#pocket brush

So, in truth, I do NOT know what I’ll be doing with this art. This was something of an experiment I started just wanting to draw my three, primary lead characters of (L to R) Mariska, Claire, and Shondra.

I hadn’t done actual ink on paper in a WHILE and was just playing around since the novels will be prose with MAYBE inset art every now and again. This design isn’t meant to be a cover, as the tone isn’t quite right for the book as a whole, but it was a really fun piece to finish and maybe will be a print or promo poster or… Kickstarter reward eventually. I honestly don’t know.

The finished art was colored in both Adobe Photoshop and Clip Studio, so I could use some of the different brushes available and play around.

After scanning in the ink-on-paper linework, (Using a Pentel Style for the linework and Pentel Pocket Brush for Claire and Shondra’s hair) I decided that the fur details lacked the more fluid subtlety I’ve gotten used to inking digitally in Clip Studio, so I ended up digitally painting OVER those lines and then re-inking most of Claire over the top of the painterly colors. I’m much happier with how the lines look now.

I did the same thing, but to a lesser degree, for Mariska and Shondra.

Originally, the background was designed for all blue tones, but I started playing with gradients and layer blending modes back in photoshop and came up with the weird, pink, and gold glows. I have a real soft spot for over-saturated colors, and this was a fun way to play with that a little.

What is IS, though, is a way to showcase the ladies in my upcoming novel and another opportunity to draw a werewolf. So, it is its own reward.

Panel from an old comic.