Every year the
Baltimore Comic Con has published a convention art book called 'The Baltimore Yearbook' that features a character or property, where that creator is a guest of the convention. Selected guest artists are asked to contribute a piece of fan art for the book to celebrate the creator and property. It allows us to play in someone's world, and offers a chance for attendees to meet new creators as they go around the show floor collecting autographs in their yearbook.
This year's subject is Jeff Smith's Bone! To the left you can see my finished art, and below in the blogpost I'll walk through my process.
When I received the invitation email I knew right away that I wanted to draw the Red Dragon from the series. And while thinking about what else from Bone I'd love to draw, Bartleby (the baby rat creature the Bones adopt) came to mind––but it would be strange to have him without at least Smiley Bone...which kinda meant I was including all the Bones...and they would all be hanging on for dear life to the dragon as he charges ahead.
Then I started thinking about Grandma Ben & Lucious watching on the ground...and while they were fun to draw––it felt incomplete without Thorn (even though I'm not confident drawing attractive human characters).
All of those bits were scanned and then assembled into a template for the technical specs of the Yearbook's formatting. I was able to move characters around, swap drawings in and out, and change their size.
It became obvious that a huge character like Lucious was going to block too much of the Dragon's running pose, and that a Thorn standing next to her Grandmother was better than her riding the dragon.
Lastly, I realized the composition needed something more––the sky was too open and I didn't want to rely on painting a cloudscape in the coloring stage, so I blocked in a swarm of locusts (you'll understand if you've read Bone.)
I printed out the above layout and taped that to the back of a sheet of 14"x20" Strathmore bristol board. On my Huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol down to the printout to use as a guide while I inked the final drawing. I used Copic Multiliner pens (mostly the 0.5 nib, but also a 0.7 and occasionally a 0.3) to do all the inkwork.
Most of what I needed to worry about the the linework was just getting a clean contour and line weight––especially on the Bones...just a hare off and they look off-model very quickly. This original artwork will be up for auction at the Baltimore convention.
The inks were scanned and I started digitally coloring the piece. This involves blocking in flat colors to establish each color's shape. Most of the color choices had been made by reference to the Jeff Smith comics (with colors by Steve Hamaker) and from my layout.
In this step I also established color holds (areas where I want the inklines to be a color other than black) on the locusts, Thorn, Bartleby, & the Dragon's pupils, and Fone Bone's map.
The last step was to do the final rendering and lighting effects for the piece. I did this mostly using the dodge and burn tools and a stock Photoshop brush.
This piece will be published in the Baltimore Yearbook in October. That book will be available for purchase at the convention and through the con's website afterwards. The original inked piece will also be for sale in the art auction at the con on Saturday.
Past Baltimore Yearbook pieces & blogposts:
2023: First Comics (American Flagg):
2021: Halloween:
2018: Strangers in Paradise:
2017: Tellos:
2016: Archie:
2015: Mouse Guard:
2014: Grendel:
2012: Liberty Meadows:
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