[skullsquadron]

I’ve been fairly busy since the last time I posted anything.  I am never without things to do, and as much as I love doing these and anything else that is in my head, it’s hard to find the time through work, other art projects, life, and music!

For the last few months the band I’m in has been recording an album!  It’s so amazing that after so many years of toying with music that I finally have something to show.  I couldn’t be happier than to play bass (and occasional guitar) on an album!

So not only have I been working with the band on recording, but I was also designing the album art.  Do you know how hard it is to get 5 people to agree on anything?  I have learned.  But it’s all done now, and the album is out.  If you’re here, feel free to shoot over to our website and listen to it for free.  Or it’s on Spotify if you happen to be there. 

https://thesouthhill.com/collections/music/products/half-it-all

As for my mind’s thoughts (which I’m sure are fascinating....) on this particular comic, this sort of “gag” was one that I planned many years ago when I initially tried to start this webcomic (and failed...).  Initially I just had Roy show up in the comic before saying how he was there because he had important information to tell Rick.  Then the next comic was 8 panels of them sitting on a rock and not saying anything, and finally in the last panel Roy said...so, you got a haircut.  Which was all fine, but I decided I wanted to keep the story going with a few more word panels.  I think when I first started I just wanted to do things simply and repeat panels, but honestly as an artist that’s boring, so I like to do different things in panels now.  I like challenges.  So I have a hint of that initial idea...for one panel of silence, and then Roy just pumped about his “little brother” having finally gotten a haircut.  I think it’s the theme here.  I have referenced that haircut a lot.....I’ll probably never get off that one.  When all is said and done, when I finish, I’ll probably just title this whole thing “Rick’s haircut”

Anyway, as always, I apologize for the delay of posting this.  I had everything mostly drawn back in January....but as I said, things got in the way.  And the longer you stay away from something the more afraid you can become of it.  So I guess just get it done.  Flaws and all.  Unless you have the time, and then take the time!

[skullsquadron]

Life is often far crazier than you can ever get a handle on.  The second you start to grasp what ‘is’ you are swept up in a wave that pulls you back out to sea no matter how tired your arms already are of just trying to get back to shore.  Perhaps life is learning to swim, and not to lounge along a beach somewhere.  So if you’re treading water or getting pulled out to sea?  Go with it.  Ride the wave.  Fighting the currents only exhaust you and delay the inevitable.  

So, sorry again for a delay.  The day job is consuming as always, but as is being in a band.  I play bass in a band called The South Hill.  It’s a lot of fun, and luckily I get to be in a group full of fantastic musicians and people.  With a band, as with art, as with anything I guess, you don’t always know how far the current will carry you, so just enjoy the ride, but ALWAYS give it your all. 

But trying to be everything is probably impossible.  Trying to write.  Trying to draw (not only this project) and trying to play music while being in a band and having a wonderful girlfriend who is far more understanding than anyone I’ve ever met with how little time I have available for her, is exhausting.  Oh, and working 40+ hours a week (really it varies).  This is adulthood, as my father raised me to see it.  That we work hard, and then work some more, and maybe, just maybe, we can find some fun in it.  Well, dad, I didn’t exactly hear you as I’m having a lot of fun...but I do work hard.  Thanks, Dad!

So for anyone that knows anything about Robotech you will know about Roy.  If you don’t....spoilers await.  Anyway, so what is he doing here?  Why is he blue?  We shall see soon!  Until next time where we will pick up where this one left off...then probably shoot back to where we were, which will soon lift us off into the actual start of this adventure!

[skullsquadron]

It’s been some time!  

I have had a busy life lately!  I took on a supervisor position and it has been all-consuming.  I have spent more time working than ever in my life, and with the band on the side, I haven’t excelled at putting forth the time for creative efforts like this.  Doing art, even at this level, requires a lot of dedication.  Dedication I WANT to give, Dedication I even NEED to give in order to feel alive!  So life will throw you curveballs, and change-ups, and all those other baseball throws, and you will miss at bat a lot.  Sometimes they come in too fast, or too unexpectedly you’re left with a dumb expression on your face wondering just how the ball even did that.  But in that moment, and the ones after it, that’s where the fun in life is.  

