For the past year, I acquired and tested new pens and art supplies that piqued my interest!
Many are impulse purchases, but I have found select pens that I want to stick in my utility belt of drawing tools! I have links to Jet Pens and Blick Art Supplies so you can get these pens for yourself!
Continue readingGetting motivated to leave your comfort zone is tough, and even the best struggle with doing art tasks. In my case, I have trouble with backgrounds. But in this clip, I talk about trying your best to stretch your skills!
As prolific as I am with this conventions, most of my knowledge is from the school of hard knocks. If you want a break-down of the arduous task of tabling at these conventions, take some time to listen to Alice the Author as she goes through her hour-to-hour break down of selling books at CODCon!
Most of this stuff I learned in the School of hard knocks myself, so Alice’s vid has fantastic insights on selling work at conventions.
A current new thing I’m doing with my setups for smaller conventions is to take a smaller amount of inventory with me. I don’t go more than a dozen of each of my large stickers, and I don’t bring every print or book I have with me on my trips. Library shows are a smaller one day showing, so even if I sell out, It’s not a big problem.
This system has also been a good way to not just manage my sale but analyze the rate my items sell. If demand is low for an item, I stop printing more and keep my table setups lean.
As I go around Artist Alley’s at conventions and hear about them, I write them down in a Spreadsheet on Google Docs. The majority of this list consist of events in my home state of Illinois. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start for any other artists seeking to do more conventions.
I have a full year packed with cool conventions and events! Take a look through my Convention Schedule to see where I’ll be next!
I’m on and off with my streaming on my Twitch Channel! From tech issues, scheduling conflicts, and that eternal feeling of being behind, streaming art videos is tough. Sometimes, I’m lucky enough to catch interesting stream clips to make as short tutorials for all who are interested.
This video tutorial talks about the common problem of how to reset your non-functional Wacom Driver without resetting the machine.
Your Wacom Tablet should be good to go! There are several ways to tackle this, but this was one of the few that I’ve learned. I keep falling off my regular streaming schedule, but when I do, I archive them on my second YouTube Channel for anyone to catch up!
As the year wraps up, I thought I’d share some of the tools that I’ve been using often to work on my art and art-related projects! The software I use is the similar to what I’m rocking before, but it doesn’t hurt to drop some new stuff I’m trying out too!
This is a simple 6×9 spiral-bound date book that I use to track my schedule. The pages are set up by week, so it makes it easy for me to plan it out. It’s portable to carry anywhere in my bags.
Together with this calendar, I also use black or blue Pilot G-2 Gel pens for general writing. The color packs are a great start to buy as well. From my daily tasks to my regular maintenance tasks to my annual events, I use various colors to organize the types of tasks I do.
Nice and simple leaves of paper help me with little notes that I need to add. When I fill my notebooks, sometimes I want to add other notes if I don’t have enough space. If I don’t want to erase what I already wrote, so I can use post-it notes. Sticky notes are also fantastic bookmarks for novels and calendar books. If you get them in different colors, you can even organize them by subject.
As of writing this, I have a day job, so I’m always on the go and never at my home studio. I keep having ideas but little time to draw them. With my SketchWallet, I can hold a sketchbook, credit cards, and cash in one spot, so I don’t need to fish for them. When you first buy the wallet, it comes with its own sketchbook from the start. Luckily, it can hold any other 3.5-inch by x 5.5-inch sketchbook inside.
My trusted mechanical pencil that I never need to sharpen! I have other sizes, but 0.5 mm is my best-feeling pencil. All the pencils have great lead capacity, so you don’t need to refill them as much. The side clip is a switch that retracts the tip of the pencil to save your point from breaking or stabbing you in the leg. Not having a large enough eraser can be a dealbreaker for other artists if you erase all the time. The next time might suit your needs.
Using my pencil’s eraser is a pain in the butt because it rubs down too short or pushes down into the lead barrel. The Tombow Mono Eraser is an eraser pen where it stores one long eraser. It’s cleaner to hold in my pocket than a kneaded eraser, and not as big to erase on like a white plastic eraser.
