Alena - B & W Tones

This sketch is to nail down the look for a b&w comics story. My goal is to use minimal gradients, grey tones, texture patterns, and white highlights to make the production of the art quicker and the "reading" of the image (in the context of the story flow) clear and efficient, but still be more than just line.

While working on this I was listening to episodes of the TV shows Survivorman and Man Vs. Wild. Two shows about the skills needed to survive in harsh environments.

Chowdown - Colors

Chowdown sketch "Colors".  Continuing the quest to streamline my cg coloring process.  While working on this I was listening to the TV show: "Flight of the Concords" and the audiobook "No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah."

Chowdown - Inks

Chowdown sketch "Inks". Actually Verithin (Noir 747 Black) as well as ball point pen. Yup, yup.

Chowdown - Pencils

These are the pencils (Done with the Prismacolor Col-Erase 20044 Blue) for my next sketch. The graphics in the upper left are tattoo designs for the characters. I learned a lesson about sketching on this one. I had an original sketch for this one that had some "zing" but I wanted to correct it with some life drawing, but it ended up killing some of the "zing" because the life drawing studies were done directly on the drawing. So, now for my next sketch I will try the method that some of the masters did (and probably a lot of other people, but new to me in my quest for "zing") :
1.) Do the original thumbnail to get the "zing" idea then..
2.) Do the life drawings and quick studies on a separate page then...
3.) Apply that new knowledge to a fresh sketch that has the life drawing info and the much sought after "zing" and melds them together in the context of the original composition.

Top o' the morning repairs - Colors

Got the colors in for this sketch. I'm trying to balance the "poppy" colors with the grungy atmospherics.
I was listening to the audiobook "Kluge" about how evolution has built the human brain in a not-so-perfect fashion, good stuff.

Top o' the morning repairs - Inks

This is a w.i.p. of my next sketch in the ink stage. While working on this I was listening to some MMA matches.
Update: Made some fixes so I can start coloring. Thanks to Paul, Vinod, and Dave for the feedback.

Suds at the tavern

I'm working on refining my coloring process, that's not a "CG painting", so this color sketch was a fun exercise toward that goal. I would like to have solid shadows and highlights producing a modeled feel that define form but, still have it light enough that the line work does some heavy lifting. I'm also shooting for organic line work that's not sterile with a little additive "CG pop" in the coloring. I want to avoid killing the energy with overworked colors.

While painting this I was listening to the very enjoyable pop science audiobook "Why Beautiful People Have More Daughters", a book dealing with human behaviors through the lens of evolutionary psychology.

Update: Made some fixes to this pic, much thanks to Paul, Vinod, Dave, and Ze'ev for the feedback.