Urban Sketching in Brooklyn

On Saturday the 17th, I took the Ikea ferry over to Red Hook with the NYC Urban Sketchers group. We got off at the Fairway supermarket and hung around that area for a while.  Outside of Fairway are a bunch of old, busted up trolleys.

This is the front of one of the trolleys with the Fairway umbrellas in front of it.  I added the colors, and cropped it when I got home.  Below is the original drawing scanned directly from my sketchbook.  I regret putting in the marker value on the original.

Here's another one of the trolley, this one is of the wrecked side doors.  This is all traditional media on paper.  No digital work here.

This is a quick one of one of the old windows and shutters in the Fairway building.

Lastly, I present, The Red Hook Yacht Club.  This is about a block away from Fairway, and is one of the most fun things that I have ever drawn.  It seems to be a social club for some of the senior members of the community, and they were all very friendly and very interested in our work.  They even gave us some bread to munch on while we drew.

This is exactly how it looks in the sketchbook. This was all done on location while sitting on the sidewalk.  I really like this one, and want to do something more with it, but I'm not sure what.  I could render it all in black and white hatching (like I have started), I could add digital color, or  I could drop in some watercolor.  I just don't know yet.  Who knows, maybe it's already done.

Fangbone's original name was...

I hand kind of forgotten about this, but “Fangbone” was originally named “Bonesword.” When I pitched the “third grade barbarian” idea to my editor, he really liked it, but said that the name didn’t work.  He was worried that it would read as “Bones Word” as opposed to “Bone Sword.”  He sent me off to come up with another name, and after putting together some words that I liked, “Fangbone” showed up. 

If I remember, I wanted his sword, which was made of bone, to play a part in the narrative, but that didn’t end up going anywhere.  Bill’s name was a no-brainer.  I just needed a simple, one-syllable boys’ name that was very common.

This was one of the very first drawings for this idea that I made, and I like the loose watercolor.  

More Fangbone! TV design sketches

The Fangbone! pilot is flying along.  Early in the summer the all of the voices were recorded, the storyboards are done, designs have been finalized, and right now I am patiently waiting for the first rough edit.

I still can’t show any of he work produced by the great folks at Mercury Filmworks, but I can post sketches that I have done.

While the designers use some of my sketches almost verbatim, others are used as jumping off points.  People have asked me if I have liked working with other artists, and how it feels to have my worked changed.  Personally, I think it’s great.  The people I am working with are insanely talented, and they really understand Fangbone!

In fact, the best part of this project has been the day I spent up at Mercury doodling and laughing with the lead designer.  It made me feel like I was drawing in my parent’s basement with my friends when I was a kid. It reminded me of why I got into drawing and telling stories for a living.

The actual animation is scheduled to start in September.

This is a detailed drawing of Fangbone's cave.

Some ideas for the tents that the barbarian clans would use.

A throne for Drool.  Known as the "Bone Throne."

This is a communication portal that Fangbone uses to talk to the wizard in Skullbania.  I can't show you him, but he's awesome.

This is how Drool watches Fangbone and Bill.  I can't show you what's it's filled with.

Some character work, and a prop.