The Scarecrow’s face is not three dimensional. It’s painted on. If you had a conversation with him you’d be watching the paint move around on his head bag. It would be like talking to a cartoon. I love that.
Author Archives: skook
Coloring Oz – Scarecrow 3
The next step after finishing the art on paper is to scan it into Photoshop and start coloring. I lay down color under the scan of the illustration. To begin with I just lay down flat areas of color without any shading or tones. Without the illustration layer the color looks like this:
Coloring Oz – Scarecrow 2
Another day, another step toward a finished color cameo of the Scarecrow. This is the final black and white artwork. The main blacks are all done with ink. Shading and the background were done with a “B” drawing pencil.
Coloring Oz – Wizard 1
Coloring Oz – Scarecrow 1
2010 was a crap year for getting work done on Oz Squad. It was a crap year for getting much art done period but the Squad suffered the most. This sketch is one of the threads I’m finally picking up after far too long. It’s a piece of a project that Steve handed me last year and I dropped after getting just a tenth of the way into it.
My hope is that 2011 will be the year I finally finish the outstanding Squad projects and get new ones moving. I also hope that the earth doesn’t get hit by an asteroid and that all bad men come to bad ends.
Anyway.
I meant to scan this piece in the sketch stage but forgot so we’ll get started here with the inks. This is the Scarecrow, the first companion that Dorothy picked up on her journey to see the Wizard. He’s been through a lot of hard times since Dorothy pulled him down from his pole. He’s been through a lot of good times as well. He hasn’t forgotten either.
Siblings Eight
My family is one of those blended concoctions – a mix of steps, halves and full blooded siblings with about 20 years difference between the oldest and the youngest. While we did get together for various holidays over the years we never managed to get more than 6 of us in the same room together. At this point, in this world, we never will get more than six of us together.
One of the handy things about being an artist is that you can create your own worlds whenever you feel like it. So for my Big Sister’s birthday this year I gave her this picture of a full sibling get together.
And before you ask, I have no idea why Big Big Brother is wearing moose antlers or why there’s a green mammoth in the background. Just because I create new worlds doesn’t mean I understand them.
Getting Fit! Numero 5
And here’s the last of the cartoons I did back in 2003 (or 2004) for the personal trainer. Run away!
Getting Fit! Numero 4
Stripping down a bicycle to its basic shapes was another challenge. I don’t draw machines that often so every time I do have to spend a lot of time sketching and resketching the ones I’m intending to depict in the final illustration. So first I had to sketch the bike with all its parts and then streamline each subsequent sketch until I ended up with this version. Looking at this now I think I should I done one more version.
Getting Fit! Numero 3
The client wanted a series of cartoons of people engaged in athletic activities – running, swimming, biking, etc. Swimming was one of the more challenging to figure out how to present. A full figure of someone swimming looks a little weird without context and a partial image of someone’s head and hands above the water can look as much like the person is drowning as if they are swimming.
Getting Fit! Numero 2
Here is another of the cartoon designs I did for the personal trainer back in 2003 (or 2004).
