Testing The Waters

Yesterday I spent some time doodling on the Cintiq, to see what it could do and how I should set it up for best use by me. You can really personalize this device, have it run how it suits you best. These are both freehand sketches. I'm continually shocked how close it is to pen and ink, you can use a line in Photoshop that is the same width as the markers I've worked with for years. It's tempting to zoom in and work in extreme closeups but you really need some restraint with this device. You could work on a square centimeter indefinitely. I'm finding the tactile sense of pen to screen isn't bothering me, I used pretty cheap materials before and I'm used to a lack of tactile luxury in larger projects.

For Cintiq sketching I'm finding the obvious route is to almost treat it like oil or acrylic, blocking in all the shapes and values with fat lines which get pared down and refined using white into black. You can see what I mean in both drawings, I've left big chunks of line and value here.

I'll be doing some comic work on it soon, which I'm looking forward to sharing.

New Set-Up

All set up in my studio with my new tool, a great big Cintiq. My studio is pretty cramped so it was hard to get a good angle where you could see how I work. It took hours to get the Cintiq running. After a lot of help from people on Twitter and Facebook I discovered the issue was that the software that came with it wasn't good enough and I needed more recent software from the Wacom website. After it was running I sketched for hours, it's such a fun tool.One last issue is that the wireless can't find me easily up here, it has to wind itself through all the weird turns and angles of this old house.

First Couple Of Tablet Sketches

Here are my first two tablet sketches, both freehand. The bottom one was my first go and the picture of Mady on top was second. I like them but they are pretty rough. I used the pen tool, which looks more like ink scraped on paper rather than the brush tool which is smoother, more like a felt tipped pen.

Waiting For Something

Here's a drawing inked entirely on tablet. I imported a pencil sketch into Photoshop and drew over top of it in another layer ( if you don't use Photoshop the best way to picture a layer is as a sheet of acetate, you can add multiple layers ), inking it digitally. Once it was inked I erased the original pencil sketch, so that you only see lines I did on the computer.

While still a bit unsteady with the tools my fears that I can't ink as much detail digitally is pretty much gone. Another initial difficulty I had inking digitally was that I was using the pen tool when I should be inking with the brush tool. I thought it made sense to ink with a digital "pen" but the lines look like scraping ink across paper with the corner of a metal ruler while the brush tool looks more like the line made with a felt tipped pen. Inking this took a fraction of the time it usually takes me to ink something, mainly because you have a tool that can be like a pen or a thick brush in an instant and you don't have to wait for the ink to dry before adding white ink. In that sense it feels a bit like painting with oil or acrylic, you can work back and forth into it.

I'll post my less successful experiments tomorrow.

Still Lots Left

I'm blown away by the response to my art sale! It was a hopeful bid to get some new stuff for my studio but it's been going so well I'm starting to think of it as a new revenue stream. Thanks to everyone who bought some art.

And there's still lots left.

Here's my shop.

Art For Sale

I was planning on doing this post tomorrow but soon after I posted that I was selling art on my Etsy shop stuff started selling really, really fast. So, I put a ton of work here on my Etsy shop. I'm saving up for new studio equipment, specifically a Cintiq for inking. If you can purchase something it'd be a really big help. If not, that's fine too, my work will always be free to see here.

Cintiq Doodle

My friend Drazen Kozjan very generously let me come over to try out his Cintiq and boy, what a fun tool. This is my first ever doodle on the device. It's very intuitive, not a huge learning curve. The one thing that takes a bit of adjusting is that the screen feels like it's between you and the drawing, so the pen tip is always slightly off from where you're drawing. This is somethng you get used to pretty fast, though.


I'm considering inking with the Cintiq in the future after running into  number of inking problems on my last book. Drazen also lent me a Wacom Tablet, so I'm spending some time practicing my digital inking, seeing how close I can get it to traditional.

And, if you're interested the Advertising Week blog did an interview with me. You can read it here.

More Shadow Talkers Sketches

Here are some more sketches from the webcomic I'm working on, Tales of the Shadow Talker. At the moment I'm penciling it, it's actually really hard to pencil because it depends on some more mundane imagery than say, The Situation or Maddy Kettle. It's a supernatural story where the supernatural elements intrude into the mundane world and a young girls life so I'm using mundane imagery to emphasize it. A lot of the scenery is actually pretty Gothic looking. It takes place in North West farm country and I'm really pushing the Gothic elements, big old buildings, tangled forests, overgrown graveyards. Really fun stuff to draw.

I'm currently considering ho to ink it. I want the darks to be quite dense and the balance of colours to be almost graphic and I would find this hard with the Micron Markers I used on Maddy and on The Situation. It just takes forever to ink that way with a marker. I'm considering using crowquill, which is also work intensive but might suit the book. Also, I'm looking at digital inking, which might get me closest to the effect I want. I'll be playing with a friends tablet for the next little while to see what I think ( Thanks Drazen!). I'll post about the results here.

Drawings for Shadow Talker

I'm working away in my free time on a ghost story book or series called Tales From The Shadow Talker. It's just something I'm doing for myself, I want to publish it as a webcomic over the next few months while I work on Maddy Kettle. The basic premise is that local ghosts in the North East tell a girl their stories. There's more to it but I want it to be revealed when i publish the comic.

Staring Contest

Yesterday was Julie's birthday! Here's a pic from the dinner.

