Characters

  • 1SG Douglas Dawg
  • SGT Joe Rock
  • PV2 Carlos Alvarez

Locations

  • Ft. Hunter-Liggett, California

You work and strive and try to be your best… only to realize that now, you qualify for something kind of scary. I don’t blame Alvarez for being hesitant, but the time to screw it up has come and gone.

People may have noticed that I have been using a slightly more realistic art style lately. I’ve been experimenting, using a lot of source photos and the like for base pictures, which I then modify to suit my characters, or a situational need. When I first started, I pretty much copies pictures directly, using PhotoShop layers, changing only what was needed to make the picture “fit” in the established BOHICA Blues setting.

As I got more comfortable, I became a bit more willing to just use bare parts of the figures in photos– a height, a torso, a stance– and fill in the rest with either my own art or bits from yet other pictures, sized to fit. I’m learning a lot about my tools (ie, PhotoShop) and getting used to more realistic human proportions, which have always been a problem for me. Using PhotoShop layers can be likened to tracing somewhat, but I learn a lot from it. Of course, the trade-off is that my actual art style isn’t being used to its fullest extent.

There are a lot of posable digital “art dolls” out there for artists to use, and I may start using those and photo references more. However, I won’t lean on them too heavily because I like my art style –plus, I can’t always find a photo reference that suits the scene I imagine. I tend to see things very cinematically in my mind, and I can’t always get a good angle or pose from extant pictures. We shall see.

Anyhow, soon we will catch up with Private Donner, who will be going to M.O.S. (Military Occupational Specialty) school to become a certified Army cook.

Characters

  • 1SG Douglas Dawg
  • SGT Joe Rock
  • PV2 Carlos Alvarez

Locations

  • Ft. Hunter-Liggett, California

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