#but might redo the inking digitally

[nhyhu]

working on smt :3

[inkedmyths]

Inktuneber Day 13 - Turn the Lights Off

Wow this worked surprisingly well. Hehehe abstraction

[blue-eli]

Ink October day 16: Cryonics

The cryopreservation of a person with medical needs that cannot be met by available medicine until resuscitation and healing by future medicine is possible.

[hobbitofgallifrey-art]

Avari

[theleanbean]

Artober 3: Phantasma

[dunmeshistash]

Interview to celebrate the opening of the Ryoko Kui Exhibition

About Delicious in Dungeon: Story making

Q1. Your first long-running series has lasted for about 9 and a half years. Has it been different from your previous experience drawing short stories?

A1. Compared to short stories, the series has been easier because the same characters appear each time. But I was surprised to find that I got tired of drawing the same characters too many times.

Q2. You have said before that the overall structure of the story was decided before serialization began, but how much of that had you communicated to your editor? Also, what kind of communication did you have during the series production?

A2. The goal was something we discussed and had decided on from the beginning. The goal itself was simple, but the path to get there was more difficult and took longer than imagined.

Q3. Regarding the overall story concept and development, did you write out or put anything down in writing (such as the plot)?

A3. I did, but it was simple.

Q4. Did you come up with the dishes based on the monsters you wanted in the story? Or did you come up with the monsters based on the dishes?

A4. It depended on the story, but usually the story came first followed by the monsters or food. I feel like that was most often the order.

Q5. As you progressed in drawing the series, what elements of the characters, story, or world expanded or grew in the most unexpected way?

A5. Nothing particularly unexpected perhaps. When I used to draw web manga, I tended to think up inconsequential settings. So, from the beginning I tried to restrain myself as much as possible and not expand too much. I was surprised when my editor said "Let's expand it more," in the second half of the series.

Q6. "Delicious in Dungeon" starts with a relatively simple setting, but as the series and the labyrinth exploration continues, the map slowly expands little by little in the readers' minds. It becomes more three-dimensional, revealing the secrets of the world, and taking on a multilayered structure. Are there any sources that you used as a reference, or which influenced you in creating this multilayered structure?

A6. A long time ago, when I was working on my personal web manga (fantasy), I drew it however I wanted, thinking that "Only people who can read this will read it," but I regularly received feedback that it was "unreadable", so I tried to make it as easily. accessible as possible.

Q7. The series combines many elements, including "fantasy", "gourmet", "battles", and "puzzle solving", but I think it's also important that it is a "comedy" which makes people laugh. Could you let us know if you have a creative commitment towards depicting humor?

A7. My hopes are that I can make it fun for people to read.

[page 5]

About Delicious in Dungeon: Drawing manga

Q1. Please tell us about the drawing tools you currently use, both digital and analogue.

A1. In terms of analogue tools, I use a light box, a G pen, a round pen, and a brush pen. And for digital, I use CLIP STUDIO PAINT and a Wacom LCD tablet. Screentone pasting is always done on the computer, so ultimately it all ends up as a digital manuscript.

Q2. Do you have any rules or reasons for using digital and analog separately?

A2. I'm always looking for ways to draw better and save time, so the exact approach is probably different for almost every chapter. Personally, I feel that analogue methods create more appealing lines, but I feel like digital saves time, so maybe I'll do a digital rough sketch and do the inking by hand… I might have been using a G pen, and maybe I'll try out a turnip pen, or this time I'm short on time so I'll draw it entirely digitally, but with digital I can redo it over and over, so maybe analogue is still faster, and so on and so forth. I'm indecisive in this way and so haven't developed a consistent process.

Q3. I understand that you prepare 3D data for your assistants to draw the backgrounds. What kind of data did you make for "Delicious in Dungeon" ?

A3. You could call it 3D, but it's not a proper model, just something to help with the rough sketching. I line up cubes to share the perspective and sense of scale, and they use it as a reference.

Q4. At the beginning of the series, the characters and backgrounds were somewhat simply drawn, and it seems like they became richly detailed over the progression of the story. What was your intention behind using these different styles?

A4. It's simply that my technique isn't stable. I thought I'd put a lot of effort in at the start. I remember being confused when my editor asked me to add more in to the drawing, and I wondered "Where…?"

Q5. Thinking about the food, were there any menu illustrations that you were particularly satisfied with, or which you struggled with?

A5. I've never liked my own food illustrations. But the times when I read other people's manga and thought "That looks delicious," I think it's been more an influence of the movement, the staging, and the situation than the drawings.

