JLA Classified 54

Here is the cover to JLA Classified issue 54. Don't know what to say about it, really. Drawn in ink with Copic Multiliner SP's, colored in Photoshop.

Also, I replied to a couple of comments in the Ruby Key thread.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

J

The Ruby Key

This is the dust jacket for "The Ruby Key", the first book in a new series of young adult fantasy novels titled "Moon and Sun", written by Holly Lisle. I completed it for the good folks at Scholastic Publishing a few months ago. It will be published some time next year.

The composition looks odd when it isn't folded up, so the smaller JPEG includes some lines to help indicate roughly where the image will be folded to wrap around the book.

The original is a rather large line drawing, somewhere around 16"x36", which I drew on heavy board with the idea that I might actually paint it. In the end, I scanned it and colored in Photoshop and Painter as usual. Maybe I will paint the next one.

The line art pictured here is how it appeared after I made some adjustments. The original is drawn in blue, and the main figures are actually facing the opposite direction, with their backs to one another. I had to flop them over in Photoshop because, for some strange reason, I decided to deviate from the sketch I submitted to Scholastic for approval when drawing the final, turning the figures the opposite direction. In the end, Scholastic decided they wanted them facing the same way I drew them in the sketch, so I did some careful selecting and digital noodling to fix it. That'll teach me to screw around with the layout!

If I can dig up the roughs, layouts, and scans, I will post them later; there were a lot of them. At the moment, I can't seem to recall where I put them.

Thanks for looking.

J

Absentminded sketches

Here are a couple of digital doodles I did between real work and a goblin I drew while on the phone this evening. The background drawings were done for fun and experimentation, and they truthfully aren't very well thought out or executed, but they served their purpose. After I hung up the phone, I decided to scan the goblin and play around with some color for a few minutes.

I never know if the color actually improves a drawing or if it just makes it something different. Without exception, something is lost when color is added. Hopefully, something more is gained, otherwise there is no point in the color. My color skills aren't the strongest, so I have unfortunately hurt the lines more often than not. I need to figure out a way to capture the immediacy of the pencil drawing while still bringing everything to a clean, colorful finish. It is my endless struggle.

J