Guardian Masterclass with Karrie Fransman

I nipped down to London yesterday for the Guardian Masterclass with Karrie Fransman, someone who I think has a lot of interesting things to say about the current state of comics in the UK, and worldwide. I was not disappointed. (Note to non UK readers - that means I really enjoyed it. Typical British understatement and use of double negatives, you know.)

There was a strong turnout - 30 or 40 people at a guess - ranging from semi-pros to some who were just taking their first steps towards creating comics. Everyone was made welcome, and had the opportunity to get a lot from the evening, I think.

Karrie talked through her own creative process for her first graphic novel, passing round a lot of the original thumbnails, reference sketches and synopses - and discussed how she changed the way she did things for her second. There was also (and this was a key draw for me) a lot of good advice on how to deal with the publishing industry, who to submit to, what to submit, how to stand on, and so on.

The sketch below (rough mix of 2B pencil, Pitt Pen and Pocket Brush) was from a quick exercise that we did, in which a storyline was revealed panel by panel for us to draw - quickly, without thinking too much about it. a riff on the usual "angry person - angry person dresses up - goes to party - wrong sort of party" journey, you know. It was great seeing everyone's different interpretations of this, ranging from the cartoony to expressionist to downright strange. If you work out what my one's meant to be about, let me know, eh?

Anyway, the course is highly recommended. Big thanks to Karrie & to the Guardian masterclass team for hosting.

The crow on the angry guy's hand in the top panel came from a sculpture of some choughs by Terence Coventry in the Pangolin Editions gallery downstairs (thanks to Pangolin for letting me take the photos!) Love the way the blackened metal becomes more polished at their beaks.

Everything is grist for the mill...

Masks

Pen sketches of a couple of items from a recent trip round Oxford's museums (LHS from Pitt Rivers, RHS from Ashmolean, if I remember right)

I'm doing so much digital stuff these days, nice to pick up a pen for a change!

Hitch Hiker

In the news: http://io9.com/camera-traps-capture-fantastically-bizarre-animal-hit-1636358011

A genet (a cat-like animal) has been caught on auto-triggering infra-red night camera riding on the backs of buffalo and rhino, behaviour never observed before. I wonder what they're both thinking?

The sketch was also an attempt to figure out some of the magic done by the late Sergio Toppi, italian comics maestro extraordinaire, whose black and white work is an incredibly intricate interplay between solid whites and blacks, and passages of amazingly fluid detail. I would hesitate to compare this to his stuff, but I felt I'd got a better understanding of how he does his compositions after I'd finished. Go look him up on google, or better yet, get a copy of his "Sharaz-De" from Archaia.

Finally, apologies to the genet for making it look like a sock puppet!

Dancers, Light

Freehand sketches from a youtube video, using a Pocket Brush.  Pleased with this lot, mostly.

Figures

Experiments at inking on top of printed photos, having figured out a workflow in Gimp for extracting only the inked line after I scan them back in. Looking for a balance between realism and minimalism (and not quite finding it yet, but after a lot of digital-only stuff, the exercise is good.)

The model is F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who's got a wonderfully expressive way about him.

Homage to Beatrix Potter

The first image from a photo of a man involved in a public protest in Manchester, dressed up as a policeman wearing a pig mask. He was arrested on grounds of impersonating a police officer, and later released without charge. Sketched using Pocket Brush.

Sketch done of a hedgehog while watching the old BBC Beatrix Pottter animations with my children (from a still while paused during the "live action" opening sequences). Sketch done with coloured Lyra brush pens.

Potter was a radical, and an agitator at times. Somehow, these two belong together.

Good Sport

Prehistoric Battle of the Pens

The house is full of dinosaurs when my 5-year old comes to visit, and the BBC "Walking with Dinosaurs" book is always open. A couple of sketches here taken from photos of the real live dinosaurs inside.

Peteinosaur was a small, early Pterosaur, about the size of a blackbird, I think. The fellow underneath is the boringly-obvious Bad Boy of the dinosaur world, T Rex.

Peteinosaur was drawn mostly with Pitt Pens, and a lot of fussy detail, the T Rex with a Pentel Pocket Brush, in broad, amorphous shadows and fluid lines. Nice contrast between the effects achievable with the two types of pen.

Skaters

Proportions are all to pot, but his hair really was that big.

Thai General

Sketch from the BBC newssite again - something about the composition, the blank space to the left, makes him look childlike and vulnerable.

Crooner

A surprise entry by the Vatican City to next year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Old Hands

From a picture on the BBC news website - chosen for the composition, and the opportunity to draw old wrinkly hands.

Smile on my Face

From a photo of the Everley Brothers (on the BBC website IIRC)

Eastwood

De Niro

Brush Pens

I blogged back in January about the Pentel Pocket Brush pens, and I'm continuing to learn from them, slowly. I'll still run back to the Pitt Pens sometimes, but these have a quality of line that's much more fluid and organic. The topmost sketch is the very first attempt at using them, still working out how they flow.

Digital Crowds

A few attempts at creating a line-drawing style crowd scene using photographs as the starting point, and lots of thresholding and custom cross-hatched brushes. 

Like a lot of good experiments, worked in parts...

Sketchbook - new pens!!

I've been using Pitt Artist pens for several years now (see most sketchbook entries here), and thought them the best thing around. I've recently discovered the Pentel Pocket Brush, with it's long, flexible and very pressure-sensitive nib,  and have been blown away by the kind of detail it can give. I'm still feeling my way with these, but I like the early results - here's a quick sketch from an old newspaper of a (low caste) Dalit family, with a close-up on the fine lines of the central character's face.