new project - comic!

A friend of mine approached me with a proposal - he would write a fantasy comic and I would draw it. I can't say much about it just yet except that it pays well, I am very excited about it, and it involves a lot of research into the Baroque period.

Yup, I could not resist a silly joke stolen from Beauty and the Beast.

Some notes on the distinguishing features of the Baroque (not Rococo!) period.

With a slight, sloppy digression into a Benedictine abbey.

all change, please

Breaking news: I have moved to a new, closer location for work and a more regular time. On the plus side, I can wake up later, come home earlier, and my bus ride is shorter. On the minus side it's now split into two, which means the drive by sketches will have to stop for now. I will get some colour into them in the meantime.

On the other other hand, I now have more time to do things like this:

Book project, home stretch...

Guys, the book project is set to launch in January! This is not really a sneak preview, just a sideways glimpse of my favourite illustration of the bunch.

Pentel brush pen, Hunt 512 bowl nib with Noodler's Bulletproof Black. I have used this ink for nearly the whole book (plus other things) and after 100 or so drawings with washes, I have barely gotten past the shoulders of the 3oz bottle. Awesome.

Inkscape inkspace

I don't think Inkscape is something I 'taught myself' so much as I just fell into it with a burning resentment because my computer can't handle Illustrator right now.

But I'm starting to feel my way around it a bit better, and there is nothing on earth anymore that YouTube won't show you how to do.

So a relative asked me to do some work for the banner header of their personal blog and they wanted an arrow with a pen nib point. 

Some sketches I did:

The designer came up with some pegs for me, to streamline the process. A dip pen point instead of the fountain pen, a burnished antique look.

This is the first thing I did off of one of the pegs from the designer: a Roman pen. She wanted it for the arrow shaft.

This is the final illustration:

mailer angels

Did a favour for a friend who's on the web team of Kate's Paperie and drew an 'angel' for their Valentine's Day mailer. This is seriously the kind of work I love to do...and putting it on my CV doesn't hurt, either!

oh god mustn't panic

More Sketchbook Project work.

This one I left un-levelled (Photoshoppers, you know what I mean!) to show the ink wash.

The last one is for my mom, who was there, and Lucy Knisley, who drew the inspiring (and sometimes depressing) French Milk, now one of my go-to travelogues.

I need to get this book in the mail by New Year, and I am less than half done. Another job I'm doing turned out to be much more challenging than I'd expected, too. It makes me depressed, but I might have better things to do with my time.