By the way, Large Marge sent me.

step 1

step 1.5
I scanned in the drawing at 300 dpi and took it into Photoshop (CS2). I then proceeded to bump the contrast levels up to get a darker, more solid black. After that I went in and removed the areas I didn’t like. Specifically the hands/wrists. I tend to do a bit of contour drawing when I do hands and in this instance it wasn’t a good thing. I want the drawing to balance out, and the simplicity of the face was being overwhelmed by the rendering of the hands & writs. I’ll print this out and draw in the fixes over the weekend. (stay tuned!)

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Well after tweaking the brightness/contrast in photoshop it came to me that I was a few steps ahead of myself. It wouldn’t looks right to go back in on a high contrast piece, so I went back to the original and cut out what I wanted to redraw and left the contrast alone.

step 1.75

I reduced it a bit to fit an 8-1/2″ x 11 sheet and printed it out. I then went back in with a 4H pencil and drew the corrections. I used the same tools to ink these changes (Prismacolor pens, faber-castell big brush pen, prismacolor cool grey art markers) I then added a gradient behind his right hand.

step 2.0

I’m still unhappy with the right hand, so instead of adding in the white acrylic splatter I’ve decided to redraw the right hand first. Once I have it the way I want it I’ll assemble it in photoshop, print it out and add the splatter…stay tuned!
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Getting close! This is the scan from where I redrew his right hand. I finally got it to where I don’t hate it, so I decided to scan it and move on to the next step. These steps are taking anywhere from 10-30 minutes each, usually done over lunch. If not for this process blog I would have stopped or trashed it after the first step, but this has been pretty fun!

step 2.5

I’m going to print this one out and do a few touch ups. I may even re-do the gradient behind him just so that it’s crisper. All the scanning & printing have degraded it down quite a bit. Then after that, it’s on to the white acrylic splatter!
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Sketchercise – Music related art: Roy Orbison – part 4

Took a week to get through all the steps, scanning and posts, but here it is! I haven’t worked like this in awhile. I used to use Photoshop a lot more than I do now,
but I find that the drawings lose some of their life and personality when manipulated digitally. Besides, whatever commission I’ve gotten havre called for the entire
process to be done on one sheet, so I didn’t have the luxury of using Photoshop to help make up for my many imperfections!

I did some light touch ups around the hands and on his hair. I then added the gradient in two steps using all of the markers I have 10% – 90%. Not quite as good as I’d hoped or practiced, but I gotta
keep moving! I also added some greys to his glasses to help build the contrats for the piece (30% & 50% cool greys). I actually liked how that turned out!

step 3.0

I scanned it in this morning at 400 dpi and tweaked the brightness/contrast ever so slightly so as to not disprupt the gradients. I then went in with a burn tool and darkened everything up equally. I trimmed the edges arond the piece and there you have it!

step 3.5 – the final!

For the few who actually stayed with me or this I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

See you next time!

I know everyone was snickering when I announced the assignment (after the groans were over with, at least). I just can’t believe no one else went “there” with it. Me? I simply could not resist, especially when drawing such a hottie as Betty. And yes, I’m a “Betty” man (as opposed to Veronica). Instead of making this an “oh sh*t!” situation for our blondie, I decided to put Betty in charge and have her totally into it. So far the “Sketchercise” series has been a great learning tool for me, as I catch up. Now, onto #3. I only have like 7 or 8 more to catch the rest of the group.

The strip and characters, Easy and the original lead, Wash Tubbs, just blew my young mind away, even though it was the Bill Crooks & Jim Lawrence Easy I was growing up with. I loved how the characters’ faces were cartoony and real all at the same time, and especially how the clothes had motion to them, even though a modicum of lines were used. So thanks to the Sketchercise challenge, I’ve rediscovered my love for this, my favorite comic strip character. For Christmas I think I’m going to ask for the Fantagraphics volumes reprinting Crane’s unbelievable Sundays. I mean, Easy is so damn cool … he’s old-school, but he’s just truly kickass. He doesn’t get dusty with the years. Every time I look at a strip, I think, “Damn, Easy lives. He’s so cool. Wow, I can’t believe that situation they’re in!” So, thanks, Brandon, for giving me the hard time about not submitting to “Sketchercise”. It has reconnected me with my love for the great strips which got me into comics in the first place. Now, we’ll see how much I catch up to the rest of you Sketchercisers.