It's also easier to draw something for the second and third time, which I think is why you see so many artists do very tight layouts and then draw the same thing again for the final version.

I'm trying something new. Is this style feasible? Does it read OK?

Wow, I think that looks terrific!

Thanks. It’s hard for me to resist hatching the hell out of everything. The art in Cerebus vol. 2-5 are such a big part of my brain and keeps trying to take over my hands.

That's a really hard thing for me as well. You've got these instincts and you're just constantly fighting them as you draw.

I think there's also the feeling of looking down at something and feeling, "this needs something" and wanting to add more lines to try to fix it.

Nice, Trevor!

Y'know, it may be a step backwards, but I think I'm going back to my original style. It feels more "me". I'll just have to get better at it.

Going manga-sized paper, too.

Sorry if I'm being dense, but what's the difference?

I guess the different approach to stylizing the background (sky, forest).

Plus moving that last caption out of the way of that stupid spot I put it originally.

Y'know, I've been thinking.... three pages a week is a graphic novel a year.....

Hey, nice stuff! Glad you're getting back into it!

I gotta get a scanner. Below's a photograph of the art, without filters, all blemishes intact, etc.

Three pages a week is a hard row to hoe, but if I could get one or two a week, that's still progress.

I didn't notice as much in the earlier versions that Finn was flipping me off.

Thanks Beachy. I fixed it up a bit, hopefully takes the edge off.

Proces shot. I'm making lettering guides with an Ames Guide like the big boys, but everything else looks like it was done by a 14 year old.

I still have an Ames Guide upstairs somewhere.
And your lettering looks good to me, just a few malformed letters here and there. You'll get better.

In general, I don't like word balloons that contract/loop in on the empty space, as in the first one
in the third panel. I'd rather see text lines more evenly line up up and down. An oval template or
French curve might help in forming the balloons. And you needn't draw the whole oval each time,
either. In the last panel, bottom balloon, just trace the oval parts where it fits inside the actual panel.

I have a bunch of those, but I don't like how they look. But then, I don't really like how mine look either.

Honestly, I'd like to learn to letter like this era of Dave Sim. He was great - organic and expressive. Probably not attainable, but I think that's the ideal.

I confess to never really haven studied letter all that much; I tend to only notice it when I shouldn't be.
Sim does a very nice job here making each individual character, like <i>S,>/i> look the same each time.

Life has been a big distraction for the last several weeks, but I've been trying to get back into it.

Yeah, get back to it, man.

I tried pencil sketching for a new portrait painting earlier in the week, but, unfortunately, my bones and joints have gotten
pretty stiff this last week (possibly just the cold but perhaps some arthritis and/or inflammation brought on by the flu). I
had to drop it for now, but I'd like to get something done yet this year.

I feel like I'm already seeing improvements!