Reflections

I made a spreadsheet to track my progress.

It includes the color flatting, which is a mindless process that I'll do when I want to avoid making creative decisions. When I'm too tired or uninspired, I tend to make lazy decisions which affects the quality of the work. Color flatting allows me to work while I'm traveling too (I recently did a few pages on a flight to Alberta).

Here's an example of a flatted page:

Those aren't the final colors. The purpose of flatting is to speed up the coloring process: one can now just choose a shape or color and drop in the final color.

Here is the classic progress counter:

PROGRESS counter

LAYOUTS 142/142

PENCILS 52/142

INKS 52/142

COLORS 0/142

I've made it passed 50 pages! This is the most pages I've ever drawn in a single project by a significant margin (probably 20 pages or so).

A few weeks ago, I was able to see the M. C. Escher exhibit in Montreal. I highly recommend it to EVERYONE. About a decade ago, I attended a talk about the work of Jack Kirby at the Alternative Press Expo in San Jose and the speaker said that he considers Kirby to be one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, right up there with Picasso. In my opinion, Escher is also one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, if not the greatest. His awe-inspiring technical ability alone is enough to make him great (which he combines it with mind-blowing imagination and creativity).

My favorite Escher piece is Night and Day.

“Only those who attempt the absurd...will achieve the impossible."

― M.C. Escher