Don't look behind you, it's . . . PIN-UP FRIDAY

Danger-Prone Daphne, from Scooby-Doo.

This was a test for a new watercolor paper. I usually work on cold press, that's the kind of rough textured paper I think most people are familiar with. Unfortunately the roughness of the paper is, as you can imagine, difficult to ink on. Hot press paper is made the same way as regular watercolor paper, but pressed, giving it a smooth, vellum-like surface, great for inking, however the absorption and bleed is a whole different ballgame when it comes to painting. I'll be honest, I hate hot press, I don't like how watercolor looks on it and the process of painting is more technically rigorous.(check out the pink in her tights for where it can go wrong)

But, as I said, I've been really bummed out by my results inking on rough, so I thought I'd do a test. I may have said here before, between pencilling, inking and painting, inking is by far my weakest game (some things to watch out for, there's not a lot of width variance in my linework and I always feel like I'm losing something essential in the pencils that isn't getting captured in the inks, and I can be a little wooden). this one came out OK though, the black & white of it looked pretty solid.

painting on it wasnt a nightmare, i think you can see that keeping the wall behind her consistent proved problematic and unfortuantely mauves and purples just don't react well with the paper. But overall, it wasn't as bad as I remembered. I liken it to playing the piano and playing the harpsichord, where rough is piano and hot pressed is the harpsichord. The same instrument basically (piano wires are struck, the harpsichord plucked) with a slightly different sound and wildly different technique.

If you click the link in the gallery page there's a nice sketch I liked from when I was working out the trench.

Anyway, Happy Halloween and if any cosplayers out there want to make that trenchcoat, I have a friend  who'd be interested ;)

Say, it's been a while since there was a . . . Pin-Up Friday!!!

One from the vaults, not so much a commission as a dare from an old friend, to draw a lady Jawa. Kind of a treat to run across something you completely forgot about.

Dusty Nightcrawler - the Night-Blooming Cactus

What the Fuck!? It's a Brand New Pin-up Friday!!

 

This was in response to a call from the folks over at Project Rooftop to redesign some characters with poor or outdated costumes. On the list was the Star Saphire, a character I've always loved (I would have to disagree I think her costume is classic. Seriously one of the best. Putting pink on a supervillain? Genius and proto-punk). My take was like one of those fifties-style space vixens like you might see walking around the studio lot in an old black & white photograph hanging in a Chinese food restaurant in Burbank. You can't tell from the scan but the space background is one of Daniel Smiths duochrome paints and has a pearlescent, kind of sparkly sheen. Really perfect for space backgrounds just wish there was a way to recreate the effect.