Rare, hand-drawn Bigfoot and Scout (process)

I work dawn to dusk every day cranking out Untold Tales of Bigfoot pages so I can meet my weekly deadline. But it's all done on the computer, mostly in Photoshop. But I recently finished a commission for an image of Bigfoot and Scout done in brush pens and marker. I don't often draw these guys the old-fashioned way, and it was both fun and frustrating (no "undo"). Here's a quick rundown of the process.

I always start my Bigfoot comic pages with pencil. So that's nothing new. But the inks? Normally I do them on my Wacom Tablet in Photoshop. Easy to fix a bad line, no mess, just the way I like it. But this inking was done with pens, a brush pen for the thicker outlines and various fine point pens for the smaller details.

In the color stage, instead of dropping in fills on a different layer with the paintbucket tool, I had to bust out the Prismacolor markers. I was pretty careful, but I still got a little smear from the ink once in a while when the wet marker hit it (precisely the reason I left the fine fur detail for after the colors). I wanted the sky to be a bit more subtle than a big block of blue, so I Van Gogh'd that sucker. Or Seurat'd it. Whatever. Anyway, I was pretty happy with the outcome but even happier with getting back to the natural media process. So I'll be doing more of these for sure.-v

My Sometime After fan-art process

I did another fan art exchange with yet another webcomic creator this past week. This time it was Ryan Fisher, creator of Sometime After, an ongoing comic that explores what happens to storybook/fairy tale characters after they've outlived their relevance. Ryan sent me some Untold Tales of Bigfoot fan art (posted under this week's comic) and here I've posted the process steps for the fan art I sent him.

Ryan's characters are distinctly his own design, so for fun I decided I'd try to draw them in my style rather than ape Ryan's.  These are the pencils. I ran them by Ryan before I continued and he loved them, so I moved on to the next step.

I inked the pencils in Photoshop. Ryan's comic takes place in a woodland, so it was comfortable using some of the same visual shorthand I use with Untold Tales of Bigfoot.

Ryan's comic is done in brushed inks and tones of grey. I wanted to honor that, so I used a few different custom brushes in Photoshop to build up some soft, layered brushstrokes. I was aiming for a gentle, ink-wash feel. After that, I toned the piece with a little yellow (see top image) to match the old-timey feel of the Sometime After homepage. 

Ryan posted my fan art on his site and said some very nice things about it. Thanks, Ryan. If you like my take on Twitch, Rupert and Wesley, then you might enjoy the comic that inspired it. So take some time to stop by Ryan Fisher's Sometime After. -v

My PC Weenies fan-art process

Every so often, at my webcomic site, Untold Tales of Bigfoot, I do a fan-art swap with another cartoonist. Partly, it's to introduce different webcomics to different readers, but mostly it's for fun. This week, I exchanged fan art with Krishna Sadasivam, creator of the long-running, tech-based gag strip, PC Weenies. Krishna sent me some awesome Untold Tales of Bigfoot Fan Art (posted under this week's comic) and here I've posted the process steps for the fan art I sent him.

These are the pencils for Krishna's main characters, Bob and Pamela. Bob's a tech-freak and Pam is his long-suffering wife. How did Bob land such a statuesque redhead? Ask Krishna.

These are the inks. After penciling the characters, I scan in the drawing and ink it in Photoshop.

Krishna's comic has a very sharp, digital feel to it (perfect for a comic about technology) so I decided to create the background in Illustrator to give it that "techy" feel. Then I flatted in the figures in Photoshop.

Almost done. Here I painted in some shadows and highlights. Instead of continuing with the sharp, tech-look, I thought it might be fun to play with contrasts. So I used soft brushstrokes in Photoshop, trying to emulate the feel of watercolors. Up top, in the final image, you can see I added some watercolor texture to complete the effect. 

