Since I’m in the final stages of having braces, I’ve been experiencing a lot of discomfort. I scheduled 2 weeks off from updating my comics on Webtoon and Tapas, and in that time, I’ve cut myself some slack and done some art for fun. “Aimless” art is really helpful when you’re experiencing some burnout or fatigue. These days most of my art ( if it isn’t comic pages or covers) tends to be either concept work for future projects or promotional work for currently projects. This week I’ve gotten to draw pieces just for my own enjoyment. I watched all of the Rocky films recently and wanted to give some fan art a go. I’m pretty happy with the results, and the two pieces were a good opportunity to stretch some muscles I haven’t used in a long time. That’s a perk to fan art. It often challenges you to draw things you don’t draw often—or at all. Hoping to make weekly blog posts a thing, often including some art or a pic of what I’m working on that week. I’m also thinking it won’t be a specific day...gotta keep you on your toes! Also because my schedule fluctuates greatly from week to week, so I don’t want to commit to a hard schedule that I can’t keep. In other news, I’ve been working on my novel Brightlite Records: ‘87 this week as well. It’s hovering around 54k words currently, but frankly it feels like I’m only at the midway point with the story, so we’ll see how long it winds up being. I’ve always wanted to publish a hefty 300+ page novel, so this might be the one! That’s all from me for now though.
All the best, -Lissie Dixon
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In 2019, I started and finished the first issue of Wrong About the Stars.I published the first issue just in time for a local craft market, where I was able to sell a few copies. I didn’t launch the comic on Webtoon and Tapas for a few months, waiting until Valentine’s Day of 2020 to set it free online. I have a love of launching things on Valentine’s for some reason. It didn’t do great at first. It did finally have a little uptick on both Webtoon and Tapas, enough so to justify avoiding a hiatus. On January 14th, 2021, I posted the first page of #3 on Webtoon and Tapas. Since I’ve only been putting out one page every time I update, progress is slow, but at least it’s something. I’m hoping to sit down and chart out the rest of the series over the next couple of weeks, which has been bouncing around in my head without really being committed to paper for too long. The first two weeks of this year have been delightful in regards to the planning I’ve gotten done. I’ve made the roadmap for multiple comics, and I’ve finished the scripts for multiple volumes. Ideally I’m aiming for at least two paperbacks released this year, but if I only get one I’ll be thrilled. Wrong About the Stars isn’t going to be one of those paperbacks. The series is, however, projected to have about two or three volumes by the time I finish the series, and I’m aiming to finish the scripts for volume one this weekend. A major part of planning the first volume is nailing down some character designs! I confess that I tend to put off character design until the last minute. Most of the time I know what someone will look like when they come onto the page, but I learn a lot about them when I start drawing them, and sometimes what you imagine in your head doesn’t look nearly as good as you think it will. Plus, having a full-body reference I can go back to is quite handy!
I’ve changed the approach to the art for Wrong About the Stars multiple times over production. The first issue was a blend of 100% traditional pages for the “present day” segments, and 100% digital for the flashback portion. When I make the paperback, I’d like to redo parts of the first issue and help make them more cohesive to the rest of the series—it isn’t urgent, but I do think the digital portions stand out too much, and not in a great way. Partway through #2 I realized the fully traditional pages weren’t sustainable with my income. I used quite a few Copic markers, and the ink was adding up. I did a few tests and found I was able to imitate the Copic look with Procreate on my iPad Pro fairly well, so I switched to that for colors. I currently sketch the pages digitally, then either print them out and ink them using my light box, or I turn up the brightness on my iPad screen and transfer onto paper that way. I ink traditionally with a brush pen and fineliners, then scan, edit the pages in Clip Studio Paint to get the lineart clean and ready for colors, and transfer the pages to my iPad Pro for colors in Procreate. Once the art is done, the pages go back to my laptop and Clip Studio, where I letter and finalize ‘em! Admittedly it’s a lot of steps, but the result is nice in my opinion. The PDF edition of Wrong About the Stars #2 should be available on my Gumroad this month, and I’m looking forward to getting #3 available as well! If all goes according to plan, the PDF edition of #3 should be available in February! Stay tuned. I’ll be updating with more insight on timelines, projects and production if you’re interested! I’ll also be sharing illustrations in future posts. If nothing else, come for the pretty pictures? Pretty please? All the best, -Lissie Dixon |
Lissie DixonArtist, author, general wearer of many hats. Creator of many things. Archives
February 2024
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