Illustration Friday : Pale

I went through a list of choices in my head for the illustration of pale, this week's Illustration Friday topic.  My first thought was to draw my old girlfriend.  Skin like a vampire, that one (or a porcelain doll if she's reading this). Then I free associated to some other ideas -- vampire, joker, clown, corpse, zombie...

Deadman!  Still one of my favorite comic book heroes and pale as the belly of an albino catfish.  And anyone out there watching Star Trek in your Wolverine Underoos thinking, "Deadman can't pick anything up!  He's a ghost!" just pretend the skull's a ghost too.  Or, better yet, pretend Deadman's inhabiting the body of a guy in a Deadman costume.

So here's ol' Boston Brand, contemplating his existence.  It took me three hours start to finish but most of that time was staring at the screen, trying to remember how to ink a comic-style sketch.  For me, comic inking is like defusing a bomb.  I take my time and I'm really meticulous, afraid of screwing up.  But more often than not the whole thing blows up in my face anyway.  This one's not too bad, though. -v