I’ve been yammering about the blog every day and ignoring the elephant in my studio. The big news is, after two years of experimenting and learning and struggling, I have thrown in the towel. I have given up on using a stylus and a tablet as my main instruments for drawing the comic strip Arlo & Janis. I have gone back to India ink and Bristol board to produce my basic artwork.
There are many, mostly younger artists who use digital means exclusively to produce outstanding illustrations, gorgeous comic books and striking comic strips. I couldn’t master it.
I turned out passable drawings with a digital pen, but I found it intimidating and limiting. I increasingly was reluctant to attempt an intricate concept. I had no feel for it as I do with pen and paper; it just didn’t seem like the same thing. As a result, I turned out simple panels and way too many talking heads, things that ordinarily are hard enough to avoid in my confined domestic tableaux. I detect this in other comic strips, many of them well known. I won’t name names, but they look as if they’re being produced by modestly talented high school art students. I could see that happening in my work.
Never the best draftsman, I have thrown off what I increasingly regarded as a handicap. I do still use a Frankenstein mash-up of old and new technology to produce a living, breathing comic, but I’ll tell you about that later.
Speaking of the blog, I have made some significant changes that will be visible only on desktops and laptops. I’ll see what I can do for the rest of you when I have a little time. I’m finally doing what I said I wanted to do, having fun rearranging stuff.
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