Putting forth the work

I’ve been working with Manga Studios (or I was before I got taken down with this awful cold that’s been going around). I’ve said in prior posts that a person can make great strides in accomplishing whatever they want to do even if they only work on it in 15 minutes a day.

Well, as proof I put forth some *beginning* examples of some of my coloring attempts from Manga Studios. I say *beginning* because I feel like I teach myself how to color and then I “forget” and have to teach myself again. I keep feeling like I’m not leaving the starting block.

So, this first example, I was going to start with a circle, but then I remembered that I’ve done the circle, square, and triangle before when I was “learning” so I wanted to branch out. I picked on my next favorite circular thing, the pumpkin. Mind you, this was after watching one of the coloring videos and thinking about it in conjunction with some other coloring videos I’ve seen. I really wanted to try out some of the tools. This took me about 15 minutes to color after doing the initial sketch.

Okay, not great. Hey! Are you laughing? You are! Right, so much for “great” art — how about just creating something decent! Ha, ha. <>

But that’s not the point here. Improvement is the purpose. That was 15 minutes of work put in. Now I wanted to see how far I’d come, which meant I needed a comparison piece. So, what to draw now? To decide, I started drawing and just let the shapes guide me into my drawing. As soon as the puzzle came together and I knew what I was drawing, I also knew how I was going to color it. Here’s the second piece — which took me about 20 minutes:

Yes, better than the first. I did actually feel like I’d accomplished something, like I’d put in my first steps on the path to coloring my digital work. Still, I couldn’t help pushing it just a little further:

Aw! Isn’t he just the cutest?

Well, it’s a start. I have so much more to learn. Someday I do hope to have something worthy to post to Manga Studios’ website, but for now with my first attempts, I’ll just show them here. When I started drawing these pictures, I didn’t intend on them to be for anyone but me and my own practice. However, after seeing the growth I (believe I) achieved in less than an hour, I thought it would be worthy to share. What do you think? Do you have a favorite?

What do you think you could do or learn in 15 minutes?

More Manga Studios

I’ve been working again in Manga Studios 4 (teaching myself how to color again). I came across something that Smith Micro is putting out to support Manga Studios and thought you’d like to see it. There are now webinars for Manga Studios on their website. Yea!

When I was working in MS3 I kept hoping there would be more content available. I got really disappointed when there wasn’t. But they seem to be doing more to support this product now. I really do feel there is a need and a market for it. So many artists right now have tutorials for Photoshop or Painter, but I always felt there should be something better. That’s why I was originally so happy to find Manga Studios. I knew that it would make my life easier as I got started in comics. Version 4 with the ability to color is an absolute godsend!

I recently sat down to read Ghostopolis, but I learned through the webinars that it was done on Manga Studios. Now I need to go back and reread it. It just shows how far Manga Studios has come. I can’t wait for the day I feel worthy to show some of my MS4 art on their site.

New Weblinks posted

New page of Weblinks posted.

I admit, this is an information gathering chapter. Not much action going on. Probably why I haven’t been real into working on Weblinks either. But, I’ve recently had an idea that will make part of this go much faster. A very cool interactive section of the comic. Not quite sure how I’m going to replicate it when I do the print version, but I’m sure something will work out. I’ll have to be clever! That idea alone has been worth the delay. Now, it’s not happening this week; it’s a couple weeks off. But that gives you plenty of time to bring yourself up to speed on the story again. So go check out Weblinks — the not so normal story about vampires saving the world.

Ground Level?!?

I have a friend who is ever so honest with me. Whenever I need an opinion I know if I ask her she’ll give it to me cut and dry, black and white, no shades of gray. Bless her heart.

She once told me that Weblinks was “basement art.” She didn’t mean it in a bad way — she never does. It just mean that I was starting off in the basement, like a laundry wench slaving away at the tubs in the bowels of the castle. My phrasing, not hers! It was a place to start and work my way up (unlike the poor serf who was bound to stay there forever).

I drew the first chapter of Sacred Knight back in 2007. For the last 4 years, I’ve drawn Steigan over and over in many different styles making many different attempts. So, it was really nice last night when I was working on the pages for upload to webcomicsnation and I could already see that I’m improving even though I’ve barely been doing much for those last 4 years. I may have finally climbed the stairs to the ground level. Maybe, just maybe, there might actually be hope for me yet! It really does give me hope and courage for the revamping of the chapter. I may show off my many characters before I settle on a design for Steigan — maybe even have another poll. Comment and let me know what you think about that.

