Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Rough Stuff









Wanted to post a little rough work.
Sorry for the poor photos...
Here you can see how loose my pencils are when I start inking. I like to keep my inks looking very spontaneous, and alive if possible. So, I pencil very roughly...mostly focused on space, gesture. All the details are fleshed out, and finalized in my inks, this way I feel like things don't look too stiff, or "polished".

You can kind of compare photos 2, and 3. I had alot of rough stuff to decipher, panels 1,2, and 4 kind of show how I interpreted my loose pencils, and cleaned them up in the inks.

Photo 5 shows my typical "penciled" page, where I stop penciling, and start inking. I've had enough experience inking my chicken scratch that I can understand what I'm going for without a laborious drawing tightened to death.

I mostly learned how to ink my loose pencils by deadline. I simply never had the time to pencil and ink, so I had to learn how to do both at the same time.


...next time I hope to post some more on the Characters of Rodd Racer.
See you then,
-Toby

16 comments:

Glen Brunswick said...

Man, Toby...this stuff is rockin'! I can't wait for my copy. Great seeing you at NYCC.

Unknown said...

WOW! I absolutely love your work man.

Can you tell us what materials your using and the sizes?

bolognafingers said...

Looking good man I can't wait for the book. I'm curious since you've inked your own work from the start if you have any insight as to the best way to approach getting work that way? Anyway, it's great to see more work form you, I always look forward to it.

Toby Cypress said...

Hi Ed,
I use rough finish bristol to draw on because the toothy surface helps with my ink texture. Dry brushing especially.

I use a crow quill pen nib. Size #102...that nib gives me a stiff consistent line, which I like to contrast with thick brush work. The brush I use is a Raphael brand, series #8403, size #3.
This brush is a long haired, kolinsky red sable, water color brush holds alot of ink, and has great snap. The longer hair allows for thinner lines, and subtle range with thin to thick strokes.

If you are not familiar with crow quills or brushes it might be a headache to find. Dickblick.com has the supplies tho', and you can search them there.

Also it took me a few years to get used to the crow quill, and to understand how to use them. You can't use it like a pencil, or a pen...it takes some practice.

Toby Cypress said...

Bolognafingers,
Thanks man, Well...as always it's best to show your best work. So, if your work looks best when you are inking it yourself, then show the finished inks.

Since inking my own work, I've always penciled very loose. So I don't show my pencils to editors, or clients because they are only interested in the finished look. So I usually show my finished inks.

Many artists are inking their own work nowadays. So editors, are prepared, and even expect new artists to ink their own work.
In fact...editors often prefer artists that "finish" their own work.

Nowadays you "finish" your pencils in other ways than ink. Digitally inking the pencils are becoming the most common finishing technique.

joolsk2ndmom said...

Hey Toby, just love your work! Great to see the flow coming. Did you email mark this site? I am guessing an signed copy is in order then?

joolsk2ndmom said...

Hey Toby, Just love the new work!Glad to see those fingers working again. Did you email Mark this site? Jools

Braden said...

Hey man,

Progress is looking awesome on this badboy. Glad to see someone that is abstaining from the tight, stiff, overrendered and yet flattened inks that seem to plague the comic industry these days.

Can't wait to pick this up dude.

Joe Willy said...

Very nice work. Can't wait to see this.

David Press said...

dude, seriously, looking fucking great.

Officina Infernale said...

I've discover your work in Swallow 04 it's amazing!!!!!

Unknown said...

Hey Toby, awesome looking work man.

LOOKA said...

Oh-so glorious! Lookin' real fantastic...

This book and Sam Hiti's things he's working on are more than worth the time they take! Probably an unnecessary question, but: Will it be published in BLACK and WHITE?

Kristen McCabe said...

Wow! Love the close up face shots on the last one. Beautiful work, Toby.

Unknown said...

Great work!! Cool blog.

m-r-r-r said...

Thanks for the detailed information, powerful work!