June recap – Vector illustration, layouts, soul-crushing anime

I can’t believe how fast June went by. Holy hell. We’ve finally had our first few days of very nice weather and I’ve entered LEISURE MODE, which is both necessary and a bit dangerous.

Each year I get what I call my “corporate gig”. It’s normally mildly exciting but it pays the bills for a little while. This year, it consisted of two full weeks of cleaning up a storyboard and drawing assets in Illustrator. I have a complicated relationship with Illustrator. What it does, it does well, but it’s so counter-intuitive for someone like me, who is satisfied with half-assed scribbles on crumpled paper. Still. It’s over and done, and if anything, being away from my personal project for two full week just made me more motivated!

So speaking of which, I decided it was more than time to just start production for Utown. I did all the research necessary at this point, drew all the outfits and mapped out all the places. Leaping back into storyboarding was… interesting. At first, I completely botched the two opening pages. I had to go back and actually plan out the dialogues (am I ever gonna stop writing?!). After my friend Boum sent me her own scenario for her next book, I decided to adopt her two-columns format to plan out spreads instead of individual pages. Having logical-thinking cartoonist friends is pretty damn useful! Drawing layouts is extremely challenging for me, and I hadn’t done anything of the sort in more than a year and a half. But I’m closing in page 10 and I can already feel it getting easier. Since I put in the lettering as I go, it’s already starting to feel like a real comic. Exciting!

The sketches I’ve accumulated over the last few weeks will all go up on my Patreon at some point. I’m still icky about “exclusives” so I think I’ll settle for a mix of public, early access for now. It’s a LOT of managing, to be honest, but I feel like I have to regrow a fan base from the ground up. And this ain’t the good ol’ DeviantArt days anymore…

In other news: COMICCON! I’ve been invited as a guest artist at the Montreal Comiccon! This is a first for me and I honestly cannot wait. I’ll be there with books and merch. I’ll post my signing schedule and table number as soon as I have the info.

On a final note, one thing: Neon Genesis Evangelion is on Netflix, I hadn’t seen it, it has wrecked me. BUT: it has top-notch UI design and by far the best technical yammering of any sci-fi franchise I’ve seen. I would sit through an hour-long Eva launch sequence any time.

via GIPHY

So other than giant robots piloted by emotionally staunched teens, this is what got me fired up this month:

Reading: Still not done reading last month’s book because I’ve been biking so much, instead of commuting. No rush though!
Listening: Pup‘s Morbid Stuff for its nostalgic energy. But I gotta be honest, those Lo-fi hip-hop Youtube channels get a lot of air time because: work.
Watching: Good Omens, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I’ve read the book two times and sat through the radio-play. I couldn’t have asked for a better adaptation.
Artist: Kit Mills. Love love love love.