Hey, gang- here’s another of my MSCA sketchcovers. This one features the “Pigs In Space” crew of the USS Swinetrek, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Captain Link Hogthrob, and First Mate Piggy.
This cover was drawn on a Mid-South Cartoonists Association sketchcover blank. A sketchcover is a comic with an extra cover (usually white with only a masthead logo on the front) that you can draw on. This one has a “The Good, The Bad, and the Sketchy” zine space themed issue #2 inside.
Speaking of #2, I started off with a yellow #2 pencil to do the initial drawing. I drew the 3 crew members on the front, and the Swinetrek spaceship on the back.
With the pencil drawing completed, I then started the coloring with my Copic markers– pinks, beige, and yellows on the fleece/flesh, logos, and Miss Piggy’s uniform dress. I’ve seen a lot of folks use markers to color and it comes out looking flat and like a coloring book. The tricks I’ve found to making it look more realistic is to use more than one color for areas, and paying attention to the lighting. Pulling the color in the direction of the lighting and leaving some white space showing through can really help it “POP!”. If you want more of an animation cell look, getting the color smooth/even helps, as does using a simple secondary shade or highlight color.
Next up it was time to color the guy’s uniforms with a couple shades of light purple/violet Copics. Again, heavier/darker on the shaded side and lighter on the light source side. I like to “sculpt” with the colors, again pulling from the darker to the lighter and using more than just one shade of color. Notice their faces and Piggy’s dress.
The outer red and yellow lightning bolt on the logos were next…
…followed by the grey on the gloves, moon, and spaceship. I also used a pink Fineliner pen to do the details on the pig face logos and folds in Piggy’s dress.
Next it was time to color in the background with a dark blue Copic marker. It took a while to get it to look semi-even. I recommend putting a scrap piece of paper between the sketchcover and comic inside to help protect from bleeding due to all the color being put down. For this one I drew it on the blank cover before adding it to the zine, but I still put a piece of cardboard under it to help keep my drawing surface clean. BTW- you can clean accidental Copic or Sharpie marks on your drawing table or lightbox off with some rubbing alcohol on a paper towel, cotton swab, or Q-tip.
Once I was done with the coloring I inked the drawing with an 03 black Pigma Micron pen. I probably should have used color instead of black for the outlines on the figures. Will have to remember to do that next time..! Really works for when you want an animated look, too.
For the highlights and starfield I used a white Gelly Roll pen. I had thought about doing a splatter technique with a toothbrush, but didn’t want to have to mask off the parts of the drawing and logo that I didn’t want the white to be flecked onto. The gel pen and colored pencil did just fine and was less work. I also used the gel pen to do some sparkles on the uniforms and to create a texture on their fleece/pigskin.
To finish off the highlights and add a glow around the stars I used a white Prismacolor pencil.
For Doctor Strangepork’s glasses I used a metallic gold Fineliner pen.
I went back over some of the areas with the #2 pencil to do a bit of shading/blending, then sprayed a light coat of Krylon Workable Spray Fixative. I like to do a few light overlapping coats and not a heavy one. Best to spray it outdoors or in a well ventilated space. You can make a spray booth fairly cheap with a box, fan, and an air filter.
I’ll have this one and others at my table at the Memphis Comic Expo on September 13&14 at the Memphis Sports & Event Center, and at the Memphis Zine Fest on November 16th at Havenhaus in downtown Memphis. I’ve really enjoyed drawing Muppets on these sketchcovers.
I’ll also have some sketchcovers for sale at the annual Monster Market October 10-16th at the Medicine Factory, too.
Be sure to check out my latest episode of the “Drawing Funny” podcast (Ep. 83) where I share more of my tips & tricks and history of making art.
I love this time of year, and am so happy to not only see Monster Cereal in the stores, but to see them this year as Muppet Monsters is especially delicious- cheers!
Lin