Well, another page to be uploaded tonight. Until then, happy creating!

Learning Opportunities

It seems like forever ago I put on a poll to see if readers wanted to see more of the Sacred Knight graphic novel I was working on. I’ve already written a longer blog about this so I won’t repeat myself here. Long story short is that I’ve decided to release all of it. Another page was just added tonight, but you can start from the beginning. I’ll be adding a page per night or so until I get through the end of the chapter. What I thought you’d be interested in is how this decision relates to my personal goals for this year.

When I sat down at the end of last year and asked myself what I wanted to accomplish this year, I realized that improving my craft was one of them. Now that I have The Three Books behind me, it’s time for me to get back to work on this. I was going pretty well for the first two months of the year because I had a schedule of things I wanted to do. Then my schedule ran out and I had to get down to business on the book.

While I do still have another project I want to finish this year (my children’s book Eggs at Play), I have a few ideas for learning opportunities.

Since I started off with the graphic novel for Sacred Knight, one project I want to get to is redoing this first chapter with color and moving on through the story.

There’s also my webcomic, Weblinks which has been sorely neglected. It’s a story I like and I’m just now starting to get to the meat of it. From the beginning, this was meant to be my “apprenticeship.” I had to start somewhere. As it was pointed out to me today, Gary Larson (The Far Side) had very rough art when he started that became more polished over the years. Put it out there even if it’s not perfect. In that spirit, I really need to get back to it.

Lastly, I want to improve my landscape painting. It’s so hard for me to set aside time to practice. It’s not like I don’t have time even with all I do. It’s more that I feel I should be making original compositions. Yet, I don’t know what I want to paint. It’s a frustrating feeling. The snake chasing its tail. I’ve written before about how I learned a lot from Jerry Yarnell’s workshops I’ve attended. I also own nearly all his books. Then, last week I was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia, but I started thinking what if I did this but with art? Jerry’s been such an inspiration in my art already. It only seems fair to continue. So, I’m going to start going through his books (the one book I didn’t have was Painting Basics – Volume 1 but it’s been ordered and should arrive tomorrow) and I’m hoping to get through a painting a week. Come next Monday and hopefully every Monday after that for a good long while, I’ll post an update on my progress and post a picture of the painting. Come see if there’s actually any progress. I keep saying that even in 15 minutes a day you’ll see progress — hopefully it holds true for learning too! We shall see, won’t we.

Well, now that you’ve seen what I’m doing to improve my craft, let me know what you are up to. Do you have any ways that help you keep scheduled? Or do you prefer to learn as you go? What are your secrets?

Doctor visit for the computer

Unless you’re a digital artist or a graphic designer, a computer might not be thought of as a primary tool for an artist. But if you’re submitting digital images to shows or selling online, it’s as important as a good brush, a chisel, or a pottery wheel.

My laptop is the workhorse of my operation as an artist. It stores my manuscripts, photography, and images of my paintings. I draw one of my comics completely in the digital realm. Any time I need an image, I get it from my hard drive. Software for digital imaging, records of my artwork and collectors, e-mail, Internet, website maintenance, etc. is all done on my laptop.

That said, if you’re an artist like me who has everything on your computer, you’ve got to make sure the heart of your operation is taken care of. That means thinking about your software and hardware needs at all times.

Fortunately for me, I spend part of my life as a computer techie. I enjoy computers and I know what they’re capable of. I laugh at their personalities. Yes, computers have personalities. Spend enough time with several different computers, really working with them, and you’ll realize this is true. Just like individuals, computers need to be taken care of.

That said, first and foremost, backup your data! And make sure the data is truly backed up. The worst thing you can do is think that it’s backed up only to realize that it’s not. I’ve seen people cry over this.

Back up your data!

But I didn’t really start this blog to convince you to backup your data. No. I wanted to tell you about a piece of software from SmithMicro, the developers of Manga Studio and several other great programs. It’s a doctor visit for your computer.

Why would you care about checking the health of your computer’s hardware. It’s either working or it’s not, right?

Wrong!

There are usually signs ahead of time that something is malfunctioning, but they can be easy to miss, or rather to dismiss as outdated drivers, bad updates, or just needing to reboot. Fortunately, you can find problems before they take out your system with SmithMicro’s CheckIt Diagnostics.

Downloading and installing the program is simple and quick. Startup checks the components of your system. Once you’re in the software, it does help if you have basic knowledge of computers because the program just jumps right in. There are 5 tabs across the top and several “component” buttons below. You can see these on the screenshot below.