Q6. For the world maps and the terrain of each continent, did you refer to any maps of the real world? I feel like the shape of the 'island' is similar to the shape of Fukuoka Prefecture or Kyushu.

A6. I didn't reference any specific geography, but I did try to put thought into things like whether a developed city would be near a river or the sea, and what the coastline would look like. I'm pleased if it feels similar to a real place, because it means my interpretation was pretty accurate.

About Delicious in Dungeon: Other

Q1. Which is your favorite monster?

A1. Nightmare.

Q2. I'm sure you have received a lot of feedback from readers in countries and regions outside of Japan. Please tell us if there was anything from them that made you happy, was unexpected, or which made a lasting impression on you.

A2. When you play foreign games, there are times when you think "Why did they translate it into Japanese like that?" But having been on the side of having something translated, I've realized some things are unavoidable, or endless, and there are many things that don't matter either way from the author's perspective, so it was interesting.

About Ryoko Kui's short story collections and herself

Q1. Dragons are a consistent and important motif in your work. Was there any particular work or experience which inspired this? Also, are there points about drawing dragons which you find interesting or have had to work hard on?

A1. It's less about liking dragons, and more that I'm interested in the worlds in which dragons exist. When I draw dragons, the depiction in itself has a sweet feeling to it. I have never had a pet reptile, so I don't have a very good understanding of them.

Q2. Unomiya University in your story "The dragon's school is on top of the mountain" has a Faculty of Dragons, Department of Environmental Studies, and Department of Technology Studies, and a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. If you were to enroll in the university, which department or faculty would you like to enter?

A2. I probably wouldn't be accepted….

Q3. The collection includes a short story staged as an essay manga. Are you a fan of essay manga? Please tell us about any genres of essay manga that you like.

A3. I love all kinds of essay manga. I read them often.

Q4. If you were to make your own game, what kind of game would you like to make?

A4. I prefer being a player when it comes to games.

Q5. When did you first start drawing illustrations (doodles)?

A5. I don't exactly remember when I first drew a picture, but I think I started drawing manga around the fourth or fifth grade of elementary school. in my notebooks and had my friends read them.

Q6. What is the most fun part about drawing manga?

A6. Every part is fun and hard in its own way.

Q7. Please tell us if there is anything you "just can't stop no matter what".

A7. My procrastination habit.

Q8. Could you please tell us if there's something you want to draw now?

A8. I've been working continuously since the serialization, so I'd like to take about 2 to 3 months to just draw whatever I want.

[superamatista]

I did the AtaLum DTIYS. Might redo it and color it digitally. I enjoyed drawing them, it's the first time I draw and color Ataru and Lum c: Done with pencils and ink markers, cleaned up digitally.

I also used this scan in higher quality for reference

[anticmiscellaney]

Cover concept that I might (will) redo. I like the overall composition/idea, but it needs fine-tuning and better inking.

Ink on paper, digital colour.

[wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee28374728]

Inked and colored. I think I like the line art better. Might do a digital redo.

[creepy--claws]

[● It's 2am and I can't sleep because horrible images are plaguing my mind ANYWAYS Bullets has been SWARMING my mind like crazy and Revenge is there too. So I figured I'd show some of my drawings! They suck ass and I might redo them digitally soon but ya ☆ I'm especially fond of the Early Sunsets one. I have that image in my mind everytime I listen to the song

The demo lovers on a hill watching the sunset as MDL holds FDL as she fucking perishes. This song hits different. At first I didn't really get it but now like. It hurts.

I didn't bother cropping the second one because like. I don't care enough to ☆ and I plan on redoing it digitally. The first one was mostly just practice and because I wanted to draw them. It's so unfinished and generic because I rAN OUT OF INK and I need a new pen, and probably a red pen as well. I'm not redoing it because it's lame and uncreative and was done because I felt like drawing them. Ok that's my pitch of the night, so long and goodnight folks!]

[notscreamingcryingdieing]

You are Athena (Athena) Badass in the Arena

Don’t hate this. Inked sketch and then I might post what it looks like when I redo it digitally tomorrow.

[starcat-poetry]

Schrodinger's Author

[Spooky Story Contest Entry for Orange Crush]

On a late night dark and dreary a man was at his desk. He was a writer, though his publications haven't really made him feel like such as of late. He swore to his wife almost every day that he would make a novel that would free them from any economic worry and struggle. Nights like these were so restless. The flame of his candle on his desk kept flickering. He was tired and couldn't sleep. All his ideas felt mediocre and cheap.

Yawning with morning stupor, his eyes began adjusting to the room around him. His wife was frustrated with his nonpunctual behavior. She usually put most of her efforts of cooking anything throughout the day into breakfast. It was the most important meal of the day of course. He told her he'd be back he was just going to grab something from his study. She proceeded to rewarm his breakfast in slight annoyance.

