Hulk and Betty

Pencil on ink-jet paper.

Elizabesque Hottie

I've always loved the pictures of beautiful women made by great concept artists and fantasy artists, so full of texture and costume design. I've always wanted to be able to draw like that but always ended up falling back on my cartoony habits. The cure? Quick drawings on toothy paper with a stumpy, blade-sharpened pencil. Added some tone and texture in photoshop with some cool brushes I found.

I also needed to let go of any concern about historical accuracy, so this outfit is just made up by my uneducated random ideas of what an ornate Elizabethan outfit might look like. History buffs can laugh and point all they want;-).

Post Office Cartoons

I was poking around organizing my files today and came across these illustrations I drew a couple of years ago up as a sample to land myself a contract with a great client in Toronto.
They never got published because the actual project was drawn on a very different scale, in isometric perspective (You can see the image in the educational illustration section of my site, www.moon-man.com).

There's something sweet and friendly about them that I really like so I thought I'd share them with you now.

Yet another blotter Doodle

I've said it before... Some of my favorite pictures are the ones I draw as a way of blotting off excess ink from my brush three or four strokes at a time to test the consistency of the ink before comitting the brush to the real drawing I'm working on. Usually it ends up being a profile portrait of a made up character just like this. This one came off my brush last night as a side effect of inking two crisp and clean images for Paul and Layne Cutright's new course called "The Relationship Codes".

Drink & Draw Aug 2009

Thanks to Michael Byers for running the Guelph Drink & Draw! It's fun and good company. Here's a doodle I did tonight.

Olga Kurylenko Picture...

Saw the movie "Hitman" several months ago. Love this actress... Olga Kurylenko. So beautiful I had to freezeframe the DVD and make a drawing!

Flaming Bug Man!

Drink and Draw Dec 2008

Here's a picture I drew with my left hand (I'm right handed) During last night's Drink and Draw gathering Michael Beyers put together at the Pennywhistle Pub in Guelph.

I drew this with a Bic pen (the kind you get at the store for $1.50 for a pack of 12) on some kind of decent bond paper, like printer paper, left over from a live caricature gig I did last year. I used to draw in Bic on bond all the time in high school... in the margins om my lecture notes. It's actually a really nice drawing tool because you can draw quite a range of light to dark with it.

Because of the glasses I thought this was looking a lot like Malcolm X... but I was drawing from my imagination and, upon photo research today discovered that the clothes do not make the man. My guy's face is quite different from the real Mr. X. So I just call this picture "Glasses Guy" now.

We had about 15 illustrators, cartoonists and artists show up. What was really cool about it is a) meeting and chilling out with a bunch of other illustrators and cartoonists and b) actually sitting down to draw whatever I feel like drawing! So many of us are so busy with drawing for clients and keeping up with life that we don't give ourselves the time to do the very thing that brought us into this career in the first place... which is having fun drawing stuff!

And that we did. We had a lot of laughs! You will likely find some hillarious cartoons from the event being posted someday soon on Michael's blog at http://www.michaelbyers.blogspot.com. If you haven't seen my illustration site yet, check out the comics section at www.moon-man.com. There's some neat stuff on there... if I do say so myself.

Cheers!
Scott

Kate Shutt, Orrin Evans, Musicians

I keep forgetting how great it is to draw from life. I spend so much time cartooning out of my head. I had the privilege of being present at the recording of Kate Shutt's new album (it's going to be an amazing album!). I brought my modbook and made these drawings of piano player Orrin Evans (www.myspace.com/orrinevans). He was the only person I could see from the soundproof control booth. I wish I had made some drawings of Kate and the other musicians while I was there. Ran out of time and opportunity though. Maybe I'll be able to draw her another time. Here's her website: www.kateschutt.com

Hellboy Fan Art

What can I say. I love Hellboy. He's fun to draw... and I've been thinking She Hulk would be an excellent character to add into his world... 'cause she's big and hot.
These were both don on my new Modbook Mac tablet laptop using Artrage2.  No pencil touched paper for either of these.

Modbook sketches

I've bought myself a Modbook. I'm the first person to buy one in Canada. I love it. What's a Modbook? It's a modified Macbook, the first mac tablet computer. So put me in the history books! This thing covers a lot of firsts... It's also my first mac!

Anyway, the reason I bought it is so that I could draw just like I do in an actual paper sketchbook. It's actually easier to draw with it than on my big 18" Wacom Cintiq because I can take it around, sit in front of people and draw from life directly into it! Awesome! It's the computer of my dreams... almost. If it had one of those monitors that you could see in daylight like oin the $100 laptop that would be even more dreamy.

So here are a couple of drawings I did on it... actual drawings from live subjects! Not just photos or made up out of my head! Neat!


