Rosard Mouse Print Process

*NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO DISNEY CANCELING THE MOVIE AT FOX––WE ARE STILL EXPLORING ALL OPTIONS TO BRING THE MICE OF MOUSE GUARD TO LIFE*

When the Mouse Guard Movie was given a full green light from FOX, Stephen Christy and Ross Richie came to Michigan to deliver the good news, deliver the payment, and celebrate with a meal. As a thank you for their work on Mouse Guard as a book series and on the Movie (they are involved both in publishing at BOOM! and producers on the film at the FOX lot) I drew them each as a Guardmouse and gave them the original inked piece.

To the left you can see the finished colored version of 'Rosard' that I've released as a print available in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com



Ross Richie is head of BOOM! Studios who acquired Archaia several years ago. But even before that, Ross had always been in my and Mouse Guard's corner. Early on he'd shared with me his appreciation for my book and hired me to do covers for BOOM! titles. When Archaia had hit some hard times, he mentioned to me, with no pressure or hard sell, that if things got bad, and I ever needed a new home for Mouse Guard, he was there for me. It was BOOM!'s deal with FOX that made the movie possible (and under the favorable terms for me). He's made a lot of things possible for me and Mouse Guard.



So, how to interpret Ross as a mouse? Well, I thought of Ross as firstly a guy who needed a weapon whose sound effect would go 'BOOM!'. Ross' personality is a big presence. It's not overwhelming, or oppressive, but it has a mass to it. I wanted to add that volume to his mouse's cloak, his oversized warhammer, and a story told in his fur and his scars.

The name Rosard comes from the origin spelling of the name Ross ('Ros') and the pronunciation of the Scottish Gaelic for 'Hammer' ('òrd' pronounced 'Ard'). I drew the Ross-mouse and the swirly patterned stones on one sheet of copy paper, scanned it in to Photoshop to resize it for the final artwork-size.



With the layout assembled and printed on to copy paper, I started inking it. I taped the printout to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad, I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and use that as a guide to ink from. For pens I used my trusty Copic Multiliner SPs...primarily the 0.7 nib that I like so much.

It would have been easy to get carried away with the textures of the scarred mouse, his fur cloak, well-used front sash, hammer details, and stone background...but I tried to restrain myself and leave room for color.



I scanned the inks and started to lay in flat colors as well as establish the few color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on his scars

Ross' colors weren't as easy to pin-down as other human-to-guardmice-inspirations. I think of some of Ross' tenacity and directness to be in the red-family for cloak colors...but I opted to make that the front accent panel color and leave his fur and cloak more in a natural cream and brown tone-range. The hammer also had to be seen...it needs to do some of its job before it's even swung...so I went with a brassy tone for that.



The last step was to render the colors by adding light and shadow as well as texture using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I did some color adjustments from the flat colors, punching up the fungus color to be a bit more vivid.


I've told Ross that his mouse 'Rosard' may make it into the Weasel War as a casualty...and to not take that personally. It doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about that mouse earlier in his life...

You can buy a print of Rosard in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com

2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Stjepan Mouse Print Process

*NOTE: THIS WAS WRITTEN PRIOR TO DISNEY CANCELING THE MOVIE AT FOX––WE ARE STILL EXPLORING ALL OPTIONS TO BRING THE MICE OF MOUSE GUARD TO LIFE*

Back when the Mouse Guard Movie was given a full green light from FOX, Stephen Christy and Ross Richie came to Michigan to deliver the good news, deliver the payment, and celebrate with a meal. As a thank you for their work on Mouse Guard as a book series and on the Movie (they are involved both in publishing at BOOM! and producers on the film at the FOX lot) I drew them each as a Guardmouse and gave them the original inked piece.

To the left you can see the finished colored version of 'Stjepan' that I've released as a print available in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com


Stephen Christy joined Archaia after a troubled time where due to a partner leaving and other complications, the publisher was bankrupt and unable to publish comics. Until a new owner bought the company and had Stephen as his right-hand-man. Stephen essentially worked on the re-launch from his dining room table in Chicago (this is when Archaia had been in Fort Lee, NJ and before the official move to LA). Stephen has also been there for every incarnation of Mouse Guard being approached, pitched, and *nearly* sold as a movie prior to FOX and has been instrumental in shepherding it this time.




