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Post by G on Jul 22, 2013 18:51:11 GMT -5
I always want to draw a comic but it is so much work and I don't feel good about my comic drawing either, that I just put it off and never end up doing it. However, I have visions in my head of doing things one day when life is settled and in order and I can work on things extremely slow and just do things 1 panel at a time. It might take years for me to do. But I think it would turn out to be something I would be proud of, rather than something I would do kind of quickly and it turns out like shit. In terms of your work, I don't think the art is the main concern. From my viewpoint, the art was done well enough to convey your stories properly and being it is a humorous type of work, the art does not have to be done with great skill. As long as you do it well enough to get your stories across like I have seen you do in the past, it's good enough to be presented to others. Because with your work, it's not the art that needs to shine, it's rather your stories. The art is the stumbling point. I'll have free-flowing ideas of how I want a story to go, but the execution of those ideas gets drained when I have to sit at a table and draw at a snails pace. I do agree my art conveys the story. For me, the facial expressions and hands convey more of what is going on than any other element in the panel. This is where the reader connects to what the character is saying. You art was getting pretty good. You just needed to work on line weights to convey depth and contrast. I think you could be damn good with more time invested. You are a helluva lot better than Stu. df1 Thank you for that. I think when I last drew a lot a year or two ago, towards the tail end of it, I tried working on that. That is a lot harder for me to get than just drawing because I see it as kind of a inking quality. When I penciled, generally it was with a mechanical pencils. I think it was a .5mm. I was just focused on drawing all the elements of the picture I was doing as best I can and when I was done, the line weights were all the same. It's sorta like trimming your hair with hair clippers. You put an extension it (say a #1) and then you go all over your head. When you're done, all your hair is the same length. That is what was happening to me when I was drawing. I tried correcting that as I drew but it was difficult for me. It almost would have been better if I had drew my pieces and then inked them afterwards. Instead, all I had was my pencils. I know the great artists have line weights incorporated into their pencils. I think that is what separates me from being an okay artist, to being a really good artist. Whenever I get life settled again and pick my art back up, I will focus more on that quality. I always get mad when I think about my artistic life. Me and BigW met at the age of 12 and during that time, we both had roughly the same artistic abilities. He might have been slightly better because he had more of a photographic memory when it came to drawing. I was typically the better storytelling artist. I took 3 years of commercial art in High School but it bored me to tears because I wanted to draw and my instructor was dead set on teaching us all the other aspects of art like Paste Ups, Advertisements Mock Ups, and using mediums I didn't care for. 85-90% of the time I was in there, had very little to do with me increasing my artistic talents and more with doing more professional work in other aspects. By time High School was over, I was pretty decent at art. I even got a few paying jobs from a couple of companies. It was flattering. However, I didn't think I was good enough to make a real living at it. So I concentrated elsewhere in my life and put art away. In the meantime, BigW just never stopped drawing. Ever. And he would be a real bonafide artist by time we were 23-24 years old. Just recently, he finally took a real job because art was too up and down for too long. But he still gets side jobs. Me on the other hand, I picked my art back up in the last 1-4 years remembering the love I used to have for it. The difference is, BigW never stopped. As in most walks of life, the things you stick with are the things you get really good at. I get mad because seeing how I draw now when I put my mind to it, I often wonder where I would be at if I never quit?? It's like a wasted talent. I still feel like I have some unfinished business in my artistic future. I certainly hope 1 day I do something I am proud of. I know you want your work to be as good as it possibly can be and the facial expressions and hands mean that much to you. You seem like someone who can live their normal everyday life and then devote time to other endeavors (like making checklists and mining data and stuff like that). I think if you devoted about 1/10th of that extra curricular time to your art, you could draw another book and keep up with all your other side quests. I know just like everything though, it all comes down to desire. But I do think you have it in you.
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 22, 2013 22:17:58 GMT -5
My dad had a friend that always made more money than him. He started out as a DJ. He quit that to paint signs for a living. He must have done very well at it. I remember tagging along with my dad and this guy was just painting letters on a board. He was painting words, but I just saw him working on one letter at a time keeping everything straight and perfect. I can't help but wonder how sign painting would do in today's market.
