Paper Champion pencils and inks

Hello! Another long lapse in posts, but here is a freelance comic I illustrated earlier in the year for Jeff Morris titled "Paper Champion." This is a highly personal story for Jeff and I was happy that he approached me to draw the comic for him! You can read the comic, fully colored and lettered on his website: https://ibuiltamountainofthunder.com/i-built-a-mountain-of-thunder/paper-champion/

Script: Jeff Morris
Pencils & Inks: Me
Colors: Emily Elmer Walker
Letters: Micah Myers

These pages were drawn on Stillman & Birn paper and inked with Deleter Nibs with Sumi Ink.

Patreon Page Launched!

I'm on Patreon!

This Spring, I've decided to put together a Patreon to promote my comic making endeavors! If you become a patron, you'll get access to my sketchbook studies, start to finish process for fan art and prints, characters designs, and my entire comic making process! And if we can reach a certain monthly goal, I'll be able to start updating my webcomic Curse of the Eel twice a week instead of just once!

I don't intend to hide any of my work behind a paywall, so I'll still try to post on here and on my other social media regularly, but if you wanted to get sneak peeks at things I'm doing or pdfs of the comics I'm completing, please consider donating to my Patreon if you like my work!

Thank you!

Spencer and Locke Vol 1 cover inks

This is one of my favorite images of the run, just showing the two mains and the oppressive city behind them. Thank you for reading! Pick up the first volume on Amazon HERE!

Tools: Raphael 8404 #3 brush and FW Ink, Pentel Hybrid Technica 04 and 03
Paper: Stillman and Birn beta paper

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!

My Trip to Berkeley, California

I recently returned from a short trip to Berkeley, CA where I was invited to give a presentation about why I love to use Stillman and Birn paper and to try out some new products coming out later this year. That's the reason I went, but the experience was so much more amazing than even just that alone.

I met so many kind art supply reps, artists, art store owners and even just people in the area who were so kinda and said amazingly flattering things about me that the whole trip felt like a dream. I was told by many that they loved having me there and that they really enjoyed my art and hoped that I could make all my dreams happen. Well, this was certainly one of them.

As a kid, my favorite books to have were related to art, especially when we would get art supply catalogs in the mail. I never would have thought, some 20 years later, that I would be befriending and networking with art supply people or with stores who have told they want me to come by and do demos at their stores. It was an amazing experience and one that I'll always remember!

Thank you to everyone who I spoke with, presented to, and just was there to make this event a blast! I also want to thank Stillman and Birn, specifically Michael, for inviting me to the event and for taking a chance on me to help promote your product! Now it's time for me to get back to drawing, I have a convention to prepare for!

Below are some of the drawings that I did while on the trip, all of which were done in a new type of Stillman and Birn sketchbook that is one of the best sketchbooks I've ever had. I filled up at least 12-15 pages of it in 3 days, and I can't wait to share more of it!

Requiem Sonata Ch.2 pencils 11-15

Here's another batch of pages for Requiem Sonata. I'm going to take a brief break from it, although I'm sure I'll still draw it from time to time since I can't really escape it. I have a short story I'm going to try to draw and print up for Heroes Con this. Wish me luck!

Pencils as always in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook!

Q is for Qiang

Q is for Qiang, Zhi's older brother.

Qiang is a prodigy much like his sister, only at the violin instead of the piano. Qiang and his sister often performed together at concerts and were almost considered the idols of the classic music scene. But then he stopped performing. I wonder why, and I wonder what he's been up to.

Tools: Prismacolor Turquoise lead holder
Paper: Stillman and Birn Gamma sketchbook

Requiem Sonata Ch.2 Pencils 1-10

Here are pencils for the first 10 pages of Requiem Sonata chapter 2. I'm still drawing them in my Stillman and Birn Alpha sketchbook, which is 9x12 inches and is considerably smaller than my usual working size of 11x17. Still, I find this really comfortable. The panels don't seem to be stopping me from doing dynamic work, so I'm grateful for that, and in fact, working smaller allows me to be more flexible with work anywhere. I haven't been super productive lately due to work woes and life woes, but when I can scribble a few panels I feel a ton better.

My pencils now are a lot messier because I like to have room to play in my inks. Instead of refining the lines down to the final one, I keep them loose and let inker Jorge decide which line is best, or if needed, redo the area. This adds a lot to my speed because I'm not sitting and dwelling over problems, the me of tomorrow is a better artist than the me of right now, so leaving things up to his more skilled eye is a great confidence boost. Anyhow, here are the pages!

Curse of the Eel chapter 3 pencils

So this one took me a while to get to. While I've been planning it out and and working on it when possible since June, but I think I needed a break from drawing this large so I could recharge. I ended up spending so much time from it that returning to 11x17 pages was a treat and a joy. I haven't done many touch ups on the older pages, partially out of laziness but more out of wanting to let my inks do the fixing.

I can't wait to ink these, I'm going to use a tandem of brush and Zebra brush pens. I look forward to the challenge.