Baby Thumbs

Here are some thumbnails redlined on 1.5 x 2 inch post-it notes. I go over them with a Bic ballpoint pen (and sometimes a sharpie) and then finish them off with a quick splash of black watercolor using my Pentel waterbrush. These crude little thumbnails really take care of the “heavy lifting” in the creative process. I am amazed at how close the finished cartoons resemble these baby thumbs. You might recognize three of these panels as they have already been posted as completed pieces (far left/ Torches and Cocktail Forks; upper right/ The Easter Bunion; lower right/ The Shallow End of the Jean Pool).

The View From the Pew

Some faces from church.

Studies

 

Linework done with brush and India ink, followed up with Pentel waterbrush.

Studies

 

Linework done with brush and India ink, followed up with Pentel waterbrush. 

Peck sketch at A-1 Comic's Creator Con

Practice

Contour: Verithin Black

Shading: Black Watercolor with Pentel Waterbrush

Detail: Micron 01

on Canson Coldpress Watercolor Paper

Initial form: Verithin Black

Mechanical Pencil to finish (#2 lead)

on Canson Coldpress Watercolor Paper

Practice

Head Shots

Playing with my Pentel waterbrush this evening. Used various pencils (HB, Verithin Black and Prismacolor Gris Chaud 90%) along with washes of black watercolor.

Wheeee!

Here's my latest cartoon:  You can see below the red line /inked version. And then the crude little post-it note sketches I played with before compositing the final lay out.

Dreaming Big

You'll note that I made the caveman smaller in the final cartoon. I also cropped out the ground to imply a slight worm's eye view. I wanted him to appear more incidental on the back of the brontosaurus—like an annoying fly. I redrew him a couple of times to really get that more accurate "bronco buster" feel. With the bronto's expression, I wanted it to appear mildly surprised.