(Untitled)

[goodbyebartleby]

I can't imagine I'll get too many takers for this one, but what the hell! A meme I've seen in a few places:

This is when you get to ask me anything. I mean anything -- fandom things, real life things, things you think you should know, things you think I should have told you a long time ago. Just leave a comment.

Comments

[kristallee]

Have you tried Corel Painter, and what do you think of it?

(Boring, I know...)

[goodbyebartleby]

I had to use Painter a long time ago when I worked for Universal. I can't remember the reason for it, my art director thought it was great or whatever. But it didn't impress me much and I haven't touched it since then. Most clearly I remember the headache of having a few files become corrupted during saving, but I'm sure they've fixed that since then.

I guess I don't see the point of it. If you want your work to look like you used natural media, maybe you should use natural media. All the same, like Paint Tool Sai and OpenCanvas, I don't begrudge anyone for using it if they like it, I just don't have any need for it. Photoshop suits me fine for digital painting, and it's solid as a rock :)

[ladyfox]

Dagnabbit... I always have all sorts of questions I want to ask but figure you aren't in the mood to answer... now I have the perfect opportunity, and I can't think of even ONE.

[nacreousflaneur]

Why are you so obsessed with zombies? Death is gross! Dead people are gross! What is wrong with you?

[goodbyebartleby]

I don't like zombies, actually. I like MY zombies. Mainstream zombies are tired metaphors, tacky horror movie MacGuffins, video game fodder, or excuses for some hack to rewrite classic novels for quick GP. But I (try to) use them as a tool to explore unknowable death and the ideas surrounding it, and the oft overlooked inevitability of human physical decay. Zombies, or rather sentient cadavers, do this in a way that vampires and ghosts can't.

'Cause yeah, death's gross, but it's the Great Tragedy of the human condition, and there aren't too many other subjects as worthy of one's creativity.

[kristallee]

What do you do when you feel like you should be creative, but aren't in a particularly creative moment? Do you look for inspiration? Brush it off until later? Draw penises until something else comes to you?

[goodbyebartleby]

Actually, I never have this problem XD

Often I don't feel creative towards a particular subject, mostly character commissions or other jobs I'm doing money, but I have a constant need in me to be creating SOMETHING. I'm always writing roleplay or working on a comic or a novel or a short story or an illustration or SOMETHING. I have a hard time putting that aside, not summoning it. So yeah.

But if you want advice on how to get the creative juices flowing, I think I have to recommend looking at a lot of other people's artwork. I also have to recommend making some sacrifices, like giving up (most if not all) television watching, or video games, or anything else you find is taking up your time and not offering up any sort of intellectual reward in return. Keep your schedule open, and maybe the art will come in on its own to fill it.

Late to the show

[rid_ney]

When it comes to working on original ideas, do you tend to lean more towards written expression or visual(comics)? How many currently uncompleted projects do you hope to one day see finished, and in what media?

Re: Late to the show

[goodbyebartleby]

In regards to your first question, I think it's a fairly even split. I have one story I've been working on for ten years or so and it's gone back and forth between novel and comic so many times I've lost count. Right now I've settled it at comic, but there are side stories related to it that work just as well as illustrated novels. The medium must serve the narrative. An action story will do better as a comic while character-driven introspection will often work better in prose. It's up to you to make that decision