Digital Fail Again

Soooo, PS crashed again while I was drawing this last night. I was able to salvage this from the screen cap I took. I think maybe my computer just can't keep up with me when I'm doing these quick sketches.

Back to the drawing board.

Digital Win!

Thanks to Sinistar I figured out that my problem was the custom brushes I was using. He recommended an alternate set of custom brushes that are more compatible for the version of photoshop that I'm using. So now everything's working fine and photoshop isn't crashing...so far.

Digital Fail!

Very frustrating. I decided to dust off my wacom tablet and do some sketching in photoshop. I got these ill photoshop brushes from this guy and went to town sketching straight into photoshop. Lot's of fun until I went to save and photoshop crashed. After muttering a series of explicatives, I decided that maybe I was using up too much ram and decided to reboot my computer and draw my sketch again. Not only did I redraw my sketch, but I also made it look better than the first one. I figured there was no reason for photoshop to crash a second time, but as a precaution I took a screen cap of my finished drawing. I hit save. Photoshop crashed again.

So the drawing you see up top is the screen capture of the second sketch. I remember thinking, "why don't I just draw straight into the computer anymore?", and now I remember why:

Paper doesn't crash.

Animated Coco

Coco Gun Bun Promo from Ben Reynolds on Vimeo.

Influence Map

So, this thing is actually a meme that started over on Deviantart, but I thought I'd post it on here too since people seem to be interested in what I'm into:



I bet you're surprised to see so many american artists, huh?

There are a lot of film directors I'm into as well, but I thought maybe I should keep this thing specific to artists that are directly influencing the way I draw right now. I know there's a bunch I'm forgetting, but these guys are pretty much my main influences.

So if you think you might have similar tastes, and are in need of an artistic aphrodisiac, google some of those names and the results should jump start those creative juices.

Almost there...

The home stretch has never been closer.

Also, here's this thing I did a while ago:



Girlfriends in particular hate Cammy's Delta Red costume.

That's all for now, back to the grind--

A Kerslash Review

I found a new Kerslash review on Drunk Duck yesterday:

First things first...I don't read any manga. I have friends who are all about the stuff, but I haven't got into it at all.

Having said that. I am pleasantly surprised at how much I like KERSLASH. I really like the look of the comic. I suppose this is a comment on manga in general, but I enjoy the 'high energy' framing of the panels. Often I find the panel format adds very much to the energy and feel of the comic and this comic has got it right.

Art:
The art is fun and eye catching. I feel that the artist definitely has a good handle on artistic form. The main character has a "North American" look to me (if that is a look). She looks like a tween girl you might know at your highschool. Maybe the odd placement of her as a top ninja surrounded (at first) by all things Japanese is what caught my eye in the beginning, something new and different.

Story:
It's interesting how manga can add maybe 5 panels each update and still feel like you are reading a book. Imagine of you read a novel at that pace...it would be excruciatingly slow! At any rate, my only problem is that I sometimes found my self "falling out" of the story. I couldn't get into it deeply. I started off wanted to engross myself in the story but sometimes an odd twist, or an obvious plot event knocks me back to reality (sitting at my computer, reading a comic on Drunk Duck). The best stories engage you in a way that you forget your day to day activities. You can't help but read on and continue the story as though it is part of your world. Although this story has promise, I still haven't reached that 'lost myself int he comic' feel.

All in all an enjoyable first venture in to manga like comics. Thanks for the great strip!

Frank

I'm always surprised to find positive reviews for Kerslash. I'm still waiting for that one damning review that knocks me down a couple pegs.