One of the projects I’m working on right now is Zoa Space Fantasy. This is basically a no-holds-barred space romp with wizards and dragons and robots, oh my. I’ve been posting it at a local news/message board since late summer.
I draw Zoa on 7 x 8.5 bristol, ink with PITT brushes, and color with Prismacolor markers. I like to keep it raw and fast, so I don’t scan at any stage until I’m done.
The idea came to me a couple of years ago, but I don’t remember the specific moment of inspiration. At that time, the comic was called Nebula 9. it would still be called Nebula 9 if not for the son-of-a-bitch Devin Townsend who had to use the term in a song from his album Ziltoid the Omnicient. In a moment of weakness I changed the title to Zoa. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the name Zoa. I’ve been kicking it around for years as a possible anthropomorphic project. But I just couldn’t stand the thought of publishing a comic called Nebula 9 right on the heels of the Townsend album.
Right now 99% of you are going “Who the hell is Devin Townsend and why are you insane?”
Here are some sketches and images. Read the comic at my site or at supersomerset…
An old logo.
An image that got me started.
The latest page.
“Who the hell is Devin Townsend and why are you insane?”
ReplyDeleteThat was too easy.
Devin Townsend is a sort of alt metal indie rocker. I'm insane because the Gods themselves made me thus.
ReplyDeleteI love those PITT Pens. I was also recently introduced to Zebra Brush Pens which really are very ink-brush like. They are also very hard to get hold of though, Japanese Stationary Stores and EBay seem to be the 2 best sources.
ReplyDeleteSo I see some non-photo blue in your first sketch there -- is that your usual way of working? I've never really been able to get that to work for me in the way I want. Lately I have been using a lot of tracing paper, mostly because the revisions I am doing to Pewfell Vol. 4 require me to to do a lot of reworking of the original art & I don't want to lose the bits that were working well.
Years ago I had a huge lightbox that I used all the time, but after long and arduous service it is has gone on to light up the halls of valhalla and I am too cheap to buy another one.
I saw one of those Wacom Cintiqs at Wondercon the other week. It certainly had me drooling, but more from a coloring perspective -- for drawing and inking I think I'd probably stick to the old-fashioned way.
I don't use non-photo blue as a standard rule. I used them on some Zarp strips that were ditigally colored, but basically I was just messing around and experimenting.
ReplyDelete95% of the time I'm drawing with a mech pencil (and old Staedler .5 I've been using since 1992), inking with a combo of PITT brushes and nibs, and coloring with Prismacolor markers/watercolor pencils/cotton swabs/spit.
Zebra, huh? I'll have to check them out.
Mars used to make a Duo brush pen with a tip that felt like having sex. It was fantastic.
Biggest problem I have with throwaway tools is that the ink lifts off when erased. It's a neat effect sometimes, but other times I just want the links to remain black.
Cool stuff, guys!
ReplyDeleteHope it all goes your way.