df1
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 22, 2013 22:20:50 GMT -5
The Herb Trimpe art captured both his raw power and his innocent ambitions. Trimpe's art nailed Hulk. It wasn't good enough for just any title, but for me he nailed Hulk perfectly. I think Sal is just as talented as his brother if that's what he wanted to do. I think he discovered that he could make more money by pumping out more pages. If you don't care about your reputation, why work harder and get less pay? He only got paid for completed pages, so he pumped out as many as he could. df1 I agree that Herb Trimpe captured a fantastic Hulk. I remember being young and buying the reprint series of Hulk books "Marvel Super Heroes" or something like that and they reprinted all the old Hulks. I remember reading those stories and being introduced to Jim Wilson, Jarella, Doc Sampson, etc. I especially loved his art when Severin was inking. But I cannot overlook that I thought Sal did a great job on it as well. I truly think this may have been his greatest run. What he did over Trimpe, is Trimpe was always a bit stiff and blocky or bulky. Sal captured the anger and loosened Hulk way up. I think his stories were filled with more action. I think Trimpe was better at the inner story. I wouldn't take anything away from either. I know what you don't like about Sal and I agree. But I don't think Sal did a rush job on the Hulk. I think he did it more and more AFTER his run on the Hulk, but during that run, I think it was one of his best eras. I think I remember Sal more on Defenders. It took a long time for me to dislike his work. Anything by John or Marie Severin was great. df1
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Post by G on Jul 23, 2013 9:50:13 GMT -5
My dad had a friend that always made more money than him. He started out as a DJ. He quit that to paint signs for a living. He must have done very well at it. I remember tagging along with my dad and this guy was just painting letters on a board. He was painting words, but I just saw him working on one letter at a time keeping everything straight and perfect. I can't help but wonder how sign painting would do in today's market. df1 I actually did 2 professional signs in my life. One hung outside the building of a Machine Shop called Turner Machine. I had to draw some machining equipment on it plus of course, the words. The other was all words that sat by the road of a strip mall with an arrow pointing towards the restaurant. It was for a diner that sold mainly lunches called Brunch Box Kitchen. I tried to get him to let me do a picture but he wanted nothing but words and an arrow pointing at his store. Between the 2, his was harder because not only was the spacing of the letters necessary. The centering of all the sentences, which also included store hrs took forever for me to line up properly. Whereas the Machine shop had a few pictures and Turner Machine on it which I found far easier to do. I nearly got a job years ago at a sign shop as one of the artists. I was upset I didnt get. Another time about 15 years ago I spent a day at a sign shop on computer using I believe Corel Draw. I had already been messing with it at that time. They told me to mess with it a few more weeks and come back and show them that I progressed. I never did it. I regret that. In December I interviewed at Fastsigns, but this time as a salesman. I could have had the job, I just didnt feel I was rignt to be a salesman. its just not in my blood. its all computerized and printed out now on huge printers along with custom wraps on vehicles and wall murals. Nothing is hand drawn anymore. Although I didnt want to be a salesman, I wished I was qualified enough to be a computer artist. In essence, I had a chance to break in at both realms and didnt. Again, I regret that. I recently was asked to do Batman, Spiderman and Superman with their heads cut out for a head sticking through for picture taking stand up board in Sharpie marker. They painted it after I was done. I did it, but I was only paid $40 for it. One of those, I know someone who can draw scenarios. Even though I didnt get paid shit, it came out great and more importantly, it was highly satisfying. If I could get a job where I could be artistically creative, I would jump all over that now. its funny when you are young and dumb, the opportunities are there but I was too immature to grab those chances when it came knocking. Now that I would jump in and be highly devoted to it, those opportunities dont exist anymore. It is true when they say opportunity only knocks once. if I had taken any of those previous sign making jobs, I think I would now be happy, highly skilled and accomplished and well paid.
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Post by G on Jul 23, 2013 12:42:57 GMT -5
Also I might add, that I think that is one reason I find what I am doing on eBay if not monetarily, at least spiritually, it's a decently satisfying endeavor. Yeah, it's a lot of work, I'm grossly underpaid, I'm thinning out my collection of good stuff in a major way, and it's not going to solve my problems in the long run. In essence, it feels creative. I don't like making advertisements but I occasionally find myself admiring the finished work. I do think I make my auctions look better than most. Sure, there are some who go all out with lots of HTML and lots of flash and glitter. I don't have all of that. I do incorporate a little HTML and if I wanted to make it even better, I know I could. And one day maybe I will.
But I also find it satisfying that I'm doing things on my own. I'm adjusting things and doing things as I see fit. Again, it's not a long term solution, but it has been keeping me afloat, keeping my utilities on and buying me time as I search for a better solution and keep soldiering my resources.
When this is all behind me one day, I will probably look back and think that even though it was a shitload of work and I got robbed of seeing my beloved collectibles mature as investments the way I wanted to, I was able to once again find a way to live off of them long enough to find better days. And since I did it my way, even though I'm underpaid and have given some decent books away while other books sold nicely. All in all, when all is said and done, the overall deal is very satisfying in the end.
