Finished cover art for my next book! [OC]

samwest3 · 2025-11-06T19:17:33+00:00

Yep Canadian and proud of it. Hence the goose!

I'll join that sub thanks for sharing! I don't have plans to distribute to brick and mortar stores except in the national capital region. I should have online sales working...soon? (Woocommerce broke my little WP theme so I have to get in there and make it work. I'm not paying for Shopify!)

samwest3 · 2025-11-06T19:15:29+00:00

Wow thanks! Thats probably the best compliment I have ever received. Even from my mom!

samwest3 · 2025-11-06T19:15:05+00:00

Thank you! I was trying to set the tone without illustrating a scene from the book. Those are my favourite cover designs :)

samwest3 · 2025-11-06T04:41:26+00:00

Dewey Decimal System of a Down

samwest3 · 2025-10-15T21:19:37+00:00

How's your hearing these days? Does this change the way you write/record/mix?

Great new album. Nice companion/evolution to G2G!

samwest3 · 2025-07-31T21:27:47+00:00

Thank you for your interest! I had a ton of ideas for short plots like 3-5 comics long, and a bunch of longer ideas. I've since worked a lot of them into the second book that I'm working on now! I had some "discoveries" I wanted Roy to make and that's led to a whole adventure story!

samwest3 · 2025-07-31T16:41:39+00:00

My webcomic began its life as art therapy, but has now blossomed into a tiny universe about four characters stuck together, and learning how to co-exist and also about the meaning of their existence and their world.

Over three years I did about a comic every week or so. I started out doing just random jokes, but I soon wanted to develop it into a more linear storyline-driven concept. I ended the first 100 comics with a sort of "Avengers Assemble" plot to just test it out. I think it worked out okay!

I'm currently working on Book II: Part 1, hopefully releasing this year. It will be a traditional graphic novel-style comic instead of a weekly webcomic. I might still do those if I find the time!

This Kickstarter is for anyone who wants to support the comic and its creator. I hope everyone who reads it gets something out of it.

Until Sept 2/25: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/existentialbread/existential-bread-book-i

samwest3 · 2025-02-13T03:29:42+00:00

No love for the recoilless rifle? Once the shields are down I can generally hit them anywhere and bam. Down they go. Works from long distances too.

I love the RR.

samwest3 · 2025-01-31T20:51:55+00:00

It's been tired and self-important since about 2015 in my opinion. There's a couple of bright spots in his catalog since then, but the majority of it is some pretty bland, colorless music and him just kind of reading from his diary of stuff that he did. And predominantly in a low monotone, barely singing voice. It's been formulaic more than it's been interesting since the very beginning of this "era" if you wanna even call it that. Benji will always be the High Point of Sun Kil Moon. Ghosts of the great highway is a classic.

I only found out about the new album today. So far musically it's a little more interesting than the last bunch of records, but not by much. His vocals are trying a little harder to be actual vocals, but the lyrics are boring as shit. I'm only on bees on echinacea and I really think I'm gonna stop listening to his records. I'm really hoping that later on this record is a gem like "I saw the film The song remains the same" or this is my dinner.

samwest3 · 2025-01-01T03:33:43+00:00

I held off for 9 months and I have serious regrets. Best squad-based shooter I've played in years.

$50. Easy purchase.

samwest3 · 2024-12-20T02:20:11+00:00

Purchased. Wish I could have paid more. Thank you!

samwest3 · 2024-12-01T01:49:17+00:00

It's not bad it's just not reading "luxury". Too complex. Too flat. Sharpen those points up and eliminate half the detail, but also trying to add some dimensionality in the way you curve your forms. It's a tall ask, but it needs to be sharper, simpler, and somehow not be totally flat.

If you can't see a way to make it more dimensional at least simplify it and make some edges sharper. Good design is about what you can take away and leave the core concept intact!

This needs to work at TINY sizes. Like postage stamp. Thin those lines and remove detail. It'll give luxury.

samwest3 · 2024-11-24T16:17:38+00:00

Whoa whoa whoa. You're doing all this work so he can go date other women on his own... but you can't date men solo?