Cheers!
Scott

Dirty Grainy Spiderman

Here's another Marvel-our experiment in Corel Painter... messing around with pastels and chalks, and coloured "paper"... in this case the colour of aged newsprint. Again, based on a sketch I drew in blue pencil at the Comicon 1.5 years ago.

Hulk Fan art in Painter

Okay, here's more Incredible Hulk fan art from me. (If you go far enough back in this blog you'll find a crossover fan piece about Hulk vs. American Elf). I drew the pencil for this one a year and a half a go at the Paradise Comicon in Toronto. I've been playing around with Corel Painter over the las couple of days, trying to get a feel for it. Decided to paint up this sketch and see what happens. I gotta say, I sure like what painter can do. I like how the Hulk looks kinda translucent and luminous here... a happy accident with the nice smooth oil paint feature.

I wonder if Marvel would ever like to have me do a Hulk Cover!!!

Picture

Here's my new headshot. Gotta post it somewhere in order to get it on my profile, so here it is, just for you... and by "you" I mean everybody who happens to see this ;-)

Cheers!
Scott

The Value of Art

I was just thinking about a conversation I had with a friend today about great artists who are never seen because they are averse to marketing and great marketers who's art is seen and bought widely. My friend expressed dissatisfaction about how great artists are often never seen, and how many not-so-great artists find huge success. (Of course there are many, many great artists who also find huge success.)

The value of anything is created by the perception of people. The perception of the people is created by marketing. Marketing is simply the ability to communicate the value of the product. Why do people value gold and diamonds? Because the culture believes they are valuable. Why do so many people slave for money and ignore their family? Perceived value. It's just the way our minds work. I don't have the expertise to pick out a good quality motor scooter, so I take advice from other people I perceive to know better than me and I believe them, because I have no other source of knowledge.

Seems like a shitty system, but if you think about it, it's pretty universal. In another system where all great artists are identified and touted by some agency or government department, only the artists that fit in to their criteria will be recognized and presented to the world. I guess one good thing about our system it puts the responsibility on the artist to express their value to the world. It's the same with anything we care about, we have to take responsibility for it ourselves if we're ever going to succeed with it... including the areas of our well being, health, wealth, education, career, relationships, interests, pursuits, etc. This is the most personally empowering way to go about anything.

It's definitely sad when a junk artist gets rich while a great artists is hidden in obscurity. It offends the artistic mind who believes in the value of purity, authenticity, skill. It's hard for that mindset to reconcile with the outer world's way of judging value. The only solution is acceptance that that's how things work and an artist who hates marketing must either redefine marketing for themselves into something more authentic and true and/or find someone else to take over the marketing for them, or choose to work away unknown, unrecognized, unnoticed.

I know we aren't artists out of the desire to be recognized. We do it because something inside compels us. We see what can be done and we feel compelled to do it. Why is a mystery to me. Why can't I let go of an idea until it's completed? I don't even have any intention of publishing my art, but I make it anyway. Why? I don't know. But I might as well share it with anyone who's interested so it doesn't just go to waste. Who knows who it touches or why?

Marketing our art is simply a way of sharing it. If you're willing to share it with more people through print/electronic publication, or rich art buyers through galleries, or whatever other creative means one can think of, chances are you'll generate interest and value... all the more so if your work genuinely touches people.

DJ Cartoons

More drawings I like that would otherwise never be seen. I drew this series of caricatures for the Bob FM Radio station website and half way through the project the concept was canceled. These were based on photographs of the DJs emailed to me by the client.

Here's a close-up of my favorite one... my favorite for it's wacky Mad Magazine aesthetic ;-)

Digital Painting

Yay! This is the first digital painting I've done in Corel Painter that I've really liked! I just bought the program recently, dreaming that I might be able to make cool digital paintings like Tim McBurnie and his ilk. Well, this is the first thing I've done in painter that starts to move in that direction. Still have lots to learn about using colour and lighting and character design... among other stuff.

Anyway, feel free to comment tell me what you think. I'd love any feedback.

Ratatouille is Amazing!

I just saw Pixar's new movie "Ratatouille" and loved it loved it loved it! Aside from being a great story about knowing and honouring your self and your gifts, it's an amazingly well told story and, if your an illustration geek like me, the character designs, set designs, prop designs, and animation simply blew me away.

You know what I love about Pixar? They are a huge business that create real soulful meaningful art... consistently. Every movie they've ever made has been in the range of really good to truely amazingly wonderfully incredible... in my humble opinion.

So I came home and really wanted to doodle rats inspired by the characters of Ratatouille, and these are what I came up with. Think I could get a job with Pixar? ;-)

Getting Started in Illustration?

