Still drawing in Korea
So, for those of you that know, I have a Korean Blog. I have decided it best to keep the sketch blog separate!
Today’s post is going to be a biggie, so get ready.
So here is the finished colored image of Bartleby riding his Woods Lobster. I altered the tail of the lobster, giving it an upward inflection to add momentum to Bart’s ride. I had hoped to add the grass, moss and fungus I always envisioned on the Woods Lobster, but my skill level needs to improve. It looked better as it was.
A side note: one of my influences for this drawing was Peter Griffin riding the Luck Dragon, “YAAAAAY!”
So, while observing classes at the start of my teaching job, I managed to do some quick drawings.
Here is a fat boy in a wagon:
I don’t know what to call this one:
I picked up some watercolors! They were very cheap, only about 7,000 Won (about 5 1/2 bucks). It was relaxing to sit and color something without a computer. The first were very…well I am not posting them. After some more practice I made progress!
The coat may have been a bit of a mess. However, the bearded brontosaurus thing, he turned out just fine! Oddly enough, I never even realized he was feeding it a fish until I drew it again for this painting. I always just saw him as holding it. It is amazing what you notice when you work on an image again!
Here is another one I call “Dead Dinner.” I see these “two” constantly argueing, albeit a one way squabble.
The position of the gentlemen on the left is a little off. I can’t tell what is the subject of his vindictive gaze, the can of peas or the corps. This issue was fixed when I drew it again for the watercoloring!
He seems a little more angry at the corpse, which is good! It is now apparent that “Lefty” is wearing some sort of long-johns, and his skin turned out great. The table is a little far gone to add more detail and I am still not sure how rotted the dead man next to him will be. The hardest part of doing the drawing again was getting the dead bodies clutching right hand just right, as it was in the pen-drawing.
All right, we are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of the Bartlbey book. The working title is “Winford Manfrog and Valencia the Turtle.” The scope of this book is more ambitious, combining more realistic human forms and environments countered with surrealist animal characters. Thing “Mr. Toads Wild Ride” meets Edward Gorey and Winsor McCay. It all started with a simple drawing of a turtle:
This turtle has one extra food in the real world. Stubbish feet, a beack and stooped posture gives the feeling of borderline immobility and the listless stare of the eyes rules out any glimmer of intelligence. The bow was the random spark that triggered it all. “Hmm a bow, is he trying to look pretty” I thought. “WAIT, why HE when It could be a SHE!!!”
Put some rather wiggish curles on its leather head and:
BOOM! We have Valencia! An ugly male turtle is one thing, but to have such a hideous female turtle (let alone one that is trying to look pretty) has much more pathos. If she was colored she would have some disasterously applied lipstick as well!
Winford ManFrog is the main character. Just as awkward and soul-less, Winford spies Valencia in a crowd and fancies her.
His wardrobe is undecided as of yet. Clearly something bereft of class and style. Initially Winford was clothed very much like Daffy Duck. I decided that outfit was best for the “wild card” of the story: Valencia’s brother Proteus. Winford is able to take Valencia out on a date, but “Her brother Proteus was her ward and needed her keeping.” He doesn’t do much, other than blow up Winford’s spot!
Proteus went through several variations:
I used the first turtle drawing as a template. I knew he had to be very tiny, about a quarter the size of Valencia (this adds to her bulk). A bend to the beak proved effective, and a change in shell shape worked well. Number 4 is the winner, but I want to have some of the pebbly texture from number 1 in there.
A Victorian holiday provides many artistic opportunities: a pleasant walk on the warf, riding ridiculous old-timey bycicles and even buying kisses from a walrus!
I doubt this book will feature color. As you can see with the Walrus and turtles, I am finally experimenting with hatchings and textures using only pen. I think it will give everything a gilded age printed look as well.
There will be issues to overcome: proportions, human characters, story length and such. I am both dreading and looking forward to working on the two page Merry-Go-Round spread.
I will be picking up some oil paints within the next few weeks so get ready!
