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ARSENIC LULLABY INKING
CONTEST!
Just for the hell of it, last you I
did an inktober inking contest...people liked it. So, what the
hell, let's do it again.
I picked out some Arsenic Lullaby
illustrations of varying degrees of difficulty and each with
different challenges. You can play to your strong suits or try
something out of your normal skill set. I used a brush for
every line on these (except boarders) but you can use whatever
means you like as long as it is not digital. I use standard
smooth surface bristol board that you can get at pretty much any
art supply store or Michaels. There are plenty of places
online that sell paper for drawing comic book pages...the think
you want to avoid is pages with a lot of texture or paper that's
going to bleed a lot.
I use this...it's good and pretty
cheap, but other people like different kinds (shrug), as long as
it's not going to bleed, it doesn't matter a whole lot.
Grand prize winner will get...
a
genuine Windsor Newton Series 7 brush, just like the pros use!
AND
a page of original art ( uhm...I'll find something and post it
later).
2 runners up will also get autographed Arsenic Lullaby comic
books. All contestants will get a 10.00 off gift certificate to our
online store. A "contestant" is defined as someone
putting an honest effort into it and completing a whole
illustration ( Don't think your going to just run a sharpie over
it for five minutes and get 10.00 off at our store.) you don't
have to be great, but you do have to try.
Below are some modified versions of recent work that you can
download and print out and ink yourself! Each has been dialed
back to non-photo blue so you can attempt to ink over the pre
drawn lines just like the pros do! ( the single images fit on a
standard letter size, the full page is larger and you'll need
11x14 or 11x17 paper. If you have the means to enlarge
or reduce the images, feel free to do so)
IF you don't have the
means of printing these out but still want to try, send me an
email and we can arrange it for me to send you the image on
bristol board ( no charge for that but I ain't paying shipping )
Deadline Nov.1st
send entries to
douglaspasz -at- arseniclullabies.com
approach this
however you like, but the job of the professional inker it not
to wildly change the image when inking by adding his own style.
The inks should more or less look like the style they were drawn
it. You don't have to do it that way, but you probably
won't win if you put your own spin on it. but hey, we're
just doing this for fun anyhow, so just have fun.
I have
an inking video up on youtube
VIDEO
HERE it is about using a brush,
but the techniques can be applied to pens as well. I may
put up another video mid month.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HI-RESOLUTION PRINTABLE IMAGE
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LEVEL 1
Arsenic Lullaby "the big stall" Alice cover
I'd call this one the
easiest of
the bunch. It is complicated BUT cluttered. Any mistake
you make will be hidden by the shear amount of detail for the
eye to take in...there is simply too much going on for a stray
line here or there to be noticed. Also it's mostly all
organic objects. No hard straight lines, no machinery or
walls, any hiccup in a line will just seem like it's supposed to
be there...I mean who's going to know if you didn't nail it on
the tree bark, right? This is a great one to practice long
lines with. Doing those lines in the tree bark will get
you comfortable making long thin lines without having the stress
of making sure they are dead on.
Varying the line thickness is the key to keeping this
one from becoming a visual mess. Keep the details thin
and the lines defining the objects thicker.
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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HI-RESOLUTION PRINTABLE IMAGE
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LEVEL 2
Arsenic Lullaby "the Devil's only
Friend" Voodoo Joe cover
This one's a little more
difficult because it has less organic subject matter. the lines
on the walls the furniture...if those aren't straight, people
will know that's a mistake. But, there is still a lot of
action here so the readers eye will still be focused on that and
unless it's a giant f-up most readers won't notice.
You have a lot of lines
here that are going to be best handled by just shutting
off your brain. Just watch where your brush or
pens is going, not where it is at. smooth strokes,
don't hesitate. I personally make more mistakes by
going too slow than by going too fast. Just relax and
put the lines down before you brain starts to tell you
it's impossible.
.
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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HI-RESOLUTION PRINTABLE IMAGE
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LEVEL 3
Arsenic Lullaby full page
This one runs the gambit, and
it's going to test your constancy and ability to get all the
panels working together...while still conveying the different
moods of the page and affect on the reader.
When I'm doing a page
(this may or may not be great advice) I jump around, do
all of one kind of line (like short curves) then all of
another kind. Attack the page as a whole and not panel
by panel. Just keep plugging away doing the lines you
are comfortable with. Build that confidence as you
go. By the time you get to the difficult things you'll
have a lot done and a good head of stream going.
This is complicated, BUT
there is a lot for the eye to take in. Minor
mistake aren't going to be very noticable.
.
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l
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD HI-RESOLUTION PRINTABLE IMAGE
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LEVEL 4
Boogie Man cover of The Devil's
Decade-
This one is harder than it looks. Technically speaking,
it's the hardest of the bunch in my opinion. There are a lot of
different kinds of lines and the wallpaper takes nerves of
steel. Also there is a lot of white in between some of the
tougher lines, so your mistakes won't be lost among a glut of
detail like the Alice cover...no place to run and no place to
hide on this one.
The look on the kids face, the
posture of the Boogie man...those are the keys. That is
the visual bullseye of where the readers eye will be
focused. If you can nail those, you'll be well on your
way.
.
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_____________________
When Douglas is not
complaining, he and his work can be found here
www.arseniclullabies.com
Two more chances to see me at comic-cons
this year!
Click on the banners for more info on each.
PART 1
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BEST STORIES FROM THE ORIGINAL
SERIES, FINALLY REPRINTED!
Arsenic Lullaby's greatest
stories from the original comic book run have been reprinted
at last! Douglas Paszkiewicz himself chose the cream of the
crop from those early issues and we collected them in to The
Devil's Digest
**both include self contained stories so don't be
concerned with the "part 1 and "part 2"**
(Click the cover images for info and samples)
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PART 2
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