Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you enjoyed our little retrospective of the year in Slightly Off-Topic drawing styles. It shows how far we’ve come and how much farther we have to go.
So, I guess it’s time for resolutions, eh? What to do… what to do… Well, (for those reading on one of the mirrors) here are my slightly-off-topic-related resolutions:
- I hereby resolve not to miss any update days in 2009 – Okay, so it’s not like I missed many days in ’08, but when I travel for work, I definitely need to plan ahead better. If I’m not working from a buffer, I need to verify that internet access will actually be available and… I don’t know… MAKE SURE I BRING MY STYLUS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Meh… scratch all of that, I need to work from a buffer. No problems with a week or two of comics already made, right?!?
- I hereby resolve to learn to draw – Let’s face it, mostly I’m a tracer, Brit handles the sketches, and I’ll ask her to work on her skills, as well. I, however, will work to develop actual drawing skills so that my inking brings more life to the images. I have been playing with color a lot lately. It’s been experimental. I’ve been trying to teach myself to see the strip in color. See what colors work well, what doesn’t. It does seem worth the effort as it makes things pop a bit more. This becomes this*, and I think the effort is worth it. Shading, however, is an art that has, thus far, escaped me. I realize the technique should be obvious, but I’m often left staring at the flatted colors not knowing where to begin with shading, so I’ll work on that, and maybe, just maybe, we’ll see shaded images this time next year.
- I hereby resolve to learn Photoshop – I use photoshop and comic life to draw these strips, and I’m comfortable with them. I installed CS4 today, however, and the modified interface through me for a bit of a loop. It’s quite different. On top of that, I really don’t know as much about photoshop as I should, it’s very powerful, but I use it as paintshop with layers. I will improve! I have a gift card for Barnes and Nobles and will be picking up a book. More importantly, I’ll actually read the freaking thing in order to… you know learn. As per which book I’ll buy… well… I’m still waiting for you guys to tell me. Recommendations, please.
- I hereby resolve to keep loving Slightly Off-Topic – This started as a social engineering project to keep my daughter working in school. That hasn’t changed, but I have to admit, talent or not, I really enjoy doing this! It’s fun, I love it. I hope you enjoy it to!
* I’ll probably never be really happy with this drawing until I redraw it completely, but the coloring certainly helped…
For the book, try to find one from the “Missing Manuals” series. I read one when I first got my Mac Mini after having a PC, and the thing was AMAZING! Crystal clear instructions, with a bit of humor thrown in to remind you that an actual person wrote it. ^^
As it happens, that book comes out on the fifth, so I guess I’ll pop to the bookstore this week and have a look. I figure it will either be that or the Photoshop CS4 Bible.
Dave
so how did that not missing any updates in 2009 go?
It wasn’t actually bad. There was a FTR series and some TC’s while I was sick, but mostly the updates came. No hiatuses. I need to stop updating at noon, though. I think people prefer midnight updates.