Getting the Rust Off

So I've been working pretty steadily for the past week on actually getting pages done for my newest comic idea. Let me say it hasn't been easy at all.

Well in some ways its easier than it was when i first started since I used to do everything from panels to speed-lines by hand when I started doing this originally. I use a combo of PS CS5 and Manga Studio EX4 now and that part makes it easier over all. The thing it's taking some getting use to is the amount of time my rust forces me to have to spend on each little part of my work now. Thankfully it isn't as bad as it was when I did some character work earlier in the year.
Those took me about a week just to sketch out. The panel penciling is going much faster this time, if not as fast as what I would like it to be. Still its nice to actually be putting pencil to paper (even if it is virtual) and getting something done. It's also nice to be able to skip a bit of story-boarding that I had to do in the past on paper and just get straight into the meat of the work. If I don't like how its going I can just start a new one or delete the old. I find myself also planning further ahead than I used to on paper.

I suppose I'll get better at speaking about this process as I continue working and perhaps I'll even give a bit of insight into the inspirations I draw from that have brought me to this point.

-Nekko

What To Do? What To Do?

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I've been out of the b logging game for a while now and honestly I haven't really missed doing it. That said, I do find I want to talk about things from time to time. It's not as if I want to talk about one thing in particular all the time though. As much as I liked looking into other people's work (and will continue to do so) I figure I should also talk about my own struggle to get back to making art myself. So I will.

I've been a web comic artist since about 2004 or so, and I had a really bad bout of depression a few years ago that killed any sort of creativity I used to have. I miss working on my dream, and it is with great pleasure I am starting to get back into doing comics again.

Is it easy? No. It's hard as hell to get back into drawing when you haven't been able to so much as sketch for almost four years. When I was at my prime I could hand draw a page, ink it, scan, clean, and text a page in just a few hours. I can't do that anymore at the moment and it's driving me up a wall. So for the time being when I feel like it I will be posting about the journey back to get my demons out of my system and get some focus going. Other than that we will see what sort of randomness I feel like rambling about.

- Nekko