The Hard Art of Beginning

MY APPROACH TO art is strictly through drawing -- and sometimes fiddlin' with PhotoShop -- when I don't bash my trusty bass or guitar, that is.

Being too old to grow up I've stayed with comics, but less and less as a reader and more and more as the artist -- then sometimes as a writer.

Some form of eternal adolescence [dis]gracing me materializes in the urge to do stuff that those in the know cherish when it's done by, say, Adam Hughes, Terry Dodson, Frank Cho, Art Adams, Marc Silvestri, Jim Lee, David Finch and other greats. I doubt I'd qualify to sharpen their pencils, though -- still I persist with my attempts to delineate well endowed ladies and eventually make, if not The Big Break, then some success in the world of comics or drawing.

Therefore, here is a wee showcase of how I approach not just a speculative comicbook cover in particular, but the act of drawing in general. So, here we go:

- when not motivated to use my trusty light table, I doodle with blue pencil, throwing mostly undefined shapes with some hints of details on the very same paper that the finished drawing will appear. Suffice to say, I do prefer to sketch on separate thinner sheets of paper that are later thrown in their unfinished glory under the harder cardstock on top of the lightbox that helps me to see-through when tightening that graphite mess

- in this case, ordinary wooden pencil of unknown make, softness or brand is used to embellish the blue sketch and turn it into some semblance of black/grey penciled drawing. The only details really missing are the handguns that our overly voluptuous heroine tots around..! No sweat, my friend John provided me with the photo reference for those nasties... and I mean PISTOLS..!

- further tightening, kneaded eraser cleanup and addition of firearms completes the fully penciled spec cover

- ah, my favourite part -- inking..! Willing to try Frank Cho's approach to finalization, I've substituted my beloved Hunt quills and Winsor-Newton brushes [with Black Magic waterproof ink] for markers. Alas -- couldn't get a hold of those [in]famous PIGMA/Sakura beauties, but Faber-Castell PITT and ECCO PIGMENT pens gave me enough

- scanning and flat-coloring the image in PhotoShop [plus addition of the lettering which was done as a hybrid of existing fonts and my hand-lettering] resulted in what I consider is the comicbook cover as I'd deliver it

And voila - that was the wee presentation of what and how I would do if contracted to do the doodah. But above all, this is what i LOVE to draw.

Thanks for stopping-by, see you soon and - hopefully - in the funny papers!

Salut,

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