While I do like these sketches I just didn’t have the energy or inspiration to color them. Oh well. Say hello gentlemen.
The Other Frankenstein Monster
Frankenstein’s Monster has come to be depicted as a patchwork horror, a creature crudely stitched together seemingly at random with odd bolts or wiring sticking out of him. While I think that’s rather far from how Shelly actually envisioned him I have to admit it’s a fun pattern to try to invent new variations on. I did an earlier version of this fellow as one of my first contributions to A Patchwork of Flesh. I do like this design. It’s a variation on the hulking creature of the movies without (I think) referencing any specific version.
Pretty and Pink
You’ve probably noticed that I draw a lot of monsters. When I’m sketching I tend to draw monsters to begin with because –
A) I like monsters
B) They’re fun to draw
C) If I make a few mistakes and the monster’s features end up lopsided who is to say that I didn’t do that on purpose? Monsters are supposed to be ugly.
Once the monsters are out of the way I try to draw something challenging, something, someone … pretty. It’s nerve wracking.
Sooner or Later the Zombies Arrive
Another marker sketch. I liked this one enough that I’ve been using it as my profile picture on my Facebook account. It’s no goofier that any of the actual photos of myself that have filled that spot.
Playing With Markers
So I’ve had a box of color markers that I’ve only rarely used (and not at all for the last ten) for something like 20 years now. I’m not exaggerating. I’ve got a set of grey tone markers that I use occasionally but the colored ones have just sat there, untouched, loved only from a distance. Since most of my printed illustrations have been in black and white I haven’t felt compelled to do much color work.
It’s looking like I’ll be getting more color illustrations printed soon. One thing tends to lead to another and I figured I should get some practice now while I’ve got a chance. So I pulled out the box and I’ve set to work. As with most initial sketches I drew a monster. This fellow is not any specific monster. He’s got a bit of Toxic Avenger vibe to him but that’s purely accidental. I’ve yet to see any of Toxie’s movies.
Step By Step Frankenstein #10
And done. I’ve added highlights to the figure and cleaned up the fire and lightning so that there’s a strong contrast between the figure and background.
Happy Halloween!
Step By Step Frankenstein #9
For the next step I create an empty layer set to Multiply. I want to keep this simple so I only laid down one color, a cheery yellow that, once combined with colors already present, becomes a bit sickly looking.
Step By Step Frankenstein #8
Next I copy the original illustration again to a third layer also set to Multiply. I adjust contrast so I get some good solid blacks.
After this, color and highlights!
Step By Step Frankenstein #7
Once the initial illustration has been scanned into Photoshop (and any glaring problems cleaned up) I create a duplicate layer, set to multiply and blurred 5 pixels using the gaussian blur filter. That adds a bit more … meat … to the original illustration.
Step By Step Frankenstein #6
With Halloween coming up in a few days I’m going to increase my posting so that the final version of this drawing posts on the 31st.
Originally I’d intended to just do a black and white illustration but adding color seemed like such fun that I couldn’t resist. This layer of color is colored pencil on the original drawing. It was at this point that I cut up the illustration and mailed it, piece by piece, to Coop.
