having a blast with it even though it's probably the hardest work I've done in a long while. I'm very pleased with most all of it, and yet I can already see where I can do even better the next time, and that's a good feeling for an artist to have... it drives you on to that next job, and fuels the burn to improve.

One thing that finally came around is that I succumbed to the inevitable and got a Paypal account. This means I really don't have an excuse to turn down at least some of the commission work that's been asked for by some of you, and so expect something to turn on that front in the next month or so. As I'm going to be dedicating the majority of my focus to the aforementioned unmentionable animation project, I'm thinking for the moment I'll open four slots strictly for a certain type of commission: character illustration, probably focused for gamers. I've been canvassing other people who take commissions on DA through Paypal, so I think I've got a handle on price, but I'll try to keep it reasonably low... I know things are getting tight out there for everyone. Hell... why do you think I'm taking commissions?



So if you've been thinking you'd like me to draw something for you, save up your pennies and gather your references and descriptions. I'll probably offer a small discount for anyone who provides visual references as well as descriptions, even if that reference is your stick figure scribbles. It makes my job so much easier.







In our last chapter, I promised to talk a little about something I've noticed both in my own work and the work of a large number of student artists that I've met. It has to do with sketching, and something I remember doing myself a lot back when I first began... it's called "clean sketching".

It stems from what is, as near as I can tell, a misunderstanding of what a sketch is for. A sketch is a drawing intended to lay out ideas and form a basic compositional structure. It's the framework of a drawing, and it doesn't ever need to be "clean". All too often I see sketches where the artist did not draw out the underlying structure of what they were trying to illustrate... the framework isn't there, (and I don't mean erased, I mean it was never laid down), and as a result their work is often plagued with asymmetry and misproportion. The eyes are off-balance, the fingers are misshapen, the arms are out of proportion to the torso, etc. And worst of all, their lines are weak and shaky, lacking confidence and definition.

This happens when the artist wants to achieve the same sort of polished, clean look that they see in the roughs drawn by the artists that they admire and aspire to match, but what they don't often realize is that those artists are A)greatly more experienced and 2)often cleaning up behind themselves, even when showing what they consider to be "sketch" work. With digital artists this is even more likely, because we can so easily hide all that rough preliminary work by simply turning off the Layers.

Without a clear understanding of underlying structure, the artist leaves themselves open to mistakes that weaken the drawing on a fundamental level. It's not enough to conceptualize the basic shapes and the guides which help the illustrator to build a strong composition. You have to DRAW them, set them down in physical form and use them as the framework upon which you hang the finer details of your illustration. This is especially true of artists who are still learning all the tricks... when you're still learning anatomy and perspective, that's NOT the time to try and skip drawing those elements out at the sketch stage. Drawing a sketch without putting down the framework is like building a house by starting with the drywall.

There's a difference between a "clean sketch" and "clean pencils". Clean pencils are usually a pencil sketch that's been cleaned up, where the artist either drew the construction work with a different color pencil (red or blue, usually) that's been stripped out of the work digitally, or by going in and gently erasing their rough work where it shows, or by lightboxing their sketches, which is essentially what a digital artist often does. But just because it looks clean, it doesn't mean that work wasn't done.

Stop trying to sketch clean. If a clean sketchy look is your objective, then clean up your work after you've done it. Part of being a sketch is having those structural lines visible to the audience anyhow, and you're not doing yourself any favors by attempting to save time or avoid difficult math. A sketch is meant to be messy, it's the stage in the drawing when you're supposed to make mistakes and try out things that don't work. Don't escape it, embrace it. The sooner you do, the better you'll get at understanding not just how things look, but how they're built, and that comes in useful at pretty much every step along the way from concept to completion.







So that's enough dictatorial lecturing from me for tonight. If you got any questions or responses, feel free to speak up. In the meantime, I'll try to find something to post if I can. There's going to be an avalanche of fantasy lineart coming down the pipe in a couple months as the book goes to print, but I've got to keep them under wraps until the publisher pulls the trigger. And of course, when the animation project goes live I'll have all sorts of kick-ass content. Joe is Japanese shorts 3 and 4 both remain in post-production hell, but there's nothing I can do about that... I do have some artwork for the series I can post, but I've been loathe to tweak people's interest in the series without a good idea of when the next part will go public... otherwise it just feels like I'm teasing the audience and wearing you out waiting. But I can say that the subtitles for the Japanese audio was being laid out last week, so it lives on. It's just going very... very... slowly.

Books I been reading: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, awesome. Air Gear vol. 07, awesome and naughty. Berserk vol. 22, awesome and epic (and still not for kids). Check 'em out.