It’s How-to Tuesday! Here are 12 easy DIY Watercolor Techniques to create interesting textures for art journals and other projects, too! These all involve things you probably already have around the house! Have fun experimenting and enjoy!
Muppet Show Fan Art
I thought I’d draw some Muppet Show fan art to celebrate the release of the new movie. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m looking forward to sneaking off for a matinee date with the Mister sometime soon! This was way too much fun to draw. I need to draw more fan art. :D
PS: Sorry for disappearing! My back’s been bothering me again, but I’ve got lots of cool things to share with you.
My Friends & I Speak Scene Language
Today, I worked on… Scene Language! I know, right?
I got an itch to hook up my laptop to the TV so that I could see if drawing with my tablet on the big screen made any difference. I was just playing around with a drawing of Kate & Isaac, then ended up spending most of the afternoon playing around with some new templates and sketching out a feasible publishing schedule for 2012. Pretty exciting stuff.
After dinner, Tod & I took a look at scripts, fixed up a few things for the re-launch and even had some major back story breakthroughs. It totally felt like old times and now I’m dying to start drawing new pages. Tod has always been a big part of Scene Language, but he’ll be signing on as official co-writer for the re-launch and I couldn’t be happier.
It’s so hard for me to believe that it’s been 3 years(!) since I fractured my elbow and had to stop drawing SL. I had a feeling that I’d feel the urge to start again when I moved home, and sure enough, just over 2 months in and I’m ready to get back in the ring.
It’s been WAY too long and I’ve missed these guys so much. I can’t wait until I have more to show you.
Nerdiness & Bands (again…)
I’m such a dork. I’m seriously so bad at self-portraits.
A week or so again, someone sent me a comment and told me they were a big fan of “my style” and I was all, uhhhh… dude, I wear band t-shirts and shorts every day. I’m really not a style-blogger. I have some style-blogger friends, but I promise you that’s just a coincidence. ESPECIALLY in the summertime. It’s so hot here that I can’t even think about what “looks good.” I just try to pick out the outfit that will make me the least uncomfortable. I’m a big baby about the heat, and summer is NOT my favorite time of year.
So, I’ve kind of been freaking out for the last day or two, because one of my favorite record labels from back in the day is having a 15 year reunion show and some of the bands that are reuniting for the show are ones I saw 10 years ago in Detroit. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to go yet, but I’m at least considering it at this point. Among these bands are THE STEREO. (omg.)
Two of my favorite songs off of one of my all time favorite albums. Sarah & I interviewed the Stereo back when we were doing the LSR zine (by the way, when I dug out this copy of the zine to take an instagram pic, I couldn’t believe that we interviewed the Stereo, okGo AND Motion City Soundtrack in the same issue. Were we freakin’ awesome, or what?)
PS: yesterday I decided I needed to paint on an old 45. SO I DID. Behold:
False Starts
Here are a couple of panels from the web comic version of Scene Language – I drew this back in 2008. I’ve been thinking a lot about coming back to Scene Language, and with my upcoming move back to Michigan, I feel like that pull will get even stronger.
If there’s anything that I regret about Scene Language, it’s the series of what I consider to be false starts. Not long after this strip was drawn, we had our scooter accident and I fractured my elbow. I didn’t think I could keep up with a daily schedule anymore (SL was done 5 days a week then,) so took a hiatus while I worked through physical therapy, and then eventually I re-launched the series as a self-published longer form book. The art was tighter, and the story and dialogue was stronger than the first time around. I put out two books and got most of the way through the third, but never finished it up.
Like I said, I’ve been feeling the draw (haha) to come back to it for a while now… I have so much plot outline written, and massive back stories for all of the main characters. However, at this point, my art has continued to evolve and I’d likely want to change formats again… so that’d mean starting over again. I’m so eager to get past the initial stories and see the character interactions grow further, but I know that the story has to be told the right way, too. There’s also the cell phone problem:
When I first started writing Scene Language, it was 2003. People had cell phones, but they obviously weren’t as central to people’s lives as they are now. The characters in Scene Language are in their early 20’s and there are plots that just don’t make sense anymore. (Why wouldn’t Charlie just text Kate?)
The only solution I can figure out is to actually write Scene Language as a PERIOD PIECE, probably starting in 2001. This is somewhat daunting but not unappealing to me.
I’m not sure how soon I’ll be able to re-approach Scene Language, but this is probably the first step. I’ve got a lot to think about and a lot of decisions to make, but I really am eager to get back to it. I’ve missed it a lot. I also have to figure out how to balance it with PAPERCUTS & other responsibilities.
I admit that I’m afraid of this becoming another “false start,” but I don’t know what else I can do except accept the challenge. I guess Kate said it best in the panel above: “If it was easy, it wouldn’t count.”
