Loukas & Saxon Calendar Piece

I was asked by Scott Dunbier if I'd like to contribute an original piece to the charity auction he runs for the Hero Initiative at Baltimore Comic Con next month

The original inks (see below) were turned over to Scott at San Diego Comic Con and will be included in the auction.

But I decided even before I started on the piece, that it could pull double duty and be used for a 2024 Mouse Guard Calendar. So, my process was more involved since I knew the final piece would also be colored and used for print.

For a subject matter I started with the idea of drawing Loukas, Saxon's Mentor who made an appearance in Winter. I thought it would be cool to have a strong veteran of the Mouse Guard as the focus of the piece. But somewhere in drawing him on a sheet of copy paper, I also wondered what it would look like if I added a young Saxon. And as I drew Sax, I decided not to draw a cloak, but to draw him in a pre-Guard induction vest.

These drawings were done on copy paper, scanned into Photoshop, assembled with a quick digital flat painting and background

I printed the above digitally assembled layout onto two sheets of legal sized paper (taping them together so the image was 11" x 11") and then taped them with painter's tape onto the bak of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series Bristol.

On my Huion Lightpapd I was able to see through the surface of the bristol down to the printout and use it as my 'pencils' as I worked. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens (the 0.3 & 0.7 nibs). 

Because the inks were set to be auctioned, I wanted to do something with lots of line weight and texture while sting being clear to read and very clean.

With the inks finished, I scanned them into Photoshop and started the coloring process. That first step is known as 'Flatting' and essentially is professional coloring-inside-the-lines. A lot of the color palette was established both by the cannon of what I know the characters look like, but also from my layout stage. 

Here I also established color holds (areas where I want the ink lines to be a color other than black) on the oak leaves, Loukas' plaid tunic, and Saxon's scratches.

The final step was to render the piece. I used the Dodge and Burn tools in Photoshop while using a stock textured brush.

The colored image will appear in a calendar for 2024––AND the original inks will be in the Hero Initiative auction at Baltimore Comic Con.

Art will be available for viewing both at the Baltimore Comic-Con, and at Hero Initiative’s website: https://www.heroinitiative.org/portfolio-item/2023-baltimore-comic-con-auction/

In addition to bidding at the auction, advance proxy bidding will also be available via Hero’s website with a strict deadline of August 31, 2023. Hero will begin accepting bids on August 21.