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Bill the Platypus vs. el Chupacabra
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Bill the Platypus is a character I created in the 2nd or 3rd grade. Originally just a cartoon platypus, he has evolved into a tribute to the great 90's cartoons I grew up with like Ninja Turtles and Darkwing Duck, which were themselves parodies of the nitty-gritty comics of the 80's. He is a bounty hunter who specializes in the capture of illegal human-animal hybrids. One big source of inspiration is Mike Mignola's Hellboy. I always like how in the comics, nobody ever blinked at a big red devil showing up to exorcise their house. Bill sort of works that way - he's a ridiculous looking character in an otherwise realistic world.
Traditionally in comic books there is a penciling stage, an inking stage and a coloring stage, done by three different artists. In an all-digital workflow, these stages all sort of blend together. The lines are dark like inks, but the drawing is still a bit loose. Artists working in pencil often sketch in blue (which doesn't show up on a photocopy) then draw tighter lines on top. In photoshop, it's as simple as applying a special adjustment layer and drawing over the top, as many times as needed to get the line art to where it needs to be.
This is a page I've drawn before, in pencil. Here's the original scan from a few years back. Contrast got a boost and lettering was added in Photoshop. I used this as the base layer.
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| Original Pencils |