She loved him, and he was starting to think maybe tomorrow he'd surprise her by cooking breakfast for her. As he was slowly walking back to his study he passed by his cat giving it a few pets before finally making it to the study. He grabbed his book and started paging through it with his digits reading as he was walking back, talking to the cat. The cat was following and meowing in response to his talking periodically. He stopped midstep and his cat lain over his feet as he was in pause on a page he wrote. "Did I seriously write this? How mediocre. I'll have to redo this page after a cup of coffee because it is NOT my best work."

He tore the page out and crumpled it. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait, wasn't the cat just at my feet?…. I didn't hear or feel him leave…" Panning around, his view started to blur and everything was too quiet. Where did his wife go? Was she mad at him? Figures. He was coming right back!! Damn. He better thank her before she goes to work probably. It's only proper manners of course. He opened his hand from the crumpled paper as it begun to flicker and spazz sporadically like a sparkler of ink and paper. It fizzed out and disappeared. It just dawned on him… That page was not only part of his story, but it was inspired by real life… Could it be…? No. He was just tired, clearly he is imagining things or maybe he's still asleep. He looked down at his book and the ripped rigid surface at the inner spine of the book where he tore the page from… It was… Starting to bleed? Is this ink?

He looked closer and the dark color risen from black seeming liquid to red. A fountain of blood spattered all over the walls refusing to stop and he swore he was having a very terrible night terror and screamed in disbelief closing the book with all of his frantic might he could muster up with haste. It started to leak blood like a garden hose that had been stepped on with pressure building up in the girth of it's bind it's tome practically swelling and throbbing like it was going to explode..!! And then after a few moments, it started to slow down and before you knew it… It stopped. There still was a mess all over the book and walls. His face. Just about everything. In horror he opened his palm to see the page that disappeared looking slightly transparent… Floating ominously. "Do it right, but don't doubt yourself tonight. Finish it." It echoed in a demonic tone.

He slowly…. Started to open the book again with caution and to his surprise it bled no longer. He started to write on the next page the replacement page for the page he had torn but the way he wish he had written it in the first place. He heard a noise in the kitchen and looked up. His cat was there! He dropped his pen to hug his cat in relief, he had thought his cat and wife became lost or died from this weird hellscape author curse. He heard his wife in the other room and was overjoyed! He rushed to her room near the kitchen and give her the quickest kiss and loving embrace, the cat jumping on the bed to join in familial reunion and rejoice.

He looked closer at the cat from far away lips locked in his wife's… To his horror, his cat was missing the other half of his face, it was phantom flickering in and out of focus. He backed out of his kiss and cleaned his glasses putting them back on. He then looks at his wife only to realize… Half of his wife wasn't his wife. It was just an illusion that started melting into inken puddle on the floor. While one half was very real!! "What the fuck!" He exclaimed in panic. He had to finish the book. It then occurred to him. Something smells funny. He heard the fire alarm sounding off. The food she was reheating for him cast aflame to the kitchen and was deeply engulfing the kitchen in fire and fume. He rushed into the kitchen to grab his book but it was too late. It was starting to go ablaze! This is bad!

He had to put the fire out even if it costed him dire consequences! He without thinking started to hit it's flexible binding against his shirt. To his luck most of his shirt frayed and put the flames out but he had gotten severely burned near his abdominal and upward. That would scar badly later. The fire alarm started to dial down as the house started to become drizzled by the emergency fire sprinklers. His house and kitchen seemed fine and he walked outside to take a breath away from the fumes and to cry from the crazy amount of stress inducing events that had transpired. He slicked back his hair after having a breath and looked up….. He was no longer in reality… But his own reality that was paradoxically time gated from the disaster of his cursed writing… Behind him stood his wife, while he was facing the outside tears streaming down his face… Her figure looming over his started to shake and shamble before it evaporated into ashes and taken flight into the wind as the last words escaped her pursed lips before she crumbled were, "I'll be back, don't forget to write."

Never again, was anything ever the same. He turned around and his half alive half ink paradoxed cat nudged his back standing ontop of a brand new empty book his wife bought him as a gift that was a hardcover that had his name on it in golden ink. He opened it to the inner prepage to see, "From your loving wife. I love you dear." If he could remember his life with her and his cat and write how it ended, his hopes lain on if he remembered enough about her to make sure she was infact, herself again one day when he musters the courage to write again.

