How I Work Part Two

Didn’t think this one would take almost a month but I’ve been caught up in so much these past few weeks I haven’t had time to blog, but I did find time to finish the cover and begin editing book 2. I won’t be able to reveal the whole cover yet. That I’ll have to save for later. Enough of that, on to the meat. My next step in the process is taking the sketch and refining it in pencil form on 11 x 17 comic board.

Here you have the pencils. The x’s are for ink fills. If I was passing this off to an inker I probably would’ve filled the space with pencil but to save time I just marked them with x’s. I like the way it looks overall but I’m not feeling the zombies on the horizon line. They look off and need to go, so after erasing them I decide on this.

Now I feel I’ve made for a much tighter composition. Like I said previously art is all about refining. I bust out my old Windsor Newton #0 and begin inking away, starting with the edges. For tighter areas and more mechanical spots I use a series of Rapidographs but at this point I’m thinking edges only. And I end up with something like this.

Pretty cool. So far though I’m not sold on a few things and in the final you’ll see I changed quite a bit with Moya’s leg and my highlights. Anyhow, after the edges comes the fills which I use a rather worn #2 round for. Nothing fancy just something wide enough to hold a good bit of ink without being sloppy.

And there it is in all it’s inked glory. Pretty empty but remember I plan on doing a lot digitally. Much more than I ever have on any piece before. It’ll be the first time I use the computer to develop more than just color. As much as I said I can’t, I kept at it, and the cover came out quite amazing. I can give you a sample.

Much different. Since I can’t show that final product I will show you a series of stages on the first Creepers cover. You’ll see I worked the same way and that I made several revisions to things. Again it was done on 11×17 comic board with digital colors.

There you have it, a lot of layers like writing has stages. It’s a process and being mindful that you can always do better. That you can live with mistakes. That you can still make it work. It took me a long time work around mistakes and with them. Art and writing are mistakes. Once you get beyond the unattainable goal of perfection you can truly create.

Writers, keep writing. Creators, keep the dream alive.

Norm out.