New "Pro-Markers" for Christmas

So I have always wanted to try these Letraset Promarkers, they are quite pricey, especially for somebody who usually digitally colours things like myself. So I was thrilled to open, not one but two packs of markers and some paper on Christmas Day.

I think I will be getting the red, blue and green sets and some more fine liners as these are unlike anything I have ever used. 

So I drew a few things.

It looks and feels like watercolours but at the same time you can also create a lovely solid colour too.

It makes everything look more like a children's book illustration. Overall I am really impressed with these and if I am to colour something I will use these.

Good work Letraset, I am impressed.

Pencil and ink, to digital fuzziness.

I started, with this simple pencil and ink sketch (eyes very Adventure time, hair very Skottie Young "Oz" beards) and went from their.

 

Started with the basic outline at 3pts. I put the sketch at 20% to work from.

Chose a nice blue.

Duplicated the shapes and masked off areas to create the shading.

Added curl hairs with special brush at 2pts to 0pts.

Added a coloured background. It took about 90 minutes in total. I think I will do it with a few more characters I have sketched to go alongside my set of robots, I'll have a set of fuzzies.

The Monsters are fuzzy, but are getting clearer.

So I started drawing some, fuzzy things, as I usually draw shiny things.

and maybe watched a bit too much "Adventure Time"?

and then I started to add toenails and teeth.

and then I thought about some reptile-ish creatures.

and that is where I am at, at the moment.

Bots into cards, cards in to game and book.

SoI had been playing a lot of different card games, mostly Magic the Gathering if I am honest so I decided to turn my pictures into cards and make a reasonably playable game. It is very simple and is aimed at younger kids and it works.

So I got my cards printed (only 2 sets, 54 cards each set) and they came out great, I am not selling them it was mainly just to see if I could, and I can, so I did. You can order a set here (I make no money from this, btw), it comes with the rules etc too!

I have also started to make a short story with them, it is ok, it just requires a bit more work.

It will get done eventually it's called "Little Voyager", again it won't be for sale, just to see if I can.

More digi-bots

I have gotten really in to digi-tizing my bots, taking them from pencil sketches to inked versions to re-inking them in illustrator. They take about 20-30 minutes each digi-tizing so probably an hour for each bot.

So I decided to do my favourite group sketch again but digitally.

I started with this guy.

 Here is a compilation shot of all my favourite bots so far. All the robots are complete and built up in layers so I can re-use the graphics again for other things. I have shuffled them around a bit but they are all there.

I dodn't even both inking these, I just scanned the pencil versions and inked them digitally in illustrator.

 That is it from me for now, I think I'll try some anime characters, but which ones?

So this is how it is going to go

Just the one image today, but one I am very pleased with it. On the left is the original pencil to pen inked sketch on the right is the Illustrator version. I am really pleased with how it has come out, it took about an hour to do but it was my first time tracing a sketch in illustrator so I spent most of the time learning. So I am happy I have the bots at a visual standard, so that I can now concentrate on the story. It is very amusing, I write my music on a guitar and then arrange it on a computer, I do the same with my illustrations.

Bots Compilations

I have included the pens in the shot to show you the scale of this picture, I am really pleased with it, I just wanted to put all the bot designs I liked the most together side-by-side.

I am not sure how it happened but most likely subconsciously the rounded dome head bot took centre stage and really stood out as one of the best designs, so I have been focusing on redrawing him quite a bit since.

So I have just been "fleshing-out" this bot on the left, and making up new friends on the way.

This one on the left was inspired by "Mousers" from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The feet of Mousers depending on which version you draw are either really difficult to do, or they just look awful.

And this bot, he end up next to the dome guy and looked like his friend. So I had to draw him and his "Machine Man" skul-cap and extendable arm.

That is all for now, I am craving more paper, I really like the paper I used for the large image it was Tesco Value Paper Roll? Anyway it was great and only £1.25 fro 5 metres. The only downside was that it was very thin so leaked through and tears easily.

Paper, card, board, board.

So last blog I mentioned I got some Bristol board from Windsor & Newton & Strathmore and some marker paper from Letraset and some presentation card from Tesco.

So I drew a bot on all of them using my standard Staedtler Triplus, Rotring Tikky 0.7 and Berol broad pens I do most of my sketches in. The one on the left was the Windsor & Newton Bristol board, it was lovely the colour is a bit grey, but fely lovely to use. The one in the middle is the Letraset marker paper it comes up a bit cream, but it has the bonus of being traceable, it didn't feel right with pencils though for the sketch. The one on the right was the Strathmore, by far the most expensive possible because of the size as well as quality, good with the pencils and well as the pens comes up a little yellow, but that is fine. None of them leaked through on to the next page not even with the Rotring which gushes ink out. All of these require extra waiting time before erasing pencil lines as the ink takes longer to dry on the hot pressed surface. If you look closely you'll see little pools of ink at the end of each line which is what takes the time and if you erase to early, this is where the smudging will come from.

The sketch below was done on Tesco presentation board which I have been using a lot it is very cheap to buy comes up super bright white, paper and pens are fine on it, it just is a that little bit coarser which takes away a little of the pleasure of sketching a little.

Overall I like the Windsor & Newton the best, good price, lovely to use. The Strathmore has the nice size, the Letraset the tracing option, and Tesco the super cheap price, but the best all rounder in the Windsor & Newton Bristol board.

So what next more pens? Probably.

More Bot Sketches.

I had quite a lot of spare time waiting over the last couple days while camping, hence the insane amount of "bot" sketches. However a nice surprise awaited me on my return in the form of several different types of paper / Bristol board from Letraset, Windsor & Newton & Stratmore. Nice. There was also a light-box so I will be writing about those soon.