But even if he did, could he live with knowing that even if what he wrote was real, him writing everything made it just as not real to him anymore? He pondered what that would mean for him now… As he hugged his paradox cat and walked inside shutting the door. You then see a drawing really well done by the wife herself in the end page of his gifted empty book of her drawing and interpretation of herself, her husband, and their cat. The ink smeared where the names were.

(Author's note I avoided using names on purpose to make it more mysterious, immersive for pov reasons, and to add to the last paragraph's worry weight of oh shit what were their names?)

[sarambcreates]

Hand and Eye: Visual diary

Visual Diary entries of visit to Oceanario de Lisboa (Lisbon Aquarium):

For this page I tried to mix mdeiums a bit but also limit myself to the 3 colour limit we have in place in order to explore the possibilities. The top half I used a large crayon for the background, then pressed it harder to make it pop more in areas I wanted darkened on the shark. For a third sense of depth I used hatching to make the darkest parts of the shark, I quite liked the combination. I also tried somewhat some pattern making with the plants and the fish sillhouettes. I liked the overall effect but the posca and crayon combo was a bit of a hard combo as the crayon wold layer up on the pen’s tip and make the flow of ink scarce, so while I liked the effect visually it is not a combination I want to work with more.

The bottom two fish I used only posca and black liner pen but limited again the colours used. I liked how contrastring the blue and yellow are, they make the fish really pop and the pattern on one of them really effective. I also liked how the outline of them made them so stark against the paper and their shape very distinct.

In this page I worked on each creature as a separate sketch. My favourite was the top one which while it is in black and white, the hatching and movement makers the fish have an expression somewhat. The jellyfish also looks very flowy and whimsical, and while I limited myself to three colours they blended together into a third shade of light purple, which we are allowed to do.

Beyond the sketches before, I also made a page of more fish sketches but made digitally. I wanted to see if I could capture the flowy-ness of the handdrawn aesthetic I have been maanging to achieve and these sketches showed me that they really are possible when I am light on my hand, keep the size of the  brush consistent and also when I choose the most appropriate, pencilk looking textured brush tool. This is an aesthetic I really am enjoying and might use in my final piece, especially if it involves fish as I think it adds to their movement underwater. 

Visual Diary entries for visit to Quinta da Regaleira (Castle and gardens in Sintra, in Portugal):

These sketches I made of castles was very challenging as they have so many details that just a simple doorway takes a liong time to make. I focused on symmetry on the most complicated ones, and tried different levels of pressure on my pencil in order to add dimension to it. The top right symbol is a crest I found ona  wall and it was interesting to draw due to its twisting shapes.

For this one I challenged myself with drawing something more in perspective as I might need different perspectives besides the front in order to storytell correctly.

Reworking Sketches:

While the sketches looked nice the style and medium were not very innovative, so I decided to redo them but with a glass pen, which I never used before this. Since the fopcus was stylization I scanned the original sketch, dimmed it down and printed on a paper that does not bleed the glass pen, and traced the original.

I really liked the slight variations in pen weight that happens as the glass pen runs out of ink, it adds dimension to it. Overall this medium makes the drAwings a lot better as it makes the details more prominent, but also it gives off a storybook, fairtyle vibe to it that reflects what is being drawn which is where kings and queens lived.

I then did the same thing with the digital sketches of the fish, to see if the glass pen ehances them the same way it did the castle drawings, and I did not even finish all the fish when I realised it did not. I feel like the glass pen inn contrast to a pencil does not fade away at the edges of the linewark, so the fish overall feel a lot more stationary in pen than it did with pencil, even if it is a digital pencil. So I took a pink brush pen out and tried it in one of the fish, and it made it a lot more cartoonish, and while not as flowy as the pencil fish, it flows more than the glass pen. Also the thickness being bigger than any of the other mediums makes me think of using line weight cleverly when it comes to the final piece.

Diary entry for my birthday:

I did this fast sketch of me on my birthday, and while it was a fun day with loved ones, the way I drew her alone made it seem like shes lonely. While artistically this page was not very impactful it gave me ideas of possible birthday plotlines for the book, such as why would she be alone? Thematically it gives one more path.

[alunclewe]

So I attended the @sequentialartistsworkshop Friday Night Workshop, hosted this time by E. Joy Mehr (@ejoymehr on Instagram), although I got there a bit late and missed the instructions and thought I might have to sit this one out, but they ended up repeating the instructions, so I could participate after all, though I had to kind of rush (again).  The project this time was for participants to produce six-page “zines” (plus front and back covers) about... themselves.  The front cover was just a title page; the first page was a general about page; on the second page we listed some of our interests; each of pages 3 through 5 expanded on one of these interests; page 6 was a “fun fact”; and the back cover had our contact info.