New illustration grads and fine artists looking to change their career often come to me for advice on how to get started in illustration. My advice is a mixture of what I did right, and what I'd do differently now that I know better. Lauren Noon contacted me recently via email to ask some very good questions about getting started in illustration. Here's my take on it.

Lauren Noon wrote:

Hi Scott,
Dr. Alberquerque told me that she knew an illustrator that is successful as a freelance artist, so I was interested in asking you some basic questions. I thought that maybe it would be a nice start to my career to get as much information about how illustrators make it in this industry. I am a new graduate from Sheridan College in a degree program for Illustration and I am in the process on trying to find some places to start applying to. So I wrote some questions down and wanted to know your opinion on it and basically how you started off.

1. When you decided you wanted to be an illustrator, how did you come about being a freelance artist and why did you decide on freelance?

Let me just preface this by letting you know I was a very dysfunctional person when I started out, and I had no idea how dysfunctional I really was. I had some sense of it but had no idea how much that was affecting my business relationships. So if this sounds like illustration is a huge struggle, that's only because it was so for me with my screwed up thinking. If I had to start over again from scratch right now it would be way easier now that I've got my world view and behavior fine tuned. I was really getting in my own way back then, and even today I'm constantly working on growing myself to be able to handle more responsibility, bigger jobs, and great relationships with my clients.

I fell into illustration by accident in university. I was studying fine art and an on-campus research publisher asked me to draw some cartoons for their magazines and reports. I thought I wanted to be a gallery artist but turned out that didn't really interest me. Illustration was more fun. I tried to make it as a commercial "cartoonist" when I graduated. I failed miserably. I had zero sense of how to market and build strong relationships with clients. I was far too selfish. It was all about me, as if they were lucky to have me. I managed to repel a lot of work that way.

After a year of desperation and financial struggles I decided I needed... no, really, really wanted ... a job as an in-house illustrator and then the Law of Attraction kicked in (see the movie "the Secret" if you don't know what that is). So I sat down to write a resume and a cover letter declaring to potential employers my intention to do whatever it takes to be a great and valuable employee for them... and I never had to send it out because I literally got a phone call right then, while I was typing the resume, a friend of a friend alerting me about a job opportunity in Waterloo (only a 25 minute drive from my house) for an illustrator. I applied, showed up with my portfolio and my sketchbooks, they interviewed me for 2 hours and hired me on the spot. Magic. This was the Law of Attraction in action in a really big way.

I was there for three years, getting paid to learn to be an illustrator (which is actually a very different animal from being a fine artist) and to use Adobe illustrator as a tool. This job was great, but I outgrew it. It became more and more creatively restrictive, and I wasn't really getting paid what I was worth any more... or so I felt... and the office politics were bugging me like crazy. I started planning my escape, reading "Guerrilla Marketing" by Jay Conrad Levinson was amazing for me (I highly recommend this book!). I wasn't emotionally ready to go out on my own still, but it gave me the confidence to ask for a raise at work. They gave me a $6000 raise, and three months later there were sweeping layoffs in the art department and I got cut. Kicked out of the nest, sink or swim. Bought myself a decent computer and off I went. Freelance.

Why I wanted to be freelance is a much shorter answer... Freedom. I hate being controlled and micromanaged. I hate a regular schedule. I hate doing the same thing day after day. Freelance is a great adventure full of new learning experiences every day, new creative and artistic explorations. And learning about business is learning about relationships. And relationships are everything. So It's a great laboratory for learning about life.

It's important to know what working style you really thrive in. There's nothing wrong with a regular job, a regular schedule. It just doesn't work for me. If it works for you... or something else altogether works for you, then set yourself up to win by giving yourself that environment. You are an individual and your best path to success will be as unique as you are. That being said, there are many pre-forged paths taken by other successful illustrators that you can emulate or model for yourself. If it's worked for other people and it suits your style, do the same things and chances are you'll get the same results.

2. Right now my biggest problem is being tossed into this industry with no thought of how to start searching around for illustrator jobs. Is it easier to search based on something in particular that you want to specialize in? or if I don't know where my art fits in within the industry, is there any way you can suggest where I could start off searching for jobs?

Fish around. See who is interested. Meet with art directors to show your portfolio. Ask them and art directors will give you ideas of where you can go with your work. Some of the ideas you'll hate, some will spark your interest. Either way, be incredibly grateful for their help. Build a website and ask for feedback via email or telephone.

Note: Put your own favorite work in the portfolio... the kind of stuff you would like to spend more time doing. Don't put in work you hate just because you think it will pay well. If it's in there, you'll get hired to do more work like it. Set yourself up to win by attracting jobs you're going to enjoy.