If you like this image, you might enjoy the comic that inspired it. So please take the time to check out Krishna Sadasivam's PC Weenies where he also blogs about technology and art. And tell Krishna I said hi. -v 

Piggy Bank Illustration for the Pittsburgh City Paper

Whenever I do an illustration for the Pittsburgh City Paper, I'm given crisp, clear instructions by their art director, Lisa, and it's always a great work experience. So when she asked if I had the time to doodle up a tall politician placing a piggy bank high on a shelf, out of reach of a short politician I jumped at the chance. 

This one's an interior spot illustration, in color, for this week's City Paper. With newsprint, I normally opt to ink the lines in black and use big, flat areas of bold color so it really jumps off the page. Very comic booky. But this time I felt like trying the technique I usually reserve for my children's illustrations. Very soft, penciled lines, faux watercolor tints. I ran the idea past Lisa and she told me it would print just fine. That's good news. That really frees me up stylistically for any future City Paper assignments. 

Below are some process steps for the illustration. Nothing too crazy. Pencils, digital color, layered shadows and highlights. Now I'm off to grab a small stack of City Papers to sign for my adoring fans. -v

Untold Tales of Bigfoot Nominated for Best Webcomic of 2012!

Well, this was a really nice way to start the year. Apparently, Untold Tales of Bigfoot made the short list of the Cartoonist Studio Prize for best webcomic of 2012. The award is a collaboration between Slate and the Center for Cartoon Studies. It came as a huge surprise to me since I hadn’t entered UTOB in any sort of competition. There are just ten webcomics on the list and winners will be announced March 1, 2013. I don’t know if Bigfoot and Scout will get any further in the competition, but all three of us are very honored to be considered, proud to be on the list with so many talented creators and thankful to whoever thought we were good enough to put us up for nomination.

That said, if you're not already following the story, this would be a great time for you to jump in and start reading Untold Tales of Bigfoot. Even if we don't win the big prize, I promise to keep delivering pages filled with lovably cute characters dealing with heartbreaking loss and mysterious adventure. -v

Morels: Pan

The Pan Card in the game Morels is necessary if you want to win. There are plenty of them in the deck, but knowing when and how to play them makes all the difference. Here's a quick breakdown of my illustration process for this valuable card.

The image starts with a pencil sketch, toned with warm and cool colors to help the illusion of a nighttime campfire. As will the other Morels cards, I use the pencil sketch as a map for the colors, done in Photoshop. The base of the background is done with a simple gradient covered in a rough-edged brush to lend texture.

I create a custom brush for the glowing embers of the campfire. Then I start brushing in sweeping, undulating strokes of orange, yellow and white to start building up the fire. Then it's just a matter of using blurs to give the fire movement, and more texture laid down on the base. After that it's ready for the border to cover up all those unfinished edges.

As always, if you'd like to find out more about Morels, you can read reviews and gameplay reports at Board Game Geek. And you can order your own copy directly from game designer Brent Povis at the Two Lanterns Games website. -v

My Fan Art for Pat Lewis' Muscles Diablo!

Hey, I realized I never posted my process steps for this piece! This is fan art for the thrilling, gangsters vs. monsters webcomic Muscles Diablo in : Where Terror Lurks by talented illustrator, Pat Lewis. He's just finished chapter 7 of the online comic, and you can read the whole thing so far if you click this link ri 'chere!  Down below are my steps.

Pencils. Self-explanatory, really. I took a pencil and drew this. I chose a scene from Muscles Diablo where he gets in a bar fight with a Bigfoot. You'll note Pat Lewis' Bigfoots are a lot scarier than my Bigfoot. On to the next step!

Inks. Digital inks, to be exact. Done, I believe, in Photoshop. Ok, move to the next step!

Flat colors. Basically just filling the shapes with flat color in Photoshop. Done. Go!

Final colors. Here I added in all the shadows, highlights and cooled down the bar a bit to give it a dark, grimy look. The piece is basically done here, but if you look at the image at the top of this post, you'll see I ran a halftone filter over it and yellowed it up a bit to make it look worn. That's all. Now if you haven't already done it, go check out Pat Lewis' awesome webcomic Muscles Diablo in: Where Terror Lurks! -v