Being An Artist First and A Writer Second

It’s Been There All Along, Even If I Didn’t Really Know What It Was Exactly

When I first started this world “The Realm Ethereal”, it was because I just got a new iPad Pro 2 sometime back in 2017. I was just messing around with a new app on the ipad called Procreate with the Apple Pencil. It was a neat and fun experience.

But it took me some time to really get into it making art on the iPad. I did some doodling around, but nothing serious. Then I rediscovered the world of digital illustration again in 2018. I first tried my hand at digital illustration probably around 2007 mostly using Corel Painter. Back then I was even using a Wacom tablet. I had always wanted to paint, you know, become a fantasy artist, and up until that point, throughout the years, I did my share of painting. I used watercolor, gouache, oils, water mixable oils, acrylics, etc. I worked on masonite, canvas, illustration board, watercolor paper, etc.

But none of it really “stuck” as they say. My desire was always to draw comics.

The Influence of Digital Fantasy Art

But with this new inspiration from all the new digital illustration I rediscovered, I began painting these characters in a similar vein to what I saw on websites such as Art Station. As I delved more and more into digital painting in Procreate, I would eventually find myself migrating to Photoshop to do more digital artwork. 

I don’t want to go into my foray into digital painting here, as I’ve documented quite a bit of it on my Youtube channel. But the digital painting path I was on at that time is what created this universe of characters I call my “Realm Ethereal.”

The sheer volume of digital paintings I created during my phase of digital illustration far eclipsed any paintings I did using traditional means. The digital medium makes it so easy, and is often so forgiving, that I was able to churn out an entire roster of character paintings that make up my stable of creator-owned characters. In hindsight, that’s how I now view those digital paintings. They are nothing more than character designs waiting for a narrative for me to bring them all together and to life in my comics.

The Driving Force to Make Comic Books

If you’ve been following my comic book series “The Realm Ethereal” here on my website, you are probably familiar with my process of how this Realm Ethereal universe came to be. If you’re newer or totally brand new, welcome! 

This Realm Ethereal is the most I’ve ever enjoyed in making comic book artwork. Now, I’m not a pro who’s done “professional work” for mainstream publishers or has a large body of comic book artwork. That being said, I have created my own comic book series before. If anyone reading this remembers when I self-published “Axe the Slayer” and “Asreeth Lion Warrior”, consider yourself to be one of the earliest to know of my works before The Realm Ethereal.

So I’ve always just loved comic books and making my own comic books. I’m an artist first, creating visual works that pull from the ether that ultimately inspire stories. That’s how I process my work.

I find myself fortunate to have the ability to draw and share these characters, worlds, and stories with those of you who follow what I do. 

The Art Comes First, The Story Second: Hear Me Out

I wish I could say I had every word, panel, turn, dip, spike, page turn of this comic book series methodically planned to a “T”. But I can’t. Don’t get me wrong, I have done my planning, and I am quite structured. What I’m really talking about is being flexible and being able to pivot in my creation process. I have to be: I am the sole creator of this comic book series. From writing, drawing, inking, lettering, editing, book layout, working with the printer, building and managing my own website, running my own social media. It’s all me.

But a lot of times life doesn’t work that way. It’s also not a very creative and fun way to do this work. Maybe if you’re a studio, well yeah, you have to be. But when you’re a one-man-band as I am, I have to keep this stuff interesting to do it every day, day in day out. All facets mentioned in the previous paragraph. That’s how I process what I do.

When I say “it’s been there all along…” I’m referring to all of the above. Comic books are what I just enjoy looking at and aspiring to create. My story ideas come after I’ve created the work. 

And just today, I made a connection to my own work that could not have become self-evident if I hadn’t gone through the last seven years of creating cumulative Realm Ethereal work (paintings and comics.) 

The Artwork Shapes The Story

So here’s something you can really latch onto: You know all that reddish-purplish abstract matter that has appeared and “been there all along” in the comic book story The Dream Awakens? Specifically, what I’m talking about is shown here:

And below I’m posting a slideshow of all this stuff, showing screenshots taken from several pages of The Dream Awakens series. It’s been fodder for the last few years as I’ve been drawing this story. 

This abstract matter sometimes looks like it’s some kind of basket woven texture to perhaps looking like spaghetti to just looking kind of gooey at times. Yes, that stuff!! It’s been there all along, hasn’t it? And now, I finally know what it is. Or shall I say, “who” it is.

Part of the fun of this Realm Ethereal series is giving story, narrative, and drive to these characters I’ve created. From an artist perspective, this work and my art is a legacy of mine. I like to think I can influence this work, which in turn influences me. I like to think I can shape and mold my work, which in turns reveals facets of my artistic self.

This is my enjoyment as an “artist” and seeing all this storytelling come into existence is exciting. The build-up to the reveal of this next character is a huge part of the fun in drawing this series. Even the character’s name and what this character symbolizes ties in perfectly with the current storyline’s ending in “The Dream Awakens” as we move into the next chapter of the Realm Ethereal “The Sky Dreamers.”

It’s almost too perfect, but it’s something I never could have plotted out from the very beginning. Yet it’s been there all along, even if I didn’t really know what it was exactly at the time.

Stay tuned, more to come! ◼️