You see at first it is frustrating, especially as you get older.  But none of us are inherently ABLE to do something from the start.  Sure, some have a keener ability it seems, but that may be just a mind that can connect the necessary dots, make sense of how to do something better than others.  But that doesn’t mean that a person who doesn’t have a more innate ability can’t strive and even achieve their own level of greatness.  So the key is to keep swinging.  At every ball.  Eventually you will learn how to hit it just right and later it won’t even seem like you can miss.  That is the fun.  Learning how to hit that which we at first think is impossible.  Learning that it is, for us, true adventure!

Apart from that I’ve had the prelims of this strip done for over 2 months.  Color is my nemesis.  But in this strip I sought further, and tried harder to do something different.  To become even slightly better.  And to find a way to get it done faster.  Well, I wasted 5 hours one night on following a tutorial...only to find that everything I was doing was a waste of time!  It was a huge step that they started with that I didn’t need.  In the end I deleted all of that work and started over.  I got my flats done, because I knew that much.  And then I lucked upon this guy:

http://www.remindblog.com/category/making-graphic-novels/page/4/

This is Jason Brubaker’s site.  He makes comics.  He’s done animation as well but is focusing on his own comics now and is truly a wealth of knowledge and a truly amazing person for sharing that wealth.  Do yourself a favor and waste the next few weeks on his site and never stop going back.  Oh!  And pick up all of his books!  All of them!  His tutorial on coloring really helped speed up the overall process and even made it....fun....It was no longer just a paint by numbers, and while I haven’t yet jumped leaps and bounds after what I saw in his videos, there are wheels turning now where before they were not.  So thank you Jason Brubaker!  I will buy all of your books!

[skullsquadron]

I always have a few projects going at once.  But I’m not a professional.  I wish I were and I may have less projects at any one time.  I think my issue is that I keep taking on more, yet am not finishing the rest.  My biggest hurdle in those or any of my efforts, is of course me.  I know that.  

I doubt myself, a lot.  People say it’s because I’m pessimistic.  But I disagree and correct them that I’m “realistic.”  I know my limitations, and while they say “Just do what you do to the best of your ability, and get it out there” I say, “but I could be better.  I just need to keep trying.”  Endless cycles and such.  This is me.  A crazy nut in a shell. 

Still, I make my small efforts.  This is just my fun project.  I love Robotech, it’s what started my love affair with the cartoon world that has kept me in love with the media into my adulthood.  While I know realistically what I will and will not achieve in life, I will not set down the goals that seek beyond reality.  They are my hope, still.  No matter my reality. Artistically this was not a perfect strip but a strip in the greater learning curve. I used less black which I think works better overall. But I think I'm the future to pull this off better I need more variations of colors. Light to dark. That's a whole level of art I'm not good at. Color. Not to say I'm a good artist but colors are really not my thing. It always reminds me of chasing Amy when the fans accuse the inker of just being a tracer. How that isn't art. First, it is. It's a master of ink which again I suck at so its easy to respect more. But that's how I feel when I color things. I'm no longer creating. Which is what j like about drawing. I'm simply filling in the lines. It's necessary. That's the only reason I attempt it. But to people that can color, they are amazing artists. I am just not one of them. I also struggle with backgrounds still but think panel one holds up alright despite not using a vanishing point at all. I just guessed. I read in a book once that you can adhere to the guidelines and things still won't look right sometimes. So you have to just make it look right. So that was my attempt. But I also think my looser character style clashes with the solid straight lines of backgrounds. I hope some day soon to remedy that. Until next time Squad!

[skullsquadron]

Alright, annnnnnnd, we’re back.  As I said before, this was always meant to be an adventure, in space, so it was time to show some space before I wrap up the first part of this story in just a handful more of strips.  Here’s our bad guy.  Finally.  Sort of.  I mean, the bad guy is in there.  Or guys.  Who knows.  This is them.  The giant golf ball of doom!

Anyway, working on this strip was a reminder to me that I had forgotten how to make “space,” so that was a two hour venture.  But I think I understand it better now...hopefully.  

Those who watched Robotech know what Macross island is doing out by Pluto.  But for those that didn’t, well, I guess I’ll have to fill that section in in a bit.  Perhaps an intro strip?  0.0-0.4?  Something I may do to sort of bridge the gap.  I had wanted to stay away from that, but I think it’s necessary.  I’ll do it in as fun  a way as I can conjure up.  See you soon!

