Back to simplicity

So I did a couple of highly detailed drawings in the past few days in brush and ink, like the stingray below... I started out using a hard tipped pen, and then moved into using a fine brush with india ink... I couldn't control the ink so well, and so I moved on to a brush-pen (specifically the Faber-Castell Pitt Pens) filled with india ink... The affect was similar, almost identical really, and easier to control.

However, just for kicks with these exercises, I chose to go back to the ol' brush and ink well method, and I think that the line quality is much better. I'm working on technical vellum, which holds the ink really well. I've been using cotton comp, trace paper, and a variety of thicknesses of technical vellum with the brush pens as well, so the paper isn't new. I'm surprised how well the vellum holds up to the brush work.

I think I might do the "Inconsequential" comic (my chosen title for the series I'm working on outside of my paid work) in brush and ink... I was already thinking I wanted to work double-size for the series anyway, but now I really want to go all out. The attention to detail returns when I work in a fine brush...

We'll see how that goes!

Fiction writing continued, last two characters for this piece

Fiction writing continued!

Here's the opening two paragraphs for this story...

"The leaves were crunchy beneath his wheels, but he didn’t care. It was a cool sound, like something out of the sound effects of a scary movie. Or a funny movie. He couldn’t be sure. Josh was far ahead of him, using his longer, more powerful legs to propel him across the neighborhood, over sewers. He was much more skilled at skateboarding than Carlos, and he proved this point again and again by swinging his lower body skillfully over curbs and steps.
The autumn air made Carlos’ eyes water. It was only his second fall in Maine, and he wasn’t quite used to the colorful leaves, the smell of the cold, and the itchiness of his wool sweater. It was all very foreign, and very exciting at the same time. He found himself purposefully forgetting to wear socks, so he could whip his shoes off when school was over, and charge barefoot across the tile and wood floors of his family’s third floor apartment. Bare feet just weren’t as exciting in Southern Texas. Hot tile was sweaty and seemed to gather food and grime much easier, thus removing anything remotely enticing to the underside of a foot."

Fiction writing

I used to write only fiction... Then I got into a huge non-fiction comic segment, and now I'm coming out of it. I think that having the ability to be semi-autobiographical AND pull from other people's stories, AND make shit up all at once is just...so much more fun. Plus, I feel better about how I draw the characters... It frees me up to do what I want with them, rather than attempt to even remotely cater to the features of an actual human being.

That being said: here are some character designs for a series of vignettes of intertwining yet unrelated characters. These guys are for the first story.

Trying to post more often, I promise

Life has just been crazy for the past few weeks. I haven't had much time for comix, and that makes me sad. So! I'm trying to set aside more time for comix, but also get sleep. We'll see which one wins.

Here's a detailed ink drawing I did earlier today.