Aaaand ... we are off!

Here is the deal:

To make sure that the story gets to be written at all, I am drawing and writing the entire thing in thumbnails. No pencils, no sketches - just raw material. I will be posting a first draft, in other words. Comments and suggestions for improvements are very welcome.

This doesn't have a title yet. Also, there will be a prologue, but I'll draw that after I've done this episode :).

Click the thumbnails for a larger (and readable) view.

To be continued...

An idea in development: Gawain and Ragnell

Take 1:



Take 2:



Take 3:



Take 4:



... and counting :).

So far, I like the fourth one best, but I'm not happy with how Gawain's legs look, plus I think Ragnell should reach out a bit more - right now it almost looks as though Gawain is holding her hand against her will. On to the next attempt...

This is for a contest at deviantART. All concrit is appreciated!

More Kundry ("l'Orgueilleuse de Logres")

Two years ago now, a friend who took pity on me and my colour conundrums gave me a set of Tombow markers. I think that they are like Copic markers: the ink dissolves in water, and so you can mix the colours. My friend said that the markers would teach me about colour use. Unfortunately, I seem to need some teaching about the use of Tombow markers too :D. I like drawing with them because they have brush-shaped tips; it's like drawing with a brush and paint/ink without having to worry about refills. But the tints are as strong as those of felt tips, and I haven't quite figured out yet how to get pretty results with them. Often enough, I end up using them on a whim, during quick pictures that I haven't given a lot of thought - just to add a dab of colour. The picture of Kundry below was made (as you can see) in a Moleskine sketch booklet. The Moleskine paper doesn't seem too fond of pencils or colour pencils, probably partly because I don't press my pencils hard enough. But now that I have dicovered ballpoint pens, I find I'm using them all the time. I liked this drawing of Kundry, and decided to have a go at it with my Tombow markers.

The best thing about the Tombows, apart from the brush tip, is of course the fact that you can mix the colours with water. Only, my Moleskine's paper doesn't absorb water very well (not to say, hardly at all). Despite that, I did add some water, just to soften a few strokes and add some highlights. And despite the uncharacteristically strong colours, I really like how this picture came out. If all my sketches were like this... ;-)

A less spontaneous Kundry, pencilled and then inked on Fabriano watercolour paper. I was surprised at how well my Staedtler pens worked on this paper, despite the fact that it was less smooth than I hoped it would be. The result is a bit Art-Nouveauish, but I enjoyed adding all the detail to the hair.

With added watercolour paint. It's always very difficult for me to assess whether I captured the colours well in the scan; my own computer has a very dark monitor, and the computer to which our scanner is attached has a much brighter one. This looked fine on the "scan computer", but looks far too dark on mine :/.

Have I already mentioned that I like Kundry? ;P