This was drawn pretty fast and I like the result. I can now say bluntly that the slow pace of my publishing is due to anxiety instead of technical disabilities. Sometimes I only wish I were another person.
DONE WITH PANEL 14
Tag: fast drawing
AMBIENCE
Stories, regardless of the media, are all about ambience, atmosphere, sensation. Plot and meaning are just part of the tools. Consciously or not, authors and artists seek the expression of feeling, as accurately as possible. Most audiences will feel differently and in unexpected ways, close or far away from the original and undefinable purpose.
Ambience can be brought through exquisite sequences of words, sounds, colors and visual shapes, and by the composition and design of a single image or object. This is also called style and each author or artist has a personal one. This uniqueness of style and expression is sometimes called voice.
Comics might be my favorite microphone to convey the ambience of my feelings. It is all immediate, when drawing fast enough. This panel of CHRONOS, without words, was particularly joyful on the making. I really feel the urge to accelerate production. It will happen soon.
Phone Calls
I am now a real estate agent, a business consultant. I am paid on commission. I must excel on real estate raising and salesman talk. Next month I will lose my steady monthly income as a school teacher. I’m embracing change as best as I can. Most of my days now consist of making phone calls to house owners offering my salesman services.
“Hi! Is this Mrs Doe? Are you the owner of a T2 apartment for sale? My name is Nuno Neves and I’m a business consultant from Home Tailors Real Estate. I would like to offer my services.”
I became one of those guys harassing people on the phone. Here I am, studying basic selling psychology with Dale Carnegie in order to get a living. It’s been fun, so far. I am not that much of an harasser and most people on the phone are being nice to me. Persistence is key now. Meanwhile, I’m drawing faster!
Page Two Again!
Things are moving. Drawing as if writing. No pencil sketch. Only dialogue and fast doodles on a notebook before drawing directly with pen and markers. It’s clumsy, expressive and intuitive. Hopefully, as the story develops, with moments of intellect. Sometimes I fear to be a fool or an idiot. It’s a consequence of being so focused on myself and my work. Perhaps being exposed on the Internet might give me some clues about the path I’m taking. Let’s wait for people’s reactions…
Drawing Video 20 – “Take The Long Way Home”, by Supertramp
Black Pen And Markers
I am really enjoying getting back to black markers. It’s much more intuitive and spontaneous to me. Now I previously write the text of the page on a notebook inside empty panels, just to map things up in my mind and enable myself to draw directly, without pencil sketching. Finally I am getting fast enough to shorten the gap between thought and materialization in an effective matter. It only takes discipline to get the work done and tune up technique in the meantime.
Again!
Now I am trying to draw directly with pen and markers, with no pencil sketching. In my opinion, the result is more synthetic and much more expressive. Drawing becomes much closer to writing and vice-versa. The gap between thought and final work is getting shorter. Let’s see if this is the time I won’t get bored! I’ve decided not to think about color right now. It takes too much time. Perhaps later I’ll try drawing directly with ink and watercolors. Now it’s time for black and white.
Still Trying
Here is another Page 1. This time I draw directly with pen and paintbrush. No pencil needed. Than I scanned the drawings and paint them on the computer. The painting process still takes too much time. And it is not as fun as with watercolors. I’m considering living it all in black and white. Let’s see how it goes.
Starting All Over
I do this plenty of times. No wonder things don’t get done. The graphic novel is back to square one. Page one, taking it literally. The reason? Same as usual. Boredom. Getting fed up with the slowness of the technique.
As I mentioned plenty of times in my videos, I want to draw fast. The purpose is to shorten the time between the idea and its concretion, keeping emotion and spontaneity as vivid as possible. When writing, phrases come to our mind and gain existence immediately, with concepts presented as they are written or pronounced. Corrections can be made, but the connection to the final result is pretty much straightforward. I want to achieve the same process while drawing. Otherwise I get bored.
I’m back to pages with less and bigger drawings. This time they will be even more simplified. More synthesis and expression and less realism. I will not watercolor the drawings and that allows me to use markers instead of the paintbrush for blotting shadows and volume, particularly in small areas. Colors will be added digitally, using the paint bucket. The final result might be clearer and more expressive drawings, perhaps a bit cartoonish.
Will it work?
On Store Today (December 10, 2020)
