Jerry (a "summon"), and some more kitchen baddies.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Kitchen pixels.
Playing around with some concept art for an extremely short RPG. (Read: something that might actually get done.) The story? Culinary-themed. The major brainstorm that set me off was a boss that starts as the cute Grease Fire and becomes the Grease Elemental. Cue the dramatic music! (Preferably something from Final Fantasy 4.)
I have been busy roller derby training, then recovering from a roller derby injury. Suddenly I felt like making art again, so there you go!
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Radical acceptance.
I've been doing a lot of reflecting lately on what exactly it is that I'm doing. What am I trying to achieve as an artist? And can I really do it?
Without this turning into a therapy session, I'll mention that when I was growing up, I came to the conclusion that I had to have a full-time career as an artist. Had to. I had to achieve something amazing, and if I didn't do that, well, no one would ever love or respect me, and my life would be a huge waste. I had to be the best of the best or I couldn't hold my head up. No pressure, right?
I've been bashing this same cranium against the wall for a lot of years, trying to find the magic formula that would enable me to make art a lucrative, respected, "successful" facet of my life. But this has been problematic. First of all, I'm bipolar, so I naturally go through periods where I love things and want to do them all day long - and then hate the entire world and can't summon the energy to feed myself. Throw those extremes around every few weeks and it's difficult to stick to anything. Secondly? I'm not as skilled as I would like. I have a natural talent with the arts that I take for granted, and so I've never established a drive to hone or polish skills - I'll always be sub-par technically because I'm just not interested in being technically "good". Last, growing mentally and emotionally - as a means to survive - has meant trying to accept that I have a right to exist no matter how "successful" I am, and that the pursuit of some external source of validation just creates more distance between me and what really matters in my life. American culture places a lot of value on people who destroy their health, their families, and their humanity for the sake of achieving some abstract goal - but that just doesn't sit well with most people. Most of us would rather be comfortable, healthy, and modest in our lives, and that kind of achievement isn't worth it to us. We idolize some heroes that were total assholes, but it's OK because they made some good films, or wrote a good book. There's a lot there to think about.
I've tried a lot of different times to pursue a lot of different art projects, but it would fizzle out after - at best - a couple months. I'd repeat this cycle over and over again without really taking in the lesson that's being bashed over my head. WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING? WHY CAN'T I BE A GOOD ARTIST? WHAT'S A GIRL GOTTA DO TO BE ADORED BY MILLIONS, HERE?
This year, I had a renewed spurt of energy as I decided that THIS time would be different, and THIS time I would really, really try. (Like I hadn't been trying the other 1,000 times I had a great idea for an art project.) It's like attempting to ride a bike by waving your arms; flail as you might, you're not using the right kind of energy to get anywhere. Recently, I fell off the metaphorical bicycle and had to accept that - whether I admitted it in a placeholder image or not - I was taking a break from my webcomic.
Everything I've read says that, if you want to be successful as a comic artist, you have to be doing it every day, and you have to keep at it for years before anyone gives a crap about your work, and you have to be able to slog through the monotony, page after page after page, and learn to enjoy it for what it is.
I just published my first book in an attempt to validate my place as a "real" artist and know that, if I take a break now, it means that I just don't have the long-term discipline and chutzpah to be up there with my comic-creating idols. This is the time to be creating, and promoting, and showing the world everything I've got; but... I'm taking a break. I have too many other interests, and while meds and therapy are helping them to get a little further apart, the mood swings are a hell of an obstacle to overcome. It's disappointing, to put it mildly, to look at facts and say "Maybe this goal I've dreamed up isn't really healthy or realistic, and pursuing it is just hurting me". It's also difficult to not throw it away, cursing the heavens with something like, "Why do any art at all? What's the point?!".
I know myself better than that, though. I've drawn comics since I was a little kid. I love reading 'em, thinking about 'em, scheming 'em up. Just because I'm not going to join the Mile High club of creators and sign merch at cons doesn't mean I'm not allowed to like a thing. I'm sure in another couple of months you won't be able to tear me away from my drawing table. I'll cycle in and out of it like I always do. And I will still have "fans" cheering me on and enjoying my stuff. It might not be in the millions, or even the dozens, but it's enough.
This notion of my art career not being like OTHER people's art careers bothers the hell out of me only because I don't accept it. I realized recently that, the point of Don't Call Me Candy is that it's my stories, and reflective of my experiences. Taking a break because I'd rather be doing something like, say, training for roller derby, or creating pixel art, or baking cupcakes for my family, or playing video games, or hanging out with friends, is just that much more faithful to who I am and what I'm about. And when I look at all of the other stuff that I do, I realize I'm pretty cool, and those things are good, and worthwhile, in their own way.
I'm not great at being a world-famous, critically-acclaimed, top-tier comics creator. But I'm pretty darned good at being me. What else should I be doing if not the things that interest me and make me feel good?