On the previous occasions I’ve attended these workshops, I’ve done my art digitally, but for a zine it seemed right to go ahead and do things the old-fashioned way.  But since I hadn’t been expecting to use traditional media, I didn’t have any at hand, so I grabbed some pieces of paper from the printer and went looking for whatever other art supplies I could easily find, ending up with a technical pen and a box of old markers.  (And not, unfortunately, any correction fluid, which I would have used, among other things, to fix my having mispositioned my pupils on the cover page; instead, I tried to hide the mistake by making my eyes half-closed.  It does not look good.)

I’m afraid doing so much digital art has made me grow complacent; working digitally it’s easy to redo, resize, or reposition something, but with ink I have to be more careful to get it right the first time, especially when I’m going straight to ink and not penciling first.  Hence, for instance, my arms being so horribly differently sized on the cover.  Bleh.

Anyway, I know my handwriting is hard to read at the best of times, let alone when I was rushing this like I was, so in case anyone cares I’ll put the text of the “zine” behind a cut.

FRONT COVER:

ALL* ABOUT ALUN CLEWE

*SOME

PAGE 1:

ALUN CLEWE* is a cartoonist living in Los Angeles.  He had several webcomics in the past, one of which he plans to revive in August and one next January.

He is way too wordy

*Not his real name**

**Yes, I use a pen name as a cartoonist.  No, I don’t know why.

PAGE 2:

SOME OF MY INTERESTS:

Role-Playing Games

Writing Music

Writing Fiction

Acting/Filmmaking

Animation

Comics (obviously)

PAGE 3:

Role-Playing Games?

You know, like Dungeons & Dragons.

But there are others, like RuneQuest, Chronicles of Darkness, Symbaroum, and many others I’ve played/want to play.

I’m also working on my own RPGs, but... haven’t finished any yet.

PAGE 4:

ACTING

I’ve acted in a number of independent movies and webseries, although I use a screen name for that.  (A different name than “Alun Clewe”—I don’t know what it is with me and pseudonyms.)

I have my own webseries that was put on hold with the pandemic, but that I want to start producing again soon.

PAGE 5:

COMICS

In addition to the aforementioned webcomics, I have participated in 24 Hour Comics Day every year since 2006.

For a while, I tried to do a 24 hour comic every 24 days and post a page a day, but I only kept that up for about a year.

You can see all my 24 hour comics at d24comic.com, but the site is very ugly and bare-bones and needs a lot of work.  (This is the comic I plan to relaunch in January.)

(The other is called Soup, https://www.soupcomic.com)

↑ There’s nothing there now but will be in August

PAGE 6:

FUN FACT

As my day job, I work as a studio teacher—I work with child actors on film sets.  (Whenever there’s a minor on a film set*, the production is required to have a certified studio teacher present.)

*Okay, there are exceptions, but they’re rarish.

BACK COVER:

CONTACT

My website is

https://alunclewe.com

(but it, like my 24-hour comic site, needs a lot of work.)

You can also find me on Tumblr at @alunclewe (alunclewe.tumblr.com)

and on Instagram as @alunclewe

[jaimemes]

Hm, I see. Yeah, I’m here tilting my head just by listening to some of those explanations. Though some of those do kind of make sense to me, so it might just be a thing about different learning/teaching styles, and no one’s had to really teach anyone in your position specifically??? I dunno…

I guess it’s like— yeah, using your analogy, a digital artist would have a much harder time with the traditional-based instructions than a traditional artist would. There’s lessons on oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink, graphite, charcoal, embroidery, crochet, and every other medium you can imagine, but no one’s written instructions for a digital medium yet because no one’s had to until now. The oil lessons tell you to mix your paints, but you don’t have paints. The charcoal tells you to start the soft vine charcoal and blend, but you don’t have those either. The ink lessons tell you the precise ink-to-water ratio for the perfect inkwash, but you can’t use inkwash on a digital tablet. The embroidery and crochet lessons are just entirely unhelpful whatsoever. So now the digital artist has to glean how to draw the Froakie from all the traditional-based instructions out there and then essentially create their own digital-based instructions from scratch. There are no digital program tutorials or instructions. You don’t even know where the pen tool is. You don’t even know if this program HAS a pen tool. You’re having to mash buttons and figure out the program. But slowly you will memorize the key binds. Ctrl-Z to undo, Crtl-Shift-Z to redo, P for pen, E for eraser, I for eyedropper, etc.

Is that kiiind of how it feels? I’m trying to imagine it, at least.

Okay well! All that aside! How are we all doing this fine day? How’s the weather? What’s the time? What’s been going on lately?

[kirby-the-gorb]