Spaceships 20220213

Had hard time figuring out what to draw this week. Again. Digital inking course I am currently taking showed Clip Studio Paint’s perspective rulers briefly. Wanted to try if I could have two objects with different vanishing points and make it look ok. I tried different simple shapes until spaceships felt most usable idea. Very simple design because I am still trying to figure out how everything works. Next course is probably Clip Studio Paint perspective course.

I probably should have made ships more complex. They look too simple with planet and moon. Did few other mistakes which I couldn’t fix when I realized them. Next time I know better. Have learned enough coloring to save not so good images. Planet and moon looks ok to my eye. Probably should have decided where the light source is before coloring. Now inks don’t show where it is.

Battle Angel Alita vol 2

These volumes surely end in weird places. I thought fight ended at the end of first volume but it continues in second volume. I though ending of the fight was weird but whole comic was bit weird. This volume ends more clearly at middle of story. Did they feel they had to have cliffhanger for readers to buy next volume. Not problem when you have all volumes and binge read them but I don’t think they released all these same time.

First volumes story arc ends in this one. Having it ended in first one would have made first volume much better. Having deeper part of the story in second volume made comic look like fighting comic. It was much more. I feared whole series was all about fighting against bigger enemies. It is not. Second volume makes it much more cyberpunk and interesting.

I enjoyed first volume. Second made the comic one of my all time favorites. I wondered how comic could have bigger fights when first volume was mostly big fights. It doesn’t have bigger fights. It adds more weight to fights by having them mean something.

Comixology and Amazon made 85% of my library unreadable

Without any warning Amazon moved Comixology into its web site and Kindle. I checked my emails. There was nothing. Not even in junk mail. Nothing on site indicated there would be any changes. I just got weird FAQ when I tried to buy something. Kindle Cloud Reader is unusable for comics. You can see from picture above how “big” panels get when you zoom them and how much of the screen is given to everything else. My old tablet doesn’t let install new apps. So this is the only way to read my comic library for 85% of my library.

That 15% I can read. 153 comics out of 997 comics if you want exact numbers. I can load backup copies of those comics in format I can read on computer. There is nothing from Marvel or DC on that list. Not sure if all Image comics are on list but many of them are. Also something from smaller publishers. There could be something from Dark Horse but nothing from Hellboy universe.

These backups made my get comic reader. Not sure which one I start to use but I will be using one and getting my comics as downloadable files from now on. 2000 AD gave couple books free some time ago. Made account there then. Didn’t buy anything from them then because Comixology had better user experience. That has changed thanks to Kindle Cloud Reader being unreadable and comic readers I found working better than one I found them. So it is time to get and read Judge Dredd Case Files, Judge Anderson PSI Files and Halo Jones. And some other books after that.

For others Kobo seem to descent selection of what I want to buy again to actually own the files. Not going to get everything at once but slowly as I read the comics. This should keep library size reasonable now when I need to store them on my computer.

No more buying comics from Comixology or Amazon. This means having to stop reading some currently released comics like Blade Runner and Star Wars comics. I will buy them if they sell them somewhere else where I could download the files. This sucks but I won’t buy anything if I can’t get readable versions. Even if I wanted to buy I am not sure if that is possible. International customers have had problems buying anything if they can even find what they want from Amazon’s mess. Comixology wasn’t perfect but at least you could find what you wanted if it was there.

I want to get my Comixology library readable again but after this mess I don’t trust Amazon anymore. Will be spending lot less on comics. This was good reminder not to buy stuff just in case I want to read it later. Unless it is extremely cheap bundle in Humble Bundle. What I really hope digital comics would be released as downloadable files in future. Some smaller publishers and stores already do it but selection isn’t as good as I like to have. Comixology fiasko pushes more customers asking that. If you need app or site to read you have those comics only as long as that app or site is available.

Publishers may want to listen customers now when money coming from Comixology/Amazon drops. Haven’t yet mentioned that international customers can’t subscribe to anything anymore and everyone has problems finding anything from their library because new system is complete mess. This merger did almost everything wrong.

Battle Angel Alita vol 1

I have some manga waiting to be read. My manga experience is basically Junji Ito’s comics. Have Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed comics in library. Started from Battle Angel Alita. Those were on sale. Wanted to check if I should buy those. Knew only the name and that there is movie based on manga.

I wasn’t sure what to expect but maybe I should have expected it to be about fighting when it has battle angel in name. It got me off guard when antagonist was introduces and he started to eat people’s brains. Earlier parts didn’t prepare you for something like that. I liked what came before more but it was ok after that too. Some manga has weird way of mixing colored pages and black and white pages. I have understood manga artist draw insane amounts pages. It is like colored pages show how good they could color if they had time to do it. At least in some cases like this. Would have loved to have whole book colored but most of the pages are black and white. Good looking black and white but not as good looking as colored.

Didn’t expect to like comic about fighting as much as I did. Art has lot to do with it. Want to know more about the world. Liked it well enough to get quite a few books from sale.

Unknown 20220206

I think this is first 3/4 face drawing I have finished. Drafts started to look better so I gave it a shot. Should have saved one of the drafts and use it. Couldn’t get this look good. Hoped coloring would save it. It didn’t. I didn’t have good idea for this week’s drawing. Started doing other drawing but it didn’t work at all. Got unknown theme from that. Probably shouldn’t publish this but I want to publish a drawing every week.

Finished face drawing course. I am almost at the point where I know enough of theory. Next course in inking course. You have probably seen I don’t know anything about inking. I feel drafts start to get better but inking ruins finished drawings. In this draft wasn’t best possible. Plant to spend less time on courses after inking course. Concentrating on drawing instead of taking courses start to feel good idea.

Won’t stop taking courses but not watching lessons everyday. After drawing course for absolute beginners, perspective drawing course, figure drawing course, face drawing course and three coloring courses I think theory is not the problem.

Southern Cross issues 13 and 14

These are last two issues of Southern Cross before it was cancelled. I was too curious to see where comic was going not to buy last two issues. Second volume ended with appearance of Southern Cross. Third volume was set up to be Aliens of this series. Tough solders come to Southern Cross to find they are over powered. Just like in Aliens. Southern Cross started to move away from hard science fiction into body horror during second volume. Last two issues continue it. Hard science fiction has been replaced by action and horror.

Can’t say much about story. Two issues set the story arc. You have group of solders and protagonists from second volume on Southern Cross. Aliens occupying Southern Cross passengers and grew try to get both of them. Last issue probably finished introducing all the characters and their goals. Then the book was cancelled.

Don’t know if this didn’t sell well enough or were there other reasons for cancellation. Quality can’t be the reason. Series got better towards end. Last two issues toned down characters’ aggressiveness which was bit of a problem during first two volumes. Don’t know if I can recommend reading Southern Cross because it doesn’t have proper ending. You can check first volume and if you still want more knowing it got cancelled then get the rest. I am glad I read it. Wish there was more of it. It made me fan of Andy Belanger’s art. His art kept me hooked when writing had issues. I will get back to this to study his art.