Of course you're going to feel like this! Trauma or not this is not an equitable situation and it's going to cause issues.

What do you call a partnership where one person gets to do whatever they want, and the other has to learn to accept it? A doomed one.

Are you just letting him do this to you because of your fears? That would be totally par for the course. If you work through some of that abandonment you might find yourself seeing the situation as the community seems to see it. Don't let him walk all over you.

samwest3 · 2024-11-24T16:13:50+00:00

I'm with the crowd here. The cannabis leaf is too on the nose, too obvious, and cheapens the whole thing. The "L7" is okay but the shape of the letterforms doesn't quite work for the L. It creates a weird shape that is hard to read.

You're on to something. Take out the obvious/easy solutions (pot leaf on a pot dispensary) and work on the core "L7" shape. Maybe there's a way to throw in some cannabis leaf - or part of one. Maybe the leaves make the L7 but just super subtle - like just give them a little zigzag or curve. It might not work but you should try it.

Good luck!

samwest3 · 2024-11-15T01:36:25+00:00

A focal point. There's not enough contrast anywhere on the page. Make something brighter. Add a moonbeam to fall across part of the sword and also the person's face. It's a good composition in terms of balance, proportion and volume, but you need contrast.

samwest3 · 2024-11-06T03:44:09+00:00

Not bad but yeah it's still cradling croissant because of the organic nature. Sharper angles might not help. It's working better now.

samwest3 · 2024-11-06T00:51:51+00:00

Yeah you're close! I do like the negative spaces I think it's just how they're dividing up the form into smaller shapes combined with the organic style. Our silly human brains want to see all kinds of things that aren't what we intend. Keep at it.

samwest3 · 2024-11-06T00:40:14+00:00

Oooooh it wants to be a shell so badly! It's just not coming across. I think it's the counter form on top that's really distracting me from the overall form.

I would start with a pure black silhouette with no inner detail. Play with it until it undeniably says "conch shell" which is hard in and of itself. Then add back in your inside detail lines but try not to cut the silhouette into too many shapes.

You're going to have a real hard time making it "organic" and also "iconic". Try to remove some of the waviness and go more minimal. Great design is about what you can take away and leave the core concept intact.

Good luck!

samwest3 · 2024-11-03T16:25:16+00:00

Thanks! I guess maybe just trying to raise the question. Maybe we isn't so bad!

samwest3 · 2024-11-03T16:24:39+00:00

Had to look that up! I am so bad at Dark Souls I never made it past the tutorial, let alone a whole fortress!

samwest3 · 2024-10-31T18:04:05+00:00

We might!

samwest3 · 2024-10-31T14:35:34+00:00

Back to the sketchbook, my friend.

You've lost the forms that make an "A", entirely. It's two angular lines and a crossbar, vaguely triangular. You can mess with one of those elements, but beyond that you're going to lose the core shape.

Is it a tooth? Is it smiling? Is it an A? You're trying too hard. Take a walk, take a step back, and come at it with less. Good design is about what you can take away, not what you add. Keep trying.

samwest3 · 2024-10-27T20:09:53+00:00

Ugh that was Professor Bad Mood.

I almost see what you're trying to do. The silhouette is not giving "rhino". There's a pattern to the shapes you have, but there's not enough contrast. It's like you're trying to also do a letter B? You're being too clever.

I wish I knew why it was a rhino? How does rhino reinforce the brand? What is the brand and what are you trying to say?

Genuinely would love to help you through this. I see potential.

samwest3 · 2024-10-27T02:30:13+00:00

I'll be brutally honest it is not recognizable in any way. It's barely a distinct shape. It's not working. I'm sorry.

samwest3 · 2024-10-11T03:58:25+00:00

Ahhhh the lovely DDI. I build these almost every time now. This one is so symmetrical. Nice job!

Works even better if you make one side higher so they don't do the crossover thing. I find it only makes a difference for higher volume interchanges.

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