Hopefully someday this act of "being me" will feel like "enough". Even now I've got tears welling up thinking about the things I could or should be, and how I'm a miserable failure.
So, right now, I'm not making comics. I will again sometime - I don't know when. And I want to try to just let that be OK.
Without this turning into a therapy session, I'll mention that when I was growing up, I came to the conclusion that I had to have a full-time career as an artist. Had to. I had to achieve something amazing, and if I didn't do that, well, no one would ever love or respect me, and my life would be a huge waste. I had to be the best of the best or I couldn't hold my head up. No pressure, right?
I've been bashing this same cranium against the wall for a lot of years, trying to find the magic formula that would enable me to make art a lucrative, respected, "successful" facet of my life. But this has been problematic. First of all, I'm bipolar, so I naturally go through periods where I love things and want to do them all day long - and then hate the entire world and can't summon the energy to feed myself. Throw those extremes around every few weeks and it's difficult to stick to anything. Secondly? I'm not as skilled as I would like. I have a natural talent with the arts that I take for granted, and so I've never established a drive to hone or polish skills - I'll always be sub-par technically because I'm just not interested in being technically "good". Last, growing mentally and emotionally - as a means to survive - has meant trying to accept that I have a right to exist no matter how "successful" I am, and that the pursuit of some external source of validation just creates more distance between me and what really matters in my life. American culture places a lot of value on people who destroy their health, their families, and their humanity for the sake of achieving some abstract goal - but that just doesn't sit well with most people. Most of us would rather be comfortable, healthy, and modest in our lives, and that kind of achievement isn't worth it to us. We idolize some heroes that were total assholes, but it's OK because they made some good films, or wrote a good book. There's a lot there to think about.
I've tried a lot of different times to pursue a lot of different art projects, but it would fizzle out after - at best - a couple months. I'd repeat this cycle over and over again without really taking in the lesson that's being bashed over my head. WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING? WHY CAN'T I BE A GOOD ARTIST? WHAT'S A GIRL GOTTA DO TO BE ADORED BY MILLIONS, HERE?
This year, I had a renewed spurt of energy as I decided that THIS time would be different, and THIS time I would really, really try. (Like I hadn't been trying the other 1,000 times I had a great idea for an art project.) It's like attempting to ride a bike by waving your arms; flail as you might, you're not using the right kind of energy to get anywhere. Recently, I fell off the metaphorical bicycle and had to accept that - whether I admitted it in a placeholder image or not - I was taking a break from my webcomic.
Everything I've read says that, if you want to be successful as a comic artist, you have to be doing it every day, and you have to keep at it for years before anyone gives a crap about your work, and you have to be able to slog through the monotony, page after page after page, and learn to enjoy it for what it is.
I just published my first book in an attempt to validate my place as a "real" artist and know that, if I take a break now, it means that I just don't have the long-term discipline and chutzpah to be up there with my comic-creating idols. This is the time to be creating, and promoting, and showing the world everything I've got; but... I'm taking a break. I have too many other interests, and while meds and therapy are helping them to get a little further apart, the mood swings are a hell of an obstacle to overcome. It's disappointing, to put it mildly, to look at facts and say "Maybe this goal I've dreamed up isn't really healthy or realistic, and pursuing it is just hurting me". It's also difficult to not throw it away, cursing the heavens with something like, "Why do any art at all? What's the point?!".
I know myself better than that, though. I've drawn comics since I was a little kid. I love reading 'em, thinking about 'em, scheming 'em up. Just because I'm not going to join the Mile High club of creators and sign merch at cons doesn't mean I'm not allowed to like a thing. I'm sure in another couple of months you won't be able to tear me away from my drawing table. I'll cycle in and out of it like I always do. And I will still have "fans" cheering me on and enjoying my stuff. It might not be in the millions, or even the dozens, but it's enough.
This notion of my art career not being like OTHER people's art careers bothers the hell out of me only because I don't accept it. I realized recently that, the point of Don't Call Me Candy is that it's my stories, and reflective of my experiences. Taking a break because I'd rather be doing something like, say, training for roller derby, or creating pixel art, or baking cupcakes for my family, or playing video games, or hanging out with friends, is just that much more faithful to who I am and what I'm about. And when I look at all of the other stuff that I do, I realize I'm pretty cool, and those things are good, and worthwhile, in their own way.
I'm not great at being a world-famous, critically-acclaimed, top-tier comics creator. But I'm pretty darned good at being me. What else should I be doing if not the things that interest me and make me feel good?
Hopefully someday this act of "being me" will feel like "enough". Even now I've got tears welling up thinking about the things I could or should be, and how I'm a miserable failure.
So, right now, I'm not making comics. I will again sometime - I don't know when. And I want to try to just let that be OK.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Don't Call Me Candy now available at Schuler Books!
You can now find my first book at Schuler Books in Grand Rapids, Michigan! They also have a ton of other excellent graphic novels, so why not check it out?