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 23, 2013 18:39:23 GMT -5
Also I might add, that I think that is one reason I find what I am doing on eBay if not monetarily, at least spiritually, it's a decently satisfying endeavor. Yeah, it's a lot of work, I'm grossly underpaid, I'm thinning out my collection of good stuff in a major way, and it's not going to solve my problems in the long run. In essence, it feels creative. I don't like making advertisements but I occasionally find myself admiring the finished work. I do think I make my auctions look better than most. Sure, there are some who go all out with lots of HTML and lots of flash and glitter. I don't have all of that. I do incorporate a little HTML and if I wanted to make it even better, I know I could. And one day maybe I will. But I also find it satisfying that I'm doing things on my own. I'm adjusting things and doing things as I see fit. Again, it's not a long term solution, but it has been keeping me afloat, keeping my utilities on and buying me time as I search for a better solution and keep soldiering my resources. When this is all behind me one day, I will probably look back and think that even though it was a shitload of work and I got robbed of seeing my beloved collectibles mature as investments the way I wanted to, I was able to once again find a way to live off of them long enough to find better days. And since I did it my way, even though I'm underpaid and have given some decent books away while other books sold nicely. All in all, when all is said and done, the overall deal is very satisfying in the end. . Keep plugging away. I've got some serious issues around me to brainstorm. Don't take it personal if I'm at a loss for things to say about comics right now and for the foreseeable future. df1
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Post by defiant1 on Jul 27, 2013 16:49:26 GMT -5
I have still been talking comics because certain things are still a waiting game.
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Post by G on Aug 26, 2013 23:04:36 GMT -5
I'm always amazed how things go. When something doesn't sell, I generally wait a couple of weeks and then put it back up. I mix it in with other new material. If I tried selling books that didn't sell before, it would be fruitless and bound not to sell many again. But if you mix it in again with new and different material, you never know what will happen. Usually if I put a book up often enough, it sells in the end. It saves time and effort because I don't have to rescan, and remake another auction from scratch. All I have to do is select relist and change the starting time. This is a good example. A perfect example of me buying eclectic shit from a dumpster dive. Got this for $1 or less from Joey's dumpster a few years back. Seen these books from time to time but was never interested. But for $1. Why not. Turns out, this was a limited edition with collectors cards inserted. Limited to 1,000 copies. First time I put it up. Didn't sell. Had a few watchers, but when all was said and done, nobody bought it. They could have had it for 99 cents. Waited 2 weeks and put it up again with new books around it. I guess it's just a matter of the right people seeing it at the right time. A virtual bidding war took place (9 bids) over a book that previously had 0 bids the previous time I tried to sell it. It wound up selling for $11.06. For me, this is off the beaten path. But it fits the criterias I search for. Eclectic 1st issues. Limited and in great shape (Graded VF/NM 9.0). And cheap so low risk (Bought for $1 or less, probably less because the more you buy the cheaper the dumpster costs and I'm a friend so I get the friend discount).
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Post by G on Sept 13, 2013 22:34:14 GMT -5
Here's a modern book I put up just on a whim and if it sold for 99 cents, I would have been happy, so I put it up and to my shock and laughter, it ends up selling for $11.50 + shipping. So some sheep wound up paying $16 to get a copy of this book. Ths only Walking Dead comic I ever purchased. And it's such a piece of crap. Basically it's all scribbles with a dead house in a house with his dad being passed out on the floor and there are zombies outside and I think the boy has a shotgun and the whole issues the kid is debating with himself on whether he should go for it with his shotgun or sit tight in case they break in. Thats all he does the whole issue and debates with himself on whether should leave or not. Every time he just about opens the door, he talks himself out of it. The whole issue. At the very end, he opens the door. issue over. the end. what a piece of shit. Im happy as hell someone paid me $16 to own this. I thought the winner was an idiot, but hey! He paid.
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Post by defiant1 on Sept 14, 2013 2:01:29 GMT -5
Here's a modern book I put up just on a whim and if it sold for 99 cents, I would have been happy, so I put it up and to my shock and laughter, it ends up selling for $11.50 + shipping. So some sheep wound up paying $16 to get a copy of this book. Ths only Walking Dead comic I ever purchased. And it's such a piece of crap. Basically it's all scribbles with a dead house in a house with his dad being passed out on the floor and there are zombies outside and I think the boy has a shotgun and the whole issues the kid is debating with himself on whether he should go for it with his shotgun or sit tight in case they break in. Thats all he does the whole issue and debates with himself on whether should leave or not. Every time he just about opens the door, he talks himself out of it. The whole issue. At the very end, he opens the door. issue over. the end. what a piece of shit. Im happy as hell someone paid me $16 to own this. I thought the winner was an idiot, but hey! He paid. That does sound like shit. After the hype dies down, I think people will look back and realize that. They'll think "WTF was I thinking!" Of course, I know what they are thinking. They are thinking every issue will increase in value forever. They like the idea of the books holding value more than they like the series. df1
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