One of the things I resolved to do to make Sunnyville better was to practice my drawing. I haven’t had much chance lately as life drawing sessions at the local museum were cancelled or couldn’t be made (I couldn’t make it last week due to Valleycon). In spite of this, I’ve been practicing handling a pen and drawing whatever I can.
That’s just some practice drawing hands. I was taught that hands and feet are very important to draw. The late Jack Davis (EC Comics, MAD magazine) was renowned for drawing hands and that’s how he got so much work.
I’ve also been practicing sketching feet. These are human feet, even though my preferred subject matter is anthropomorphic animals. But that doesn’t matter. No matter what I draw, practicing hands and feet is a good way to get better.
I’ve considered once more the possibility of going back to school for an art degree (some readers recall I tackled whether getting an art degree helps you draw comics). I have been looking at all kinds of options, especially online learning. These options however cost time and money, two important resources to me. As I implied in the above linked article, I genuinely don’t know if an art certificate or art degree would guarantee that I can succeed with Sunnyville. For the time being, I’m going to have to be content with practice and self-study. There is another ace-in-the-hole for me; someone sympathetic provided me with copies of the cartooning lessons from Famous Artists School. These are very handy! In fact, many of these lessons were prepared by top cartoonists of the 20th century like Milton Caniff, Al Capp, Gurney Williams, Willard Mullin and many more.
On top of all that, work is continuing on the Sunnyville scripts which are slow but steady. It helps that I have clear ideas in mind for some of the upcoming stories like Sunnyville no. 17, 18, 20 and 21. In addition, I’m still hammering out the Kickstarter and working up plans for 2017. Alas, those will have to wait until next time.
Sign up for the Sunnyville Stories mailing list if you haven’t yet. Stop over to DriveThru Comics for digital copies of Sunnyville Stories. Copies of Sunnyville Stories Volume 1 are still for sale on Amazon, both in print and Kindle formats! While you’re there, be sure to pick up Sunnyville Stories Volume 2 and (if you love Gothic horror)Von Herling, Vampire Hunter! And now available is the latest installment of the saga, Sunnyville Stories Volume 3. Get them today!
Copies of all the above titles are available to the library trade via Brodart Company and to retailers from Ingram and Baker & Taylor (via BCH Distribution). Copies are also available direct from the publisher. For ordering information, contact maxwestart(at)gmail(dot)com or write to:
Different Mousetrap Press LLC, 1100 19th Avenue N, #108, Unit J, Fargo ND 58102-2269 USA
