Curse of the Eel ch7 Cover Process

Here's a little look at my art for the cover of Eel 7. I don't have the pencils scanned, I was really excited to ink this. At first, I did not plan for the cracks on the face of the red side. My theming with these, was to show the difference in planes that was so prevalent in Lovecraft's work that inspired me to make Eel. His thoughts were that the universe was infinitely vast and complicated and humans grasp of it was limited, so I tried to visually show two opposite but complimentary worlds: human and non-human. With the end of Eel 6, that split is breaking, and upon inking this cover, I had the idea to show that cracking here. For the first time, the two worlds are linked, and based on this cover, it can't be good.

My tools here were:
Inks: Raphael 8404 #4 brush and Deleter Gpens with FW and Maxon black inks
Paper: Stillman and Birn Beta paper

I hope you enjoy the cover and Eel 7 when it's out.

Curse of the Eel Ch 6 pgs 1-5 Inked

It's been too long since I had a comic update! Since I can't really show what I'm working on for publishers or for pitches, I'll share my most recent inks of Curse of the Eel. If you'd like to see the pencils for these pages, click HERE.

Inking Curse of the Eel is the most fun. I use a Raphael #3 brush to do most of my lines and that allows me to ink fast and expressively. I've started using Zebra brush pens to help me do fine lines, just because I want spare my wrist since my day job in graphic design is also demanding of my wrist. I'm inking as always on Stillman and Birn Beta paper, the surface is super accepting of pencil and ink and I've still yet to find a paper that is as much fun to ink on as it is to pencil on.

This was a fun chapter for Eel, I got to delve into some of the actual horror stuff that's been brewing since chapter 1. I got to draw 2 monsters in this issue, so I'm happy. I didn't think I was so into horror when I started Eel, but I've become really fond of it now. I still listen to H.P. Lovecraft audiobooks to set the mood while I'm working. These are also the places where I get to play with my comic skills. I don't really get the chance to on my other projects so my own projects are where I can try weird things and see how the experiments go! Like that 4th page, I hope you enjoy that one!

Thanks for the read and hope you like the pages!

Curse of the Eel chapter 6 page 1-4 pencils

Hello! So yesterday I was a madman and drew 4 pages of pencils in 3 hours for Curse of the Eel. I haven't had time to really sit down and vibe with my own projects in a long while. I've been drawing pages for an Action Lab comic that I can't announce yet, so here are the pages I did yesterday.

I like to pencil loosely, I used to spend a lot of time drawing things out exactly like how I would like for them to look inked. Looking at amazing pencilers like Stuart Immonen will do that to you, but he is working with an inker, so all of that detail is needed. In my case, once I became a confident enough inker and penciler, I tried to pencil less so my inks can feel more like drawing. That has really improved my speed, to where if I had the time I probably could do this entire chapter, pencils and inks in 2 weeks or less. Sadly, I've got other things to focus on but for now: here is what I'm working with! I'm aiming for this to be out for SPX 2016 which I have a table for! More details soon!!

Still Alive! Curse of the Eel 5 inks

After several months of no computer, I'm back and ready to share some art. 2015 ended kind of rough but I'm ready to make 2016 a much more productive year. On that note, here are some pages from Curse of the Eel chapter 5!

You can read Curse of the Eel online now on Tapastic, Tumblr, and Smackjeeves!

Curse of the Eel Ch4 Cover process

Here's another post for Curse of the Eel, this time for chapter 4's cover art. I'll go into a little detail about making this that I don't usually do on my other social media. Here we gooo! (I'll be at SPX on Sept. 19-20th at table J-13 so come by for books and laughs!)

These covers have been really easy to do. Relying on a simple layout set up has been the best thing, the books all feel related but have enough differences that they stand apart. I did struggle with this one though as the creature on the cover here is a mystery. It hasn't properly revealed itself in the comic itself, so even this is a clue to what it's going to be. I also wondered which character to put here, since the chapter doesn't focus on a new character, I decided to go with Connie but to raise her higher in the frame than in chapter 1, to show that she's getting better, even though things are getting worse. The hand lettering has also been really fun, although I hope I can keep it from being less confusing. This time it kinda was. You'll see in the inks.

I LOVE improvising. The greatest tool I've used since graduation has been that, and I do it a lot on these covers. My pencils used to be a lot tighter, it was me trying to really show people I knew how to draw, but what it also lead to was boring art. I was also taught to enlarge and trace over my thumbnails, but once again, it led to not fun results. I get why people do it, but to me, this isn't drawing, it's tracing. Same thing with inking over incredibly tight pencils, it's not drawing, it's tracing. I also wanna put forward that this isn't art theft tracing, what I mean is, when a step tells me exactly what to do in the next step with no room to play with the new method or tool, it just feels like work. I much prefer a loosely penciled page that I can have fun drawing with a brush and ink on. The results are a LOT better, and I'm finally understanding how to really shape forms with my brush. I've improved greatly in inking in a short time by being more loose, so I think there's merit to it. Draw how you want, that's what is most important. If it's not fun, don't do it.

There's not much to say on this stage, I'm not the best on coloring so having these preset and striking colors has been a godsend! I probably won't add more colors to them in the future, so I hope they're at least somewhat interesting to look at!

