I've been making digital inroads this month. I can confirm that drawing on the iPad feels "right," I just need to get more comfortable with it and with using the tools Procreate provides. Otherwise I feel like I did not make very much art this month. Is that true? Possibly? There's a very specific set of circumstances that makes it easy for me to draw on my lunch break at work, and every time I'm assigned to a different position or my schedule changes it disrupts the delicate balance that allows me to produce Natashas on demand.

Currently, I have the script for the first chapter of Dimestore Novel written out and ready for art. I have events for the first few chapters laid out but I don't want to get into writing the script until I can see how the first script is working out. Once I have a better feel for how things need to be paced out I'll feel better about planning further ahead.

It remains to be seen if the iPad and Procreate will be helpful in getting me from random Natashas to actually drawing a comic. I need to do some test art using 3D backgrounds from Sweet Home 3D, if drawing digitally directly over the pre-made background works for me that will greatly simplify the the process of producing a comic panel, and once I have panels drawn putting them together into a comic page ought to be a fairly straightforward process. Will 2024 be the year Dimestore Novel finally starts to happen? Hope so.

Well I set out to draw at least twice as much art as I did in November and December of last year, and by all accounts that is what I did. Is it mostly just Natasha looking cute and awkward? Yes. I have my limits. When the going gets tough, the tough draw comforting things. I'm sorry that this is all I have to offer you, but stay tuned because perhaps I will have something more to give soon.

Please note among the various cute Natashas I have included Friend Allison's David, teaching us all how to say "bullshit" in American Sign Language.

As we approach the end of the year, we enter a twilight art period. The problem is, these roundups bring together all the physical art I've made in the month, but they don't reflect the behind the scenes work I'm doing updating ComicControl and writing and, I dunno, Graphic Design.

A lot of behind the scenes work has been going on this month, including updating the design for dimestore.fun and writing out future comic pages. I also had time to do some art to show my love for fellow artist Grog of Finland. Unfortunately, the art here was done in two parts because I didn't like how Perpsichory's legs turned out. If you want to see the completed version, direct your gaze to the Gallery.
We also see young Nemo, of his Adventures in Dreamland, and Ashley, and a brief cameo by Virginia and Evangeline.

In July, I had a significant amount of time off from work, which unintuitively means I didn't draw as much. As I may have mentioned in the past I tend to do most of my drawing during my lunch break at work, so it's easy to see how fewer lunch breaks would result in less art. In addition, when I have more than a lunch break's worth of time to devote to art, I tend to put it into bigger projects which aren't so easy to share here. Hopefully more on that soon. Anyway, here is July's bounty for you to enjoy.
We've got Natasha exhibiting poor sword handling skills, Natasha beating the heat, Natasha reading a raunchy novel, Natasha and Evangeline participating in an art meme, Evangeline playing some violin, and last but not least Hitomi Kanzaki from Vision of Escaflowne, undoubtedly rushing to warn Van Fanel that he is seconds away from death.

Pretty happy with my art output in June. Still looking for a workflow that makes producing comic pages feasible. One promising thing I've found is Sweet Home 3D, an open source freeware app that probably won't get me usable rendered backgrounds, but could conceivably give me something I can trace over with relative ease. I'll let you know how it goes!
Anyway, this month we have plenty of cute Natashas, plus cute Virgina, cute Evangeline, and cute Ashley. As a bonus, Miho the eponymous Gumiho from My Girlfriend is a Gumiho gets some representation! How about that!