LookingLand

this is what i am working on, so this is what i am posting about, insipidity and all (and when i ought to be writing, of course).

the hardest thing about Reconstruction sometimes seems to be that I'm just not in the mood to draw certain things on certain days. i've been trying to draw a close-up on a stagecoach for two weeks (with horrific results on a variety of dreadful drafts). i was about ready to chuck it all and go with something else when i forced myself to commit to a composition just to get it down. well, i'm mostly okay with the results (not shown in full here) and i think once it's inked, painted, and tinted it'll be just fine ~ but boy was it a fight every step of the way.

my favorite part of it is the detail of the dog, buster, sitting at his master's feet (which is shown here!). i didn't think i would be able to draw a convincing bloodhound, but i did (yay!), and he actually came out rather adorable, which is good because i really like buster as a character.

dog lover that i am, it's always been odd to me that more of my characters aren't dog people. James is. Preston is. Whit is (well, he is ~ geh). Sid is. That's four out of about a bazillion. most of the rest of them are either cat people or wouldn't know what to do with a pet if they had one. so i guess i better make use of the handful of dog characters i have to work with.

and, of course, i have to share a picture of my own dawg. because he is adorable, after all, even if he is sooo hard to photograph that this picture surprised even me!


: D

I was really hoping to bring in the new year with a clean workspace, but I think the picture below tells it all. On the bright side, I'm busy and enjoying the busy-ness! I'm working on a ton of projects simultaneously and don't know how long I will be able to keep juggling them, but for the time being I'm going to ride this enthusiam train to the end of the line. Today I am cleaning off my actual drawing table (which has been buried under a map of Washington D.C. for the last six months at least) to see if I can't move some my work over into the other room and alleviate a little bit of the clutter.


Yesterday I worked on Reconstruction a good deal and am excited to announce that I think I can probably start posting three times a week very soon! I've finally distilled the process into something I can knock out very quickly. The art only suffers mildly for it and I have so much more fun moving through scenes quickly. I've finished drawing the "For Katie" scene that I have been working on and I like the way it wraps up. I'm glad I started with this sort of non-sequitor as a lead-in. It really gave me a chance to experiment with the tools I'd allotted myself and to get the story rolling. If you have been occasionally checking in at WebComics Nation for the updates, you'll notice that it's not very well organized over there, but I'm hoping to work on the "official" website this month and get that up and running at the start of February. Then maybe it will be easier to follow along.

It's a new year, but I'm slow to change my habits. As usual, I'm struggling with the usual pile of nagging doubts about what I am doing with my life and talents (I suspect many of my creative friends and readers go through the annual self-assessment thing around this time of year), but I'm going to just work through it (and I hope all of you do too!). Even if there are projects on my desk that I'm not entirely in love with at the moment, I will probably love them again next week.

I've been so busy that I haven't been posting much, which is a good thing, I guess ~ but I have so many cool books and things I want to share. I hope this week I can start to catch up!


Lastly, I need to post this picture as annual proof that yes, I do have the cutest dog that ever lived. This was taken at my sister's house on Christmas, which is why he's wearing the silly ribbon with the poinsettia on it.

from LookingLand.com

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well, it's a mess now. i've been home from work feeding a cold with popcorn and green tea (because that's healthy, right?). and between trying to get my little dog to eat something and blowing my sore and drippy nose, i have been attempting to get some creative work done. the good news is, i am making some progress. the bad news is, my desk is messier than ever (and completely non-conducive to actually working).


i tend to work best while standing, so it's fine if i throw stuff all over the chair, but the fact that i barely have any space to actually work in is making me feel buggy. i need a rolling trolley thingie to put my books in so that they will be right on hand, but not consuming the lion's share of my work area. then i could just pull 'em up when i need 'em and shove them off when i don't.


and all of this just to say: really, i am working. inking the Morse house on grace street may kill me, but i'm going to finish it (and a number of other goals) this weekend.

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Nucleus LiveJournal Plugin © Evgeny Lykhin

so i took the day off from work and ended up spending part of it at the mall where i actually made some purchases (this is a phenomena for me). then i worked the whole afternoon on fixing the Here There Be Monsters Press page, which you can see in its all-new glorious incarnation right here!

I'm actually pretty happy with it.

Meanwhile, the house is a complete disaster due to Thursday's travails (never in al my life was there such insanity as there was that night). I took "morning-after" shots of the dogs as evidence. Yeah, that spotted thing looks innocent and innocuous enough, doesn't he?



( more dogs and part of my workspace under the cut )

: D

i have named him "paxton viggo west" for reasons too weird and obscure to explain at the moment ~ (i've been on the road 8 hours to fetch him from the rescue joint). but he will be pax for short ~ which, hopefully many know, means "peace" in latin.