[skullsquadron]

Sorry for the long break.  I got a bit distracted with some personal life things and art and almost everything else sort of got put on hold.  But things are sorted out now, for the best, and I can get back to doing these sorts of things.  So here goes!

This strip was sort of my take on a Wes Anderson sort of strip/panel.  Something a bit mundane, like breakfast conversation, that just sort of had a backburner chuckle to it.  Maybe.  And originally all I had for this strip was a huge inside joke for Robotech fans, but didn’t want to go that route entirely.  So I stuck with the one bit of the inside joke, and finished it off with my actual thoughts on Toby Keith.  I don’t like Toby Keith. Also the thought that all the music of the world was gone made more sense to me than just people listening to Minmei nonstop.

I mean, kudos to him for making money off of the broken-hearted America.  And I’m sure it’s how he really felt.  Red-blooded American like him just wanted to vent some of his Red-state heart.  So that’s great.  I just don’t get behind that.  Just me.  Maybe.  Anyway, I have another strip I started for my other comic “Punchline” that I’m doing right now, and after that I’ll be back with another Skull strip!  Stay tuned!  I promise it won’t be another 2-3 months. 

[skullsquadron]

Hello again!  In the meantime of taking my sweet time on getting around to these, I started another webcomic called Punchline!  So far I’m having fun doing it and I’ll post a link to the webcomic site as soon as I start it up.  As of yet I haven’t put it fully online yet except for those on my facebook. 

This strip I did a little differently.  I’m settled in the sizing of these now in these double formats, and I guess a part of me just decided to tell the story I’d like to read.  While I tried to stick with something funny, or silly, I also threw in a little heart. 

For those in the know of Robotech, upon being introduced to Lisa, Rick was not a nice fellow about saying hello.  Instead he wondered who the nagging “old sourpuss” was.  I like the idea that although Rick and Lisa are likely going to be at some sort of odds for the rest of their days, they have this playfulness, and this just seems like something, at least from my own personal life, that they might get around to joking with.

So, with strip 14 here I have the next couple written out and that ends the first small opening arc.  Continuing on after that starts the build of the action talked about in the past few strips.  So I’m looking forward to getting into less talking and more doing. 

Hope to see you soon!

[skullsquadron]

Some of my favorite artists are Japanese.  While a vast majority of people chop anime and manga up to a single art style, I (like all anime and manga fans) will attest that there are so many different styles, just like in American comics and cartoons!  Well, that’s probably not true so much anymore.  That said though, one of my favorite character designers is Kenichi Yoshida. 

I was once told that to draw a character you have to first envision their eyes.  Because so much is in the eyes of any character.  So much story can be told behind a character’s eyes.  Kenichi Yoshida, while still working within the medium of Anime and manga still draws similar eyes as the rest of anime and manga, but there’s something behind his that has so much more life, so much more joy, so much more beauty.  

I tell you this because I was working on another strip entirely for this comic and I was using a similar style to Yoshida’s...and it wasn’t working at all.  It’s the line of where you can appreciate something and emulate it to a point.  The point where you learn something from it and meld it into your own style.  But I was going full emulate, and although it looked mostly representative of his style, it had none of his life, none of his joy, nothing worth looking at.  Detested by my efforts, I moved on and had to relearn how to draw my characters as they were, and ended up in a place I kind of prefer to be with these guys. 

My two favorite American comic artists are Stuart Immonen, and Karl Kerschl.  The can do anything and everything, and in Immonen’s case he basically has.  He’s made his rounds around Marvel at drawing almost every character in their massive library, and doing it with perfection every time.  Most of the comics I buy are because he’s doing the art.  His style can be extremely detailed and then it can be very basic while still holding the structure of his normal more-detailed works.  He’s really amazing.  

Both Immonen and Kerschl have done webcomics.  Kerschl’s The Abominable Charles Christopher is probably the greatest webcomic I’ve ever seen.  It’s monochromatic but gorgeous.  He is a master of facial features and moods and...everything really.  His way of storytelling is ultimately where I’d like to get.  Just to sit down on a Friday, without any written story, and just make up a story from the art.  What a fun exercise!  But for now I need a story planned out and written down, otherwise I have no direction. 

