Closing Up Shop - Goodbye to all

A big goodbye, for now, to all of those who have followed, read, or argued with me over the last 4 years of this blog. I find that real world tragedies make it such that to continue to post here would be a dilution of my time and energy, something that i can no longer continue to do.

I've really enjoyed it, much more than i thought that i would have even. Dirk over at the late lamented Journalista gave me all sorts of traffic, and i was really thrilled to have readers in Bosnia, New Zealand, Italy and other spots all over the world. I mean, this one of those times when you say, "This is what the interwebs is all about."

I hope that my archives will continue to amuse someone or another out there. Should time and circumstances permit, I'll reopen the doors and begin again. Perhaps.

Ta. Must dash.

Dr Sketchy's Black Cat

One of the drawings from Dr. Sketchy's last night in SF. A rather fetching Black Cat sketch here.

The room was packed at 111 Minna, and they did admit that they've outgrown the space. This was done sitting on the floor with my pad in my lap and a single Mirado Black Warrior HB.

I'll post up one or two others in the next day or so. Looking forward to the February Steampunk themed one!

Sketching at dr sketchys sf

Dr. Sketchy's in San Francisco Tonight!

Tonight I'll be with pencil/pen/brush in hand at Dr. Sketchy's SF event on Minna St. Any of my comic book peeps has the evening free, that's where i'll be, so come by and say "hello" and bring your sketch pad!

If I get anything good, i promise the scan and post up soon!

In Experiment: Santiago in Color

Another experiment in colors - using Photoshop and modifying the opacity among other things. Whoever came up with "multiply" in the menus was a genius.

I typically think of Photoshop as the ocean. Depending on where you use it, you can get really good at 1% or maybe 3%, but its so deep and so wide and the potential applications of it so vast that no one, not even the programmers, will know it all. Learn to do what you want with it and move on.

I still prefer real paper, with real ink and then scanning and moving on to the final version. There is a pressure/texture feeling that the tablets can't mimic, and i think of it as the ultimate level of "undo". Should all else fail, harddrive wise, there is still the original art!