#process work

[jbbartram-illu]

More fishes!

(Spotted gar in two sizes + a deep sea fangly fish / anglerfish, angling rod to be added post-firings)

[catsharky]

(Spoilers for Astarion's romance in Act 2)

I would have liked to do something for terrible comic day, but a stubborn migraine put the kibosh on that, so instead have something vaguely in the spirit of it. I tend to prefer to only post clean, finished work and this is decidedly not that.

This is an unfinished comic I started back in October that I unfortunately stalled out on while it was still in the roughs/planning stage. I was a little disappointed that during the post-Araj conversation you have with Astarion, you only got to choose one question to ask before the conversation moved on, and I wanted to try and combine a few of them into a single back and forth (I also originally just wanted to set up a joke and then it grew legs and ran off in a totally different direction😭)

No idea if I'll ever end up finishing this! I'd like to, it's just a question of whether I'll actually get around to it. Only time will tell.

If anyone's interested, I've also included an alternate, scrapped version of page 9 under the cut and some Ember Lore/rambling about what I was going for with this comic that probably doesn't come across properly thanks to where it cuts off

After finishing this page, it ended up just not feeling quite right. Not only did it put too much of the focus on Ember too early (I wanted to keep the spotlight on Astarion's feelings for a while longer) but her reaction came across too vulnerable, and was reading as her being upset to find out that Astarion hadn't been invested in the relationship when they slept together. I wanted the reader to be able to initially make that assumption because that's how Astarion is taking her reaction, but it leaned a little too heavy in that direction.

Ember was aware from the start that Astarion wasn't interested in a romantic relationship. She's been having one-night stands for over a decade, she knows what it looks like when someone's not looking for long-term. Her mistake was believing that he was trying to string her along without realizing she knew what he was up to. So she's not upset that he was using her, she's upset that there's a chance she hurt him by allowing it to continue despite knowing something was off.

Eventually I'll do some proper stuff about Ember's early days with the party, and her life in general before the events of the game!! Just gotta finish all the other stuff I have ongoing first 🙃

[secretmellowart]

Closeups and progress work from the Lady of Shalott mini comic I posted last week!

[bandaidfingers]

Some of my process work for the 8-page comic I illustrated in the PIT OF EDEN Babylonian-horror anthology.

Though I always do my final inks traditionally, lately I've been going back and forth on digital vs traditional for my earlier stages, when I was working on Pit of Eden last summer I was really feeling digital for my thumbnails and pencils.

The adult characters' dialogue was also digital font while the child's text was hand-written by me—written on tracing paper and edited back in digitally later.

160 pages of gorgeously drawn horror stories that you should check out. There's about a week left on the KICKSTARTER and we're still over $3700 beneath our goal amount to print the collection.

[hagofbolding]

How the veggie sausage is made for #WebcomicDay. I have a weird process built entirely around trying to preserve my watercolor textures with severe layer limitations. (This was one of my few files that still had background flats in it!) Enjoy??

Read Fairmeadow!

& Happy Webcomic Day!

[logandria]

Some sketchbook pages that I did in preparation for creating my Anatomical Venus silk scarf…

I consider the finished scarf to be my best work, and I’m glad I took the time to complete so much preparatory work before beginning the final.

I only have a few scarves left… Soon they’ll be gone forever.

[kaybeearts]

Thank you to my friend Rob (@faultyfabulism on Insta) for commissioning me! He requested I draw Ranni the witch from Elden Ring eating a burrito. I didn't know which version of the line art was better, so I included both. I've also included some process work.

I've never played Elden Ring, so I'm unfamiliar with both the game and its characters, so this was a little challenging for me. (Although, I know enough to know that there are probably no burritos in the game universe, lol)

Whenever I'm tasked with drawing someone else's OC, or their favorite character, I tend to want to make sure that the design is as accurate as possible. Some leeway can be taken when you draw things chibi-like (chibi-ly?), but it's important to stick to the original design.

I am currently trying to put together a collection of work to showcase when I do open up commissions. I suppose they are "open" in the sense that I'm willing to take on new work even now, but I wanted to make an actual announcement post I can refer back to.

I initially asked my friend to just suggest me some of his favorite characters from media so I can draw them for my portfolio, but he offered to actually buy a commission for me. Hence, the creation of this illustration!