Hi All! First of all, I want to thank the people are now following/reading my blog – so cool to have you here! Of course, in my wildest dreams, I would like folks to come and read my posts, but I must say I was taken by surprise when I saw the first like to the blog: “Like, whoa, for reals!!” Thank you.
You may have noticed the site logo; I figured it was important to add some character to the site. The logo features the bust of a drover – one of the main species in the story – above the skyline of August City. I wanted to evoke a certain amount of mystery and uncertainty as well as introduce the pivotal beings in Free Drove. I think it came out pretty good.
Thus far, I have been keeping my promise of at least one post a week and at least one picture per post. As you can see, most of the drawings are really speed sketches or stills/animated gifs from the animation. Color will usually be missing.
Why?
Because color takes the time. I know it does make a huge difference, though. I just got done drawing my avatar and enjoyed being reminded of how much fun it is to paint and cell shade my own drawings. I haven’t done it in a while but it’s something that I never seem to forget how to do. Of course, I am not as good as some of the rad talent you see on the internet these days.
As for the animation, it too will be black and white with some grayscale thrown in from time to time. Seeing as animation is very time consuming, I was faced with some decisions. I could either simplify my drawing style and add color, or I could drop the color and draw in my natural detail level. In the past, I have tried paring down my drawing style to be more cartoony or simple, but I never quite liked the way it turned out. This is not to say that I don’t like the idea of cute, button eyed drawings like the ones you see in today’s cartoons; I’m just not very good at doing that style. So, as a result of my inability to tone down the detail level in a stylistically pleasing way, it was color that had to fall by the wayside.
I am making an exception for the logo and my avatar. In my avatar (at the top of this post) I attempted to relay what I actually look like using my own drawing style. I think it worked out ok. The hood and walking stick are not a normal part of my attire: The Druid look is just a reference to the fact that I like nature and ecology.
I am planning on replacing the garland at the top of the front page – the one with the dark blue-purple mountains. That garland is just a canned background from WordPress that I thought looked pretty. I will add something more thematic to the project soon.
See you in the next post!
Free Drove 