I'm not sure what type of comics you'd like to ultimately make, but have you thought about creating one page comics, like 4 panels or so? I think it would force you to condense your ideas into a really short span, while also not making you put forth a ton of effort -- you could easily throw away the end product if you didn't like it.

I'm not a working parent, but I do think I see my best results when I practice/apply new skills every day. I think it's really helpful to try and put lessons into practice immediately, rather than try and remember them the next day while practicing separately. YMMV, though, glad you're enjoying it!

Hi there, here is my assignment. First time picking stuff from my mind and putting on a paper (I only use references and build from that normally), the thumbnail takes a lot of the fear off, cause I don't have to invest to much in it. I did the assignment on a sketchbook I have, don't know if it is a problem. I'm really liking the course!!

Hello guys, this is my ideation for the Harvestman, or the Pumkinhead. Had a lot of fun coming up with these, looking forward to the rest of the course!

An update on my last attempt. This time, I focused more specifically on one theme (mushrooms, especially stinkhorns) and pushed harder to make each idea more distinct. Really tried to lean into the idea of asking more questions and trying to figure out what it was I liked about certain elements, and I think that really helped improve compared to my first pages :)

I have some friends who are really into 40k, I've only played a game or two. But I think the oversized shoulder armor, skull decal, etc. definitely says warhammer! You could look up Karl Kopinski for some rad 40k inspiration as well :)

If this fellow is anything like your grandfather, he looks like a cool dude with a lot of stories!

Oh, what a cutie! Hmmm.... I think maybe his stomach area? His stomach and his back have the same round rhythmic arc, which somehow makes him look a little bendy and softer. I think if you gave him more of an armored look like you see on some rhino sides, he'd look even more tough :)

Man, this is quite challenging; I'm realizing how little I know about farms or harvests! However, here is what I have so far. I will continue trying to pull more ideas out of my brain...

All though Watchmen was made by a big name (DC) the team that made it was very small. The colours are very bright and "neony", but my favourite moments is when there is a tension moment or action where everything has an unatural red tone, adding to the feel of unstableness and danger.

Well, in the Franco-Belgian comics there are a lot of examples of comics with beautiful colours. Offhand, SkyDoll by Barbucci and Canepa comes to mind. Artists trained in the Milanese stable of Disney make spectacular drawings. Barbara Canepa is phenomenal in colouring with ecolines! Other comics I suggest you look at are those painted by Riccardo Federici: spectacular to say the least. I follow him assiduously and I still eat my hands for not being able to attend one of his workshops at the academy of the city where I live. He works by directly colouring his pencils with acrylic, five days for a spectacular finished page.

I don't read that much comic, I like some niche ones... My favourite colour comic has been H.K. series by Kevin Hearult https://www.facebook.com/kevin34herault I love his slick shading. I mainly like the shape language of his machinery designs, robots and guns, very expressive. (Unfortunately this comic is discontinued) He is heavily inspired by Appleseed, which I also like, I found myself love Appleseed 2004 film the most, where the CG reflection stuff is just starting to be used everywhere. I like Shaun Tan's Arrival very much. It's not a "comic", but more like a graphic novel. Shaun Tan's got stunning imagery! Other than that... Some coloured works from Moebius are looking nice as well.

It's a very different style than Calvin and Hobbes, but my favorite comic in color is "The Wrong Place" by Brecht Evens. The paintings in this book are so beautiful and full of details and I love his technique of using gouache and watercolors. Other comic books / graphic novels in color that I like are: "Casa Transparente" by María Luque, "Patience" by Daniel Clowes, "Turing" by Robert Deutsch, "Rosalie Blum" by Camille Jourdy, also Tara Booth.

Blacksad (artist is Juanjo Guarnido). Another cat :)

Your example is pretty "flat color", are you asking for the same or are you okay with more "painterly" authors ?

That's really cool! I like the third image the best, and the way you can see the blackness of space and stars through his helmet.

I really like the idea of the light fading! One thing about the panels on the right is that I think they are similar in composition, but I think what you want is to drastically increase the suspense. It sort of depends on whether the thing coming up from the cliff is a slow or fast threat, but here are some ideas: -Have at least one close-up of the captain's face. The expression is quite important because the men are all killed off-screen, so we need to know how worried he is. Things like sharp shadows over his features or body can show his growing doubts. -If it would not seem too unbelievable, have a panel where the captain is small and isolated, and the cliff/surroundings are threatening. Perhaps an overhead shot where you can emphasize that there is no one to help him, and below the cliffs are shadowy and threatening. This would reinforce the growing fear that he is alone, and his companions have all met a terrible fate. -It sounds like in the middle panel, he's still a bit cocky, maybe a little haughty about the stable boy? In that case, his body language in the last panel can be more unsure. Perhaps he's a bit more hunched over, hands closer together and tightening on the rope, looking down the cliff anxiously since he hasn't heard from his friends. I hope I have understood what you're going for! Sounds like an intriguing comic :)

Hmm... if I'm really in conflict, and I think that more than one idea will work, I think I usually choose based on things I haven't done before. For example, maybe there is an unusual angle or pose, or scenery I haven't depicted in a previous drawing. It's important to me to experiment and have accidents, because otherwise I will simply get good at drawing one sort of thing.

First of all, what works for productivity is unique for each person. Second, just because some people put out a lot of work does not mean that you have too as well. So don't feel like you are expected or obligated to upload more. In a large part speed simply comes with experience, but it also depends on technique and medium, personal style and just being a different person in general. You need to find your own pace. If you genuinely feel that you work slower than you could, that things take more time than you feel they should, then you can try to analyize your own workflow and technique to find out what are the elements you can improve on. But don't think that you need to be faster just because others are faster than you. That said, doing quick sketches and speedpaints where you give yourself a very short time limit and you are not allowed to continue once it's over, is a good way to practice getting faster. When you do that first, you will fail, you will keep running out of time without even getting halfway done, but you need to keep doing it over and over, for weeks and months and you will intuitively figure out ways to be more efficient. BUT... training for speed only really works if you have solid fundamentals to build upon, otherwise what you will end up with is formulas that you stumbled upon, that make things faster but you don't really know why and you are locked into the limitations of that formula. That is not true speed, it is a trap. Making a _good_ drawing/painting is always more important than doing it fast - unless you have a job where you need to crank out things within a very short deadline at all cost, eg. concept artists.