Creative

Night probe redux

I tried fixing the trees in this drawing, then just removed them and swapped in an ocean, along with a cloudy-looking sky instead of a star-filled one.

I’m not sure that this is better so much as different. But I like messing around with the different elements.

I’ll, uh, draw other stuff, too, rather than iterate on this one forever. I swear!

Earlier versions here.

I am not an idea machine

Not his month, anyway. I’ts like my brain refuses to focus long enough to get out more than a few sentences.

But perhaps I will bloviate again and at length soon.

Also, the IV has been making my right arm itchy the last few days and I can’t scratch it. I must use sheer force of will to convince myself it does not itch.

Three more days and I am hopefully done on this particular journey.

Cat:

slick cat moves

On artists suffering for their art

I’m pretty confident that the person who came up with the expression never fully understood the subtle interplay between the pain and discomfort of, say, a prostate infection, and the creation of art. In my sample1ew of one, suffering does not lead to art, it leads to wanting the suffering to stop. I could draw a big happy face right now, then splatter it with Jackson Pollock-style blobs of colour, and it would not make my prostate infection go away.

If it could make my prostate infection go away, I’d be up to my pits in art as I typed this. I’d be typing from on top of my giant pile of art.

Instead, I’ve been taking antibiotics and resting. Neither of these produces art, but they ease my suffering.

When the suffering ends, I will draw a Gum Gum Person.

Drawing: Night probe

This is riffing on Chris Silverman’s work, which you can see here: notes.art

I tried to decide if the probe thingie should be drifting over:

  • Mountains
  • Trees
  • Water
  • Urban scenery

I went with my original pick (trees), but I struggled to get the trees looking like they fit the rest of the drawing. I also futzed with the probe a lot. Overall, I think it’s not bad. If I keep doing these, my own style will eventually emerge. Probably with Gum Gum People.

For reference, the brushes I used in Procreate were:

  • Artistic Crayon (mainly the probe)
  • 6B pencil (mostly for the highlights)
  • Dry Ink (fill)
  • Technical pen (fill, some outlines)

Bonus! Here’s a second version, with tweaks to the moon and with the starry backdrop greatly simplified. I think the ideal might be a cross between the two, but I’ll probably leave this for now and move onto something else.

The Devil wears tighty whities

There’s a social media account called Comics Outta Context. You can probably guess what it posts.

Today the account posted this, which raises questions:

Why is Shaggy in Hell? Why does the Devil have a pitchfork that looks like some $2 plastic job he grabbed from Spirit of Halloween? Is the Devil wearing a unitard or is he naked?

I decided I need to address at least some of this:

Thank you and good night.

Big dog comic, but darker

I’ve edited the comic from the original post, changing the sign on the booth and, curiously, the amount the kids have earned. The original was riffing more off the original, but was creepy enough that even I couldn’t abide it.

This one is just dark.

As an aside, we had a challenge years ago to “Make Marmad*ke funny” and my entries were invariably creepy or dark. The creepy ones tended to be very creepy. I think I’m good with dark now. And yes, I am deliberately not spelling out the giant dog’s name. You can probably figure it out, though!