I got up at 7:00 AM today and decided to keep with the writing motif for the rest of the week. One thing I need to do is make sure I have enough stuff ready to be drawn, whether that means getting detailed outlines ready, a script, or just basic plots. So, my plan is to keep with the writing motif for this week and, depending on how much progress there is, perhaps into next week.

This, of course, means that the drawing practice will suffer, so I need to make sure I accomplish a lot this week, writing-wise.

I started reading Alan Moore’s and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, which is an incredibly difficult read because Moore is really shoving certain research in the reader’s face. That, and there’s some old English in there that I’m not familiar with, so I sometimes have to read certain passages twice before I “get it.”

Plus, it’s not something you should try reading while tired.

I’m amazed by the amount of research that went into the book. And it’s very intricate so far. It’s quite inspiring and I’ve begun to think about the craft of comics more than I have been recently; a lot of brain power has been taken up by my business, music. Generally, when I walk around, I’ll think about my crafts, both comics and music, but of late music has taken up a lot of mental power because it’s how I’ve earned half my living for the past year and a half. Now, however, my thoughts are returning to comics, and it feels good, though to have both crafts once again occupy brain power is a bit overwhelming.

I finished the script I was working on yesterday, and it’s a 4-page story, longer than I wanted. I’ll have to write a much shorter one, which I think I’ll do now, just for fun.

I’ve decided to go another two weeks – that’s ten more days – of rehab. I want to make sure I keep up the habits I’ve been forming for the last 20 days.

Unfortunately, this week will be a little different, depending on what’s going on. My wife just had minor surgery (she’s okay), but because I’ve had to be her… nurse?… helper, our days so far have been thrown off and so have our sleep schedules. Depending on how the night goes, I may or may not be doing the 7:00 AM thing.

So, for this week, I’ll still to at least an hour’s worth of comics work, but it may not be at 7:00 AM, and I may not draw.

Today, I sat and started to write a script for the first time in a long while. I have to get used to the format I like to use. I’m writing a 2-3 page story for a friend to draw, although if I’m not careful, I might go overboard. I have to remember to keep it simple.

I like writing. It’s the part where I get to take ideas in my head and organize them. For me, writing is the pivot point; if the ideas are the starting point, then the writing is the point where the ideas will “pivot” towards the direction you want the ideas to go, or they’ll “pivot” towards a completely unexpected direction. For me, writing is the formulation of my ideas, and when it comes to comics, drawing is the execution.

When I write prose stories, I still think of writing as formulation and less about execution. I probably think of editing as the actual execution part.

Hopefully I get the story done by tomorrow. I mentioned writing him a story a couple weeks back, but haven’t been able to write anything for him. I certainly don’t want to seem like a flake. I was almost done today, but my timer went off so I have to stop.

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Made it! Another Inkspill comic.

You wouldn’t think this was a hard one to do, but that first panel is the result of three attempts. Again, in the interest of time, I worked my way through a tricky angle. It’s my job to use my free time to study that particular head position. I’d say it turned out okay, though.

This comic is cleaner than yesterday’s. I made it a point to not overwork anything, so now I get a little bit of a cleaner look while still maintaining that sketchy look.

My hand did start to hurt, but then I remember to stop, relax, stretch, and return to the paper a little looser. I think perhaps it’s the thickness of the pen holder, which is actually fairly big (I’m using a Deleter holder) and the fact that I’m squeezing the fulcrum with my thumb, forefinger, and middle finger too much. When I’m drumming, I distribute the work amongst all my fingers, so when I put the burden on my “triad” for too long, it tends to hurt. That’s the current theory, anyway.

This ends four weeks of comics rehab for me, and I dare say it’s working. I’m beginning to think that maybe I don’t need to go through rehab anymore and I can just get up at 7:00 AM every weekday to work on comics and, instead of documenting every day, I can start documenting significant days. I’ll give myself the weekend to think about it. I will admit that the decision to include a post about the day’s work is a bit of a motivator.

The important thing to learn from this rehab is that one must stick to a schedule and do nothing else during the time allotted. If all one can afford is an hour, make comics for an hour – no more, no less. This helps to develop a specific regimen and supports good time management. However, I admit that, while I did usually draw for an hour, the post usually takes me at least 15 minutes more than the allotted time, meaning the time spent on comics-related activity is over an hour. Perhaps I’ll just allot myself an hour-and-a-half to spend the last half hour doing whatever it is I need to do.

I wonder what kind of rehab I can put myself through to help me pick a project?

Today’s comics was done with a dip pen (G-pen nib), Koh-I-Noor black ink, and a Faber-Castell pen brush on Strathmore Series 500 bristol board

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This is an Inkspill. Inkspills can only be done in ink and must be drawn, scanned, cleaned, and posted in one hour, no more.

Here’s today’s comic. Click on the image to view the larger version.

I just made the hour!

So, a few questions about the strip:

1. Do all women do this?
2. Could her hair be any frizzier?
3. Are they growing in each panel?

Considering I did this in all inks, it’s not too bad. I thought I’d have more trouble with the female character than I did. The problem I did have was the sketching; it occurred to me whilst drawing today’s comic that perhaps my tendencies to overwork my pages stems from the fact that I do prefer sketching over drawing. I mean, look at the number of lines! I just noodled away, didn’t I? I’ll have to streamline that bit, I think.

My hand started to hurt on the underside of my wrist at the base of my thumb, and my hand began to go numb again. I wonder if it’s my hand position; drawing with a dip pen is not like drawing with a pencil whereby the pen can be held at the same angle I would normally hold a pencil at, otherwise the ink wouldn’t come out of the nib. Or maybe because I’m standing up and the angle of my hand to my arm is such that it’s causing pain. I’ll have to look into this more because I don’t think it’s very healthy to have a hurt hand while drawing.

Today’s comics was done with a dip pen (G-pen nib), Koh-I-Noor black ink, and a Faber-Castell pen brush on Strathmore Series 500 bristol board

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This is an Inkspill. Inkspills can only be done in ink and must be drawn, scanned, cleaned, and posted in one hour, no more.

I’m waiting for the last bit of ink to dry before I scan.

Today, I did a three-panel strip entirely in ink, which qualifies it as an Inkspill. Of course, I have to get it cleaned and posted within the hour, and according to my timer, I have 22.5 minutes left.

Inkspills are great because they force me to commit to whatever I’m drawing. Sometimes it turns out bad, sometime good, and sometimes in between, as can be expected. But I figure the more I do it, the more confident I’ll be with inking and I’ll also learn to draw the picture elements more efficiently.

Be right back… going to see if the ink has dried…

…

Okay, so the ink wasn’t dry, but then I had to use the restroom, which isn’t fair since the ink probably dried while I was “busy,” so I reset my timer for 10 minutes. I cleaned the strip before the timer went off but didn’t get it uploaded. I don’t know if it’s cheating, but because of the potty break, I’m giving myself a little bit of leeway on this one.

Click on the scaled-down version of the strip below to read the full-size version.

Done with a dip pen (G-pen nib), Koh-I-Noor black ink, and a Faber-Castell pen brush on Strathmore Series 500 bristol board

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This is an Inkspill. Inkspills can only be done in ink and must be drawn, scanned, cleaned, and posted in one hour, no more.