Salt Water Taffy Process

     I am almost three quarters of the way finished with Salt Water Taffy Vol. 5, Caldera's Revenge Part 2. For those of you who got and liked Part 1, thank you and rest assured, Part 2 is on its way quickly. Here is a spoiler free example of an exciting panel in process.

 I first begin with the pencils. For this kind of thing I tend to pencil loosely knowing I will be filling in the detail during the inking process. Actually I do this with all my pages, but for things like foliage, background scenery, and water I work particularly loose.

Here is the beginning of the inks. I work right to left because I am left handed. This way I am less likely to smudge my ink. I actually did the water's splash line first to establish it as foreground so I don't ink into it by accident.

I've now worked my way over to the left of the page finishing the smashed ship with debris. I keep the parts of the ship closest to the water darker give it weight and make it recede.

I've now filled in the detail of the tail along with the first layer of splash water. I've been blocking out larger areas of dark for the whale this time around, both to better describe the form, and to quicken up how long it takes for the craggy detail of his skin.

And the finished panel! It all got a little busy when I filled in the water but because I left out any background I think it works. It looks very violent and almost jarring, which is what I wanted.

     Well, I hope enjoyed this look into my process of comicing. And I promise you won't have to wait too long for vol. 5.

Whale

Just a quick one from Caldera's Revenge Part 2.

Enchanted forest (Or something)

This is the first image of a story I'm pretty sure I want to be my next comic after I complete Salt Water Taffy vol. 5 early this summer. Not only has the idea been rattling around my brain lately but I've been itching to try out a different art style, one that is more story book and animation influenced. This illustration is the result of combining what I already know about digital coloring, with techniques I've been observing from many amazing artists on the web. The main lesson I've taken is the infusion of hand done textures in the digital art. I spent half of yesterday hand painting watercolor swatches and scanning them to use in this. All in all I'm very happy how this came out and I look forward to doing more while learning to streamline this process so it goes a lot quicker!

Color and environment study

I'm slowly getting a little practice in on the new Wacom tablet. This is an environment study for what might be my next comic project after Salt Water Taffy 5 is finished in a few months. I am trying to make my color pallet much more exciting and fantastical, more along the lines of an animated fantasy. I sometimes have trouble with pushing my color choices from solid, but more or less representational, to a more exciting array full of color theory and design elements. Of course, obviously, doing this comic will depend on whether I can attract a publisher to print it in color, otherwise I'll shelve the idea and move on to something different, but this is what I plan on spending my summer working on. Expect tons of great art samples from me after June!

Agent Cooper

I haven't done this in a while but every now and then I like to remind myself that I can draw like this. This is Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle Mclaughlin) from Twin Peaks.  I plan on doing an illustration based on the series in the future. All for fun of course, and fit between pages of Salt Water Taffy 5, or after I'm done with it. 

Salt Water Taffy 4, Caldera's Revenge pt. 1

Salt Water Taffy vol.4, Caldera's Revenge pt. 1

In stores Wed. the 13th of April.

art. digital rendering

This is my first attempt at digital painting of a sort. I just got a Wacom Intuos and my plan is to spend the summer getting good at it. It's a whole different way of working for me and its gonna take time to understand it all (if I can!). This was just a test for now, I'm still too busy on Salt water Taffy 5 to really get into it for realz but I'll show my progress as I go.

 

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