Hey, gang-
I’ve been doing my Wednesday Drawing Nights again at The Cellar in Bartlett. I’m out there every Wednesday from 5-9pm (unless it’s a holiday) working on sketchcards, sketchcovers, and other drawings. Occasionally I’ll have other artists or store customers stop and talk art and comics with me. It’s a chance for me to get out of the house and Batcave, be social while getting some work done, and pick up mine and my wife’s new comics.
I have gotten a couple new Star Wars sketchcards finished recently and I thought I’d share them, and how I did them. I had some Star Wars blanks left over from some of my sketchcard gigs with Topps, so I thought I’d get a few more of those done. I loved the movie Star Wars: Rogue One and K-2S0 (performed by Alan Tudyk).
I drew a K-2S0 sketchcover a while back (click here to see how I drew it), and really dig that character. If you are into drawing Star Wars characters and vehicles I highly recommend you pick up any of the many Star Wars Visual Dictionaries/Guides out there. I always add the latest on my birthday or Christmas with lists.
For this sketchcard I started of as usual with just a regular #2 yellow pencil with HB lead (basically H=hard/lighter, HB=medium, B=soft/darker- click here to find out more). If I was only going to do this in pencils I’d use pencils with different lead hardness, but a #2 pencil is cheap and does the job just fine for me- not too light, not too dark, and just the right price for art supplies.
Sometimes I like to use a plastic click-pencil in either a 0.7mm or 0.9mm HB lead. They come in handy when I’m out somewhere and don’t want to have to use a pencil sharpener. They are refillable and fairly inexpensive, too.
I do a bit of shading, but not too much since I’ll be coloring the card with Copic markers. Plus, the more pencil lead I lay down the more smearing I’m likely to get. I started off with a dark grey Copic to start filling in some of my shadow areas. Sometimes I work dark to light, sometimes light to dark depending on the piece and how I may need to layer the colors.
I next started filling in with a medium grey, and then a lighter grey one. After the majority of my grey work was done, I broke out some golden yellow, orange, and sand colored makers for the background. Also added a little bit of light blue to his eyes.
I then inked the card with my Pigma Micron pens. I normally ink with an an 03 pen, but like to use an 01 for thinner lines, and an 05 for filling in larger areas. I like using a white Prismacolor pencil and a Gelly Roll pen for my highlights. Once done I spray the card with some matte finish fixative.
Next up is my Pao sketchcard. I really loved a lot of the character design work in Rogue One. It was a great story and visually amazing. I also liked the fact that even though I knew that the Death Star plans did get stolen by rebels, I really didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, and for once the trailers didn’t show half the movie and/or spoil the plot.
Like K-2SO and most of my sketchcards for Pao I started off with a #2 pencil and a visual guide book as my reference. Then once the pencils were done it was time to break out my Copic makers.
Used some pink, red, yellows on the mouth, some greys and putty on the skintones, and a few different browns/tans on his clothing. Used an aqua for the background.
Then it was time for the black line art with the Pigma Micron pens, highlights with the white Gelly Roll pen and Prismacolor pencil, and a light coating of spray fixative.
I have also drawn a Bistan Star Wars: Rogue One sketchcover (which you can see how it was done by clicking here)…
…and a tank driver/trooper as well (click here to see that sketchcover).
I did enjoy my time doing sketchcards as a side gig. They were very much a part of my life when I could use the extra money and nightly drawing practice. Nice to get paid for something you enjoy drawing. Unfortunately the card companies don’t pay much, and the market has become a bit flooded. I’ve retired form doing sketchcard gigs, but if the right project came along that I’m a big fan of and it wasn’t a ton of cards to complete in a short time I might commit to doing them.
I did to draw space monkeys, and try not to say “never” to art- just “no” to certain things, or “not right now” to others. I’m not a fan of doing commission work. It’s hard to say no, but many times for my sanity and other projects I have on the back burner it can be a good thing to do. It’s more fun for me to just draw what I want when I want, and if folks want to buy it they usually can. For now, drawing an occasional sketchcard for fun here and there is okay with me.
I sell my completed sketchcards and sketchcovers at The Cellar. I’ve got several different officially licensed cards and a few personal skwetchcards for sale. Stop by and see mine and some from other local artists.
If you’re interested in how I price them, or a bit more on how I first got into drawing them, I wrote this blog. You can see all of the sets I’ve worked on by clicking the “Sketch Cards” link on my website menu or clicking here. Many of my sketchcovers are on my site in the “Comics” section.
BTW- Next week is the first Thursday of the month, which means it’s time again for the Mid-South Cartoonists Association’s Monthly Meet-Up at Garibaldi’s Pizza off Walker/Highland near the U of M. We’ll be hanging out and having dinner there from 7-9pm on Thursday, December 5th. It’s open to the public. Just bring a few bucks to order off the menu, and some of your art to show around to the group. It’s a great way to meet fellow cartoonists in our area, make contacts, and get/trade art tips/tricks. Beginning in January we’re going to switch to the first Tuesday of every month for the MSCA Garibaldi’s meetings.
We’ll also have our first MSCA @ Michaels Drawing Night on Tuesday, December 10th from 6-8pm at the Michaels location at 5030 Goodman Road in Olive Branch, MS. If all goes well it’ll continue to happen there on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Like the dinner meeting it’s free and open to the public. No food there to order, but feel free to bring any snacks you’d like. This is more of a get together to work on projects and share ideas and techniques type of event. Hoping folks can learn from each other and possibly collaborate. You can find out more at: www.midsouthcartoonists.org.
I always try to have my Copics with me at MSCA meetings and at the Cellar, so if you have any questions or would like to try them out please stop by and join us.
Type at ya later,
Lin
The Cellar: Tabletop Games & Comics
2737 Bartlett Blvd
Bartlett, TN 38134
(901) 382-8623
Store Hours:
Monday-Saturday 12pm – 9pm
Sunday 1pm – 6pm