and of course I had to ruin my streak of having a little variation in my rep by drawing a bunch of veloce faces sigh LOL. I am pretty bad with faces so I thought I should do something like this for practice or something. I’m so backwards from most people where they draw faces so well and the rest shitty
I wanted to draw a realistic face so I did this. I reffed kristen stewart’s photos for this piece due to my lack of facial feature understanding. And then I realized I don’t like drawing realistic faces LOL because the amount of realism I want to achieve makes me ultimately feel like I’m copying someone rather than drawing as I wish
The last pic is a “wip” again that’s really finished LOL. I didn’t want the picture to be over the top since it’s the artbook cover, but right now I really really want to add extra elements to it, but I know if I do it will be too much so I’m just very blarg about it. Usually I know I should paint covers last but I decided to colour this first so that I can sit on it and improve it over the next few months. Hopefully it will be better towards the end but I will probably get super pissed off about it LMAO ffffff
I’m also considering updating CP twice a week (4 pages) instead of once right now. I want to be able to keep up at least 1 book per year, and 4 pages a week would guaranty that. I noticed I’ve been able to complete pages faster nowadays. I used to take 2 days regardless of page simplicity, usually an extra day or two if the page is complicated; but now complex pages take me a day per page and less than a day if the pages are simple. However being the greedy ass that I am, I want to work out something where this extra work I put in would reward me. I’ve seen comics do donation goals for bonus pages (amya, artifice, red string) but I don’t really feel comfortable accepting donations, plus I don’t have enough readership to do it consistently. The other option I was considering was to continue posting at the current rate, but draw 1 book per year anyway so that those who don’t want to wait for updates can opt to buy the book to read the remainder of the pages in book form. (eg. I sell volume 2 now with complete chapter 6 even though web updates are still at chapter 5.) But this is also a problem because the site will only lag further and further behind in updates and there is really no way for it to catch up. Also those who bought the book could ruin the story for those who didn’t. If you have an idea, please do share it here! I appreciate your help (:
{ Jennifer }
You could always draw at four pages per week but publish online at the same rate as you are now and wait to sell your book when volume 2 finishes online (or slightly earlier). You would end up with a ridiculous number of buffer pages at some point and be able to take a vacation or something stress-free.
If you decide to publish online twice-weekly though, Blackbird might gain even more of a presence in people's minds and make your readership go up as well as, as Saiyon mentioned, make it easier on people with bad memory.
Of course, remember to keep enough time for yourself in your life. There are lurkers who read your blogs and secretly care about your well-being. (: Those faces look awesome. :O
{ Saiyon }
I like that close face you did :) The eyes and the lips look pretty good
LOL kristen stewart.. I would have never considered to relate these two :P
It would be good that you updated it more often, because, at least for me (I've got pretty bad memory).. I read it like three months ago or something and I've almost forgotten everything in the beginning of the story, so it's sometimes difficult to keep track at your current update time. But then, again, I think two pages a week is fairly enough considering you are doing it on your own with no help! I would really consider that donation thing you are talking about, but I don't think it's a good idea to have books more updated than the webpage.
Oh, and I watched you stream that picture for the cover, and it looks really good! I really like the way you do fabric.
Keep up good work! :)
{ Shilin }
memory of previous events are a big concern for me as well because I can understand this issue, although I personally don't have this problem despite reading a lot of webcomics. I think it's because I cram too much information into my storyline that you're bound to forget some. Having the printed book helps though; I've read over some webcomic in prints so many times because I own it and end up remembering every single detail about it and never getting lost in new webupdates LOL
Thanks for the compliment!
{ R e a f u }
Man, that first screenshot, the angle totally reminds me of these magazine makeup ads. I tend to agree with Eien, your art style, like it's a more realistic version of anime without completely transitioning over to realism. I find it's almost tailor made to your story since it's a pretty serious one with the whole sorcery and political intrigue themes.
{ Shilin }
LOL MAGAZINES! although the first one needs some major cosmetic work because she has some pretty epic wrinkles at the tip of her eyes XD
{ Eien }
I <3 your Vel pictures, because if you ask of my opinion I say even your normal style has much more realism to the face than anime, it is a bit more anime than realism but its still like a good balance of both, Am i making sense?
But tbh those two Vel heads are quite lovely, there is a very beautiful serenity to Vel but at the same time it looks like behind that pretty face some hardships have occured. Which i know cause i read Blackbird 8D *brick'd*
{ Shilin }
haha yeah, though I didn't want for it to turn out that way, it's just that I can't figure out a way to paint faces and make them look consistent with the way I paint the rest of the body without going for more realistic approaches. I know it's possible because a lot of artists I admire can do it, but I just can't pull it off and end up with stuff like this ):
{ mamaviviriri }
yeah right, bad with faces…. ):
{ Shilin }
SO MUCH SUFFERING HAS GONE INTO THESE PICTURES MAN LOL