Thanks for reading!

Curse of the Eel Inks Ch4 page 8-13

More pages from Curse of the Eel chapter 4. I've inked thru 16, only 4 more to go and I can begin lettering the book! I'm really excited for SPX, I'll be at table J-13 if you can make it!

As usual, pages are inked with a Raphael 8404 #3 brush with FW Acrylic ink on Stillman and Birn beta paper

Curse of the Eel c4 p1-7 inks

Hello internet! Here are some pages of inks from the next chapter of Curse of the Eel. I've been working on this one again finally, and I'm really happy with how these are turning out. I switched to a new brush and I'm getting really great lines from it. I used a Raphael 8404 #3 brush, which is the same size as the last brush I was using, it's just not as battle worn. That brush lasted me about a year, that's pretty good I think. Anyhow, here are the inks. The paper is Stillman and Birn beta paper. It's the only paper I really trust to do pencils, inks, and watercolors on.

My plan is to have this chapter printed by SPX on Sept. 19-20, so wish me luck!

Curse of the Eel chapter 2 cover process

Sooo Curse of the Eel 2 has been done for a while, and originally I printed the chapter with chapter 1 because I thought it would make it easier to sell. Instead of selling 2 smaller books, you get one big fat book and I hoped to keep the price down by not having to print 2 covers and bind a second book when I could print them all in one. However, the printshop I was going thru was charging so much to print the book that it's just not feasible, plus the increased page count made the book so thick, it was hard to drive a staple thru. Ugh.

So I found a new printer! I'm getting test prints done now, so I'm hoping that this will make the book more affordable so i can sell them less, but splitting Eel 1 and 2 meant 2 needed its own cover. So I whipped this together yesterday! I say whipped because the thing I love about Eel is that I have a design scheme for the covers, so finding ways to make each cover interesting but following that same idea is super easy! I'll need these books because I'll be tabling at SPX next month! I'll post again when I know my table spot!

So here are the steps, pencils to inks to color for the 2nd chapter cover of Curse of the Eel!

All Girl Punk Band

Desperately in need of a name, but here are some character designs I've been having fun with on Instagram, now fully scanned and color corrected. Here are the members and a short bio for each:

Mariah on drums, she assembled the band after getting annoyed with the other bands she was a part of. She's really driven to make music and to make it feel unique, but her enthusiasm wasn't shared by her former bandmates. She's tough, enterprising, and bold, not taking no for an answer and she leads the girls into battle with her amazing drum skills.

Sad-ko, not her real name. She got the name because her hairstyle reminds people of Sadako, the girl from the Ring. She's a Japanese student studying in America and enjoys the loud and heavy sounds of metal. She decided to join up with Mariah because she has more ambition than most people she knows and enjoys performing in front of a crowd. Sad-ko can play most instruments but the bass is her favorite. She'll also leave her bass to play other instruments when they need her for special songs.

Carol Lynn is a country girl through and through. She grew up playing acoustic guitar, hoping one day to make it in country, but has started to enjoy the rebellious punk genre. She's currently clashing with her parents as the world changes, so she enjoys writing most of the melodies for the band. Carol is the most boisterous member of the band, she has no problem rough housing and throwing drinks back, and she will wrestle you down. She will, don't test her!

Amani is a young Pakistani-American woman who probably has ADHD. She is just bubbling over with energy, so to channel it, her parents have tried to get her into music. She's sampled every instrument, but the Flying V her parent's got her for her birthday is her prized possession. She joins the band to play music and also play the solos for the music. Her parents are huge supporters of the band and even go to some of the shows to take pictures for their site. Sometimes her brother is their roadie, when he's got the weekend off from work. Amani vies with Carol Lynn as the most boisterous member of the band, and the two have become best friends.

Makena is the vocalist for the band, coming from years and years of singing in the choir of her church. She's come into conflict with the strictness of the church and is taking a sabbatical from it to explore life and have more fun. Her faith is still important to her, but she also enjoys singing for herself and joins the band hoping for an open place to be herself. She chose pretty well!

Watercolor and Kuretake inks in my Stillman and Birn alpha sketchbook.

N is for Nilam

N is for Nilam, another character from a story I've yet to draw.

Nilam is an Indian American girl who survived the great floods. She and her father escaped into a high rise as the waters washed away most of civilization as we know it. In the process of escaping the huge waves, her legs were injured and she can't walk. Her friend, Araceli made her the wheelchair she uses, but Nilam's father does not like nor trust Araceli. His wife died in the flood and he refuses to let his daughter be taken from him, especially a weirdo like Araceli. Nilam is a strong and patient girl, while her father laments their situation, Nilam tries to make the best of it, choosing to celebrate what they have than be sad about the past.

Tools: Pentel pocket brush and Copic Multiliners
Paper: Stillman and Birn gamma sketchbook

Curse of the Eel Chapter 1

In the spirit of sharing more of my comics, here is my thesis work: Curse of the Eel chapter 1. I hope you enjoy it! And if you'd like to buy the first 2 chapters, it is available at my store: http://jorgesantiagojr.bigcartel.com/