Some Commissions and a Thing I'm Trying to Draw (WIP) (Patreon)

Atop this post -- inked commission of Milk & Cheese and characters from Shigeru Mizuki's Kitaro manga, redrawn because the original was stolen on its way to the customer. Still needs coloring. And I still have to redraw a Fun Strip recreation to replace the contents of the package. Gah. The silver lining for me is that I think I did a better job on the second version. Cleaned up some of the clutter without making it seem anything's missing, did a better overall job on the inks, I like the work on the ground and plants a lot better, added a few yokai that can be seen more clearly. I do not want to take a third whack at it (without getting paid again, that is). As this was for a friend who has lent a hand with the new Beasts of Burden series (manga translator and writer Zack Davisson), I offered to redraw the pieces. It pissed me off that he didn't get these.

Milk & Cheese commission WIP, with logo and a request for skull torches. Happy to oblige! I think the skulls came out pretty good, I'm pretty happy with the way they're looking. Slower inking keeps you from stinking! 

Bill and Ted and Death (Marvel Comics version) and for the heck of it, Time Thumb (from the Marvel comic). Some extra characters might pop in the BG depending on how it goes. Still kicking around shapes and placements after a non-start on some stuff I had to erase because I didn't like the way it looked. Like this better. I think this one gets colored. As you can see in my commissions, I often get fidgety and start inking penciled sections. There's no rhyme or reason, it just strikes me as "I want to ink that!", or I feel a little stuck penciling and want to keep moving forward, so I change up to inks. But I don't start inking without pencils being laid down, that's a mistake I try to avoid these days. It's like striking off somewhere without a map and hoping for the best.   

The Devil Puppet explains a few things to the kids. I am very happy with how this one is going, which is probably why I kept inking stuff almost as soon as it was penciled. There's going to be some background elements including a blackboard, etc. There's also going to be a bit of chat emanating from the Devil Puppet. Something that makes the kids unhappy. But nothing vulgar. The Devil Puppet never stoops to vulgarity. 

I miss drawing black and white pinups of characters from horror and monster movies, so I started one. Haven't made much headway with Mr. Cemetery Ghoul, but the head is coming out pretty okay after a few sketches that really stunk. Somewhere I have sketches I did in 2019 in preparation for a Carrie drawing and the old witch from House (Hausu). I wish I drew faster, I have so many things I'd like to do.

More later soon! I got an offer to do a bit of cover art for a project that I'm hoping I can share with you soon, the deadline isn't for some time so it might have to sit for a few months. Not a "money" gig but something cool and not a ton of work. I also am speaking to some folks about some freelancing stuff, single illustrations and maybe a cover or two for the indy side of things. We'll see how things go. 

Bit of a tough week or two, post-vaccination sickness into birthday blues and then some prescription medicine shenanigans that left me in bad shape this past weekend. All under control. Feeling a lot better, back to work, and my library is now three Junji Ito books richer.  

Oh -- and I finally got the cartoon done for episode 14 of The Tear Them Apart podcast, late again. Episode 15 should be edited down by Paul by the end of April, so I'll be late with the second Phantasm, as episode 15 finishes up our discussion about the franchise with the last three movies.

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