This is a mesh bag I use to stash my Copic Markers. It’s got a good zipper, and it’s sturdy enough to carry inside a larger backpack or by itself.
I got an iPad for the Procreate App and the potential of having a digital art setup to practice on. I wrote a review about my initial impressions along my first instances in the Procreate App! It took some getting used to, but over the year I got used to my iPad. I purchased more brushes for Procreate and I got apps like Pixaki, VisRef, and LumaFusion.
This USB 3.0 Flash Drive is a fantastic partner to my iPad. I can move files around my computer, phone, and pad with ease! I worry that it gets hot enough to be a problem. Even though it has 256 GB of space, I don’t rely on it too much for storage.
I began trying out Kdenlive around June on a lark. I was sick of dealing with Adobe Premiere’s issues, and I wanted to find alternatives. It was rocky at first, but after watching tutorials, I improved my video editing. The fact that this app accepts MKV files is a massive time saver! No more Remuxing VODs and I keep a higher quality video!
This is my personal list of things I currently used over the year to stay productive. It’s not perfect, but if you want something to start, you can try out what I have here. I keep a larger archive of my personal recommended tools on my Supply Page! I update it enough to have info that you can look at for your own art needs.
From learning pixel art in Procreate I found my efforts limited. With the extra money I had, I invested in Pixaki 4 Pro, a $30 USD app on the Apple App Store. I do most of my pixel artwork for personal and game art in Aseprite. With Pixaki, I want a good portable option that I can trade between the two programs for faster pixel art output.
Continue readingI couldn’t finish one of my commissions by the time Anime Central ended. So I needed to finish this two-character piece at a later date and mail it to my client! With this, it gives me a short opportunity to tell you about my Copic Marker technique for this piece.
This commission is for ToastyGhostey’s OCs and Az and Miko. I dig the art style, and it was a nice challenge to figure things out with my markers. ToastyGhostey told me that I didn’t have to draw AZ’s helmet, but I took that as a challenge. Do I regret it? No, this was still great.
I start with a Mignola-inspired ink drawing using a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen, Pentel Tradio Stylo Pen, and drying Copic 0.3 Multiliner. I was hoping it would be fast enough, but I got sloppy on my Bristol Board.
After letting the ink dry for the rest of the night, I began the color layering with my Copic Markers. Starting with E35S Chamois, BV00S Mauve Shadow, B12S Ice Blue, YR21S Cream.
Next, I fill in Miko’s first jacket with YR18S Sanguine. I should’ve used a lighter red marker since the color is too orange compared to the refs. I pressed forward to avoid my perfectionism. Likewise, I also took the time to add Y18S Lightning Yellow trim to Az’s jacket.
Then I needed to layer more colors to darken Miko’s fists. I tried using E15S Dark Suntan and Mauve Shadow. Then added V06S Lavender, but it wasn’t enough. Using an N2S Neutral Grey 2, I dulled the stone color down.
I realized that messed up a detail for Miko’s Jacket. Failing to notice the small patch on her Jacket from her refs until after I colored it. With a Colorless Blender, I attempted to clear away the color to the best of my ability. Time to add in the YG03S Yellow Green in the eyes and a 0.3 Pentel Arts Hybrid Tech Pen for smaller details.
Continuing on, I layer more color with V09S Violet and B39S Prussian Blue to darken Az’s coat and pants.
Finally, use the E27S Milk Chocolate to darken the wood of Az’s rifle and antlers.
After all this, I add a smidge of Ice Blue for shadows and complete Miko’s jacket with Lighting Yellow trim! All that’s left is to message my client to get their approval, and mail the sucker off in an envelope!
This is a sloppy explanation of my process. This gives me a good idea to make a formal article about Copic Markers. Heck, I’ll try to make a video about it!
I’m still open for commissions and so if you want a commission for yourself, check out my Commission page to get some cool unique art from me!
As of writing this at the beginning of March 2022, I purchased an iPad Pro for $799.99 USD, an Apple Pencil 2 for $129 USD, and a copy of Procreate for $10 USD. Here’s my review of the first 30 days of using the iPad and the App!
