I love sequential art. That's typically what I spend my time thinking about and working on but I realize I need to step away at times and work on some pin up type work from time to time. I need to start setting up at regional conventions and know that pin ups and splash page type works sell better than sequential pages from some set of Marvel/DC samples that will never be published. I can't ink professionally and I can't draw at all but I need to work on some pin ups that I could get inked and colored and then printed off so I can sell. I thought I'd try to think outside my typical comfort zone and go with existing characters that I'm not really familiar with so at least I would have the benefit of doing some research as well. One character I picked was Swamp Thing because my friend Mojo, who is a very accomplished inker, is a fan. Well, at least of the Alan Moore version.
I may have mentioned this in the past but I've been trying a bit of a new method to my drawing. I used to always do a small thumbnail or breakdown drawing (sometimes both) of the idea I had and then try to "eyeball" that same idea on to a 11 x 17 bristol board. However, recently I've been taking a layout sketch, scanning it and "blowing it up" on a 11 x 17 board in non-photo blue and drawing over it. I'll admit that it's been a bit of a work in progress and I'm not sure if this will be my permanent process but I see some definite benefits so far.
The sketch I started with in this case is a graphite sketch about 5.6" x 3.6". I did some research before hand to try and find some swamp reference as well as some Swamp Thing reference since I wasn't totally familiar with the character even though I had been reading the series since the DC New 52 debuted and remember being freaked out as a kid watching Wes Craven's Swamp Thing movie in the early 80s.
I had this sketch blown up in non-photo blue on a piece of 11 x 17 bristol board. At that point I took my own blue pencil and started defining some of the features. I wasn't too concerned about the swamp details at this stage but wanted to work on Swamp Thing's figure. The first thing I noticed is that his left arm was way too long. I shortened that up quite a bit and then realized that his right arm, which was intended to have a bit of foreshortening to it, was at an that wouldn't allow as much foreshortening as I would have liked so I lowered it (along with the branch he is clutching). I also added some definition to the foreground swamp stuff and add at least one log.
At that point I broke out the HB lead and went to town on the details. I used to use 2H over the blue pencils and finish with HB to highlight some the foreground and important elements but I've been foregoing the 2H recently and just using the HB and trying to utilize a bit more control than I used to. I generally don't draw over an entire image in an "empty", non-shaded quality but as I got going I thought it may be important in this situation considering the amount of swamp detail that I'm not used to. This is the result:
One of the most important parts of the above image was figuring out the texture and details of Swamp Thing himself. I referenced several images via Google before I really went to town here. With all of the details I planned on having in his surroundings I figured I should devote the same attention to his composition as well. I'll admit I did feel a bit weird about the prospect of what I should do about ol' Swampy's nether region. Should he be Ken Doll like and not really have any actual definition at all? I saw that Yanick Paquette used to hide his mid section in shadow and that would have been okay as well but since was drawing the whole "open" and without my usual use of darks and shadows I felt compelled to try something else. I came up with a leaf design that covered a lot of his midsection and didn't exactly fit the typical "fig leaf" mode of genitalia covering.
Anyway, I liked this version enough to scan it and save it I knew I wasn't finished yet.
I really didn't change much of the composition other than his face but since nothing can compete with a face I suppose that is kind of important. I do like the previous version but I think this much more effective. Normally I find myself using a light secondary light source that kind of creates a halo around figures and some foreground elements. For this piece I tried to have the shadow on Swamp Thing meet up with the contour of his figure. It may not be too noticeable considering all of the swamp shit going on but it was something that I had to make a very conscious effort at since it's not my modus operandi.
But that's it. I've been away from this blog from way too long and could probably fill a bunch more pages but I'll just try to make this a re-launching point and hopefully keep posting from here on out.
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