Tuesday, Tuesday...
Well, I've indulged in a bit of (almost) old fashioned pencil drawing. Remember that request awhile back for cover ideas for a zombie book that I mentioned? The person requesting it wanted a black & white charcoal or pencil drawing to use for a chapbook he was putting together.
I figured it's been well over two years since I last tried any pencil drawing that was intended to go beyond a sketch so I was a bit concerned that my skills were rusty. And they were. It probably didn't help that rather than actually break out a pad of paper and charcoal pencils I made it on the computer using a natural media drawing program called Sketchbook Pro. Mainly I did this because my scanner really isn't that good and if I drew the picture on paper and then scanned it some detail would be lost.
What was really difficult though, is when I draw on paper I'm in the habit of flipping it all around while drawing so that I can approach the line the way I want. You can't do that in a drawing program. Not as naturally as you can with a drawing pad. It would be too processor intensive to keep track of every single stroke. So I had to contort my hand into uncomfortable positions quite a lot. Plus there was a whole lot of head tilting to compensate. It's hard to explain. You would just have to watch me draw.
Anyhow, after about 3-4 hours work and a massive hand cramp later, here it is:
And here's a 100% detail picture:
I've sent the low-res off to the person who made the request. If he likes it, great! If he doesn't or has already chosen something – he was in a bit of a hurry and I dragged my feet a bit on it – then that's okay too. I really needed the practice.
Next drawing: Zombie Pimp & Hos for Trashman. Once my hand and forearm stop cramping.
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UPDATE: This just in as I was finalizing the post!
From: John Hubabrd
Subject: Re: Zombie Sketch
Date: September 20, 2005 2:00:05 PM MDT
To: collin
I fucking love it. Send me the hi res version. I will use it somewhere. I have the backcover done and I may have the front cover done BUT i will definitely put this in front of my story and maybe on the cover itself if the artisit doesn't get back to me. I'm sending everything to the printer on oct. 1. i will keep you informed - john
I figured it's been well over two years since I last tried any pencil drawing that was intended to go beyond a sketch so I was a bit concerned that my skills were rusty. And they were. It probably didn't help that rather than actually break out a pad of paper and charcoal pencils I made it on the computer using a natural media drawing program called Sketchbook Pro. Mainly I did this because my scanner really isn't that good and if I drew the picture on paper and then scanned it some detail would be lost.
What was really difficult though, is when I draw on paper I'm in the habit of flipping it all around while drawing so that I can approach the line the way I want. You can't do that in a drawing program. Not as naturally as you can with a drawing pad. It would be too processor intensive to keep track of every single stroke. So I had to contort my hand into uncomfortable positions quite a lot. Plus there was a whole lot of head tilting to compensate. It's hard to explain. You would just have to watch me draw.
Anyhow, after about 3-4 hours work and a massive hand cramp later, here it is:
And here's a 100% detail picture:
I've sent the low-res off to the person who made the request. If he likes it, great! If he doesn't or has already chosen something – he was in a bit of a hurry and I dragged my feet a bit on it – then that's okay too. I really needed the practice.
Next drawing: Zombie Pimp & Hos for Trashman. Once my hand and forearm stop cramping.
----
UPDATE: This just in as I was finalizing the post!
From: John Hubabrd
Subject: Re: Zombie Sketch
Date: September 20, 2005 2:00:05 PM MDT
To: collin
I fucking love it. Send me the hi res version. I will use it somewhere. I have the backcover done and I may have the front cover done BUT i will definitely put this in front of my story and maybe on the cover itself if the artisit doesn't get back to me. I'm sending everything to the printer on oct. 1. i will keep you informed - john
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