hey look, a self portrait

oil

aeiou

reworking the mural composition in photoshop. the plan is to blow this up and print it out, lightly trace where each figure goes, and then completely redraw everything so it doesn't look like shit. maybe I can get my roommates to pose for reference. Here are two slightly different compositions I am currently working with (I put blue in the background for clarity) along with my first composition. improvement?

felt like drawing, future roommate suggested Ganesh so I did that. don't love it, don't hate it.

I just received a brush I ordered from an English lady named Rosemary (thanks to Comic Tools for the recommendation). Handmade kolinsky sable, very inexpensive for what it is. Very nice brush. The brush it's replacing is a Windsor and Newton Series 7, which was considerably more expensive. It was a good brush, but I think I left it at my now ex-girlfriend's house, so anyway.. it's probably gone for good. Fortunately, the Rosemary brush is so far performing at least as well as the W&N did. My only concern is the ferrule, which doesn't have the same little rounded bulge where it attaches to the handle. Instead, it has this very tiny indentation around it, which doesn't seem quite as secure, but given the quality and care put into the rest of the brush, I am for now trusting that the ferrule is sound as well.

Anyway, so I'm trying to improve my inking. I don't feel like I've really found "my technique", or whatever you'd call it when an artist gets comfortable doing something a certain way. I think that's the problem, that I'm not comfortable with it. Although I like the idea of constantly pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone, it helps for that comfort zone to exist in the first place. It gives you a foundation. A brush is so sensitive to little fluctuations of pressure, which make it great for expressive lines, but it requires a high degree of control and sensitivity to execute well.
I've been looking for tips online, and I've seen some tutorials from great inkers who clearly have that kind of control and sensitivity. I am in awe of their ability. It's baffling that almost every single one of them seems to have some kind of inferiority complex in regard to inking, almost apologetic that they should have the audacity to make such a tutorial in the first place. GUYS, you are very skilled inkers! Stop being so down on yourselves! It makes me feel even worse about my own inking!

I've been doing some sketching/brainstorming today for Ed's album he just finished, A Phantom Whines Pt. 2.

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