Every time I finish one of these elaborate, detailed images I feel like I’ve just completed a 4-unit college course in two weeks. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve especially learned that I have a lot more to learn.
One more thing about this picture — I still have to add Buddy Butterfly’s wings. There’s never an empty moment in an illustrator’s life!.
Buddy protests the idea of moving back to the North. He wants to go South.
I’m experimenting with using gradients to apply colors…subtle gradients like those use by Moebius in The World of Edena. In trying to duplicate his gradients, I can see that I have a heavy hand with it comes to using color. In copying the style of a master, I can start to learn how to self edit.
I have a Huion VT-220, a 22-inch pen display that I’m using for all of the finished art work. I wanted a Cintiq, but couldn’t justify the expense. The Huion was reasonably priced. It has some flaws that I can live with: a cheap-feeling stylus, a lot, a lot, a lot of parallax, and disturbingly reflective screen. It has a lot of cosmetic cons, but it works for me.
The most annoying problem is the reflective screen, which de-saturates colors and casts a white haze over everything. This is really noticeable during the day when the sunlight streams into my work space and the white walls dominate the screen. The Huion is okay at night when I can darken the room. Compare the Huion to my 2017 iMac. Both displays are turned off. The iMac screen has an anti-reflective coating, while the Huion is plain glass screen. The Huion came with a matte screen protector which made the reflection problem even worse.
