I was commissioned to make a simple Cougar Skull illustration. It was a brief enough task to put to video, and I haven’t done that in a long while, so I recorded it. Each video is sped up to only be a few minutes long. Actual illustration time sat between twenty and thirty minutes. Software used was Manga Studio.
Recording the screencast was fun. I decided to record a few doodles and throw them online after. All can be found on my Youtube account.
I made an iPad comic template. It’s grid based and is suitable for digital or analog work (just print it onto bristol if you’re working analog).
It has top and bottom margins set to the same size as potential panel gutter widths. I don’t see the need for them to be any larger. The iPad’s bezel is all margin.
I spent some time in the yard today collecting our rescued/rehabbed chickens’ fallen feathers to make into quills.
One of the things I liked about digital tools was the authorship I felt over the custom brushes I would make. That opportunity exists with analog and I haven’t taken advantage of it as much. I think by making tools we better learn how to use them to the fullest.
Figuring out the angle of the cut for the nib, the type of cut it to retain a good amount of ink, and the sensitivity level I’m looking for (and having direct control over it) is pretty fantastic. After a half dozen or so attempts, I’m starting to figure out what it is I’m looking for in a nib. It beats buying nibs in the store!
Feathers have more give and less snag than metal nibs. It’s akin to a brush. Good thick to thin. A light touch. I like them more than their metal counterparts.
I drew these, and a few more, last night in about an hour. Just for fun. It started as a personal logo exercise and ended up being a series of cartoony self portraits where I reminded myself that there’s an endless variety to the ways we can approach an assignment or character design. (There’s more than one way to skin a fat, bald, zombified illustrator with a penchant for the macabre.)
