mysterious beasts

Look, I aten't dead!

Phoenix and unicorn, dip pen and Noodler's ink.

Sorry for the radio silence, been moving around a lot lately. Hope to post more stuff soon...

doors, part IDEK

Here are three things you can do while stuck in an interminable wait at the bank: 1) claw your own face off, 2) brood on your hatred for the world and everyone in it, 3) draw doors. Guess which one I went with.

In semi-related news, never bank at BPI if you can't draw, write or are otherwise not interested in spending 3 or more hours in a null space. BDO is far too efficient for creative expression.

I was at the bank from 10am to 3pm ffs NO YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T THINK ABOUT IT

WTF Richard II

So Hello_Tailor did a magnificent post of the Beeb's new Richard II starring Ben Whishaw as the flailiest drama king who ever did way too much drama and not enough kinging. Please check out her posts on the Hollow Crown series, they are amazing. The series itself is also amazing, as made evident by the beautiful Tom Hiddleston as Prince Hal.

Unfortunately I missed the first half hour of the film, and I was watching it with my grandmother, so it didn't occur to me to start tweeting it until I had to flee the TV room because I was laughing so hard at Richard's flouncy outfits. Here is a transcript of my tweets, with illustrations (my tweets are in white, hello_tailor's in grey):

@Hello_Tailor Richard II is showing! My gran sent me out of the room for inappropriate giggling at each costume change, so y'know, thanks XD

@Hello_Tailor4h

@perevision needs more GOLD

@Hello_Tailor it is not helping that I have your post open AS I WATCH

@Hello_Tailor the floofy trailing sleeves, oh God. Also, Patrick Stewart's accent is delicious

I did forget to draw from time to time, because the movie for all its crackiness is incredibly well-acted and beautiful, and it was REALLY HARD to look away from the gorgeous trainwreck that is His Jesusishness Richard II.

hysterical romance: last look

A pervading issue I have with my work is that I often stop before I assess it properly. As a result my work frequently looks unfinished. I tried to add a little dimension here, and though I feel there could be more details added, that would only take the focus from the central figures. A raw, unpolished but finished work is different from one that just isn't done yet. And I think this is finally done.

merboy comic

 Fionn's house. He calls it the Castle, a word that comes from home. No one else where he lives uses it; they just call it the Magician's House. He doesn't get too many visitors.

My first attempt at a comics page. It's pretty hard to draw comics without guides! Luckily the Internet came to my rescue once again. I experimentally 'trimmed' my page myself, as my paper wasn't big enough to accommodate the full bleed.

I had a little trouble getting the brushwork to match the tone of the pen work at first, even though I'm using the same ink (Noodler's Eternal Luxury Blue). Also I think I should add a little land mass further back there over Fionn's right shoulder (no, his right, your left), with a glimpse of the town.

Almost done with my latest chapter of the Book Project, too! Very exciting!

a kingdom by the sea

This isn't even the palace; this is just the magician's house.

Because I am not an architect, I have haphazardly mixed a bunch of different levels in one plan, based on the places where my characters will be spending the most time. (To be honest, I would like to see romantic leads spending more time in the kitchen, but I'm afraid I'm defeated by the write-what-you-know thing.)

Why is it that although I know nothing about architecture, I insist on doing these every time I want to do a comic? The answer is because the art needs to flow properly, and to achieve that I need to know where everything is, and get used to it. Also, I am obsessed with production design.

Some more 'setting' sketches:

(What is going on with that roof...?)

page a day: villa

Pen and ink wash is both an exercise in completion and in restraint. You have to be careful about what you end up emphasising. In my mind the water was the focus of this picture, but my contrast control needs some work. Also I didn't use rulers or vanishing points, and I only started using pencil a third of the way through. It shows.

My advice? Unless you are an architect and can do this in your sleep, pencil your damn architecture in first. Even when using a reference.

page a day: water, water everywhere

I have a new dip pen! It was super cheap and it's very good with Noodler's Eternal Luxury Blue. Have some water gardens and a Roman bath to celebrate.

I am trying to keep my hand in with dip pens as the Book is entirely done in pen & ink with some washes, and I'm planning to make some comics in the same way. It's a good thing I'm moving back to where I can get heavy cartridge paper with relative ease again; it seems to be the best fit for this technique.

page a day: calligraphy

Playing with Speedball nibs and pen ink. C0 & C4 broad tips, B5 round, orange Calligrapher's that I got in a Kate's Paperie warehouse sale and Noodler's Eternal Blue. I used a syringe to mix them on the second page and splashed them around a bit.

My work seems really halfhearted lately. I will step things up in coming weeks.

page a day: hysterical romance, in colour

Prang watercolours, Quink and Waterman inks, and blue pencil.