One thing I noticed from that Ustream I mentioned yesterday: the artist never lost her gummy eraser. Maybe part of my problem is that most of my drawing is done on the couch, and my eraser just disappears, all the time (not to mention the crap that’s stuck in it when I’ve found it), which drives me batshit crazy. p.s. It’s thundering and lightninging at the moment, so I’m trying to get this done before any power issues arise. I finished the design on the first counter-villain, and the standard minion-type. I also started sketching another character I realized I had missed.
Designing new guys is tough, I try not to repeat features I have on my main guys, but at the same time, I know that there are only a few options, based on the style I’m using, that work (and that I can draw). I should also mention that for these guys, my “design” is just drawing a dude until I’m happy with his general look. I do a front and side, then move on. I spent a lot more time on the main dudes, with three-quarter views and stuff. Any resulting issues from not enough pre-work I plan to just sort out when it comes time to do the strip.
The style I’m using isn’t crazily realistic, for a sample you can look at my current twitter avatar, that’s my main character. While it’s pretty cartoony, it’s a hell of a step up from my original design. I actually started drawing Villain in 2003, and published a few strips under a different (now defunct) domain, brokentailbone.com. I’ll eventually put those strips back up, but in the meantime, suffice it to say that with my upgraded style I can do such crazy things as have my characters look in different directions and even express emotions, should the need arise.