A Real Comic

All right, so because I've been doing a few pictures in a graphic novel style I thought it was maybe about time I actually drew a comic figure. And I do love Batman, so I had a go. I really really love the background. It was just an afterthought, but it turned out great. Or at least it will when I put a bit of effort into the layout of it rather than just following the outline of the figure.

Over all I'm pleased with how it turned out. I think, though, I would like to play with it a bit more. I'm going to working with the positive/negative spaces a bit more (especially reversing them), get some starker contrasts, and a slightly more traditional outline. I'm also going to use a soft brush to put on the masking fluid instead of a pen, this has just a few too many sharp tiny lines. I like finished drawings that retain a very sketch-like appearance, but this just isn't quite polished enough.

This was where it started. I just did a very faint pen outline and erased all the pencil lines (learning from my self-portrait!). Then I put a whole bunch of masking fluid on. Next time I'm going to work up a nice strong outline, especially where the light is supposed to be hitting, and then use the masking fluid.

Then I covered it with scribbles, ink, navy and brown watercolour, and drops of ink. This is before the masking fluid came off. After I removed it I softened some of the white areas, strengthened some edges, dropped more ink on it, and added a bit of white charcoal.