Inktober 2017, Day 3!

Inktober 2017, Day 3: Queen of Self-Disgust

9x12 Derwent Inktense on Strathmore Mixed Media paper

Unsex Me Here (2006)

9x12 Micron pens on paper

Process video showing how I apply water to dry Inktense.

(Sound off if you'd like to avoid a silly conversation I have with my roommate.)

Queen of Self-Disgust is based off of 2006 vent art (still one of my favorite old drawings, despite its issues). I hadn't considered making this character colorful until I sat down to draw this new rendition!

She's shown up in my sketchbooks several times throughout the years since that ink drawing.

INKvember 2016, #2: You Know Who Forever Belong To

INKvember 2016, #2: You Know Who Forever Belong To
9x12 technical pen, white gel pen, and gouache on Canson XL watercolor paper

Digital draft drawn December 6th, 2012.

Rough pencil sketch made to 'feel' the composition.

Poorly-lit reference selfies GO.

Fixed both Paranoid and Human Paranoid's faces.

Fixed Human Paranoid's legs using photos of people and sculptures as reference. 

Inking always begins with eyes and faces.

I wasn't satisfied with Human Paranoid's hand. Cut out faulty line with an X-Acto knife and lifted it from paper surface. One of the advantages of working on watercolor paper!

Hand looks better, though now it's too large.

DONE!

This illustration is inspired by the song "I Against I" by Massive Attack featuring Mos Def. It's long been a part of Paranoid's inspiration playlist.

I love using my technical pens on watercolor paper; its absorbency ensures rich, solid inks and high detail retention. After the craziness of Inktober, it was nice to spend four days finishing this piece!

INKtober 2016, Day 21!

INKtober 2016, Day 21: Brainsick Poster
14x17 technical pen with acrylic ink and white gel pen on smooth bristol paper

2012 concept for a Brainsick poster.

The poster was initially posted here!

Pencil draft on 14x17 smooth bristol paper. 

This paper is OLD; I bought it from Walker's Office Supplies during high school! Working on this stuff reminds me of why I prefer to use watercolor paper for my tech pen illustrations: the ink appears more vibrant and holds detail more easily than on bristol paper.

Big Head and Rant above; Finch and Human Paranoid below.

First section to be inked: Hallucinavian Finch, Finch, and Human Paranoid.

I used up my first Palomino Blackwing!

Big Head is Finch's biggest fan, so I had to draw them together.

I rediscovered my Magic Rub Peel-Off eraser stick! 

Big Head is a Singapura mix; used lots of reference to draw his face at this angle!

My ancient laptop is still useful!

The Snake God is based off of pythons and boas.

Big Head is done! I used a Pilot G-Tec-C for his fur.

Progress on the Snake so far!

I added Twitch on a whim. As the secondary antagonist, he's kinda important.

Adding the Snake's scales.

Using previous Inktober work as reference!

Full-view progress shot.

Rant comes to life!

Fieran's design is finalized (mostly) at long last!

Chestan: "Why do you keep sniffing my ear, Depravity?"

Aaah, much better.

What's missing? ...ah, yes. Chestan's acne. Sorry, kid.

Depravity coming to life in four stages!

Fixed Anne's pose using a mirror.

Char Coal gets an update.

Auto-photobomb progress shot.

Decay fully inked.

Anne fully inked. I still think she looks a little too nice...

I brushed in much of Char's feathers with acrylic ink.

Tech pens are wonderful, but they can scratch paper - especially old bristol sheets!

Protecting the rest of the illustration with another sheet of bristol.

I stood up to ink Celeste's wings.

DONE!

This is the largest illustration I've ever completed during an INKtober run - and my largest technical pen piece to date! Many characters are missing, so there's always an opportunity for me to revisit this poster concept. Challenge accepted - in the future. :D