CheckIt Diagnostics screenshot - opening screen

Each of these “component” buttons has a series of test that can be run. To begin, start with the first tab, first “component” and start running tests. Once you’ve gone through all the components, then go to the next tab. Each test will either come back with “Success” or “Fail” as a result. Some test require that you plug in a flash drive or insert a CD/DVD — again, the program reads the hardware of your computer and adapts the tests to your system. Of course, the point is to always have it say “Success” on all your tests. The reality of it is that something, sometime will fail.

CheckIt Diagnostics screenshot of fail link information

CheckIt Diagnostics screenshot of Troubleshoot button information

If you suspect a problem with one part of your computer system, you can narrow down the tests to select just that component on your system and run those component’s tests or just one test instead of having to run through all the tests. You don’t have to have a complete check every time.

So now you’ve checked your system and you know there’s a problem. What then? Knowing you have an issue is just the beginning. Clicking on the “Fail” link will allow you to see more information. From here, CheckIt Diagnostics has the ability to send the error reports via email (like to your tech support person) or to export it to a text file. If you click the “Troubleshoot” button, you’ll get extra information which might help figure out why you received the test failure.

CheckIt Diagnostics screenshot of fail link information

CheckIt Diagnostics screenshot of Troubleshoot button information

Overall, I wish the failure reports did have some more detail. From the ones that I went through on my laptop, I didn’t feel that from a tech support position I had a whole lot of information to work with. However, giving the diversity between computers and systems, this might be an overwhelming task for any piece of software. So again, knowing that you have an issue with a particular piece of the hardware is merely a starting point. When you’re looking for that needle in the haystack (which often is the case when diagnosing computer problems) CheckIt Diagnostics will at least give you a starting point.

From both a tech support person and a user point of view, I find the main value of the program to be in wealth of information about your system that it gives you in one easy spot and the fact that it will narrow down issues with a computer. It’s easy and quick enough to use that I can incorporate it into my usual computer maintainance routine as a checkup for my hardware. So many programs have been dedicated to checking for malware, viruses, rootkits, registry cleaners, etc. that’s it’s nice to find a program that cares about the hardware side of the computer equation too.

When the Muse Comes (or Stranger In the House)

Many artists will tell you not to sit by and wait for the Muse. You have to be dedicated to your work and keep plugging away at it whether you feel inspired or not. If you haven’t figured this out already, I’m a big believer in this. Working toward your goals every day, even if it’s just for 15 minutes will move you closer. True story.

But what about when the Muse does land on your shoulder and starts whispering furiously in your ear?

Ah, when that happens, it’s a miracle and you better work fast. Muses are like hummingbirds and they flitter away as quickly as they came. Worse, they often get you started on a project and leave you to carry it out.

I was driving to work last week and thinking about my Sacred Knight story. The main character, Steigan (pronounced with a long e to be Ste’gan) is my passion. He’s been my favorite character for 15 years now.

Without giving any spoilers, let me give you some background about Steigan. As any writer will tell you, the characters they feel deepest about are the ones that stem from them. A character can feed a writer like the writer feeds a character. They flow into each other like yin and yang. On days when I feel like I can’t make another step through life, when it’s all too overwhelming and I want to quit, I ask myself, “What would Steigan do?” That simple thought wraps around me like his armor and suddenly I have the strength I need. He always responds with, “Relax. I’m handling the situation.” On the other hand, as I’ve been writing his story, there have been times when I’ve had to be hard on Steigan (a writer’s job is to throw their characters into a horrible mess to see how they get out — a strange form of tough love, but writers understand what I mean) and I’ve had Steigan stop to ask me, “How am I going to get out of this? It’s impossible.” I reply, “Relax. I’m handling the situation.”

Having created Steigan’s world entirely from scratch is hard business. Worse, Steigan filters this story through his point of view. I’ve tried writing from other characters’ perspectives, but it’s never the same. Steigan has the emotional investment. It’s his story and I’m basically retelling it. But lately Steigan and I have fought over certain aspects. For example, I know that they have to have ceremonies and holidays and rituals. Steigan only lets me see those that mean something to him. I know there’s got to be more. He tells me, “Not to me. For me, it’s just another day of doing my duty.”

I admit I’m not a big holiday person myself. It’s just another day. To me, every day is special and meant to be enjoyed. I believe that Steigan also holds this belief. Didn’t I say that we were quite similar? I really wanted to know more though.

