Bodie Troll Pinup Process:

My friend and fellow Michigander Jay Fosgitt has a new creator-owned book out through Red 5 called Bodie Troll. It's an all-ages book about a little troll who isn't big and scary (though he tries to be) so no one takes him seriously. Jay asked me to contribute a pinup for an upcoming issue, and I was glad to. Here's the process for the artwork.

Sketch/Layout:

After looking at Jay's first issue (the only issue available when I started the pinup)over and over for reference and to brainstorm on an idea, I decided that I really wanted to include the puppet newscaster Socko as well as an action shot of Bodie. I talked to Jay about Socko, asking what would he be made of, if Jay ever planned to show the puppeteer, if Socko should appear away from the puppeteer ever, etc. With some answers from Jay, I sketched out Bodie and Socko in my sketchbook, scanned them and placed them into a photoshop template with the bleed area marked out in yellow. I used a drawing of Jay's in my layout for the puppet theater and Socko's painted sign.To help with the layout, I quickly splashed some underpainted color onto the characters to help me see if the masses worked the way I wanted them to.

Inks:
With the sketch printed out to full scale, I taped it on to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. I inked the piece on my lightbox where I was able to see the printed sketch through the bristol to use as a guide for my inks. I tried to give Bodie's varied fur types some texture and movement as well as to stitching texture to the theater's banner and Socko's wooden head. I only used Jay's version of the theater as a guide and added my own movement and embellishments to the curtains and awning.

Colors:
The last step was to scan the inks and color them digitally. Jay is using a lot of color holds on Bodie Troll, so I wanted to do a similar treatment. None of the lineart is black, but different shades of brown, with the lighter browns being used to convey distance. Otherwise the colors are just kept as close to on-model for Jay's book as I could get.

The pinup will appear in Bodie Troll #4 which is in Previews now for pre-order (ask your store to get you a copy) for release in October.

Watercolor Wednesday:

Here's another look at last week's watercolors in case you missed them. The first started as an exercise to use a mirror for facial expressions. But then I played and had fun with the beard, costume, coloration, and background. In fact, both pieces last week had patterned backgrounds.

The second of last week's pieces was a dragon in a knight's helmet. The background needed to be light once I'd painted in a strong red for the flag-ribbon...but the pale yellow was too dull...so I had fun with repetition

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