I've rethought what I wanted to say with my previous entry, and the result is below.

As I mentioned earlier, the side project has helped me rethink how I want to execute the main project. I conceived of Bune throughout most of its conception as being realistically drawn. Some artists handle this very well, and some have studios of assistants who handle it very well. I need to face facts: While I can certainly produce realistic drawings, I do not think I can produce them reliably and in sufficient quantity to tell lengthly stories; continuous realism doesn't seem to suit my temperment. The trick will be to find a compromise style that's good enough to carry the weight of the story, and which ideally would lend itself to rapid production.

The best way to achieve such a style is to keep drawing for months and years. Eventually, if one is fortunate, a workable style develops. This sounds somewhat harsh, and I should point out that it's not necessary to develop a style to tell a story with sequential art - sketches or scribbles can be expressive enough to carry a story, or support compelling dialogue. However, since I believe I have it in me to develop such a style, I wish to make the attempt.

But for now, I want to start serious work on Bune... and while I was working in Illustrator on the side project, I found that I was very pleased with the results of using flat areas of color to define dimension and wrinkles in the clothing. I've also been discovering other ways to use gradients for more subtle shading, even though I am not using gradients on the characters in this project. I think that this will be sufficiently workable to get me around the 'fear of failure' point that keeps me from making progress... I still have to think much of this over - for instance, I have always envisioned Bune as being drawn in black and white. If I finish it with this method, there will be little reason not to present it in color, and I have to consider if I want to unseal that vermiferous can...

In any event, the main thing that I am discovering (one of those things that should be obvious, but which one forgets) is that command of one's tools brings confidence.

Until!