They put it next to Saga, for cryin' out loud. Now that's how you can make a girl happy.
They put it next to Saga, for cryin' out loud. Now that's how you can make a girl happy.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
A return to pixel art.
I'm going through one of those phases when I wonder what the hell is wrong with me investing so much time in comics, and I just hate them, and hate drawing, and WHAT IS HAPPENING, SO MANY FEELS.
It'll pass. It always does. It's just part of my glorious brain chemistry cycle, or the wrath of a vengeful God, or whatever you're most comfortable pinning it on. I tend to just grumble the word "bipolar" and wait for it to pass.
In the meantime, though, pixel art!
Each alternating white/gray square is 32 pixels. Yes, I'm finally doing my art with actual game mechanics in mind. This will be the only house of this type in the game, so I don't mind that it's not really a reusable "tileset" and will be a slider puzzle when it comes time to put it in the game maker. My main goal is to get the house looking good, and I think I've achieved that.
It'll pass. It always does. It's just part of my glorious brain chemistry cycle, or the wrath of a vengeful God, or whatever you're most comfortable pinning it on. I tend to just grumble the word "bipolar" and wait for it to pass.
In the meantime, though, pixel art!
Each alternating white/gray square is 32 pixels. Yes, I'm finally doing my art with actual game mechanics in mind. This will be the only house of this type in the game, so I don't mind that it's not really a reusable "tileset" and will be a slider puzzle when it comes time to put it in the game maker. My main goal is to get the house looking good, and I think I've achieved that.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
*Blows dust*
I've really let this place go, haven't I?
Well. News!
1. MY FIRST BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY HERE. It's a collection of the first year of Don't Call Me Candy strips. If you get your order in with the limited quantity, you get a hand-numbered edition and I will happily sign and write sweet nothings in it. I'm talking to local bookstores, as well, to see if anyone wants to carry some copies. If your store might be interested, drop me a line.
2. I am trying to steadily work on my fantasy comic, Tab'rin. There is not a regular upload schedule, but if you're into it, check it out once a week or so. I'm uploading it publicly to create some accountability for myself. (All too often I'll start doing the graphic novel "for real this time" only to become dissatisfied with the art and throw it all out. NO LONGER. For better or worse, the pages that are up are for keeps.)
3. A dear friend of mine asked me to design a tattoo and she's going to have it done! Behold a stylized edelweiss. Did you know that the real thing is impossibly furry and even a little grody-looking? Anydangway, she is a big Sound Of Music fan, and I know there's more to the story of the flower than that, but that's for her to know and me to just shut up and draw.
Well. News!
1. MY FIRST BOOK IS AVAILABLE TO BUY HERE. It's a collection of the first year of Don't Call Me Candy strips. If you get your order in with the limited quantity, you get a hand-numbered edition and I will happily sign and write sweet nothings in it. I'm talking to local bookstores, as well, to see if anyone wants to carry some copies. If your store might be interested, drop me a line.
2. I am trying to steadily work on my fantasy comic, Tab'rin. There is not a regular upload schedule, but if you're into it, check it out once a week or so. I'm uploading it publicly to create some accountability for myself. (All too often I'll start doing the graphic novel "for real this time" only to become dissatisfied with the art and throw it all out. NO LONGER. For better or worse, the pages that are up are for keeps.)
3. A dear friend of mine asked me to design a tattoo and she's going to have it done! Behold a stylized edelweiss. Did you know that the real thing is impossibly furry and even a little grody-looking? Anydangway, she is a big Sound Of Music fan, and I know there's more to the story of the flower than that, but that's for her to know and me to just shut up and draw.
Friday, February 28, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
More blue collar fun.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Minecraft!
Yup. It got to me, too. The FRENZYYY.
I am building a city. All the structures are arranged more or less how I think a city might end up planned and lived in, socioeconomically/commercially. Because I am a huge nerd.
Along with what you see above, I have also built:
Again, because I am a huge nerd. It is so SOOTHING, though. Ermagerd.
Rich people houses!
Main Street, Anytown, USA.
Along with what you see above, I have also built:
- An art gallery
- A courthouse
- A pub
- A food cart
- A butcher shop
- A church
- A corporate headquarters
- A public rail (minecart) system
Again, because I am a huge nerd. It is so SOOTHING, though. Ermagerd.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Katamari prince.
A body pillow case is hard to find, and I couldn't help but notice that the dimensions were pretty perfect for a homemade case anyway. My body pillow is now extra snuggly!
Look out, kitty! You're gonna get rolled up!
Terra.
Another friend wanted a Terra. While the FF4 field sprites fit a standard frame perfectly, the FF6 sprites are just those couple pixels taller, which poses a problem. I solved this by using Terra's crouching sprite. Fits in a 2.5x3.5" frame again! My friend and I discussed our love for struggling, emotionally charged green-haired heroines so it seemed an even more appropriate pose.
Poor Terra!
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