The last time I used any Apple product is when I had an iPod Touch. I dropped them for an Android phone when it became a pain in the butt to transfer my music files from ripped CDs that I had.
Continue readingAfter Inking, Cleaning Up the Inks, and a side step into Screentoning, It’s time to get on to the lettering phase of Incident at the Game Store. If you’re up to having a signed physical book of Game Store for yourself, you can stop by my Etsy store and grab a copy!
In this step of my multipart tutorial, I’ll be talking about how to set up text and word balloons for comics!
Again, I’m making the pages with print in mind, so I need the images in as high of a resolution as possible. I often do my heavier text editing in Adobe Illustrator. Inkscape is a freeware alternative that is as good and better than Illustrator! For now, these next steps are in Illustrator. I make a new file with six art boards to the pixel size of the pages I plan to import.
Illustrator gives me more options to mess with my text than Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. I import or “Place” my images in Illustrator, so they’re all in one large file to look at!
I get myself started by dimming my art and typing down my general typing and lettering. If you have a script typed out in a word processer, you can copy and paste to your heart’s content! I’m not worrying about the exact font at the moment to start getting the words out.
I refer to my thumbnails for the bubble placement to the art and the original post image to the dialogue. Not only that, but I cleaned up the dialogue at the feedback of my mom, so it lacks teeth compared to the original post.
I’m not as confident with my ability to draw word balloons myself, so I generally do it separate from the artwork digitally. Most of what I know about making word balloons is from this tutorial by John Roshell.
I begin the real lettering by arranging the dialogue words in a centered diamond pattern. I take time to putting words on different lines until it looks more professional.
Next, I expand the balloon size and set it up to “anchor” to the top of the panel. I use the Rectangle tool to make a new shape and put it on top of the balloon shape. Then, in the Pathfinder Box’s Shape Modes (Shift+Ctrl+F9), select both of the shapes, select Unite. The paths of those shapes will merge into one new shape.
Time to create a balloon tail to point to Fatty. Using the pen tool, I can draw a rough tail shape and use the Direct Selection tool to work the shape to a pointed tail. The same steps to Unite the tail to the balloon to have a connected balloon.
Now make more rectangles and arrange to align to the borders of the panel. I get rid of the fill color for a short time, only seeing the lines. The rectangles must arrange over the round balloon. You can select Object>Arrange>Send to Front) or Ctrl+Shift+] to send objects above each other.
After that, select the rectangles and the word balloon. Next, select the Pathfinder’s Shape Modes, and select Minus Front. Cut out the balloon shape for the panel anchoring.
These steps work for most of the dialogue bubbles I did in this book. For one of them, I made a yelling balloon. Found this tutorial for making yelling dialogue balloons by Jim Campbell.
I go on Page 3 to do some work on this charging scream from the boyfriend character. I convert the text into an image and then re-arrange and resize the letters. The results are a nice, disjointed scream that emphasizes the dude’s rage well!
Now that my letters are in a good position, I can punch the screaming up with bold outlines! I used some tips from Comicscraft‘s book on making Emphasis Bubbles.
I make a new little speech bubble and move it to the middle white letter stroke color layer. Next, I manipulate the shape of the ellipse to make the stroke size 10 pt. Then, I adjust the bottom black letter stroke color layer to make it look seamless.
I use my previous balloon-making techniques to build up a new balloon shape.
I rearrange the bubble back in the proper place. Plus, I fiddle with a few more adjustments in my vector nodes, and I’ve completed a new screaming balloon for page 3!
Now I do a little to figure out what I can do for page 4 and the fat guy’s maniacal laughter. I try out a Blambot font called Torn Asunder. I created outlines out of the typed font, and edit each letter with the lasso tool to make it look pretty decent.
More progress on the laugh. I make it easier for myself to arrange the lettering in groups and manipulate them into sections.
Fore Page 5 Panel 1, I was laxer, and I stuck with using a Warp filter to the text.
Did some more work on some other panels. For the gross sound effect, I used Torn Asunder from Blambot again!
I didn’t plan enough for sound effects, but it will help to have them. I’m using the Damn Noisy Kids font from Blambot.
