This Series is Now Closed.

Yes, it has finally come.

I'm putting an end to Drawn Silly, my webcomic journal.

To all my fans out there (all 12 of you, lol), sorry. But I realized something: I was making this comic for other people. I was no longer making it for myself.

It's fine to make things for other people. I have nothing against that. However, it should not hold true for comics.

At some point, you realize, "I'm not enjoying making this. I'm only making this to try to get others to laugh. I'm only making this to increase the number of subscribers I have." That's not what comics should be about.

Comics should be something YOU yourself are invested in for yourself. You have to want to make the comic because you love it, for its ideas, for its characters, for all the drama and intense hilarity inside it, and more. Everything you love is in this project, and you're going to make this series! To hell with the consequences and the nay-sayers and the trolls who don't like your sense of humor! All those be damned! You're making this comic because you love it.

It got to the point where, unfortunately, I did not love Drawn Silly. It's sad, really, because a journal comic shouldn't end up like that. I had originally started this project to keep myself in the habit of drawing comics and to bring awareness of my work to the internet at large.

I didn't start this series on the right foot. So I'm hoping to end it on one.

Will I still make comics? ABSO-FRICKIN-LUTELY. I still have a graphic novel in the works and two short-stories I would like to get done before the end of March. Plus, I'll still have my sketch blog. So I won't be gone forever.

But these projects I'm working on will be for me. Because I love the ideas and the work that goes into it. I'm not making them for higher pageview counts, or for practice, or to make a quick buck. I'm not making them for a small audience of readers (sorry, readers).

I'm making these projects for me. And if other people like it, that's cool, too.

Happy Birthday, B@#$%!

I still think that's pretty cool. :D

A College Student's Anxiety

 

This happens far more often than you think.

Being the career-driven woman that I am, I'm always trying to think of ways to get more experience, work on my portfolio, etc etc. But some days are just more self-defeatist than others, especially when I think about internships.

I would LOVE one. But I hear all kinds of horror stories about 3 hours of sleep, made to make photocopies, and all that, ESPECIALLY if the positions are unpaid.

And lo and behold, every comic-related internship I find is unpaid. And editorial. And on the opposite side of the country.

And I love in a single-parent household and I'm barely able to afford my cell phone bill.

I'm not saying all this to make a pity party. I'm just stating how I feel about the whole debacle, and I hope other aspiring comic artists out there can at least understand where I'm coming from.

.....

On the other hand, I REALLY like this art style. It seems much more film-noir compared to my other work.

This year, I'm going to experiment a lot with the art in this comic, mostly because it's a journal comic, meant to let me express myself, and I don't want to be confined to one particular method. I want to play. :3

Also, I must do the obligatory pimping and say I HAVE A SKETCH BLOG! At last! You can find it here.

Football?

I'm still a little lost about downs and such, but I know the players' positions and purposes. That's better than nothing.

One of my markers is dying. I can't remember which it is, but I used it to shade in that chair.

I love that snowman on the TV. :3

Happy New Year!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! :D

I celebrated the new year by looking back on my awesomeness and drinking Blackberry Merlow (of course, for a full picture, please remember when I was schlockered before).

So this past year, I have:

• Cut my hair (that's a biggie for me)
• Survived a brutal Graphic Design course
• Worked at a major theme park as a Caricature Artist...
• ...and loved every minute of it. :D (Except the last minute when I wanted to slap a customer across the face, but I expected nothing less from that park. But my coworkers were awesome and I learned a lot from them!)
• STARTED THIS BLOG!
• Got a Twitter account...and got followed by some VERY awesome people
• Created Graphic Novel Month!
• Joined the Nerdfighters!

Phew! This year was a BIG year for me.

My resolution? ....It's a secret to you guys. ;3

Now, about this doodle....I'm not a HUGE fan of it, but it's not terrible. I hated how the scanner botched the colored pencils. I don't really like the line quality. I could have done better.

BUT, it's fun, and it was fun to draw. That's what counts. :D

National Graphic Novel Month!

Ok, so I'm gonna' clue you all in on a bit of awesome-ness called:

National Graphic Novel Month!

What?
National Graphic Novel Month is when you script out an ENTIRE 125-page graphic novel in 31 days.

By scripting, you can make thumbnails, sketches, a movie-like script, or whatever tickles your silly-bone. :D

ALSO, it doesn't have to be finished. This is a great way to get a rough draft of your comic done.

When?
All through the month of January, from the 1st to the 31st.

Why?
One day, I was talking with Don MacDonald on Twitter (go check out his work on Machiavelli. It's AWESOME! Link is down below), and I thought it was silly that writers have National Novel Writing Month, but comic artists don't have anything like that (I mean, they have 24 hour comic day, but that's not even close). So I was talking with Don about “Wouldn't it be cool if graphic novelists and comic artists had a National Comic Book Month?” And he came up with the better idea and called it “National Graphic Novel Month.” We tossed ideas back and forth, and lo and behold! Graphic Novel Month was born.

Who?
YOU.

And hundreds of other comic artists (I hope), but mostly YOU.

Spread the word! On Twitter, Facebook, DeviantART, or whatever online (or offline) community you're a part of.

If you have any questions, or want any feedback on your ideas or drafts, you can email either Don (don at donmacdonald dot com) or me (kelcidcrawford at gmail dot com), or you could, I dunno...find us on Twitter, or on our blogs. That works, too. ;)

Blanket Monster

And it started snowing today!

