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[Sappho]

I've made webcomics before, but this is the first time I've stuck with a project for more than about a week.  In fact, I'm at about two months now.  I fall behind now and then when something massive happens in real life, but I always catch up.

It's a journal comic about my adventures as an English teacher in Prague.  I'd welcome any new readers as well as constructive feedback.  I know the art isn't great, but I'm getting slowly better I think, and the important thing to me is that it makes sense and gets the occasional laugh.

The Daily Underground

[Outcast Orange]

I like these.

This is what Akward Zombie would be like if it were only two panels and about real life.

[Sappho]

Also if I could draw.

[Sappho]

By the way it seems I forgot to mention that this is a daily comic, and the goal is to update it every day (at least once on the weekends).  I'm a bit behind right now because I sprained up my ankle pretty bad and it's hard to draw with your leg elevated, but I'm catching up now.  I just put up a new one for today and there should be another one later today.

Also I forgot to mention that for Mondays I draw the comics with my left hand.  So that's fun.

[Fishbreath]

Posting to follow. I'm studying in St. Petersburg right now, but a lot of what you've written about so far looks familiar anyway.

[Sappho]

Glad to get a new reader, Fishbreath.  Especially one who might understand this country a bit better than my average (American) reader.

I've just posted a second comic for today.  After this I'll probably just go back to one comic a day, giving myself a few days of buffer for when I'm too busy to draw the day something happens.  I just need to decide how to handle weekends now.

By the way, does anyone have any tips on improving drawing skill?  I know, I know, "draw a lot and keep practicing," but I've been doing comics for a couple of years now and I don't seem to be getting any better.  I've tried those "how to draw" books and I've taken a couple of art classes, but they aren't any help at all - my main problem appears to be a massive deficiency in spacial perception that's been there my whole life (and affects other aspects of life as well).  I can copy a line drawing almost perfectly, but when I have to choose my own lines from life I can never seem to do it right - the angles are all wrong, the perspective is completely messed up, and I choose the wrong lines, so the object can often be nearly unrecognizable (especially if it's something cloth).  Is there any way around this, or am I stuck with some form of dysgraphia for the rest of my life?  (I know dysgraphia isn't the right word since my handwriting is fine, even with my left hand, but I couldn't think of a better term.)

[Sappho]

I finally started my new updating schedule.  The comics are a week behind to give me a buffer during busy times, and they will be scheduled to upload at midnight.  So today's comic is from last Thursday, and Friday's will appear at midnight.  I"m no longer planning to do weekends except as an occasional bonus.

Thanks to everyone who's been reading.  It's tough to think of something funny each day (and sometimes I probably don't quite succeed), but actually I think it helps me have a more positive outlook when I'm always looking for a joke for a comic.

[Neonivek]

Do you scan this or make it on your computer?

I've need to learn to use my Tablet (and unfortunately for me a lot of programs add "Sensativity" to my tabled when I want clear black lines... not grey ones)

[Sappho]

Neither.  I draw them on paper, photograph the paper, then touch it up in Photoshop so it's legible.  I wish I had a tablet, but alas I don't have the money for something like that.  I can't even afford a scanner (or the fees for scanning at copy shops).

[Neonivek]

Well your not missing too much. From personal experience it takes a while to learn to use the tablet no matter how good, or how moderately mediocre in my case, at drawing you are. (then again I like to use fine details and patterns in my drawing, something hard to replicate on tablet without knowing what you are doing)

I made a small comic about it but realised after two hours that "It isn't funny" so I erased it.

As for improving your ability to draw, a lot of it is learning tricks and learning how you get complex drawings out of simple concepts.

In otherwords... Copy...

Start with extra things you want to do, look up how to do it... then apply.

Learning to draw without overflowing talent takes a long long time and a lot of drawing. (damn people with talent!)

[Sappho]

I can copy other people's drawings directly, but I can't modify them. Whenever I try things come out all funky and out of proportion.  Same thing if I try to draw from reality.

A friend of mine just recommended this book, "Drawing On the Right Side Of the Brain." I've obtained a copy and am about to give it a try, but I have to admit I'm actually a little nervous about this.  The book claims (and my friend confirms) that by the end of this program, almost every single person who uses it is able to draw pretty well.  It's full of before and after pictures and my friend says it changed his drawing ability completely.

This all sounds great, but I've used a lot of drawing books in my life.  Every single time, I'm able to copy the images presented to me no problem, but I can never draw from life or my own mind.  My actual abilities never get any better.  What if my problem is hardcoded in my brain and this book doesn't help me?  The message in the book's introduction seems to be that if this book can't teach you to draw, you just can't draw.  I don't know if I could handle that kind of confirmation of disability.

[Sappho]

Sorry for the double-posting I've been doing here, but this one is really important!  Today's comic is my first to feature dwarves.

http://dailyunderground.thecomicseries.com/comics/53

They are the dwarves of my dreams, or at least they should be.

[Fishbreath]

The clock reading 55:91 is a great touch.

[alway]

A friend of mine just recommended this book, "Drawing On the Right Side Of the Brain." I've obtained a copy and am about to give it a try, but I have to admit I'm actually a little nervous about this.  The book claims (and my friend confirms) that by the end of this program, almost every single person who uses it is able to draw pretty well.  It's full of before and after pictures and my friend says it changed his drawing ability completely.

Ah yes, that is a rather well known book. My high school art teacher had us do various exercises from it, and they do seem to have helped. Even wikipedia agrees!

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has remained the dominant book on its subject, used as a standard text in many art schools, and has been translated and published in many foreign languages, including French, Spanish, German, Polish, Hungarian and Japanese.

[Sappho]

Well I've done the first few exercises in the book and I've realized that my high school art teacher was following these exact ones when teaching our introductory art class.  I had absolutely no problem drawing the other half of the vases/faces image while naming the body parts I was drawing and I recognized the photo from the second exercise without a second thought.  I've also always been able to write both forwards and backwards with both hands (though the handwriting from my left hand is slow and not as pretty) as well as upside down, and have no trouble reading writing in any of these modes.

So it seems my problem has little to do with "accessing the right hemisphere" as the author keeps going on about, and likely has more to do with my spacial perception issues combined with poor motor skills which I've dealt with my whole life.  So does this mean I'll never be able to learn to really draw?