Three Little Paintings, Plus One!

I found three old thumbnail-ish doodles on the computer the other day. I made them several years ago. I was trying to get back into drawing and painting personal work for artistic growth and pure enjoyment – an effort I undertake from time to time – but on that particular occasion I only lasted about three days. "One little painting a day," I said. I sustained the pace for three days and I haven't seen them since.

Last week I stumbled upon them and – inspired for the moment – I decided that I would take up the task once more. "I'll finish the last panel – down in the lower right corner, still blank – and I will post them for all to see,” I said aloud. There was a cat perched on the shelf next to me and she seemed to nod in agreement, or maybe she was just cleaning her paws. Looked like a nod to me.

Painted in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop. Open in a new window to embiggen.

I started the new thumbnail but made the mistake of looking critically at the ones already done and I decided that I really should fix them first. “After all,” I reasoned, “they're old, they no longer represent the artist that I am now; and besides, they aren't very good.” I’m my own second-worst critic; only my daughter dislikes my art more than me. She is never impressed.

Over a couple of days I spent several brief runs of “spare time” dolling up the old drawings and making a new one. I don't know that they were improved by the attention, but I did get to spend some time creating art, or whatever it is that they are. 

At any rate, I intend to make this a regular thing once again! More regular than three days this time. I’m certain of it! Really.

The End

Test Run

Purchased the latest Moho/Anime Studio update. Very cool, but I've forgotten what I learned back when I purchased an earlier version a few years ago. Can't figure out the freakin' walk-cycle to save my life, altho I had that down once upon a time. The rigging tools have stymied me, as well; and all of the youtube tutorials have left me in the lurch. Grr.

So, this is all I've figured out so far, and it's something I could've done in Photoshop, but it's as far as I've gotten. Imagine the horse is a fully rigged silhouette that gallops along until it gets down to the water. Then it steps carefully in before accelerating offscreen, stage left.

The art is a discarded piece I made a year or two ago, but I had to extend it quite a bit to fit the screen size, spending more time painting than learning how to animate. Bad planning. Again. More soon, unless I toss the computer through the window.

The End