I’m very close to the wrap-up phase of lettering. I first started to use the Newsflash font from Blambot for my title and endings, but I still didn’t feel it was right.
But then, I looked up GameStop’s logo and learned something hilarious and pitiful. GameStop uses the Impact font, a terrible free font that’s in most computers and terrible image memes.
Now to start wrapping things up. First, I unlock full of my usable layers, making sure Overprint stroke is checked on all my balloons. Next, I Select all the letter stuff in the panel.
I go to Object>Rasterize and Set it to the Highest Print Res that I have.
That’ll make it easier to export the text back to Clip Studio or Photoshop as a transparent layer. I can overlay this on top of all my pages.
I did some last-minute stuff to add a new reaction bubble for Panel 1 of Page 2.
Now it’s time to export my stuff from Illustrator. The original digital file is at 600 dpi because it’s easier to shrink than to expand them. So I save to 72 dpi to keep space low.
So I export it as a transparent PNG so it will fit in the pages with the screentones that I’m still working on back in Clip Studio Paint.
After importing the rest of my lettering, I use my Layer Masks to clean up the text to fall behind the monster on the page.
I fiddle about with my Lasso, Magic Wand, and Hard Brush to work with my mask. The lettering is now behind the monster, as I need it to be.
So I do this for the other pages in the comic, fiddling with other lettering areas.
I’m not liking how straight one panel looks, so I curve it down a bit.
One sound effect kinda blends into the line art, so I did a bit of toning work to get it to pop out more.
I’m pretty much finished with the lettering now, I’m 90% finished with this story! This step was a large learning experience for me! I knew that lettering is an underappreciated art that’s very easy to mess up. I wanted to do my best with this comic, and that includes getting more familiar with lettering. There’s much to still learn, but now I can press forward with Game Store’s tutorial!
When I drew Incident at the Game Store, I didn’t plan to color the pages because I wanted to make a larger anthology. I’m keeping this step because I already put in the work for it. So it might be helpful for anyone who wants to take the option.
If you’re up to having a signed physical book of Game Store for yourself, you can stop by my Etsy store and grab a copy!
It’s time to use Clip Studio to do something experimental. I’ll be adding screentones to give some of my art a gray tone with only black and white dots. I’m working on a tutorial on screentoning from Whyt Manga. Also check out his comic, Apple Black!
In Manga Studio 5 EX or Clip Studio Paint, there is a Material Tab. It would be in the default UI but if it is not, go to Window>Material>Material[Dot]. You’ll find a variety of textures and screentones from this tab, and you can make custom ones, but I’m making a basic dot pattern.
![Window>Material>Material[Dot]](https://i0.wp.com/www.mastafran.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Digital_work_42.png?resize=584%2C963&ssl=1)
I select one of the pre-made tones and edit them by clicking “Settings of Toning…” This will give you the Simple Tone Settings window. Next, set the number of lines for 70, which in this instance, determines the amount of dots in the pattern. Then set the Density(B) to 30, white, then determine how big and fat those dots are. After that, I set the Angle at 23 degrees, this is the rotated orientation of the texture. I made it at an angle that’s not an even number, giving it a tiny bit of flaw to the texture.
So now we can drag this texture to my comic and now the entire screen has screentoned! It’ll make a separate screentone layer with a mask of the texture, so this saves a ton of work than other programs.
Fill the layer masks with a transparent color to mask it out, a staple of digital image editing programs. I then edit my masks with a normal unaliased round brush.
You can also select with my lasso and magic wand tools to mask and unmask as needed. I usually start a panel by selecting an entire panel and filling the general screentone.
I also do some other screentone things, like adding a darker screen tone for the black girlfriend.
II continue these processes for the rest of the pages. I’m nailing down the rough spots I need.
I did more experimentation with screentoning. Trying to stack screentone layers on top of each other and masking with a soft brush to for a gradient look.
Again, I created this step before I decided to color the comic properly. The original idea was to keep the book black and white, so there are many steps before I colored.
Now that this all is done, it’s time to put some words to these pictures!