Anyway, the point of this is that I started with an idea of how to design this strip and it turned out better than I’d hoped.  There are flashes where I can see Immonen’s inspiration in me coming through, even just a little, and that was pleasing.  I am also trying my best not to crap these out.  While Kerschl can get away with sitting down and crap out perfection, I have to take a long time to do anything, even imperfection.  This strip was me doing my best in this style.  And I am mostly pleased by it.  I intend to continue on and never let myself fall into the spot I did on strip 11, which I detest artistically.  It was horrible, uninspired, and ultimately an embarrassing effort.  That is what I aim to skip for any future strip.  In fact if something is uninteresting to me, I won’t continue.  I will find a better way to make it more interesting.  That’s what I will have to do.  See you next time. 

[skullsquadron]

To start, I hated the last strip.  Just hated it.  Finishing it was a chore beyond the weight of a boring chore.  But I spit it out, got rid of it, and posted it anyway.  I’ve looked at it a few times since and still despise it.  I hated the art.  So I started playing around with different styles, and a few things, and the approach I am aiming for, from now on, is to never spit anything out.  While my goal has been to try and speed up, I don’t want to sacrifice product for speed.  And as I haven’t been consistent yet, why start?  

Not that I refuse to be on time, I just want this to be better, always better, and I sketch a lot and sometimes I get onto something I want to go along with, and then the next day I say  “no, not quite” and then I have to keep trying until I get closer.  Sometimes that hinders me a lot.  What was I saying?

So, this strip...has nothing to do with the story.  Technically.  I said once that I have no idea how a person that hasn’t watched Robotech will take any of this, and as I’ve said the word Zentraedi a few times now, I thought I should explain myself on the term.  And yes, I totally stole the image from a Robotech Role Playing game source book.  I’m non profit on this, so I think that’s okay...

Anyway, so this was filler while I sort out styles.  The story is still in place, so I’ll get back to that in the next strip. 

A 2nd issue with this strip was that I went through the great debate of presentation.  I asked my friend Andrew what to do.  Because when I started this I wanted to do this sort of Sunday strip thing.  But now...now I wanted to increase the size, do more, etc.  And I was at a loss how to proceed, stay true to my beginnings, or do something else.  Andrew was the one that pushed me to do whatever I wanted.  He reminded me that webcomics don’t have boundaries, and to do what I felt I wanted to do.  So, thanks Andrew. 

A third issue with this strip was that I actually was doing another strip that had Rick rolling up a new sunday comic size strip, and then proceeding to tell about Zentraedi in an 11x17 format.  It would have been fine, but upon waking up yesterday I had this idea instead, and thought it was perfect.  Simple, and just enough to get the point out.  Sometimes that’s all that’s necessary. 

Lastly, I’ll direct you here, 

https://sdf5x.wordpress.com/

I found this guy this week and he’s probably a bigger Robotech fan than I am.  I appreciate his site, its got tons of great reads.  

[skullsquadron]

Having a day job is a restriction to any artistic endeavor, be it art, writing, sculpting, music, anything.  The above is not at a level to alleviate me of the doldrums of a daytime position where payment is necessary that I might have a place to live, food to eat, and to just be happy that I'm not living in my parent's basement.  Although I wonder if quality would abound given the free time and less stress?  Doubtful. 

The artists I respect the most are ones that still had to do the day to day grinds and still managed to become amazing.  I acknowledge my current limitations.  I have seen the wonder of what kids these days can do on deviant art, and it is mind blowing.  But I have my stories I want to tell, no matter the lesser quality of art that I can offer, or the lesser time I have to devote to it.  Lessening perhaps.  Getting older sucks.  You truly do have less time in a day.  It's as if the joke of older age is that the days actually have less hours.  But still there are those out there with passion that outwits the mysteries of life and its missing hours.  

I have been busy since the year started.  Every weekend has been taken from me for one reason or another, because I like helping, and I am single so people don't perceive my life as having less free time than their own.  With their significant others, their kids, their job, their laundry, whatever.  We all have our own "busy" and mine has been in doing all the things I need to do day to day, as well as trying to help my friends with what they need when they need it.  Granted, no particular one of them or family overuses me in any capacity, but add them all together and that leaves me with very little time on top of the lessening time I already have.  I am grateful for my family.  My many great friends.  And I will never stop wanting to help them when they need it.  But, as there is always one, I need a break.  to put forth effort to my efforts.  Will 6 months actually get me anywhere? I cannot currently say.  All that I know is that I've been struggling to get time in my life for art for many years, always saying "i will" well I haven't.  I have found corners and moments, but never the breadth of time I need to devote to just getting better, getting comfortable, getting in a groove, etc.  

