Hellboy

Been rereading all the Hellboy books. . .Mike Mignola is a genius.  He is such a masterful storyteller.  I love his use of darks, combined with Dave Stewart's (not that Dave Stewart, the other one) moody and muted colors to create the horror noir that is Hellboy.

So inspired by Mignola, I decided to try my hand at a Hellboy illustration (the tentacled horror is a bit of a swipe. . .).  And I have been wanting/trying to do a comic book style page using watercolors like this one.  Every time I start one, I decide to leave it as ink alone.  This time, however, with the aforementioned inspiration, I was able to make the leap.  

                                  Watercolor and ink 14x10 on 200 lbs paper


And here is the pen and ink drawing before I applied the watercolor over it.  

The inking was done use a folded pen (see below) from Toronto Pen Company.  By varying the angle (and pressure), the nib allows for thin and very thick lines.

More Envelope Art with School House Rock

With the passing of Bob Dorough, the musical director of School House Rock, last week, several radio stations asked their listeners to describe their favorite song.  I did not remember "Unpack Your Adjectives" until I looked up video on youtube.  My favorite verse is:

We hiked along without care.

Then we ran into a bear.

He was a hairy bear,

He was a scary bear,

We beat a hasty retreat from his lair.

And described him with adjectives!

What is your favorite School House Rock song?

             Pen, brush & ink plus Tombow Dual Brush Markers on 80 lbs no 6 envelope

Ink only version

Envelopes and Letters

Even though I had not posted anything until late March, I was still doing stuff, just not blog stuff.  Mostly, I was working on my calligraphy by writing letters to friends, trying to stay in touch using a more tactile medium.  And then decorating the envelopes with an illustration or cartoon. The cartoons would be Calvin & Hobbes, Winnie the Pooh, or the Peanuts gang.  Depending on the illustration, I would use either be pen and ink, or some type of watwercolor-esque medium like below. 

Below is a Calvin and Hobbes before I write the name and address on the envelope (I scanned the envelope before I added a few more branches for detail).  These guys are a big, big favorite of mine.

                      Pen & ink and watercolor on 70lbs Sundance envelope

Just the pen and ink.

The Jolly Monk

I hear it is great place to grab a beer and some wings and some sliders. . .

                            Watercolor on 140lbs watercolor block, 9x12

Doodling in the New Sketchbook

Just some doodles in a new sketchbook with heavier paper.  My old sketchbook is really not made for for wet techniques, so I bought a Stillman & Birn Archival Sketchbook (zeta series).  The paper is 180lbs and handled multiple washes.  Below are the first few sketches/doodles that I have done thus far.

 

Hulk Crash

I wanted to try something a bit more loose and expressive in comic book form.  This is a fast sketch where I was not overly concerned with anatomy or proportions.  I first did a loose drawing using a watercolor pencil and hematite genuine because I love the way it granulates (see below).  Next came the watercolor and then I finished it with pen and ink.  Overall, I am satisfied with the result.

                           Watercolor, pen & ink on 140lbs paper 9x12

And here is the underpainting using hematite genuine.  I think I like this better than the finished product.

Bear Hug

Sometimes, everybody needs a hug.

                                    Watercolor pen & ink on 180 lbs paper

At the End of the Day

This one had to wait before I posted it since I included in a work PowerPoint presentation.  It is a cartoon of my boss' boss (who used to be my boss) and his favorite summative statement is ". . .at the end of the day."  So much so that it has become a running joke between us (not that I made him paranoid about overusing it or nothing, I would never do that).

                                              Watercolor on 140lbs paper

This also gave me an opportunity to do some good ol' fashion cartooning.  Back in the day, I used to do this all the time for class presentations and in the margins of my class notebooks.  Good stuff.