Since I've been using markers more for freelance sketches, I thought I'd do a little test on blending:

They're Prismacolor markers, and they blend kind of well... I'll practice more in the future.

In other AER HEAD news, it seems like whenever I start storyboarding for the current issue, I keep sketching ideas for events waaaaayyy later in the series, and even for my other comic series! This is still productive in the long run, but stretches things out for the short term. But hey, I'm my own boss when it comes to personal projects, and I've learned that when I get inspired I need to just run with it.

In other other news, I've been going to a lot of lectures about the business of art by the Graphic Artist's Guild. I have a thirst to learn all I can about this subject. One lecture was how illustrators can survive in today's marketplace. Basically, if you're great at illustration, just keep trying for projects and learn from your mistakes. And if you're not great, try for work in other fields, because it takes everything you've got to make a living as an illustrator. Another lecture was about "creative briefs" for large scale graphic design projects. Even though it was mostly geared toward small design firms, I learned a ton about how to handle many kinds of business situations with clients, some I would never have imagined. I even went to a "fashion roundtable" one time, where I got to talk with designers in the fashion industry. Even though fashion isn't my niche, I went anyway because you never know where something will lead. It turned out that some designers were able to point me to some interesting things I may not have looked into otherwise.

One of the reasons I'm so glad to be in NYC now is that I can learn so much from so many talented people from all scopes of the art world.