Digital Headaches.

Littered about the vast expanse of my harddrive are a number of frustrated PSD files which I really need to either finish or delete. However! I am getting significantly more comfortable with photoshop, and am starting, I think, to make better things that I don't feel so incredibly embarrassed about sharing.

Effing Azazel. Yeah. I started this about a week ago but have been monkeying about with it back and forth, stopping whenever I feel like I'm going to huck my laptop out a fucking window.

One of the major problems I have with photoshop is the nature of digital itself. I'm not as pissy as I used to be about the whole traditional Vs. digital argument, especially now that I realize that I should really try to be more well rounded as an artist. However, when I paint or draw, I'm a bit messy and slapdash, and I love the tactile experience of materials, papers, and the sometimes random nature of ink and paint. Working with permanent media like markers teaches you how to work around mishaps like blotting and dried out markers, and I really enjoy different traditional textures.

I know you can replicate traditional techniques on photoshop, but that takes a certain level of skill I simply haven't attained yet, but I just have to remind myself that it's okay to learn and make constant mistakes, so long as you can apply those mistakes in a way where you produce something that doesn't look as shitty as before. :D


Yeah. Azazel. I need to put the tablet down for now, but I'll try and do a little more tomorrow, after I finish outlining the first chapter of Lesbionic Elf Story That Really Needs A Name.

Work space and habits.

Pictured above is my workspace  about a week and a half ago. This is probably as neat as I will ever be when I work on something traditional. Typically, when I'm sketching or painting, I'm hunched over on my bed with all my supplies scattered around me in a manner that I typically refer to as "a shitstorm".

I'm really not a very organized person to begin with, and provided the space I work in is really only inhabited by me, I'm perfectly content to sit in the midst of a total whirlwind of crap. Supplies are sort of haphazardly shoved into pencil cases and tins with some semblance of organization, but I typically organize and reorganize with each major piece I work on.

This is going to have to change when I start on comics. D: I have to start being SORT of organized so I can actually write a cohesive story that sticks to a timeline, instead of just veering off in the millions of directions in my little stupid universe. I've been working up to it by designating particular sketchbooks and notebooks to each story I want to write and illustrate. It helps a little bit, but I know I have to be able to compress all these details and thoughts into expressions and techniques that can convey these thoughts, without drowning the art in dialogue.


I also know that I'm a very impatient person when it comes to the process. I get very overwhelmed and frustrated when drawing because I want to start coloring as soon as possible, and it's a bad habit I really need to break. It's fucking hard.

Sorry I'm a little scatterbrained today. I just learned that one of my favorite vocalists just passed away, and I'm not feeling particularly happy. Anyway, let's talk process! What are your thoughts, feelings, systems for creating? :D

First post!

It's a little quiet around here right now, but I'm hoping I'll pick up some speed the more I write. :D I finished the banner for INORGANIC/romantic, but I have to get one worked out for thesingulardisease as well.

It's my resolution of sorts to do some kind of artwork every day, as a way to work through the frequent fits of self loathing I have for what I do.  I'm not particularly good at beginnings, but I guess I'll just start out with a small introduction.

My name is Akoe. I like things like machines, human oddities, elves, lolita fashion, BL and other things of a homosexual nature. I surround myself in art supplies, loud music, and video games. Whenever I'm unhappy, I change my appearance in some way, but I'm a little shy about showing myself. I prefer to let my art speak for me.

However, I'm sure the only thing it really says is "DERP ELVES DERP".


In any case, I work primarily in traditional media, but that's mostly because I'm not particularly good at digital. YET.


My plan with this blog is to follow up most posts on INORGANIC/romantic with a related post where I talk about certain aspects of the process, wibble on about my supplies and what I like to use, or character related information that really only I care much about. xD Anyway. I don't have much to say right now on the stuff I threw up on INORGANIC/romantic, as they're all just scribbly little nothings eked out between larger projects, like the painting of the owl moth that have to tweak and ultimately finish.

Yep. First post. Success. :D