The Last Living Rose

Can't stop listening to this short, wonderful song by P.J. Harvey. I've been a fan for ages and never thought she could make better music than she did on her first few albums but she has. Amazing stuff. Catchy, moving song.

Happy Birthday Julie!

 

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife Julie! This card was designed by Henry, drawn by me and colored in by Henry. He insisted there be a bouncing bll as well as our dog, who in reality is black not green.

A Feast Of Slug

Here is an unused page from the Jeff Vandermeer comic The Situation. Unused because I was stupidly referring to an older version of Jeff's script when I did it. A testament to my sloppy mind. A shame too because I really like this page. I just sent al the completed artwork off and am turning to a jelly comprised entirely of anxiety.

Hiss! Another Slink! Panel

Last one for a while. This is the last panel on page two.

Mrowr! Another Slink! Panel

A new Slink! panel. At this rate it'll be done in about 5 years. And it's a three page story. I did this a couple of weeks ago, keeping it by my drawing table while I was working on other stuff. I actually managed to finish the second page.

Julie's Valentines Card

Valentines Dinosaur!

Mist Harbour Part Three

 

 And the last four pages! So, this completes the first chapter of Mist Harbour. Which is, as I mentioned, on the shelf while I do other stuff. I hope you enjoyed this. Happy Valentines Day!

 Right now I'm scanning the Situation, working on my ghost story book and working on some final edits for Maddy Kettle.

Mist Harbour Part Two

Part 2 of 3. I'm reposting the previous pages as I go, for convenience sake.

Mist Harbour Part One

Since I changed my mind about perusing this story right now I thought I'd post what I have done so far. The idea was to do a fun fantasy story drawn quickly. I was really inspired by Trondheim's art for Dungeon, expressive and loose. I've decided instead to work in my free time on a series of ghost stories, rendered in my more detailed style. Although I learned a lot doing this and may return to this style at some point.

Stories Wait For Us

I've been writing a new comic of ghost stories to do in my spare time and it's based on this old concept. This is a page from a comic submission I did a few years ago that was rejected. I've always found that my ideas take a few years to emerge.

C'est Ca!

Just finished all the inks and colours on the webcomic for Tor.com The situation. I've been getting up and going to bed at crazy hours to get this done. Such a relief. Of course now I wait to hear from editors. The most stressful part.

Shelf Witch

I may have found another hour in the day

Almost done coloring the Situation! It's a matter of a few pages now. I'll be a bit sad to be done having really enjoyed doing it but it'll free up more time for Maddy Kettle and other projects. The most difficult part is still ahead of me, the dreaded scanning. It always feels like physical labour and as this book is the longest thing I've done it'll probably take at least a day.

Slink! Now with Even More Pen!

Nothing new here. I've actually posted this picture before but between pages of the Situation I managed to add some more ink to the bushes making them darker. Much improved to my eyes. This comic is starting to feel like a bit of a joke to me, in a good way. It feels like I've been doing it for years. The occasional panel here and there. Really, I think I may have started it last September. Which is a hilariously long time to be working on a three page comic. If you want to see the earlier version or other panels from Slink! click on the tag below.

Summer Ghosts?

I'm waffling. Is that the term? Well, I'm changing my mind in any case. I want to publish a webcomic while I work on Maddy Kettle, time permitting and initially I planned on doing a humorous dark fantasy. The plan was to whittle away on an epic fantasy tale. But I ran into some writing problems. The story kept changing as I thumbnailed and I felt I'd better have a complete story before I start. My interst also started waning as I struggled to figure out what it was about. Always trust your instincts. I wish I knew that bit of wisdom years ago. I probably did but ignored it.

And then I had a brilliant idea. Well, I think it's brilliant. Something I'd definitely want to read. A series of ghost stories. I'll explain more of the concept later but I think it's great. It's actually an idea that's a few years old and finally settled into a coherent idea. That happens to me a lot. An idea will crop up and years later it suddenly makes sense. The comic would basically be a series of short supernatural tales with a main character. A young girl who has moved out to an old farm from the city when her mother's finances go all wrong. There's more to it, which I'll share later. A sort of fun hook to the whole thing.

Above is me exploring the character. I want the look to be a bit more Edward Gorey, mid-century illustration. The top drawing I like but she looks too Dickensian for the story which takes place in modern times. I like the bottom one but my wife thinks she looks to boyish. So I'll keep working on her.

I'm finishing up the Situation right now, about 10 pages left to go so I won't get this for a while. And it'll be something I'll only be able to do on breaks from Maddy Kettle but I think I can do this.

I still don't have a name for this project yet. Which is odd, I usually name things early on.

Listening To Nameless Things

This drawing's a couple of years old and I'm just noticing how off the ears are. Whoops...... Er, anyway today I just thought I'd mention a brilliant podcast I've been compulsively listening to while I work: the H.P. Podcraft, or the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast. Not only is it an engaging critical look at the works of Lovecraft it's also the funniest podcast I've listened to. Which is odd. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I get it from iTunes but it's also available through their website. I've started from the beginning and am working my way through. There are over sixty episodes out now.

Kimono

Working like mad. Getting up at five AM and working until four then again after Henry falls asleep. I love it though. Getting some writing doe as well. Working on a webcomic to publish while working on Maddy Kettle. I think you'll love it.

Lambshead Sketches

Some sketches I did for the upcoming collection The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities: Exhibits, Oddities, Images, and Stories from Top Authors and Artists (phew!) This is amazing book you're going to want to check out.