So, how to interpret Stephen as a mouse? Well, I think of Stephen as having an elegance about him. For that reason I kept his fur simple and I wanted his cloak to have detail. Trim and perhaps an insignia. And for a weapon, he's have something more like an epee or saber fencing sword.

I drew the Stephen-mouse on one sheet of copy paper, and the tree-trunk with mushroom fungus on another and then assembled the parts in Photoshop (tinting the background a different color to help me visualize it). The thistle was also inserted digitally from a clip-art sheet of insignias (I suppose that means he's either from or has valiantly served Thistledown--the same town where Gwendolyn is from).


With the layout assembled and printed on to copy paper, I can start inking it. I taped the printout to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad, I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout below and use that as a guide to ink from. For pens I used my trusty Copic Multiliner SPs...primarily the 0.7 nib that I like so much.

To make sure I could separate the background lines of the forest floor, I left a white gap between the foreground inks and the sticks on the ground. That not only helps visually separate them, but also makes it easier in the next step when I have to establish the color holds.


I scanned the inks and started to lay in flat colors as well as establish all the color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on the cloak details and the background floor.

Stephen's colors came to me very quickly: Brown fur, and a royal blue cloak. There is an elegance to that color that fits what I was going for, but beyond that I just associate Stephen with the color blue, so it was a natural fit. The mushrooms then get into an orangey-tan to compliment the wardrobe hues.


The last step was to render the colors by adding light and shadow as well as texture using the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush. I did some color adjustments from the flat colors, punching up the fungus color to be a bit more vivid.

I've told Stephen that his mouse 'Stjepan' may make it into the Weasel War as a casualty...and to not take that personally. It doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell about that mouse earlier in his life...

You can buy a print of Stjepan in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com


2019 Appearances
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
GenCon August 1-4
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20
The Fantastic Workshop Nov. 13-18

Celanawe Print Process

To have a new character print for my 2019 conventions and appearances, as well as to round out the main cast of Mouse Guard character prints, I've created a print of Celanawe (aka The Black Axe). To the left you can see the finished artwork, but for this blogpost I'll be sharing the art steps for how I got there in the post below.


Before the step-by-step though, the print is available for purchase in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com




I started with a drawing of Celanawe on copy paper (right). I didn't have a clear picture in my head of where to put him in terms of a setting...mossy rocks, ferny undergrowth, something else entirely? So I scanned the character drawing and did a quick digital painting of fern-like plants surrounding the oldfur (not pictured). Using a printout of that digital painting as a guide, I penciled on a lightbox linework for the flora. The patterns of the leaf shapes in the foreground (bottom) were getting a bit too repetitive to also use as the background shapes, so I used a new sheet of copy paper to draw out a broader leaf that felt like it was from the same family.


With all those pencil drawings done, I was able to composite together a digital layout for the print. I blocked in the color on Celanawe so I could see him as a mass, and also to make it easier to paint in the leaf shapes behind him. The colors help me see when I'm inking what area is what item so that I can get their contours right but also so I can add texture in the right places.

This is a little overboard for a 'layout', and some fans who watched the process on Twitch pointed out that this almost looks finished as a piece in it's own right...


But I like inked lines, and that's what you all know Mouse Guard to be. So, with the above layout printed and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol 300, I started inking on my Huion lightpad with Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.7 for everything but around the eyes where I used a 0.3).

I streamed this part on Twitch as I built up my line weights, added texture, and tried to make sense of those lacy ferns.



The step after the inks are finished is scan them and start to add color. This part is all about flat color, no rendered effects, no shading, just establishing which parts are which colors. Since I'd done some color work on my layout, some of the color selection was already done, it was just a matter of carefully getting the new color layers to meet up with (and stay within the lines of) the inked drawing. At this stage I also established the few color holds (places where I want the ink line to be a color other than black)––in this case the cut on Celanawe's nose, the bowl opening of his pipe, and a little detail on the Ladybug shell where the white dot meets the red.


