is a bit random and incomplete I'm still happy to have it almost completed. I think I'm sort of getting the hang of creating comic pages. I think I needed to find my rhythm in creating and once I got used to it; I was able to pump out more pages. :D I'm still experimenting with style and just have the story penciled but I plan on darkening the lines in Photoshop and tone on the computer. Although it's not a serious story, I still wanted to practice it as if it were a serious story. I have improved my art I think from a long time ago. I know I still have lots to learn but I'm happy to be able to see an improvement.

Importance of Support Groups

This is unfortunately a subject where I'm lacking. I'm kind of used to doing things solo, I mean, I can work in a group too but I always thought of comic-making as a solo thing. That is, unless you're collaborating with a partner or building a comic in an assembly line(pencils, ink, color, lettering etc). There isn't a wrong or right way to do it, but during those moments of despair or frustration, a support group would be great to turn to in those times of need.

Support groups are those who help give honest critique of your work and are there when you need them. They don't necessarily have to be your friends (but it sure does help! ^_~) so be open to the possibilities! They also can help you brainstorm for ideas if you get stuck. They can be great motivations if you like to slack or procrastinate (like me). They can give you fresh eyes or perspective that you may not have noticed or thought of while creating.

Unfortunately, I have driven some people away due to my anti-social behavior and reluctance to share my stories with others on the basis that I'm not very verbally articulate and think my stories are still raw. It may also be that I don't talk about it much so they don't even know that I draw comics. Not something I take outside, when I go out because I tend to go hang out with friends so drawing comics don't really cross my mind. I've been better trying to bring a small sketchbook/notebook to jot ideas or brainstorm during any dead time.

The Start of the Book Obsession

My current sketchbooks that I desperately want to finish but only about half way completed.

I figure some of you would like an introduction to why I started this blog. If not, feel free to skip it. XD With graduation behind me I began to wonder what I should do with my life. Since I love the manga story-telling style, I decided to try to work on my own webcomic which is why I established this blog. It was mainly to help me track my progress as slow as it might be to help motivate me and for the public to watch me grow.

As I learned more about the development of webcomics I learned the key component is to have a notebook/sketchbook wherever you go to help you brainstorm or remember ideas and jot them down before you forget. This was the start of my book paraphernalia obsession. I started to research the different types of sketchbooks/notebooks and just took off from there. I became entranced with the many possibilities you could fill a book with and fell in love with the diverse amount of designs covers and the textures of the paper.

Can Pen/Paper and Keyboard/Technology Coexist?

In my opinion, yes. There seems to be a slight divide of pen users who seem to prefer writing in longhand but there are others who just as prefer to type it all out on a computer. Perhaps it's the period in their lives when they learned to write or type which makes them prefer one over the other but I see the advantages in both.

In my elementary and middle school days almost everything was hand written. At the time I thought it was normal to have to write everything all out. My handwriting was legible but it got sloppy when I took notes. It wasn't the best but wasn't the worst. I also preferred pencil at the time because I made many mistakes and it looked neater than when I wrote in pen.

Between the end of middle school and high school, teachers began to require that we type up our essays or assignments instead of having them turned in handwritten. This transitioned into me learning to type since pretty much all the assignments had to be turned in typed and printed. Luckily I grew up using a computer in my home so I eventually learned to type fairly quick.