I would enjoy it if it weren't for the wind. Oh well.

Food for Thought

It's a day late, but it was still fun to draw. :D

I always say this, but this was made with Prismacolor markers and a mechanical pencil. This time, though, I added Micron Pens (because some people wanted me to keep doing that, so I tried it out).

Also, I'm going to be REALLY busy with art projects this weekend. And Thanksgiving Break is next week, so there may or may not be comics next week. Just letting you know ahead of time.

Foiled My Plans!

...So now I can't venture over to the art building where the wood-shop is to build the freaking thing.

I decided to add a new element into the comic aside from the markers and the mechanical pencil: MICRON PENS! I don't think I'll use them in the next comic, though. But what do YOU think? Keep the pens or leave them out?

P.S. all wood panels have smiley faces on them until you paint over them. But they're still happy regardless.

Schlockered

I'm sorry for the late update. I went to the premier of a friend's short film downtown (the film was AMAZING) and stayed a little after for the after-party. Fun times all around, but I've been procrastinating something BAD this weekend.

So earlier this month, I went out drinking with some friends (hey, I'm 21, so I'm legal) and I discovered the amazingly lovely taste of rum and coke. It makes me feel like a pirate because I'm drinking rum.

....And I also discovered that after one drink, I get loud and obnoxious. xD

Oh, my Prismacolor cool grey markers, how I love thee. My mechanical pencil is my tender mistress.

Hoo?

 

I love my owl hat, and everyone else loves it, too. :3

And I'm gonna' wear it for the rest of the winter because it has ear flaps (which helps since I live in a town where winds can reach everyday gusts of 15 miles an hour) and is made of fleece and felt (and, you know, fleece is like ARMOR against cold).

This was lovingly drawn with my beautiful Prismacolor markers and my ultra sleek mechanical pencil. :D

With the help of my incredi-easel! Because my back hurts from slouching a lot.

Just Passing By

Today's entry is extra sloppy. But that's ok: this webcomic is meant to be more sketchy than pro-looking. I still love the shading and anatomy here. :D

THE RETURN OF MY PRISMACOLOR MARKERS! I set up my workspace so it's not a pain in the ass to get them, so you'll be seeing the return of gray scale! WOO!

....And that second panel, the person's speaking from inside the room. The door does not talk. Just wanted to make that extra clear.

Strange Places

I'm still a little concerned for that poor girl.

No Prismacolor goodness this time. I got lazy and stuck with my handy mechanical pencil.

Not Really Horror...

The Human Centipede is NOT a horror movie. It's a horror movie the same way that Hostel and Saw are horror movies, because it's disgusting and deals with body mutilation in the WORST way. It's not a TRUE horror movie like Psycho.

But if you MUST know what this movie is, DON'T WATCH THE TRAILER. Instead, look it up on Wikipedia. It'll make you nauseous either way, but the Wiki article won't give you nightmares for two weeks.

....Look it up your own damn self. I'm not adding a link to the damn thing.

....And this actually has nothing to do with my punishment for not updating Wednesday. Speaking of which, I'm thinking of making this update only on Fridays (it'll lighten my workload a little).

Made with Prismacolor markers and mechanical pencil.

Woah, I'm digital!

 

So it's not a comic YET AGAIN!

I'm starting to like drawing in filler a little too much.

Comics by next week, promise. :3

This was drawn AND colored in MyPaint (I won't be surprised if you've never heard of it).

Not a comic

 

WOAH, it's not a comic!

I have some roughs of some comic strips, but they still need to be tightened up and finalized. In the meantime, I thought I would play with my Prismacolor colored pencils and give you a cartoon representation of me.

Feel free to critique. I appreciate constructive criticism. :D

Shakespeare, BADASS

 

I usually draw something a little more exciting than this, but I just wanted to draw myself as badass as possible. 

Well...as badass as I can be, since I'm playing Romeo as a Jedi apprentice in the Star Wars universe (I can't make this up. I blame my director :D).

And I realize I don't have glasses in this picture. Hurm.

This was drawn with my lovely Cool Grey Prismacolor markers and a mechanical pencil.

I Wanna SmackJeeves

 

True story. I miss the old days when it was just HTML knowledge you needed to build a basic Geocities (craptastic) website. Now I don't get all this CSS and PHP and Javascript schenanigans.

SmackJeeves has to be the worst way to program a webcomics site I've ever laid eyes on up to this point. Ugh.

I think I'll stick with BlogSpot, to be honest. It gives me all the same abilities as SmackJeeves, but with 100% less yaoi (that site is 99.98% gay boy love, I swear. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but BY DAMN I want variety!).

Waka, Waka, Waka

And yes, the Waka is a valid Japanese form of poetry.

It was written weird above, because of the space, so I'll rewrite it here:

"Fozzie Bear, Fozzie

the Goon, tells bad jokes that make

me laugh, because I

have a terrible sense of 

humor. Waka Waka Waka, Bitches."

The syllable count isn't really right, but poetry has flexibility.

Also, I colored this with Cool Grey Prismacolor markers. I love those to death. :D

Gettin' Hot in Here...

Ok, so it just started getting hot recently up in Ohio. It's like a freak heat wave flew in. I have no idea where these come from.

And no, my figure is not this extreme, nor do I wish it to be.