Spring has sprung upon me.
or dealing with the change.
Spring is springing here in upstate New York, and while most of my friends and neighbors are celebrating the warmer weather, I must admit, I am not ready to let go of winter. I love cold the weather. I love hunkering down in warm clothes, warm blankets, hot soups, and most of all, I love all the time I get to work on my art because it is just too cold to do anything else. Winter is my creative season, and the warmer weather brings on outdoor tasks that take time away from my creative time. Am I being a bit selfish with my time? Maybe. Believe me, I have thought about letting the lawn go, letting the leaves stay where they are so long as I get some a little more time at the drawing board, or working on a script or design instead.
But if the season changes, then so must I, as the saying goes. Oh well.
New Margo art…
These past few weeks I have been working on a new Margo Intergalactic Trash Collector story. This is one that has been pulling at me because it has been a couple of years now since the last Margo release and this arc has been floating around in my head for some time now. In the last post, I posted some preliminary art, but I felt working on a cover design would help get more of my creative juices flowing. Hence, the video of some of my processes behind the art. One of the big differences this time around working on this book, is I am working in Clip Studio Paint instead of Photoshop. I am still a CSP novice and have much to learn, but I feel like the process has been streamlined because of all the comic-centric features in Clip Studio Paint. Plus being able to record my actions and share them is a big plus for me.
What I am reading…
In comics, I am reading The Human Target, by Tom King and Greg Smallwood. I absolutely love this series. I was drawn to Greg Smallwood’s art ever since he did a Nick Fury story for Marvel Comics, his feel for pulling in pulp references and nods to the great artist of old stands out. Tom King’s storytelling in this book has been a lesson in how to tell great comics. His comics have lately become a favorite grip about everything wrong with comics today among some editors and older comic creators. Posting single pages or panels filled with word balloons on social media. But I gotta tell you, it is about story structure when it comes to comics, not just one page or one panel, and Tom’s story, structure, and story arc are killing it on The Human Target. I love old comics, but they aren’t making those anymore, and honestly, naysayers aside The Human Target stands up with the best of them.
Till next time, from the studio,
Jim Whiting