I Think, I Am Progressing

So here are some original illustrations of some bots, I might use them in a game, I might not, either way they were fun to draw and I believe they do highlight how far I have come in the last two months as an illustrator.

Here (below) is one very obviously Scottie Young inspired re-interpretation of a classic hero and, I also threw in a bit of Freddie Williams II see previous blog for video on how he draws Thor.

Below is a shot from Issue #3 of DOBU it hasn't been coloured or neatened up yet, but already I am pleased how the images are coming out better each time. DOBU #3 should be out in a week or so depending how much free time I have now I am starting a new job.

That is all for now, I can feel myself moving towards G-Pens soon, they look like great fun to try out.

Pens, check out my pens.

Yeah, I have been trying out new pens, exciting stuff I know, but if you don't you won't no what you are missing.

1) Uniball Eye Fine 0.7 really smooth in good for writing and drawing, covers areas of black really quickly and smoothly.

2) Berol Fine good for rough sketches doesn't seem to be consistent size. 

The Broad version of this is good for larger areas of black on the go and not very expensive, which is a good thing.

3) Berol Handwriting, it's, ok but I don't really do "handwriting", so I don't really know what I am looking for in a pen.

4) Rotring Tikky Graphic Pen I have these in 0.3, 0.5. 0.7 and they are amazing, I will do the smaller detail lines with the 0.3 and the edge lines with the 0.7. I will eventually get all the sizes of these pens.

5) Gelly Roll White pen it is really good for writing on black paper but bit of a let down when trying to draw over black ink (just ends up grey). I think I will try white acrylic paint in the future to do white over black ink for things like lightning and smoke.

6) Tesco "generic" mechanical pencils, great and super cheap. Don't draw too hard with them as they will snap the lead and you won't be able to erase them with the eraser provided. No sharpner so easy to use on the go.

See Below

7) A Muji 0.5mm for writing. I love Muji pens.

8) Uniball Eye Needle 0.3mm for inking, not for parallel lines thoughas it dries too slow and smudges.

9) Staedtler Pigment liner 0.3mm for inking, which is lovely super black.

10) Staedtler Triplus Fibretip Color (Black or Blue, they both come out black in the scanner).

Covers a large area fast when you can't use a brush.

11) Staedtler Noris School Pencil and the Staedtler Mars Plastic works well to remove pencil. These are the only non-mechanical pencils I ever use.

See Below

12) I have ben using Windsor & Newton black ink and it is lovely, I used it with both the Windsor & Newton Red Sable / Synthetic Sceptre Gold II Size 2 as well as a range of generic brushes I haven't really noticed a difference yet except the cheap ones loose their shape a lot quicker.

13) Staedtler Triplus Black, this is what I use for a lot of really fine lines it is a 0.3 but I would say it is a little smaller than that. The are great as they are widely available in singles and in black.

14) Is a Stabilo Touchscreen pen it works, not a precise at I would like but it does work allowing me to draw rough sketches on the iPad.

In Summary

I think in the future I will just stick to Rotring Tikky Graphic pens (yeah they are the most expensive pens out there) or the Staedtler Triplus and Fibretip (sadly I can't find the Fibretip in black separately), but they are both fantastic for illustration.

I also think I may also move more towards the digital (as everything I make is digital anyway) with a nice big WACOM tablet for drawing when I can save my pennies, who knows.

Lots of Ink

So I have really got into inking via a brush, I might not be very good but I do enjoy it.  This is black in on white paper with Tipp-Ex for the white streaks and "space specs" flicked off of a piece of card. I think I will do it again, same image and effect just for practice, to see if I can get it better.

I am not really sure what this is but I like it too.

That is it for now I have bought so many new pens recently I think I will mention them next.

Mini Antithesis

Just two quick "mini" sketches, the "ROM" one will be done soon :)

ink, real ink, with brushes and everything.

I think is fair to say I have always had a fear of brushes and painting, I have ruined many of my best pencil sketches trying to go that next step. It is one of those amorphic substances ink/paint that I have little or no control of, and only recently am I making peace with it through the use of pens to do inking.

But today I decided to go and get some ink, real black "india" ink in a pot and some brushes 1,2,3,5,7 red sables to really have a go at it and...

It's fine. I really wanted to do speed lines and more "Kirby-like" imagery and a lot of it would take ages with a pen. So I drew some lines for about 30 minutes (exciting I know) until I was confident enough to draw a sun (see above). That my friends is the first of many things I plan to ink with brushes I think my pen/pencil have helped with the control a lot. It was touched up after scanning as I make a newbie mistake of trying to erase pencil lines before it was completely dry, but still I am happy with it all.

This little man is what it is pencil/ink and colored digitally, I like Machine Man so I thought I would draw him as a "kawaii" style character. More soon.

and Sometimes digital.

I usually ink DOBU my comic digitally but rarely do I use "color",  I use various greys, but I thought I would take the sketches from the last couple days, digitize them, neaten them up and color them. I am very pleased with the result.

"Cute-Fooloo", the "Jorge the Luchador" and "Rosa the Death Doll"are from a comic in production, they are just not normally "colored". The other one with the beard is obviously a self portrait.

I think if I vectorized them i could make them even better, so maybe in time I will. Very pleased all in all.

Quantity and Some Quality

I probably did around thirty sketches today including some of my DOBU #3 and I think I am getting better. I started the day with DOBU, did some "cute" dia de los muertos, a cute cthulhu a cute-fooloo, and a skecth of a young Doctor Who loosely based on Matt Smith.

I was a very productive day I managed to do all this, in between doing the dishes and washing several loads of clothes, will get back to programming tomorrow though as I have a game to finish.