Friday, February 19, 2010

Full page!

Here's a finished page from the pitch. (Click the graphic to enlarge) Someone asked recently about the spatter effects I'm getting on the pages. Those are all done on the original page. After penciling, I dip an old toothbrush in masking fluid and scrape my thumb across the toothbrush to spray the fluid in certain areas. The masking fluid protects the paper from the ink. I also dip my quills and brushes in the masking fluid to create what will eventually become white lines on the page. It's almost impossible to find a quality white ink that's easy to work with, so this is just an easier and faster solution for me. Once I'm done inking the entire page, I can just rub off the masking fluid to reveal the white paper underneath.

Once I'm done rubbing away the masking fluid, I dip the toothbrush into my india ink and spray a bit of black around the page. It's subtle, but I enjoy having a bit of spatter and texture in my work. Since this is a gritty crime story, I want that edge to the work. Clean slick lineart just doesn't work for me on this type of story. Whenever possible I do try and keep it all on the original art page, but I have created a set of spatter brushes in the past for this type of thing. I used them a bit on the Luke McBain comic I just finished for 12 Gauge Comics. If you're interested, you can grab those brushes here. Sorry, but I offer no assistance on using or installing these brushes except that you should only click once to create the spatter. Dragging the brush will not work properly. Hit Google and look for some Photoshop Brush tutorials, they'll have a ton of helpful info.

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