Issue 15 cover in progress

This afternoon was spent working on the clean sketch for the new cover of Issue 15. Here's a look at what I was up to.

For starters, I had to get the digital comp sketch onto the comic board. The sketch needed to be printed out on two pages due to its size. A little artist tape held everything together nicely.




I showed one way of transferring a sketch a while back using the woodless graphite to blacken the back of a printout, making it act like carbon transfer paper. This time, I decided to use another method. While I do have a light board, it's a little too small for something of this size. So instead, I used a small clamp light and set it to shine up under my glass table top.




A little more artist tape to hold the comic board in position over the sketch and we're ready to go.




The idea behind transferring the digital sketch to the comic board isn't to trace completely. It's to get the basic shapes down so you can use them as a general guide for the final piece. As you can see, the paper wrinkled a bit due to the heat of the clamp lamp on the glass. Don't worry, the paper straightened out once it cooled.




Now that the basic shapes are down, it's time to start laying in the details. At this point I like to go back and check the anatomy as best I can with my limited knowledge. It's my last chance to catch any glaring errors. Hence the light blue lines.




Happy with the anatomy, it's time to start fleshing out the details. I prefer to work with the 2H lead. It's just dark enough for me to see easily and it's fairly resistant to smudging.




Here's a photo from a few hours in.




Throughout the whole process, my supervisor kept a vigilant watch on my progress.




I'll have the finished clean sketch posted in a bit. First I need to see if it will actually fit into the scanner. Oh dear.


"The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration."
-- Thomas Edison