So here I was driving to work and thinking about the man Steigan was named after: Saint Steigan – a man who fostered his religion, then betrayed it. I focused on a period of time of about 30 years in St. Steigan’s life where he was supporting a wife and child who were not his own. I wanted to know what holidays and events were special to him during this period. I know what he was doing during this time, but I didn’t know much about his personal life. Suddenly I was struck with the brilliant realization that his child would have grown up and had children of her own during these 30 years (shocking thought, huh? Sometimes I’m really swift.)

Steigan stepped in and said, “Yes, her name was Annae and she wrote a book about St. Steigan.”

Yes! What would it be like to grow up thinking the man you called Papa was not really your father, then to learn that he was actually one of the most notorious people in the history of your world? I knew then that Aeribela, a princess from the town of Dubinshire, would have loved this book. So I asked what the book would be about and that’s when the Muse sat on my shoulder and started whispering about Annae and her life.

I have had to be as close to St. Steigan as I am Steigan because Steigan’s whole quest is to pick up where St. Steigan failed. I know the events influencing his life, what caused the deep grief he felt from events caused by his own actions slipping through his fingers like smoke. (Remember, I’ve been plugging away at this story for 15 years — longer than my children have been alive — so I know these characters.) I was afraid that St. Steigan would block the way, tell me that his external life during these 30 years were irrelevant to the story.

To my surprise, Annae stepped up to the plate. She told me the story in her book and how it all came to be. On my lunch hour, I started writing. During this last week, I’ve been writing during every free moment. What a strange experience it’s been too. On the one hand, I don’t know Annae very well so her voice was unclear. I also moved through the emotions that St. Steigan experienced as these events happened. It was like a coin where on the one side was St. Steigan’s emotions and on the other was Annae’s. May times when I quit writing, I’d feel fuzzy and raw from this tug-of-war split-brained sensation.

I finished the first draft yesterday. It ended up being longer than I thought it would. When Annae got into the story, she took it over. She gave me insights into holidays and ceremonies that Steigan never let me in on. To her, these were memoriable times. She has definitely expanded on this story more than I could’ve gotten through Steigan.

If that weren’t enough, I now have a side-story that I can release soon. Yes. You will get to see this later in April or May. There’s still much work to be done, a couple drafts of editting as well as having my writing friends look at it for things I don’t see. When it’s finished, you’ll have a great story that will whet your appetite for more. And there will be more.

I’ve been working on a novelization of the graphic novel too. I hope to have the novelization of the first draft done by the end of the year, though with this story popping in unannounced, it may get slightly pushed into 2011. I’m also working very hard on the next two chapters of the graphic novel. Never doubt how much time and energy goes into this story. But it’s my passion and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

I will keep plugging away at this story even thought the Muse has left my shoulder leaving me to carry on by myself. But while the Muse was here, I got a lot of material to work with and I’m thankful for the gift. It made this a very special week. I couldn’t ask for more.

Weblinks Tile Coaster

I’m so excited. Yesterday I received the tile coffee coaster that I’m giving away in my Weblinks contest. It’s simple to enter: just become a fan of Weblinks on Facebook. Here’s a picture of the coaster.

Weblinks banner on tile cup coaster
© 2010 Dawn Blair

I have one on my desk at work. I smile every time I look at it. When I pick up my coffee cup and see the coaster, I remember that I’m connected, that I’m more than just a bookkeeper, but I’m a friend, mother, and artist too. So many people seeing me in various capacities.

I never knew how big social media was going to be when I came up with the slogan for the Weblinks series, “It’s our connections that bind us,” But the more I get to know people via the Internet, the more I see that this is true. I hope that as the series progresses, more of this feeling comes out.

Speaking of coffee cups, I also got a new Sacred Knight cup to go on my tile coaster. It’s beautiful. See the pictures below.

Sacred Knight cup
© 2010 Dawn Blair

Sacred Knight cup
© 2010 Dawn Blair

It’s got the same banner on that’s on the right side of my blog with the glowing star in the center.

Sacred Knight cup
© 2010 Dawn Blair

That’s my Steigan — a glowing star who’s light has just started to shine. Sorry, this isn’t in the giveaway, but you can get your own. However, I’m also thinking about releasing the whole first chapter at Webcomics Nation. What do you think? If you want it, you better give me your vote!

Here’s the cup and coaster together:

Sacred Knight cup and Weblinks tile coaster
© 2010 Dawn Blair

Manga Studio 4

We interrupt the normally scheduled eBay auction blog, to bring you this special software review!

