I’m not hitting a wall! No sir, I’m removing it!

Feb01
by on February 1, 2020 at 6:03 pm
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

With my bad luck this week (which went on in to this morning) it’s taking me a stupid amount of time to get issue #14 finished and it’s beginning to get a bit tedious!

I’ve already updated the pages and gone through my first run of colouring but now I’m finding there’s panels that really need fixing that I passed on my first update! Like… this!

Like, why did I put a wall on the third left of the screen? Well yes, I just wanted something in the background that wouldn’t take you away from Lloyd’s speach bubble but a wall? And so close up it just looked like a block? And like, there’s not even a wall that close to the characters!

So yeah, things like this are putting me further and further back. 

Especially as originally I put in a bunch of aliens in the background on my first attempt at updating this only to then feel that I’d done that on the previous page so went with a blank background instead.

I need to finish this book before I go crazy!

But yes, wall is gone. And although I’m also hitting a mental wall I’m going to smash through it and get this book done! Dang it!

More updates to follow!!!

Bear hugs!

The week of bluh.

Feb01
by on February 1, 2020 at 7:30 am
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

I had taken a stab at this post a few days ago but it came off a bit whiney so I’m doing a redo.

Okay, so the art package that I use sadly stopped working last weekend and although I was annoyed at first as I had work to do I seem to have gone through a bit of a journey.

So I use Paintshop Pro 7.04 and yes it’s old but it does what I need and that’s great but for some reason since the weekend I found some of the features that I use would make it close. I mean, it would freeze for a bit but then close. Floomp. I tried to run a repair, fix permissions and even reinstall (and on another PC as well to compare it) but it was not to be.

And I felt sad because I LOVED this package and have been using it for an absolute age. But I realised that it was time to move on and trial the latest version of Paintshop and get my head around the new features but more importantly get the basics back that I know and love from 7.04. And this took a few days, which meant a few days of not doing any artwork. And that felt horrible.

Here’s the thing, whenever anyone compliments my work I don’t quite get it. In part it’s because I don’t take compliments well (and there’s a bit of old school Britishness stiff upper lip mixed in to that) but I also think that it’s not a big deal. Like, I’ve been drawing for as long as I remember so it’s just a part of my life. Like breathing or talking to yourself when there’s no one else around (we all do that, yeah?)

So here I was not only being unable to do any artwork but also not sure if I’d be able to carry on with my LatB project as I had been (with the style I use) and it really got me down.

BUT I got on with it and I’m currently getting my head around the new art package. There’s lots of cool things in there to discover but for now I’m getting to do the things I need to do. The more important thing though is that I’ve realised my self-worth from my time away from doing art and that I should appreciate what I can do.

It’s a thing, and it’s cool, and I’m all newly proud of that!

Is there a moral to this story?

Keep working hard? Appreciate what you do? Don’t admit that you talk to yourself?

I don’t know, but I’m oddly happy with how things worked out! I mean, I have to now go and pay for said art package but hey, I’m feeling better about myself so that’s cool.

This week has been a bit poo and I really just wanted to share my story so I hope that’s okay.

More soon!

Bear hugs!

Well gosh, I’m lazy!

Jan21
by on January 21, 2020 at 7:49 pm
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

No, I don’t mean my ability to get my weekly update out (which is currently two weeks behind by my reckoning) but more how I noticed that I really made no effort with Rizos’ skin colour first time round with issue #14!

What do I mean? Well you see (I figure clearly to cut corners and speed things up) I gave her the same skin colour as Lloyd! I guess because they’re so rarely in the same panel that I wasn’t worried about them blending together.

Anyways, I’ve gone and done a few updates…

On the left is Rizos from when we first saw her in issue #14 and then her updated look on the right.

This all came about when I realised that I had done a highlight around all of Rizos except for got her skin tone wrong (in that I used the highlight should be her regularly lit colour). I figured the the best call (okay, and maybe a bit lazy?) would be to course correct her skin colour throughout the issue rather than the colour of all her clothes.

But the good thing is that this stopped a nagging tickle I had at the back of my mind that something was amiss and yes, that was that I was using the same colour palette for two of the main characters. Whoops.

As a side note, I can’t help but feel that Rizos’ height has been increased since the updates but that’s all down to the extra body to her hair. I don’t know, I kinda find it funny but also cool how big a difference that’s made!

More very soon!

Bear hugs!

PS. Sorry for the lack of updates. I don’t colour a page at a time but rather groups of four or five so it’s been proving difficult to show you any finished work! That shouldn’t be the case going forward for the next few updates as I near the end of issue #14!

The vegan Mac Factory experience!

Jan14
by on January 14, 2020 at 6:14 pm
Posted In: The Mac Daddy G

It’s Veganuary and The Mac Factory, along with opening up a new store in Putney, has also released a vegan Mac & Cheese!

And hey, I’ve already done a few Mac Factory reviews which have always been positive so I’ve gone and brought along my (much) better half – and 100% vegan – to ensure that this review is 100% impartial!

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

New non-LatB idea!

Jan05
by on January 5, 2020 at 6:59 pm
Posted In: Lloyd and the Bear

And I really need a wee box to the left here to show that it’s different from the other things we’re doing just now! But hey, it’s early days. Like, very early days!

But still, it’s giving me an idea of what I’m capable off and what I need to do going forward and where to improve (Um, all of it?)

And this has been the culmination of my holidays! Erm….

Tomorrow, I’m beginning colouring issue #14 of LatB! Yay! Familiar territory!

More soon! Bear hugs!