The last step was to render all the colors adding light and shadow as well as texture. I do most of that with the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop and a stock textured brush.

Another effect was I made a trail of my thumbprints on copy paper and a roller ball pen and scanned that pattern as the smoke trailing from Celanawe's pipe. I treated the thumbprints like a color hold on a separate layer where I could control the opacity over the existing scenery.



You can purchase this print (along with most of the other Mouse Guard characters) at my upcoming convention appearances as well as in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com

2019 Convention Appearances

Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

2019 German Print Process

A few weeks ago on the return leg of my trip to Finland (my niece is an exchange student there) I did a signing at T3 in Frankfurt, Germany.
It was great to be back in Europe doing Mouse Guard promotion and getting to meet with fans from overseas.

The shop asked me to create a Mouse Guard print that we could sell and I could sign at the event.

To the left you can see the finished piece, but below I'll go through the steps to get there...



Back in 2007 I visited Berlin, Germany on a signing tour. For that appearance I was asked to create a limited print (hopefully with a German theme since I'd done something similar with aUK theme for an appearance there that same year). Here is that print, with a Germanic armored mouse with the heraldry of the black eagle and the German flag behind him.

I went back to this piece as the inspiration for the new one.



On a sheet of copy paper, I drew the same mouse, this time with his helmet removed and his body language more humble and reverent. It was fun to go back and rework a design from over a decade ago...to pay homage and make slight alterations in proportions, detail, and texture.  The eagle was drawn on a separate sheet of copy paper as I referenced a traditional image of a heraldic German black eagle. In place of the tiny details on the shield in the photo reference I substituted the colors of the German flag.

All of this was scanned and digitally assembled in Photoshop at the proper sizing for the finished print.

I printed the above digital composite of the sketches onto copy paper and then taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol.

Using a light pad, I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout underneath to use it as a guide as I inked. To ink the piece I used Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.7 nib almost exclusively).

Knowing I was going to use a color hold on the eagle and heraldry, I tried to make sure I left a gap between the inks on those elements and the mouse himself.

After the inks were finished I scanned them into Photoshop. The first step in the coloring process is called 'flatting' because it deals with laying in flat colors to all of the image, establishing what areas are what colors (his fur is orange, the eagle is a grey-brown, the sky is cream, etc...) Most of those colors were already established by the previous print from 2007, but there were still tonal changes to be made.

This is also the step where I established all the color holds (areas I want the ink work to be a painted color other than black) on the eagle, his halo, the flag stripes, and the axe details.



The final step was to do the rendering an adding texture. I did that using a textured brush in Photoshop and the Dodge and Burn tools. The final piece got golor shifted a bit warmer than the flats in the end, and I added 'Mouse Guard' to the bottom for the final print.


Didn't make it to Frankfurt for the signing and you'd like to own one of these prints? Well, GOOD NEWS! I have a limited supply of them in my online store for sale currently:
mouseguard.bigcartel.com



2019 Convention Appearances

Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

2019 Mouse Guard Bookplate Process

Every year since 2012 I've been creating a Mouse Guard bookplate (at the bottom of the post you can see other past year's bookplates and links to blogposts about them). The idea is that, with these signed by me, even if you can't bring me your physical copy of a Mouse Guard book, this bookplate can be glued in making your copy signed.

I'll have the bookplate at my 2018 conventions and in my online store soon after Emerald City Comic Con. For this blogpost, I wanted to go through the process to create the bookplate image.



For this year's Bookplate I took an unfinished drawing of a mouse playing a lute and tightened up the linework by tracing over the old piece on a light pad. I then did a quick color study in Photoshop, and added in medieval sheet music and the Mouse Guard shield emblem (soon to be an enamel pin!).

But as each year's bookplate art is created in some alternate medium like woodcut, stained glass, embroidery, etc (whether done in real life or digitally synthesized), I needed to do something unique with this piece. And I decided to paint it in gouache!.

