Bizarro Year in Review: 2023

2023 Year in Review
By Bizarro

Well, this year just flew by and was filled with all manner of weirdness--some of which were actually pretty cool and completely unexpected.  My art was accidentally used on an alternate Marvel Comics cover to "A.X.E.: Eve of Judgement" #1 by Mr. Garcin.  So, I guess I got to do a Marvel Comics cover in the most bass-ackwards, Rube Goldberg-esque manner... which is exactly the way I would expect it to happen for me, I suppose.

I was also invited to have some of my art on the Escape Motions Rebelle social media pages.  Again, that was cool.  I was also invited to Beta Test Rebelle 7, which was interesting and fun (I hope you're all sitting down, but I'm a nerd).  I found a few bugs, made some suggestions for future features, so we'll see how that goes.  Rebelle has replaced Corel Painter for myself, and has a great painting engine (particularly the Watercolor brush).  They also have a new Metallic paint effect that is pretty neat.  And the pricing isn't outrageous.  Rebelle and Clip Studio Paint are my go to Art Programs.

I also submitted every month this year to semi-local Art Magazine, "Moss Piglet", out of Kenosha, WI, for other art-based fun, and did a few other projects here and there.  Artistically, I think I'm vaguely getting better.  More practice, practice, practice, is needed of course.

After some of that attention, my Blog(s) seemed to take off for several months.  Normally, my Blog is very, VERY modest.  I get about 1,500 hits per month on average.  For a couple months, I was getting several hundred hits a day an a couple times when I had 5,000+ people a day (once as many as 8,000 in a day).  For a little bit, I will admit the numbers made me think I was gonna be popular and my star was gonna rise and all those other cliches.  But, oddly, as much traffic as it generated, I can't say it really moved the needle at all.  There was no real engagement, no new people following me, or anything else of the sort.  They were just numbers on a graph went up, making me wonder if they were just bots, if any of the numbers are real, and just the general existential questions we all ask ourselves.  Ironically, the added traffic dropped off a cliff and returned to mostly normal the day before I started my "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween", which I consider a pretty fun challenge.  Ah, well, again, I'm not sure what the numbers mean, if anything.  Shrug and move on, I guess.  😀

This next year, I'm hoping to expand things a bit more and push myself a bit further.  I have a few projects I'm hoping to do which may be fun, announcements forthcoming later in the year.

I just want to take a few moments to thank everyone who has stopped by to gawk at my modest Blog.  It is much appreciated, more than you can possibly know.  I'm hoping the New Year will be filled with Peace, Love, and all that jazz for everyone.

Peace out, y'all!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Done digitally in Rebelle 7, with a lettering assist from Clip Studio Paint

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Merry Sithmas - Darth Zannah

 MERRY SITHMAS
Darth Zannah

Hey, hey, it's another Sithmas Card!  Always two Sithmas Cards there are... and this time, fittingly enough, it's Darth Zannah, the apprentice to Darth Bane: The original "Rule of Two".

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint.  It is a 2,00px x 2,791px document at 300dpi.  I used the Symmetry Tool to keep everything, well, symmetrical between the two sides.  Originally, I was going to do the outfit in red with white Santa-type trim along the collar, but then changed my mind and did a full on Santa-type cloak.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, mostly done with a 15pt digital brush.

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STEP THREE:  Here are the colors, done in a variety of layers under the inked layer before the animation lights were applied.  For the animation, three images were imported into Photoshop in the Timeline, and exported as an animated .GIF.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint (with the animated .GIF produced in Photoshop).

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Merry Sithmas - Darth Sion

 MERRY SITHMAS
Darth Sion

Hey, hey, it's a little late, but here's yet another Sithmas Card!  This time, it's deeper into the lore with Darth Sion, The Lord of Pain.  And dry skin, no doubt; he needs to up his skin care routine.  Darth Sion first appeared in 2004 with "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords" video game and has shown up in some comics.

Hmm, with the position of the necrotic-type skin on his torso, I just realized it almost looks like he is wearing a tank top or suspenders.  Sigh... Oh, well.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint.  It is a 2,00px x 2,791px document at 300dpi.  I used the Symmetry Tool to keep everything, well, symmetrical between the two sides, then turned it off for the hat and a couple other random bits.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  They were mostly done with a 15pt digital brush.

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STEP THREE:  Here are the colors, done in a variety of layers under the inked layer before the animation lights were applied.  For the animation, three images were imported into Photoshop in the Timeline, and exported as an animated .GIF.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint (with the animated .GIF produced in Photoshop).

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