inking grey from David Petersen on Vimeo.
I put forward these recent commissions* as examples of filling 2-d shapes and compositions with varying textures and patterns of grey as a quieter and less rambley example of what I was trying to get across in the above video.
*Commissions are only available in conjunction with conventions I attend.
Unfortunately I do not have an open list when at home.
In the excitement of the new Hobbit Trailer, I decided last week's first piece should be this Bilbo painting I did for my German publisher's website (though I added the door after I send the scan to them). While I like this painting overall, I don't think this is my definitive Bilbo Baggins...it seems more like a random Halfling from a D&D adventure of my youth.
In keeping with the fantasy theme, I also made available this goblin like beastie and this trollish-horned-beastie. Both were painted quickly after some rough pencil lines were laid down to suggest the overall shape of the head and placement of the features.
These (mostly) Hellboy pieces (from around 2003-4) are compositional recreations of panels from the comics each done in marker on index cards (and then run through a photoshop filter) and were done purely for the sake of learning. I was trying to improve my compositions (in an abstract 2D design sense) by copying Mignola's big bold shapes (and a Frank Miller Sin City piece for good measure). It was a great tool in getting me to think about defining forms with the space around them, editing an image down to the essentials, forcing horizontals, verticals and diagonal compositions, and visual flow through an image.
Telling stories in comics has a lot to do with 2D design problem solving. Fitting the subjects into a panel, giving a sense of background, leaving room for the type (to be read in the correct order) and getting the reader's eye to move not only through each panel, but through the page as a whole. And none of that has to do with drawing per se. And that was what I hoped to have as my take-a-way lesson from this exercise. While the was time in my life I wanted desperately to draw like my heroes, when these drawings were made I was trying to learn from them instead.
Little practice sessions like this where you look to people who are successful in a specific aspect of image or comic making and then personally dissecting it through mimicry is a great way to figure out your own artistic voice. Even in just who you choose to focus on is a statement about you as an artist, and what you take from the copying lesson may be very different from what someone else (or even the subject artist) feels is important about their work.
The key though, is to stop copying and then apply the gathered information to your own work. You aren't trying to draw like Mike Mignola, or Frank Miller, or Jim Lee... you are trying to see what part of their storytelling or imagemaking you can take as an abstract lesson and apply to your own work. And the lessons learned need to go deeper than "Artist Hero A draws noses/eyes/mouths/hair/hands like this" or "a big jagged shadow is how Hero Artist B would solve this composition". What exaggerated expression or subtlety is the Hero Artist getting from drawing hands/hair/faces that way? Where is that jagged shadow leading your eye in the hero artist's work...and what can you do in your own work to lead your readers eye as you wish?
Last week's Watercolor Wednesday pieces were originals of mine (not characters created by or belonging to someone else). Here are better looks at the pieces in case you missed them. The first was a Greenman face. I saw a lot of Greenman variations when I worked at Materials Unlimited, an architectural antique store. The face of a Greenman was used in lots of castings and carvings on mantels and furniture, building ornamentation, even light fixtures. This was my version starting with loose pencils and moving quickly into watercolor shapes & tones.
This year for the Baltimore Comic Con, Marc Nathan is doing a hardcover sketchbook called the Baltimore comic Con Yearbook. He asked Frank Cho for permission to use Liberty Meadows as a theme for the book. Participating artists were invited to do a piece of original work of Liberty Meadows and encouraged to add their creator-owned characters to the piece as well. I opted to no do a literal Mouse Guard/Liberty Meadows piece, but rather a Liberty Meadows piece that has the hallmarks of a Mouse Guard piece: small adorable creatures in medieval warrior garb cascading over rock piles while riding animals.
I knew instantly I'd use Truman (the duck) riding Oscar (the wiener dog)...and the rest fell into place..well, sort of. The sketch seemed fine, but once I scanned it and place it in a template for the book's dimensions, I had to rework Truman's sword arm. Doing so meant cutting and pasting his arm in a few places, moving his leg, and replacing the word balloon (as well as a tweak to the length of the sword & scabbard). While drawing this, thought about the balance of copying or imitating someone's work and doing your own take on it. In this case, the character's needed to look like Frank's designs, so I didn't do too much interpretation. I printed out the layout and used a lightbox to lightly transfer the drawing to watercolor paper in pencil.
The finished piece is in watercolor. I did this because the original is part of an auction for the convention. If I had done the artwork traditionally, the high bidder would get an inked piece, this way that person gets a color one. I also figured that if I was going to try something different (like a full piece in watercolor) this would be a piece I could do it on without creating an inconsistency like if I had done a new Mouse Guard piece this way (though I'm not ruling that out either).The book will be available this weekend at the Baltimore Comic Con, and the original watercolor will be auctioned there as well.
Watercolor Wednesday: Last week's Watercolor Wednesday piece was this Oz themed piece of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman.Here is a better look at the piece in case you missed it. Brains & Heart...Kenzie & Saxon... Tomorrow I'll post a new original watercolor piece in my online store and I'll tweet and Facebook update when the new art is available.