No Sewing, Just drawing

I think I mentioned last entry that I was commissioned to do a some cartoony drawings.  My customer-friend is in England and asked via the Facebook if I could do it for her.  Secretly THRILLED, I cooly responded, "Lemme work on something for you".  Ok, maybe I wasn't so cool. 

I've been sketching monsters, witches, dreamy vampire loverboys, cats. I even did a study of crossbows 'cause I didn't know what they looked like. I'm glad I did that - pretty sure the boy would not want to be found to be killing zombies with a cupid's bow, like a newb.

Here. Have the first monster that I drew, who is not included in the picture.

Now, about 2 weeks later, I have two awesome 11x14 inked drawings that need to be colored in.

I did my 'character' studies in my 8x10 sketchbook.  (Which, by the way, I drew Superman in it so everytime I open my sketchbook I am greeted with his beautiful face and a "Hey girl, hey."  Yeah.  I'm obsessed. Whatever.)  My 'character' studies are just quick sketches that I did of the kids from many photos to get an idea of their face shapes, distinct features, their expressions - just their general presense.  So I have a couple of pages filled with heads of these same kids. And monsters.  And cats. And crossbows.

I need more Superman. Hmmm. I'm not doing anything today and everyone is at Comicon - the bastards. Maybe I'll take myself to the movies and visit Mr. Cavill.  Hmmm. Perhaps.

This time I tried a new method. I have broken down larger pieces of work into small sections so that if I screw up I can fix and alter without ruining the whole picture.  Once I'm satisfied, I move everything onto the larger bristol sheet using my lightbox. (I LOVE BRISTOL PAPER, so wonderful.)   I am 100% happy with how the pictures have turned out so far.  I wish I could keep them black and white, however, I was asked for full color.  So that's what I'm going to do.

It's always the coloring part that really scares me though.  You do all this work, perfecting, inking, and then... you add color.  Color isn't forgiving.  Inking isn't forgiving either, but at least you can sometimes fix it with color. Color is FINAL.  I guess it's that finality which scares me.  There are no fixes once color is down, unless you start all over again.  And starting all over again means time lost.

Oh, you're probably wondering why I am freaking.  It's because this is completely old school art style.  All by hand.  Old school.  None of this digital magic, no clicky of the button erasies.

I've decided to fill it with Prismacolor pencils instead of watercolor paint or my new markers.  I love watercolor, but I use that for fairies.  And I'm not 100% comfortable with my markers yet, though I am positive they would have looked amazing.  I just don't wanna mess it up with an amateur marker hand. Besides Prismacolor pencils are a wonderful medium.  You can get really beautiful blends when you build up with them as they are oil based.  I'm excited that I'll finally be opening my new tin of pencils, too.  I've been on a roll with them as I was illustrating that little story I am writing. 

It's a tale for another day, but I have been writing a story that won't go away. I'm finally writing the book that I want to read.

Anyway, should I get permission to share the final drawing with you from my friend.  I will do so.

Have a wonderful day - - weekend, whatever you are doing.  As for me, I think I will visit my sketchbook.