Thursday, July 26, 2012

Fangbone #3, at a glance...





If you have ever wondered what an entire 128 page graphic novel looks like all laid out at once...here it is.  This as the artwork for Fangbone #3, except for the cover and title page.  Thanks to Mike Scowden for the great shot, and to the Leonia Recreation Center for letting us use the Teen Center room.  Fangbone #3 comes out on August 2.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Making a hot mess...




Right now, I'm working on the illustrations for my next series, “Icky Ricky” which comes out in 2013 from Random House.  For these books, I need lots of backgrounds that have sprays and drips and all kinds of messy looking bits of business.  I recruited my two sons, Declan and Gavin, who are good at making messes, to help me out with the process.  We used some traditional spray-paint, watered down acrylic, and even a bit of clean water to get things to drip.  We produced a pile of papers that I can scan and sample the best bits from. 



My favorite piece was created by laying down some rope on the paper, and my son Declan gently spray-painted over it, creating areas of different values and contrast.

Here’s one of the drawings from the book.  The background area uses parts of the rope painted paper.  The type for the word balloon will be added later.