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Stepping back about six years or so, I came to a decision. Though I’ve always loved telling stories, I didn’t feel like I was supposed to be writing stories as novels at that time. Drawing had entered my life and turned my storytelling world upside-down. It was then I decided to start telling my tales as graphic novels. At first, I started sketching by hand while I took a moment to learn what all went into making a comic. It didn’t take me long to discover the illustrating a comic was a lot of work.

Since I’ve always been one to work smarter, not harder, I hoped someone had some sort of comic book drawing software on the market. Why try to figure out how to do a comic on the computer if someone had already done the work for me? It didn’t take me long to find Manga Studios 3.

I bought the EX version (over the Debut which is significantly cheaper, but has fewer tools) even though I knew that for me it was probably overkill. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, there’s nothing more frustrating than knowing that you should be able to do something in a more simple fashion and you could do it if you had that one version higher.

I produced four graphic novel chapters with MS3. My only lament was that I wished it had color.

Now enters Manga Studios 4 and guess what? Yep, you can color pages with it. Back on January 2, 2010, I had a note in my blog post about MS4. Originally, I’d added an ending line of something to the effect that if I was supposed to have MS4, I’d be granted a way for it to happen. I deleted the line, but it was very much in my heart as I posted the blog. To my complete astonishment, the “way” knocked on my door and I now have MS4. To the Universe and all those involved in my opportunity, please let me once again say, “Thank you!”

So, what do I think of Manga Studio 4? How does it compare to MS3?

Does “WOW!!!” cover it?

Okay, I’ll be more specific. When I first started up MS4, I had an option to start up the Beginner’s Assistant. The Beginner’s Assistant is a sidebar tool that allows you to see tools and layers in a way that actually illustrates the difference between the tools. It also includes pop-up hints to guide you around. I’ve had to go back to the standard mode because I’m so use to finding my way around in MS3, but if I’d started out with this feature as a complete newbie to both comics and the software, this would’ve simplified my life and saved me lots of time with my learning curve. I have switched back to the Beginner’s Assistant if I’ve wanted to find out how to use a tool more in-depth or to play with a tool because of the visual nature of the Beginner’s Assistant.

The feel of the pencils has changed. When I sketch offline, I like to use a mechanical pencil. In MS3, the mechanical pencil tool never felt right. I can’t say it’s perfect in MS4, but it does have marked improvement. The Most Recently Used Files option on the File menu has also been moved up the list and I appreciate this change.

I love the new Story/Page tabs. I can move back and forth between pages in my story in a fraction of the time. There’s also a pullout menu on the left side of the screen that allows you to click on the Story tab when you’re in a page and you can view a page while not leaving the one you’re working in. This is great in keeping continuity in panels without interrupting workflow.

The new Story Editor allows dialogue to be written for several pages and it automatically places the dialogue on the page at the top left so you can distribute the text over the page as needed, but you can also see the text written as you’re sketching the page. Since I do everything for my webcomic, Weblinks, in Manga Studio, I’m always thinking several pages ahead and this feature will help me out greatly.

The way dialogue is added has been changed greatly. If you look at Weblinks, you’ll see that I have one font that I use for thoughts and another for when people are speaking. These are two different styles. In MS3 I had to always change the font style and settings for each line of the dialogue. Having both Weblinks and Sacred Knight comics, I had different styles I was always have to remembers which was which. Now, I can save the settings for each style so I can spend more time concentrating on the story and less time focusing on keeping the look uniform. There are also several more dialogue balloons to choose from. In fact, there are many more tones to chose from too. Tones are now listed under the materials palette — a change I’m having problems adjusting to, but it does make sense.

Let’s talk about the rulers for a moment. MS3 had very nice perspective rulers in it. I saw the potential, but I have to admit that perspective is still a weak area for me. I’ve been trying to improve. To do Sacred Knight efficiently, I’ll need to be good at perspective. Perspective rulers are a feature that make MS powerful. In MS4, a perspective grid has been added for making 3D objects. I can’t wait to sit down with my perspective books and these tools to figure out how to use them effectively. Symmetry rulers have been added too. These are way too cool. They start off as two point symmetry rulers, which are good for drawing eyes and making sure they are even and level, all the way up to 12 point symmetry. Need a round stained glass window? Just decide how many parts you want for your window and start drawing. Whatever you draw in one part is copied in the others. Below, I’ve put in a page from my Manga Studios digital sketchbook showing a quick doodle that I made with a 12 point symmetry ruler.

Manga Studios sketchbook page
© 2010 Dawn Blair

I used a 6 point symmetry ruler to quickly sketch a flower that I put into a character’s hair. There are so many possibilities for the symmetry rulers!