The point of this is that I am taking the next 6 months off from "favors" which is hard.  I don't say no to hardly anyone except myself. That's my goal anyway.  As with all of my goals they will be met with adversity.  Obstacles.  It is my job, as it is all of ours in our own lives, to weave our way through them.  

The bigger point to all this isn't that I'm taking a 6 month vacation from this, but that I have already grown tired of this strip's art style.  Vacant eyes, etc.  I am working on a "toonier" approach and hope it pans out.  I may not introduce it for a couple of strips.  I have a couple more "exposition" strips to do before getting out of the living room "ugh" as I've been there a wee bit too long.  Onwards and upwards.  

I showed the plot outline to my brother, also a Robotech fan from our youth, and he thought it was a pretty neat direction as well.  Something that fits in the greater overall story, but doesn't overwrite anything that has been done...even the novels.  Yes, I found a moment in between even the novels where a story could be told.  Also, I paraphrased my brother's words just now.  I don't remember his exact words.  So I'll put some more words in his mouth by saying that he said I'm a freaking genius and this story promises to be amazing!  [if you ever get to telling it]

I know I know.  

[skullsquadron]

I would think that by and large, if you want a man to listen, just talk about Star Wars.  See if it works.  I think you might be surprised. 

So here's strip 10 and before you ask, no, I am not using a death star.  Promise.  I like making fun easter-egg like references, but that's it.  This is something entirely different.  Yes it's an orb/sphere.  Yes its heading towards Earth.  Yes it will kill them if/when it gets there.  But that's as far as the similarities go.  I promise it is nothing like that.  I'll explain a little more in the next strip, but after that you'll have to wait a bit until I get the team together.  It's no spoiler to know that I am putting together a new Skull Squadron for this strip.  That was in the prelim art piece that can still be found if you hit BEGIN.  

So I am trying to make good on my promise of doing more of these more often.  If not for anyone else but myself.  

[skullsquadron]

This one doesn't have a title, but if it did, it'd be I HATE COLOR!  With a Post Script of I ALSO HATE BACKGROUNDS.  I'm surprised this didn't take me two months.  Or three.  Or a year.  But I'm really trying to become a recluse and work on these as well as all of my other various projects.  I have far too many. 

So here it is, one week later and strip 9 hit the internet!   And I honestly hadn't even started on it before I put the last one out.  This one was actually done in a week.  Start to finish.  Of course its a holiday week so I had full days away from my day job to work on this so...

Anyway, I realized my webcomic was lacking what I wanted from it, that being adventure.  Action.  Danger, death, drama, etc.  So I realized I needed to write one of those "dramatic points" comics, and upon doing so, realized that this should have been the REAL start to this whole webcomic, and then pick up where I did in strip 1.  Oh well, life's mistakes can often be blessings?  Or something.  

[skullsquadron]

See?!  I told you I'd get this done a little more quickly!  Granted the background was the same in every panel, which I generally don't like doing, but it was the only thing that worked for this strip.  It's fairly straightforward, so there was no need for angles and the like.  

I think a lot on the differences between men and women.  How they think vs how they feel, and which of those is used to act upon situations and in conversational arbitrations.  Men will almost always lose.  Even if they win, they can lose.  But here, for fun sake, I just went with a dude being wrong because he was just being a bit of a dude stereotype.  Ish. 

The next strip is a bit of a change of pace, of approach, of a few things really, and I'm looking forward to starting it.  See you soon!

[skullsquadron]

I'm sorry this took so long.  In between the last comic and this one I upgraded my tools a little.  I was using a wacom tablet and my laptop.  Have been for years.  But with all the talk of the Surface Pro's these past couple years, I was definitely interested in using that to put out these small comics.  With the 3 getting good enough reviews online as an "Artist's Tablet," I thought it was time to upgrade, so I picked up a surface pro 3.  

