Krafty Komic - Part 4

Krafty Komic - Part 3

Krafty Komic - Part 2

Now that I've whet your appetite, here's the second instalment:

Krafty Komic - Part 1

Back in 2010, when I was young and full of inspiration, I created a birthday comic for my good friend B. Never before seen by anyone else, but requested by one whole other person, this is the first exciting instalment of:

Dunno

Shade only

Process

I didn't want to clutter my latest collaboration contribution with how-did-I, so I'm covering it here instead. This might be the most complex image I've put together, comprising three different photos and hand-drawn elements.

First up, I took a couple of night shots and combined them using a layer mask to let the moon shine through. Both shots were taken the same night, but I couldn't get crater detail and the cloud haze in the same shot. Not a very smooth transition, but since I was aiming for something a little unreal it works OK.

Next, I took a daytime shot (from a completely different location) and again used a filter mask to clear out room for the night sky (much more fiddly than just a circle selection this time!). I applied various filters to make it look a bit more night-y. I also cloned Lily out of the shot.

I started with a very rough sketch to ensure there was some depth in the shot. That boxy camera stuck around most of the way through, but I found it an unneeded distraction.

Miriam and Alice got a makeover and moved much closer the foreground to emphasise the depth. I used a combo of different reference shots (mostly basketballers) to get suitable action poses:

Finally, I moved the moon further out from the trees (as easy as dragging that layer a bit more to the right - I love layers!), drew my version of Liv's 3D monster, with a textured brush for fur-like shading, and voila!

All up this took a few hours, since I had to relearn the GIMP functionality for layer masks, try out different filters and do the drawing itself, including painting in white behind the sketch to make it visible, since I always draw on a transparent layer. Absorbing, tiring, and I'm very pleased with the result :)

Grammar

"That's great It! What is it?"

"It's my thing!"

"So, it's It's thing?"

"That's right!"

Collab

I've just started a new creative collaboration with Liv, which will gradually take shape here. Not at all sure what this unconstrained-multimedia-mashup-team-up will end up being, and that's the joy of it :)

OMG!

Saturate

Now that I have my larger memory card, I tried using RAW, giving me the freedom for (mostly) lossless post-processing. I expect this to act as both an expansive creative vehicle and a giant time-sink :)

The moon

After waiting most of a month for there to be a combination of a clear sky and the moon being up during nightime, I'm pleased with my initial lunar photography results. Because of the fast shutter speeds, handheld was sufficient, although requiring sharpening after-the-fact.

Adventure

Shy

Far away

Fresh

Sometimes a decent break from drawing revitalises my concentration, and when I return I get the kind of result that makes me feel like sticking with it. There are some issues (the head is too small, and the left hand too big) but I still like it.

Take off

The other major reason for a new camera was to achieve some better wildlife shots. Here's a success! More from this morning's session on Flickr.

Stars

One of the reasons I bought my new camera was to play with some astrophotography. Here are some of the decent results from an hour in my backyard (light pollution and all):

Quick

A really quick little sketch to test out my new Sensu brush on my iPad (using Sketchbook Pro). I think it turned out well, and definitely more effective for me than fingerpainting. Will it magically make me draw more? Maybe...

Riding

The tyres are quite dodgy, but otherwise I think this worked out OK.

Small smile

A little wonky, but one of my better efforts lately.

Horse

Giraffe

Hmmm...

Happy

Going

Angel

Desperate

I'm very slowly starting to draw again, with no exciting results yet, but here's something average to whet your appetite for hopefully more in the near future...