Another added tool that I find exciting is the Select Layer tool. This is one of those tools that is only available in the EX version. I’ve often needed to find what layer a line is on, usually because I’ve accidentally drawn something on the wrong layer and now I need to make a correction. Before, I’ve had to go back and click the eye icon on each layer to turn off the view until the lines I’m seeking vanish. Then I know I’ve found the layer. Now, I click the Select Layer tool, then click on the line I want to find. The layer I’m searching for is selected and all other layers are lightened into the background. I learned this trick on mangastudio.net. In playing with this, I found that a tone layer can mess up selection of a line, so if the Select Layer tool always selects a tone layer instead of the line, use the Eraser tool to erase the tone above the line. You can then select the line, make your changes, then fill the tone back in.

The preferences menu has changed and several new options have been added. In exploring around here, I discovered a place to change the look of the cursor for tools. This was available in MS3, but I wasn’t aware of it there. I like this because I’ve always been frustrated by the eraser tool and knowing what size it is and where exactly I’m erasing this. Now I’ve been able to change the cursor so now I can see the eraser’s boundary. I haven’t changed any other tool, but I’m glad I know I can.

Have I found anything I wish I could change? Yes. I wish I could set up tools a little more specifically than I can and rename them. Much like the styles in the dialogue, I have several different settings I use with different tools in both Weblinks and Sacred Knight. The one that really comes to mind is when I’m doing Caitlyn’s hair in Weblinks. I start by coloring in the section black. Then I come back with the G brush set at .3 and white “ink.” I scratch in a bunch of white lines, then I change it to black and scratch in more lines until I get her “salt and pepper” look. I’d really like to be able to set up a G brush specifically for Caitlyn’s hair and label it that way so it doesn’t take me so long. Right now, if I have one G brush set in my custom tools, I can’t have another with slightly different settings. Or at least I haven’t found the way yet. Overall, it keeps me from using the custom tools exclusively and sticking with old patterns instead of exploring new ways of doing things which in the end is probably a really good thing.

All this and I haven’t even mentioned the coloring yet — the feature I was most excited about. Coloring is tricky and I haven’t figured it out completely, not with so many other great tools to explore as well. But don’t fear. After watching several tutorials and reading about the coloring process, I’ve seen what it’s capable of and I’m looking forward to using it to draw and color my children’s book later this year.

Is Manga Studio 4 worth the upgrade? Oh, yes! And stay tuned. In the next few months I’m planning tutorial videos showing my workflow process. You’ve heard me state before that I enjoy learning how other artists work and now it’s my turn to reciprocate. By then, I hope to have the coloring process down and I’ll do a tutorial on it as well. Who knows, maybe I’ll even get more tips and tricks posted on my blog. Okay, you know I will!

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Tomorrow, the normal eBay auction blog will be posted. Go now to see what’s still available!

Weblinks Returns

The page is done! Tomorrow, Friday, January 8, 2010, my online comic Weblinks awakens from hiatus.

Will there be fanfare? Of course there will be!

Once that page is posted, Bite 3 (aka chapter 3) will be finished. To celebrate, I’m having a contest. Tomorrow, when the page is posted, I’ll put a comment here with the link directly to the new page so you, my wonderful blog reader, will know how to find it. Follow that to Weblinks and out about a special “Fans Only” giveaway.

If you read my Sacred Knight update earlier this week, you know that I use a program called Manga Studios for drawing the comic. Weblinks is done entirely in Manga Studios. From sketches to roughs to the final inking. And if you do like I did last week and read the entire thing, you quickly see how fast I progressed as an artist. The key to getting better at something is definitely to practice it and keep practicing it. I’ve always considered Weblinks to be my “on-the-job training.” As such, I’ve learned how to use the Manga Studios program, which I find fairly easy to use (but maybe that’s just the techie geek in me talking), and I’m glad that my progression as an artist is so very public — since I’m always trying to convince people that they can be artistic.

I do have to admit that as I’m going back and reading Manga Studio for Dummies, I’m learning even more about the program. I’m familiar enough with the program that I see myself going through the motions when I’m reading, but there’s so much I’ve missed too. It’s also interesting because, as you know, I love learning how other artists work and I’m always picking up new tips on how to work better. This book is helping me get insights into how the author works too which is very different from how I work the program. There are a few things I plan on implementing and changing about how I work, but that two different people have two vast ways of doing their comics proves what a versatile program Manga Studios is.

See you tomorrow!