While it is a neat tool, it is not ideal, and getting used to it with the sporadic time I have to work on things was a process.  In an effort to find the very best way of doing these little comics, and doing them as quickly as possible (let's face it I need to get quicker) I tried a few different approaches.  As a learning tool, I drew another webcomic, one from a few years ago.  I didn't feel ready to do this comic yet, not that its technically too difficult,  but I just didn't feel as comfortable with this as I did my other comic which has 100 comics to it's name.  I'm in the process of updating my comic site for that other comic, so I won't direct you to it yet.  And it's older, so it has its issues, but it was still fun.  

Anyway, so I worked a while on trying to find the way that felt the most comfortable to get this all done.  The pen on the surface Pro 3 is different than the wacom, so that was the biggest challenge.  That and photoshop. I was used to CS4, and while I was already in the mood to upgrade, I thought I'd give CS Suite online a try.  Pretty neat world we live in where we can just pay a monthly fee to have photoshop, the newest version.  I also decided to give illustrator a try.  A program I'd never used, and one that worked so much differently than photoshop.  

In the end, I found Photoshop to be a great tool for finalizing everything, but really nothing more.  I found Illustrator to be an excellent tool to do basic line art, as there is a free-hand pen-like tool that autocorrects slightly deformed lines due to shakey hand or whatever.  So that was neat, but I couldn't justify using it in the end.  It was good, but not perfect.  

In the end, after drawing this comic a few times over, manga studio became my go-to program.  The brushes are the best and easiest to use of any program, and the talk bubbles were easier to do in manga studios as well.  I'd never colored in manga studio either, so that took a little getting used to as well.  But in the end it was simple enough, and probably a little less time consuming than photoshop.  

Anyway, so here's the new comic, hope you like it.  I will speed up on this stuff.  I promise.  I have a story to tell, and I've yet to really start.  This will be an adventure, soon, I promise.  

[skullsquadron]

So here’s strip 6…finally.  This was mostly done almost two months ago, but I wasn’t happy with many aspects.  I didn’t like the background in the first panel originally, and I didn’t like the straight on shot in the third panel.  I may use the straight on shot in the next couple of strips.  I also was originally just using the same panel in panel 4 as I did the last strip.  Mostly to make it easier on time.  But I didn’t like it.  I don’t like easy.  So while it didn’t take long to sketch out something more interesting to me, finding time to sit down and do just that did.  Seriously,  the sketching took maybe 10 minutes.  Ridiculous.  Anyway, next couple of strips are to explain the point of this story, the problems within the universe that bring our main characters into a new story line.  I’ve also got a few new characters to include, the new Skull Squad!  All things in time.  

[skullsquadron]

Okay!  So I got this one out a little sooner.  In fact the art for the strip was mostly done the day after I posted the last one.  But backgrounds are my nemesis so doing the last panel took a few hours.  I know that sounds ridiculous and is embarrassing to me as an “artist” but its the truth.  But its done now…so now onto the next one.  But first:  THIS!!!

So, for anyone who was ever a fan of Robotech (or Macross which is the original Japanese show), even if you are no longer, go to this Kickstarter and back it for your kids.  Or your Kid’s kids.  I know that it may not hold a place in your heart anymore, but it may have once, and if you can try and connect with that kid in you, and remember what it was like to see something like this on TV, believe me your kids would feel the same.  Or, again, your kid’s kids.  Just imagine waking up on a Saturday morning and seeing your kid plopped down in front of the TV once again with something really worthwhile to watch.  Something special, something with heart.  So please, these guys are running out of time to fund this, and it takes a lot of people to make an animated show.  So yes, its a lot of money, but if they’re going to make it happen, they need your help, and the help of anyone else that you can pull into this.

Here’s the link, I encourage you to help.  

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1381502542/robotech-academy

***UPDATE - Kickstarter has ended for Robotech and it was NOT successful.***

[skullsquadron]

Strip 4.  This is supposed to act mostly as a summary to the original series in a few word balloons.  Hopefully it gives the majority of the idea for those who haven’t seen it.  If it doesn’t…

Moving on now.  So, Manga Studio is awesome.  I can’t describe how much easier to copy a drawing and trace it with a program and wacom as supposed to Photoshop.  I now know that photoshop is clunky in comparison.  Just in case anyone was wondering.  That said, I still haven’t learned to color in manga studio.  So I reverted back to Photoshop.  Sad indeed.  

See you soon.