DUENNA

The first rough sketch in a pocket sketchbook. The inked version follows-- and finally the "outre" colouring" . . .

A trio of characters who deserve development-- like the GUMSHOE AND THE GILL-MAN duo . . .

A friend played BATMAN BEGINS for me a few days ago-- on his "megascreen" TV.

This was the result. Bob Kane's original character has come a long way . . .

"DOK" a character from CONTESSA FATALE

ink/ dickblick paper

FLYGIRLS

Some of today's "straw for the fire", as Theodore Roethke put it . . .

CRIMES OF THE PINEAPPLE

CRIMES OF THE PINEAPPLE:

A sinister stalker with an exploding pineapple haircut . . .

FIGHTERS: three steps using photo reference

Photo from the Scalera photo-reference book . . .

Quick sketch based loosely on the Scalera photograph . . .

Finally-- a little fanciful ink and an implied context . . .

Again, I didn't "polish" this drawing because it's only a demonstration.

Pen and brush w/ india ink on paper . . .

PELE ( Goddess of Lightning, Fire, Dance

Hawaaian and South Seas diety . . .

ink, aluminum monotype and watercolour

QUEEN KULITI ( from CONTESSA FATALE)

The evil queen . . .full of bad intentions for The Countess and her friends . . .

GAH-GINA TAKES A NIGHT DIP ( from CONTESSA FATALE)

Gah-Gina takes a cooling swim on the way to visit JUMEAU . . .

She doesn't see the stalker yet.

CRINGER step-by-step

Here's the photo used as reference-- from Buddy Scalera's book PEOPLE AND POSES, available from Amazon.com . . .

Here's my rather quick-- 2 minutes max.-- sketch from the Scalera photo . . .

pencil-- keep it light and simple, I tell myself-- I'm a KISS guy-- "keep it simple, stupid" . . .

I've put a little ink on the pencil drawing here-- actually I'm working on a computer print of the pencil sketch.

I haven't erased or "cleaned up" the pencil so you can see where I've been. If this were a more polished drawing, I would clean it up.

Once I get a pencil sketch going from the photo, I usually set the reference aside and do all the inking out of my head-- a little to-and-fro with my sketch.

Things like: the fact that elbows have little knobs of bone under the skin-- the triceps "grips" the upper arm from the back like a pair of pincers-- don't forget the ribcage-- toes and fingers are not lined up symmetrically like little soldiers-- there are conspicuous tendons in the top of the foot-- a little voice inside my head says all that . . .those things are part of inking without being confused by the reference-- photos are great information but they contain a great deal of distortion.

And "copying exactly" from them is asking for a world of grief.

I've tried to suggest a context for the figure to occupy-- with some pen and more thin brush strokes. The figure itself is all in brush-- Dr. Martin's Bombay India ink on Ingres paper-- I like the grain for brushwork.

This is not a "finished" drawing necessarily.

I just drew this figure from Scalera's photo for this demonstration. But if the figure were in a comic book or graphic novel panel, I'd evaluate it further and re-draw-- white-out--or simply "computer erase" part of it , if I thought it was getting congested.

NOIR--WITH HAYS OFFICE

The chilling effect of the Hays Office . . .

GAH-GINA from CONTESSA FATALE

GAH-GINA from CONTESSA FATALE . . .

CRANE from CONTESSA FATALE

Another character from CONTESSA FATALE . . .

New Graphic novel published serially HERE . . .

Starting soon . . .

WESTERN SKY ( self-portrait)

More ink work-- with printing from monotype aluminum and wood . . .