Logo Growth - Part 2, Ideas

No long, thoughts-and-process post this time. I've had a while since the last logo growth entry to think about how I'd like the Heterochromia logo to look. Here are some of my sketches so far, and a recap of the qualities I had brainstormed:

(No, not all my sketchbook pages are as neatly laid out as this one)

Inumerable, Unfinished Landscapes

In illustration, it is the subjects—people, animals, even objects—which are compelling.* They may be animate, show bend, scrunch, stretch, and twist, and may vary from depicted "moment" to "moment." These are the things on which we, as readers or as viewers, focus our attention. Yet, despite all these enticing features, subjects require context. And thus, I am forced to tackle that which gives me something akin to dread: backgrounds.

I have begun to realize that, in order to adequately tell my stories, I must learn to treat the setting as a component as important as character, no matter how much more involved I am in the unfolding lives of my characters. Some of my favorite comic/manga artists are so because of their ability to do just that: Amy Reeder Hadley can whisk us through myriad locations as fascinatingly as through time in Madame Xanadu; Sean Gordon Murphy's urban backgrounds are as gritty and interesting as the characters populating them. These artists, and others (M. Alice Legrow also leaps to mind) are able to create whole worlds, not just sets of characters.

Another Week, Another Missed Update

Sorry for the radio-silence over the last couple weeks. I have indeed been working on the upcoming Heterochromia page, but it features a subject I find more difficult than that of most other pages. I also would have posted more the past couple weeks (with the exception of days spent helping a friend move, and hours and hours spent watching Inception), but approaching Kon Hayai or my sketchbook made me think guiltily of the work I should be doing instead on the current page. And so, the cause of my inactivity, and definitely the cause of it in the past: feeling that the larger project should consume other creativity-related processes, instead of giving each its turn. I'm finally breaking that now, though I do not have much to bring you of my own creation.Mostly I post to affirm my presence--I am not gone, but continue working on what is a very difficult page for me.

I am thinking that the next update may consist of the second part of Logo Growth.

Logo Growth - Part 1, Inspirations

I realize that, with its current, small audience, giving Heterochromia a logo, a "brand," probably isn't of the utmost importance. However, since the intention of doing Heterochromia is to give me a chance to practice doing a comic, I may as well practice the peripherals: branding, web design (which is still pretty weak...), pre-press, design, etc.. These aspects are of interest to me as different design tasks. Designing a logo for Heterochromia has been a particular desire since I took an art class in the spring, during which I created a hand-drawn logotype (among other things) for the state of Indiana (check out my work on my flickr, if you're interested)

Latest Journal, Logo Thoughts

I'll start off this entry with the latest journal I've decorated. This one is for a friend, who is a fan of Liverpool--that bird's their logo, and the back says "Liverpool Football Club." Can't wait to give it to her!

As before, if you're interested in one, they're available in both my etsy and DaWanda shops.

With that plug completed, I'll get onto the topic I really wanted to cover in this entry: the Heterochromia logo. These posts may actually be a bit self-serving: much of my motivation for putting this together is to remember my influences, explain to myself as much as to others the direction I want to take with it. My current thought is that there will be an "influences" / "inspirations" journal, the next will probably be sketches, then some more finished versions until I've decided on one I will use (at least for some length of time). Of course, this is just a plan for a set of entries in the future--for now, I just wanted to share my new journal and my thoughts about it.

(Arf, I hope this entry doesn't seem pointless...)

The Pledge, Again, and Stumptown

And now for the semi-annual blog update. Right now, I'm running hot; updating all over the place, trying to increase my internet activity everywhere, from deviantart to Heterochromia, and have opened up new shops at both etsy and DaWanda. Right now I'm only selling custom mini journals like this one:

Obviously, journals need not only be used for Stumptown and Convention Planning.

This is the sort of casual "resolution" that I make a lot: I promise myself that I will start updating more, will gain more of an internet presence, will really start networking. And almost always, this means running hot for a day, a week, maybe a month, and then remembering that I have a blog and an art gallery about six months later. It's a challenge not to abandon something when you want everything you put into it to be so good (not that everything I have put into either one has been so good, but that doesn't mean the desire wasn't there). I don't want to update this day because I haven't got the energy to write at my best and most poetical, I don't want to update that day because I haven't done anything worth writing about. Are more frequent updates worth a reduction in quality? But it turns out that on the internet, the answer is yes.