I have to give a HUGE thanks to Tony DiTerlizzi for inspiring me to do this, as well as generously giving me his time and information over a phone call where he walked me through materials, tricks, techniques, and pitfalls (we also got to talk D&D and golden-age illustrators). Below are the steps I followed:

Using my lightpad, I transferred the drawing in a dark brown color pencil to Strathmore 4-ply smooth bristol board. More than just trace the outlines, I added a bit of tone and sketch texture...but not too much (My first attempt at this piece ended up in me tearing up the painting partly because I'd overworked the color pencil drawing at this stage)

I then mixed up a very wet and milky wash of unbleached titanium white acrylic paint to coat the drawing. This makes the working area all a little bit more parchment colored and gives a tonal base to work off of, much like when I work on toned paper. It also seals in the color pencil and gives the acryla-gouache something to bite onto.

With various mixes of browns, blacks, and blue, I mixed up some tonal base colors to start putting in my overall value scheme for the piece. Because the gouache I was using was acrylic base, once this is dry, I can paint over it without worrying it will lift color and turn to mud when I do the next coat.

Working back to front, I got all the musical notes and the staff lines and the shield painted in their correct color scheme. With the reds and yellows out I also mixed up the skin tones for the paws, tail, nose, and ears.

I then kept building up my color tones and getting the values closer

I was getting very close here, and even stopped to take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes. And after I took this photo with my phone, I happened to do a quick filter on it to change it to b&w...and I could see where the dark values needed to be pushed further...

And finally the finished image scanned and signed.

Past year's bookplates & process blogposts:

2012:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2012/02/2012-bookplate-this-year-im-starting.html

2013:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-bookplate-like-last-year-ill-be.html

2014:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2014/03/2014-bookplate-process.html

2015:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/03/2015-bookplate-process.html

2016:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/05/2016-bookplate.html

2017:

http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/02/2017-bookplate-process.html

2018:

https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2018/03/2018-mouse-guard-bookplate-process.html

2019 Convention Appearances
(more may be announced)

Emerald City Comic Con March 14-17
Heroes Con June 14-16
San Diego Comic Con July 17-21
New York Comic Con October 3-6
Baltimore Comic Con October 18-20

Conrad 5x7 Print Process

Conrad, the salty old peg-legged Guardmouse from Fall 1152 and The Black Axe, is the subject of a new 5X7 print (matted to 8" x 10") I'll be offering at conventions and in my online store. Conrad joins a portrait series that also includes: Saxon, Sadie, Gwendolyn, Kenzie, Rand, and Lieam.

To the left you can see the final artwork for the print, but below I walk through the process for creating this piece (which I also streamed LIVE several portions of on Twitch).




I started with a sketch of Conrad and a photo referenced location. The sketch is all in pencil on copy paper. I like to use copy paper because I don't feel precious about it, there is less at stake and so I'll feel more free to dig in to the drawing and worry less about mistakes. This isn't the final drawing and putting pencil on copy paper reinforces that in my head as I draw. I didn't put the XXX jug into the composition because I had the feeling I was going to move it around once I had everything in the size of the mat. The beach photo is one I took, setting the camera very low to get a mouse-eye-view at the beach in Ludington, Michigan.


I scanned the sketch into Photoshop and moved the jug into place. I also placed the photo behind it. Zooming in and shifting around, I was able to find a composition that I liked, where the horizon line felt right where the breaking wave had the most impact. I drew over the photo at this scale (printed out for reference) on copy paper on a light pad to define the shape of the breaking splash of the wave and the shape and placement of the rocks. Lining that drawing (tinted blue) with the Conrad sketch I had my final layout. Since the background photo was providing some color tone, I spotted in some flat colors for Conrad and the fish to help me visualize the finished piece as I worked.


A printed version of the above digital layout was taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On a light pad, I was able to see the printout as a guide and ink the lines confidently with Copic Multiliners (I think I only used the 0.7 nib here). Notice I didn't ink the water marks coming into contact with Conrad. That's in part to visually push the background back, but it's also so that on the next step my life is a bit easier...

That step is called 'flatting'. It's about establishing what areas are what colors, including the color holds (areas where I want the inkwork to be a color other than black).
There no worry about rendering here. Just flat color space. in this screenshot I've included my layer menu to show how I break down what colors go on what layers and where they fall in order above or below the inks layer (note the color holds are all above the inks and the image colors all are below).


