Tuesday, June 17, 2008

For the Birds Summer Blog Banner

You probably all noticed the brand-spankin' new banner I made for the top of the page a few days ago. I thought the blog needed a little summery touch, so I made it & put it up to ''brighten the room''.

I originally was going to do the whole thing, drawn & colored, in Photoshop. But when I got to the point you see below, I realized that it just didn't look right to me. I can't seem to get that spontaneous & organic quality from my paper drawings using a tablet. So I decided to start from scratch the good old-fashioned way: with paper, pencil & pen.

I roughly re-sketched the layout from the computer version on paper & inked it using my favorite pen, a Size 1 Pigma Graphic Pen. I like to ink my characters with big, fat, juicy lines. The only problem I have with these pens is that they dry out SUPER quick. I can barely get a day's worth of drawing out of it. I go through a LOT of these pens, 2 bucks a pop.

After erasing my pencils & scanning the drawing in, I colored it all in Photoshop. The hardest part to me was all that #$*&! sand! Besides that, the only other things I added to the drawing in Photoshop were the clouds, the sun & my name.

There are some things I like better in the rejected tablet job than the final inked version. In the tablet one, Cannibal Chicken's pose is a bit more pushed out & Randy looks just the way I like him. The inked Randy's head looks a bit too 'dumpy', I should've had his head tilt back like I did in the other one. Well, it doesn't matter now, it's all in the past. What's done is done.

Oh, I for those who miss the old banner I had up before, here it is:

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