My oldest brother has a special gift and talent for building, fixing and packing. Whenever I have a difficult packing challenge I try to channel his ability. Did I succeed in my car packing? FIND OUT MONDAY ON The Pitt of Despair!!!
Seriously though, There is one more punch-line to cull from the post shower packing experience. Mundane I know, but I feel it’s worth it. There is also a fairly sharp rise in the amount of non-material this week so it’s not like you’re missing out on other great happenings to report.
In other news this is the third comic in a row where I feel I’m lacking art-wise. I have a theory. The trouble with us webcomic folk is that all of our drawings are on display. ALL of them. That means there are no skill-builder sketches that never see the light of day. There are no warm-up sketches. There are no exercises. No “actual” life-drawing. I draw based on photo-references that I take, and that’s it. It’s all laid out on the Bristol board. I am sure I will continue to improve incrementally this way, but that’s not good enough. I’m drawing ever closer to the one year mark with this project, and I am not nearly as far along as I feel I ought to be. Incremental is not good enough for me. I’m not averse to putting in the work or waiting for the result, I just want to do the RIGHT work. Practice CORRECTLY so that time will show more than incremental mediocrity.
I remember the last time that I had given up drawing for a while. It was to focus on my drumming and my teaching. I asked any and every drumming guru I could find what I could do to get better. They always said “practice practice practice”. What I never responded with, but always wanted to say was: “Well no KIDDING mister high and mighty. You DON’T SAY?! PRACTICE? And here I’ve just been farting on my drums for hours at a time for days at a time. Perhaps maybe you could tell me HOW to practice or WHAT to practice!” And then I would spit on their shoes only, I wouldn’t actually because I would be too busy kissing their booty and swallowing my pride.
I’m in a similar place artistically. That’s basically what I’m getting at.
That’s all I got for today. HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND FOLKS!
(((OuT)))
Gabriel Dunston
-PookeyG-
This comic (and the last one) are pleasant to look at. I don’t know anything about art, so if you say they’re not good, that’s up to you, but I think they’re pretty great.
The joke here is well executed. Neat.
This might not help more than practice..practice..practice, but there are three steps to perfecting anything. (Quoted from articles below.)
1. Focus on technique as opposed to outcome.
2. Set specific goals.
3. Get good, prompt feedback, and use it.
“The idea is that how good (or expert) you become at a skill has a lot more to do with how you go about doing your work than it has to do with merely performing the skill a large number of times or over a long length of time.”
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/how-did-a-rod-get-so-good/
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:kIZv_MdOshkJ:www.fcmath.org/HowtobecomeGreat.pdf+goals+technique+feedback+effortful+study&hl=en&gl=us&sig=AHIEtbS-vsTqw-myeDOx-bWeTclnj-_KoQ
For your cartoons, you’ve obviously set goals. I know you’re focusing on technique because you write about it. The feedback bit is tougher.
Feedback from me is useless; I’m uncultured, have no industry experience, and I like just about everything you do. I’d recommend finding an artist and a writer, and asking them to send you one or two notes about each strip. Maybe you can barter for their time or something. A little quality feedback that you can get over and over again and keep applying will make you greater.
Greater than last strip? Good luck with that!
At any of those conventions or shops you go to, are there any books or persons who could demonstrate and guide you with drawing/inking/etc techniques? Just a thought, but it does sound like you may be refering largely to technique with the “how/what to practice” line. Good luck!
(And I loved this comic – it looks like hope when you returned to the packing!)
Thanks Michelle! That has occurred to me and I do ask around. Sadly at conventions, in order to get the kind of instruction that I am after I have to become a “booth barnacle” which most folks tabling out there REALLY despise. Essentially I would take up so much time and attention I would block possible customers and spend time NOT buying their stuff.
Good idea though!
Thanks Adrian. That’s all very helpful. I’ll put it to good use. I have no IDEA why your comment wasn’t originally approved.
The delivery on this one is awesome! It made my evening when I read it last night.
I’m so glad to hear that Tim. Thanks for reading!
You could always exchange contact info for meeting up some time else (not at convention) if the opportunity arises and you feed them for it