Outlaw's Apprentice pin-up

Chris Schweizer recently kickstarted his new book Outlaw's Apprentice: Broken Blade and once I saw he was collecting some pinups from other artists for a Kickstarter bonus sketchbook, I strongarmed Chris into letting me do one.

The kickstarter campaign was close to ending when I offered to do the art, and so it was a race to get it done so it could offer any boost/promotion/incentive for some final backers before the campaign closed.

To the left you can see the final colored artwork, and in this post, I'll break down the art process it took to get me there.

I've long admired Chris Schweizer, not only as a comic artist, but also as a craftsman, designer, teacher, and human. He is truly a renaissance man and I advise following him on social media: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/schweizercomics.bsky.social & IG: https://www.instagram.com/schweizercomics/ as well as his patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/ChrisSchweizer.

His latest series is about an apprentice glassmaker who finds himself along with the mercenary he's apprenticed to in trouble with the law while standing up for what's morally right. The series is free to read on Webtoon or Chris' Patreon: https://outlawsapprentice.com/

I started by drawing the main character Otis on a a sheet of copy paper. My original idea was for him to be walking balance-beam-style on a fallen tree as his outlawed companion Erska walked along side. But after I scanned in my Otis drawing, I realized Erska wouldn't fit, where I planned without blocking some part of Otis' silhouette.

I drew a few loose poses for Erska before settling on this one of her. Each drawing was tinted in Photoshop to help me see them better as forms and I blocked in color for each also to help me understand what the forms all were.

I quickly digitally drew in some background shapes before calling this layout done and ready to ink.

The layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of 300 series Strathmore bristol 9"x12". On my Huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to use the printout as a guide while I inked.

I used Copic Multiliner SP pens for the inking, mostly the 0.7 nib, but I switched off to a 0.3 for the eyes since they were smaller and required more finesse.

Chris told me that the book's dimensions were going to be a smaller mass-market paperback size, and so I was careful to not over detail the inks so they's reduce well without becoming muddy. Because of that, I focused on good contour lines for the characters without much texture, and bolder black shapes for the background.

The inked drawing was then scanned into Photoshop. Worried I wouldn't be giving Chris enough time to promote with my art, I sent him the inked version as I worked on the colors. That first step of coloring is called color flatting. It's basically a digital coloring-in-the-lines on a professional level using only flat colors (no rendering, no textures, etc). 

I started with the color palette in Chris's comics, but then altered some of the hues and values to meet up with my own coloring preferences and to compliment the background colors. 

At this stage I also established color holds (areas where I want the linework to be a color other than black) on the tree, the plants and grass, the character's pupils, and Erska's upper lip.

Here again is the final colored piece. I used the Dodge and Burn tools mostly to add highlights and shadows all while using a stock textured brush to get some nice natural variance to the colors.

Outlaw's Apprentice: Broken Blade is available to read free online now: https://outlawsapprentice.com/ with printed books being available hopefully early next year from Chris. And I know this is the first book in a long series and that he plans to start on book 2 very soon. 

Cats Trio Re-Revisit

I recently posted about a Cats Trio revisit that I drew at the end of last year...well, during my friend group's RPG session, I started doodling and started drawings of the cats again. And as a fun indulgence, I did a full finished piece of it.

For those who don't know, CATS TRIO was a comic my friends and I worked on (never finished) at the start of high school. Three mutated/anthropomorphic cats befriend a similar raccoon as the group discover their shared origins, survive in abandoned places away from human eyes, and avoid being hunted by another of their kind (a TMNT homage to be sure). 

For a past post about Cats Trio: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/08/cats-trio-revisit-cover.html
Or, watch the Plotmasters Project episode about it here: https://www.theplotmasters.com/cats-trio

I took the rough pencils of the three cats I drew during game night, then revised a better drawing of the raccoon before putting them all into Photoshop and moved and resized them until I had a composition I liked. To help me see each of their forms, I blocked in some base colors for each character so that as I moved them individually, their colors moved with them.

Using a photo of a derelict bridge as reference, I penciled a background that gave the whole piece a 'Stand By Me' vibe.

The layout was then printed and taped to the back of a sheet of 11" x 17" Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad I'm able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the lineart. I used a Copic Miltiliner SP 0.7 nib pen.

I left the details of the characters fairly open focusing more on line weight for their contours, fur texture, and clothing wrinkles. I spent more time on detail for the environment.

The inks were then scanned and brought into Photoshop again where I started the coloring process by blocking in all the flat colors (this professional version of coloring-in-the-lines is called 'flatting). Most of the color choices were already established from past Cats Trio pieces, but I did make some adjustments of value, saturation, and hue for this piece to help the viewer's eye move through it better.