I find that being able to click between layers to select what part of the piece you want to effect as you render is quicker than having the flats on one layer and using the magic-wand tool (a more common and popular method). To render this piece I used the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop and a stock textured brush.

To the right you can see the final results.
And you can purchase the matted print in my online store: http://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/conrad-matted-print





More of the 5x7" Mouse Guard character print process Blogposts:

Saxon Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/04/5x7-saxon-print-process.html

Sadie Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/04/sadie-5x7-print.html

Gwendolyn Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/05/gwendolyn-print.html

Kenzie Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/02/kenzie-5-x-7-print-process.html

Rand Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/05/rand-5x7-print-process.html

Lieam Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/07/lieam-5x7-print-process.html



2018 Appearances:

Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7

Em of Appleloft 5x7 Print Process

Celanawe's distant kin, caller to action, and companion on the quest of the Black Axe (not to mention ancestor of Farrer, forger of the Black Axe itself) Em of Appleloft is the subject of a new 5X7 print (matted to 8" x 10") I'll be offering at conventions and in my online store. Em joins a portrait series that also includes: Saxon, Sadie, Gwendolyn, Kenzie, Rand, Lieam, and Conrad. To the left you can see the final artwork for the print, but below I walk through the process for creating this piece (which I also streamed LIVE several portions of on Twitch).




The first sketch of Em, I didn't care for so much (top left sketch). Nothing major was off, just lots of little somethings. On a lightbox, I redrew her, tweaking things as I went, adjusting her head angle and drape of her dress (bottom right). As she's from Appleloft, I decided to have her amongst the namesake fruit of that village. The stock photo reference was gathered (top right), cropped and amended, and then drawn onto copy paper on a light pad (bottom left).
Th emain motifs for Em was to make her wise and studious, carrying her notes and illuminations concerning the Black Axe history and lore while holding a feather quill to associate in her connection to birds.



The various drawings above were scanned in and assembled into a finished layout. The figure drawing scan is all tinted warm and the background cool. This helped me to make sense of the lines not only as I assembled this, but in the next step as I inked, helping me distinguish forms from one another. For similar reasons, I added in the color tones for the whole piece to help me start to solve any tangents or light on light or dark on dark areas that may not help the figure to separate from the background.


The above layout was printed out on copy paper and then taped to a back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On a light pad, I can see through the bristol to the printout and use it as a guide as I ink. For pens, I use Copic Multiliner SPs. The SP version has replaceable nibs and ink cartridges. I used the 0.7 nib for this exclusively I believe.

Knowing tone & value information from the layout, I was careful about where and how much texture I put into things like the leaves and branches.


When the inks were scanned, I flatted the colors in preparation for the final colors. This process is like a coloring book for professionals: 'stay inside the lines'. Here I'm putting in flat color where it belongs, establishing that her dress color is different than her hood or her fur, or her inner ear. I've also established some color-holds (areas where I want the ink lines as a color rather than black): her dress & sash pattern, the book cover details, and the spots on the apples.




The final step is the color rendering. I use the dodge and burn tools with a stock textured brush to do all the shading and highlighting. There are a few settings in Photoshop for dodge and burn to take note of for how I get the colors the way I want them, most importantly the 'range', which not only controls what values are effected the quickest/most by the tool, but also if it saturates or desaturates to get there.


To the right you can see the finished print for Em of Appleloft.
And you can purchase the print from my online store:
http://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/em-of-appleloft-matted-print-8x10






More of the 5x7" Mouse Guard character print process Blogposts:

Saxon Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/04/5x7-saxon-print-process.html

Sadie Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/04/sadie-5x7-print.html

Gwendolyn Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/05/gwendolyn-print.html

Kenzie Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/02/kenzie-5-x-7-print-process.html

Rand Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/05/rand-5x7-print-process.html

Lieam Print: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/07/lieam-5x7-print-process.html




2018 Appearances:
WonderCon: Mar. 23-25
C2E2: April 6-8
Heroes Con: June 15-17
San Diego Comic Con: July 18-22
Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 28-30
New York Comic Con: Oct. 4-7