SIGLO: PASSION
I'm just coloring the last few pages of my story for Siglo: Passion and it will all be done. I just finished the script for Lastikman last week, as well as an installment of Johnny Balbona before that. That just leaves an O. Henry short story adaptation and the inking Batman: Danger Girl before I disappear for a week for a long LONG delayed honeymoon and a conference of architects in Bohol. I feel some of that pressure starting to lift, but a lot of it is still there as I think the first half of October will be busiest I will have ever.
Doing "San Pablo, 1978" for Siglo: Passion has just been fun! It's a story I'm writing, drawing, lettering and even coloring. I've done this before on Tales of the Big City for PULP magazine, but never on the scale I did for Siglo. While I hand colored my couple of stories for PULP, I'm completely computer coloring this one.
Even though I've been drawing comics since 1992, I still see the need for reference and the great thing about having a digital camera is I'm able to come up with instant reference for specific shots. I've been posing for my own comics for a long time, mostly looking at mirrors, doing impossible positions at the same time I'm drawing. Having a digicam makes it all easier. I take a shot, print it out, and I use that.
A lot of artists feel that they can draw without reference at all, preferring to just let imagination guide them. If they can manage it, then that's great. But to me reference is important, specially for the purpose of making illustrations look more credible. I've been drawing for a long time and yet I've still not mastered just how to draw convincing folds on clothing without reference.
I think I need a few more years (like maybe 80!) before I'm confident enough to draw without any sort of reference at all.
I just realized that a LOT of my work will be seeing print this December. There's Lastikman for Mango Comics, Batman-Danger Girl from Cliffhanger/DC Comics, and Siglo: Passion for Nautilus Comics. And if plans push through, I might have even more stuff coming out before the year ends.
