Sabbatical, Day Eight (Double Digits!)

I completed pencils for page ten today, and light-boxed page eleven, so I've got a head start on tomorrow. Not bad. I'm now into double-digits!

There's something wonderfully Machiavellian about drawing a story that uses your close friends (and yourself) as main characters. The two illustrated today know each other, but I'm playing fast and loose with their real-world employment histories, as they never worked together. Still, it's easy enough to imagine how they would interact in a shared corporate environment...where half of their coworkers wear spandex and body armor.

After the high of yesterday's double-page spread came the task of capturing likenesses. I cheated a little, because I hadn't completed character design sheets for today's friends. (Technically, I never did an official one for myself either, but if I can't draw The Pro from memory, it's game over, man!) Instead I just used photo reference, and it worked out fine.

I originally drew my thumbnail versions of these pages at a size 1/16th of the actual artwork being produced now. They were then scanned, darkened up, and printed back out at 400% in order to be lightboxed in pencil. Details are then filled in, which is what takes most of the workday. However, I'm very, very pleased with how closely my tiny thumbnails have been holding up when duplicated so much larger. I'll have to post some images soon so you can see what I'm talking about.

Someone mentioned the possibility of a book release party for the debut issue of HERO CORP. -- anyone out there got any opinions? I'm game if you are.

More to come...!

Today's music choices: lots of mash-ups (Queen/Led Zeppelin, Jackson 5/Nirvana, The Archies/Velvet Underground, Michael Jackson/Steely Dan), Louis Prima, Lords of Acid, Los Lobos, and Frank Sinatra.