Hey, gang- got a new marker painting to share with you for this Freaky Friday post. This canvas painting is based off of two different pumpkin sketch cards I did for an RRParks CARDS “Halloween Trick or Treat” card set a couple years ago.
I got started drawing it at our recent Mid-South Cartoonists Association visit to the Ave Maria House (assisted living community) out in Bartlett last week.
MSCA president Kevin L. Williams and I went out to draw cartoons with the residents there again. Some are a bit reluctant to draw cartoons and claim they “can’t even draw a stick-man”, but they eventually join in on the fun. Many have become regulars to these drawing sessions. We bring out art supplies, give them step by step drawing instructions, or play drawing games.
I started off drawing with a #2 pencil on a round stretched canvas. I recently bought a 2pk of 10″ canvases at Five Below and they’re the perfect size for doing this type of marker painting. I then started filling in the pumpkin area with an orange Sharpie Creative Marker.
I mostly use those acrylic markers as well as IVSUN dual tip acrylic markers and a variety of other paint markers/pens. You can get them online or at most art stores (Michaels, Casey’s Art Box, The Art Center), or department stores such as Walmart or Ollie’s. They come in water-based or oil-based varieties.
One the pumpkin was filled in, I started working on laying out some of the details and coloring in the foreground and background elements.
I filled in the facial features with a couple different shades of red, and left the eye highlights white for later. I then used lighter shades of orange and cream to start working in highlights.
I then started to texture the background trees/bushes, and the ground. In some areas I would blend the paint with my finger while it was still wet. I used a few different shades of browns for the ground stipple and added a bit more shadow to the pumpkin.
The red wasn’t getting as dark as I wanted around the edges of the eyes, nose, and mouth so I used a Copic marker. Once I was happy with the colors on the painting I did my inking with a black Pigma Micron pen. I usually ink with an 03 sized pen. For the white highlights I used a white Gelly Roll pen and a Prismacolor pencil. Did a bit of stippling effect with the pen, and a bit of blending with the colored pencil.
I did a bit of tweaking here and there. Once the painting was finished and completely dry I took it it outside and sprayed it with a few light overlapping coats of Krylon Workable Fixative. It’s best to do multiple lighter coats than a heavy one.
I’ll have this one and another round canvas as part of the MSCA/Mid-South Cartoonists Association‘s “Drawn Of The Dead” art show this October/November in the lobby of the Germantown Community Theatre.
The group art show will run alongside the GCT’s presentation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, performances go from October 24th-November 2nd. Opening reception is 5-7 p.m. on Friday, October 1oth in the lobby of GCT.
I’ll also have some other art including some “Scared Silly” zines and prints, plus monsterpiece original art, “BATS” trading cards, and a variety of stickers, sketchcards, sketchcovers, and more for sale at the upcoming Monster Market at The Medicine Factory in downtown Memphis on October 10-16. (CLICK HERE to see my Nosferau marker painting; CLICK HERE to see my Count Von Count marker painting; CLICK HERE to see my Beetlejuice marker painting: CLICK HERE to see my Sandworm painting: CLICK HERE to see my Bela/Dracula painting; and CLICK HERE to see my The Walking Dead sketchcover.)
The Memphis Monster Market is an annual monster/sci-fi pop-up shop and will have lots of great in-store events scheduled for that week including a showing of “Dracula“ (hosted by the Beale Street Monster Club) on Sunday 10/12 6-8 p.m., a Professional Monster Meet-up with local monster makers on Tuesday, 10/14 5:30-7:30 pm., and much more..!
And don’t forget that I’ll be set up at the Comic Con in the Park at Marquette Park on Saturday, October 11th, from 3–7 p.m. and at the Memphis Zine Fest Sunday, November 16th, from noon-4 p.m. at Havenhaus (84 E. G.E. Patterson Avenue) in Memphis.
Hope to see you there!
Lin