About a hundred years ago, I wrote this fantasy series about half-way through before deciding it didn't work out, and ever since then I've been trying to make it work, while writing other stuff. I've finally settled with comic format for this story. But now I don't know if it should be in my comfortable watercolour style or if I should face the next steep learning curve for me and do it digitally.
Watercolour pages:
Watercolour pros:
- I've been practising this for years, so I'm pretty okay with it at this point, I feel like I know (mostly) what I'm doing
- It's kind of the most natural style for me, fits exactly the dream-like impression I want to create
- people have liked my watercolour effects and a fantasy story is the perfect playground for that kind of stuff
- I feel closer to what I'm creating the less I have "between" me and the art, the more minimal the medium is the better
- I won't lose the original pages unless my house burns down or something
- I just always figured I was a traditional artist
- I've already drawn about 60 watercolour pages of this comic
- watercolour is just SO flexible and I love it
Watercolour cons:
- the cost of the paper will be astronomical for a comic as long as this story
- I probably just think I can't create as good digital effects because they aren't "the same"
- I probably just think I can't feel as close to my art in digital form because I haven't got used to it yet
- I'm probably just identifying as a "traditional artist" because I think I can't be good at digital art
- the process just takes so much more time when you have to scan hundreds of pages
- it's outdated in most places that host comics and could be less approachable for that reason
Super quick and rough digital sketches:
Digital pros:
- cheap
- takes up no physical space in my room
- will definitely make me better rounded as an artist
- I finally found a brush I like, it looks soft
- these sketches make me feel like I COULD get better with practise
- I've already been doing some black-and-white comics digitally for a year or so, and I can see I've been improving more than I thought
- what feels like limitations is probably just my lack of skill and if I learned this tool it could open so many new possibilities
- I make speech bubbles digitally so it's way more simple if the whole thing is digital
- you can't ruin a digital picture
Digital cons:
- I think my technical weaknesses will be more apparent because it's still a "harder" tool
- every time I draw digitally I get annoyed by how little variation I can create with the way I move my hand
- even though watercolours may be perceived to be outdated, what if I lose my special touch without them, what if the perceived outdatedness could be a strength and not a weakness?
- I just LOVE watercolours (though that doesn't mean I couldn't turn out to love digital as much in time)
- I literally came up with this thought last night, while sketching those two characters
SO...
????????
I mean, who says it's too late to change course? That's not the case, it's just that at this point I feel like I keep postponing this project because I always start it again in a different way. Why this project? I mean, usually I get a book idea and I write the book. I get a comic idea and I draw the comic.
I don't think it's a problem with the project itself, like, it's not my subconscious telling me not to tell this story at all.
But for some reason this is hard for me. Maybe I've just had it in my head for so long and I want it to be perfect and it never feels perfect enough.
And if I threw a coin and took a gamble I know I would be disappointed if it didn't give me the digital option.
Maybe it's nothing bad? Maybe it's just finally the time for me to really learn digital drawing? It doesn't mean I can no longer do watercolours.
I mean, I should probably just go for it, it's not like I won't notice if it doesn't work for me.
