Project notes / 20.05.2026

It’s time for another quick update for you all. I’ve been working on Splorers pages again this week and feel like I’m getting back into a groove again which is good. It feels like I’m starting to get a handle on the colouring process as I go on with these pages.

Colouring has been something I’ve struggled with a lot in the past but determination seems to be winning out, at least in the sense that I’m less nervous when approaching a page these days. I’ve got a basic process which seems to be working for me and now the mechanics of the process are being committed to muscle memory, I’m finding I’m starting to get in my own way less often.

I’ve still got a long way to go though. While I don’t have any specific things in mind about overall style, one thing I do want to improve is my ability to convey mood through light. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently looking at visual reference (such as some examples from Gravity Falls below) and watching videos by people like Jeremy Vickery over on YouTube.

Visual reference examples for inspiration. Source: https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-5/art-of-gravity-falls

Any type of art or creative pursuit is a constant game of chase. You reach a new checkpoint in your development and your gaze shifts to the horizon. In this age of AI slop, it’s more important than ever to embrace the time and effort it takes to improve your art, however you wish to define “improvement”. First and foremost, you’re enriching yourself with knowledge and ability but you can then apply that to (hopefully) bring some enjoyment or entertainment to others in the world.

We need art. To paraphrase Ethan Hawke, “Art is sustenance”.

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Before I disappear on a tangent about AI, I’ll get back to Splorers.

Last week, I talked about setting out a new schedule for releasing pages to spread the timeline a bit more and give me a little more wiggle room to keep working on new Splorers pages whilst also getting on with some other projects and I’ve decided how it’s going to work.

As we’re creeping up to the end of May, this Friday will be the last weekly page going up. It’s already scheduled and ready to go. Since next Friday is only a couple of days out from 1st June, I figured I’d wait to put the new page out. From there I can keep it simple by releasing a new page on the first of each month.

I’m still in two minds whether a month is too long, to be quite honest, so I’ll see how it goes. The next page I’m due to work on, I’ve not even done the inks yet and the five beyond that are still in their rough pencil stages so I might thank myself for the extra time. We’ll see…

Anyway, I hope you’ll continue to follow along for the ride!

PS - We’re almost a month out from this year’s MaccPow Comic Art Festival, I’ll be there with my buddy Lloyd Mills so it’d be great if you pop along to say hello!