At this stage I also established color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on the bindle bag, their pupils, and all of the background.

The final art (seen here without the Cats Trio logo) was rendered using the dodge and burn tools. I happened to be finishing the color rendering on the final character's at the virtual RPG gaming session with that same group of friends one week later). I pushed the background way back to make sure the characters were more of the focus (ironic with all the ink detail back there)

These characters are old friends. They occupy a special place in my heart that idealizes a great time in my young life establishing lifelong friendships. And while I have no current plans to develop Cats Trio, it's always fun when I get a chance to say hello to these guys and keep them alive.

Cats Trio Revisit

I still find tremendous nostalgic comfort & joy in CATS TRIO: a comic my friends and I worked on (never finished) at the start of high school. Three mutated/anthropomorphic cats befriend a similar raccoon as the group discover their shared origins, survive in abandoned places away from human eyes, and avoid being hunted by another of their kind (a TMNT homage to be sure). Here is a new revisit I did just as a fun indulgence. 

For a past post about Cats Trio: https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2017/08/cats-trio-revisit-cover.html

Or, watch the Plotmasters Project episode about it here: https://www.theplotmasters.com/cats-trio

This revisit came from my going through old sketchbooks to scan for Patreon and I found a thumbnail lineup of the group that I think I drew at the time of the Plotmasters Project episode. I pulled it out with the idea of just inking it at that same size...but quickly realized it was both very small and that the characters were too loose to go straight to ink (especially the further to the right).

So, I blew up a scan of the rough and re-penciled it at a larger scale. On the back of the paper I also penciled in a boarded up fence I wasn't sure I wanted to add or not. 

Both sides of the pencils were scanned and reassembled in Photoshop and I found an old rusted road sign to reference I could add my Plotmasters Project-era CATS TRIO logo to.

With that printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol, I started inking the piece on my Huion lightpad. On the lightpad I can see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as my 'pencils' as I ink with a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen.

Inks were scanned and the color process began by adding flat color to everything establishing not only what areas are what colors, but also what the overall base colors are. I pulled the color choices I'd made from my Plotmasters Project episode revisit, but they still needed to be altered a bit (hue, value, saturation) here and there for this piece.

It's at this stage that I also establish the color holds (areas where I want the inklines to be a color other than black). I did this on their pupils, glasses, the sign text, and the rust.

Here again are the final rendered colors. To add the shadows, highlights and texture I sued the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush.

These characters feel like old friends. They occupy a special place in my heart that idealizes a great time in my life with great friends. And while I have no current plans to develop Cats Trio, it's always fun when I get a chance to say hello to these guys and keep them alive.

HeroesCon 2026 Paintings

For my return to Heroes Con June 12-14, I've painted two 16" x 20" pieces in watercolor and color pencil. One of them will be put into the Saturday art auction at the convention. The other will be available at my table the next day with a price set from the winning bid of Saturday's auction.

This year's pieces are both from my favorite Disney animated feature: Robin Hood. This one meant a lot to me growing up and definitely influenced what Mouse Guard became.

Below are the process steps and photos I took as I worked.

I started with pencil drawings that were assembled in photoshop with some corrections and drawing fill-in done digitally. For both pieces, I wanted to try and draw the characters the way I'd treat them (more like real animals) but balance that with their cartoon likeness.

Next step was to use transfer paper to transfer the large printout of the rough onto the thick illustration board. Using a ballpoint pen I traced over the rough's outlines to get the linework on the final surface.

  
You can see the drawing transferred onto the illustration board and the back-side of the transfer paper where the graphite has worn away.

The transferred drawings ready to paint.

My painting setup. One large and muddy watercolor tray and lid with dried up paint tubes I use like cakes and a spare set of colors I never use, but are stored in the larger tray. 

From here on out, I won't type more commentary until the end.

To get the fireflies, I used clean water and a brush to lift the pigment and blot with paper towel. 

The last step was to reinforce the linework with color pencil. Almost like inking my work, but rather than a bold and harsh black line, I opted for a softer dark brown color pencil.

As I said, one of these pieces will go into the art auction at Heroes Con on Saturday––the other will be available at my table on Sunday morning for a price based on the auction's results.

Also, since I've been asked, I don't make prints of characters I don't own/have the rights to––so I'm not making prints of these.

Bonus:
Here are the past Disney-themed pieces I've done for Heroes Auction art:

Ducktales: 

Process Blogpost:

https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2023/06/heroes-con-2023-paintings.html

Gummi Bears:

Process Blogpost:

https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2023/06/heroes-con-2023-paintings.html

Tale Spin:
Process Blogpost:
https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2025/06/heroes-con-2025-paintings.html

Rescue Rangers:

Process Blogpost:

https://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2025/06/heroes-con-2025-paintings.html