If you call art directors directly most of them will be happy to take a few minutes to look over your portfolio site. Think of it as gathering information. And in the process they will get to know you and your style and you may get some jobs or leads or referrals out of the process. Talk on the phone with them, or even better, meet them in person. That creates a personal connection and they are more likely to want to work with you.

Also, Ask other illustrators who work in a similar style to you. They'll have lots of ideas of what you could do and where you could go with your work. Don't be shy, you'll be surprised how many of theme will be happy to share their experience with you. People are hardwired to help each other. Some will say "no" for fear of the professional competition, and some will be happy to share.

3. How long did it take you to really get on your feet and start making money as a freelance artist?

Again, this is more about my personality at the time, but it's been 8 years of off and on success. I've just made a major financial breakthrough now. If you're organized and confident and creative in your marketing and customer service oriented you can get really far really fast. I can recommend resources for learning more about this...

Those resources are as follows:

• Again, Jay Conrad Levinson's book "Guerrilla Marketing" and his follow up book, "The Way of the Guerrilla". Probably you'll find them at your local library.
  
• T. Harv Eker's "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind". This is a book that talks about the mindset of growing yourself into a person who is willing and excited to become successful. As contradictory as it sounds, many of us have known and unknown attitudes and hangups that inhibit or even paralyse our ability to succeed. This book, at the time of writing gets you two free tickets to a three day seminar by T. Harv Eker or one of his incredible trainers. The first time I attended this seminar I came out of there bursting with my own creative ideas for business opportunities, and the confidence to pursue them.
• Internet Marketing is very inexpensive to do, and highly effective, especially for visual artists who can display their work on-line. I'm studying an excellent course right now that gives you everything you need to get started. It's called "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on The Internet", and you can get it for about $200. Click here to check it out.
  

4. Is there really a market for a fulltime illustrator? or is it mostly freelance art if you really want to make it within this industry?

It is possible to find a staff job. Freelance is more common. You could do a little of both. A staff job may not be exactly or directly related to what you want to do, but it's a great place to start, gain experience, learn technical stuff, etc. Plus it would give you the financial stability and confidence to direct your illustration career exactly where you want it to go.

5. When you are applying for jobs, do you usually send out hard copy portfolios to different companies or send your url or a file with some of your pdf artwork to art directors? Mainly, which one do you mostly find is most effective?

I don't apply for jobs, I attract them with marketing. A huge chunk of my work is from word of mouth through friends and networking. The rest is from my internet marketing efforts.

6. What kind of work did you do at the beginning of your career?

Cartoons on my own. Educational/instructional illustration in my staff job (still do a lot of that today).

7. How did you go about selling yourself with no previous experience?

I made my own projects to gain experience. Teamed up with a friend to create a children's book, wrote and illustrated my own comic book stories, worked for cheap to get clients. Gradually increased my prices and my ability to present myself.

Networking with people is the best way in the world to get work. The more people you meet who find you reliable and pleasant, the more work you will get. It's probably the cheapest and simultaneously most effective marketing activity you can possibly do. You can network in person (networking events and groups, volunteering, teaching, etc.), and on-line (forums, LinkedIn network, blogging, etc.). Also directly... in person... contacting specific people, businesses, and organizations you want to work with is extremely effective.

Also, look outside the world of art directors. One of the best jobs I ever got was gotten by accident and the client was not an art director. He was doing some other kind of work that happens to be another interest of mine. I sent him an illustration of something directly related to him, based on something I learned from one of his publications, just to see what he would say. I had no expectation of getting work out of it but we hit it off and shortly thereafter he offered me a project.

So if you're into something other than illustration, like biology, or yoga, or floral design, or cooking, or physics, or politics, or relationships, or TV, or (place your interest/passion here) find people in that field who you admire, especially well known people in that field, and send them some doodles of something they might be able to use for their work, or something they might enjoy offering their clients, or something that may help them achieve what they want.

If you have any fears around doing this kind of marketing, or any other aversions that are holding you back from achieving what you want to, I can help you to get over them quickly and painlessly. I'm a Personal breakthrough and emotional freedom coach in my other career using primarily EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).

To give you an idea, I've helped a lot of people dramatically reduce or eliminate aversions and phobias that stunt their professional of personal growth, sometimes in only one session. Others over a series of 6 sessions, and I have some clients that get so much out of it they have been working with me once or twice a week for months. You can check out my website at www.eft-in-guelph.com.

8. What kind of jobs are out there, that they don't tell you in school?
- usually what most faculty mention is the obvious jobs for freelance like commercial art and book illustrations, graphic novels, and all of that. Is there any kind of illustration job that is out there that is not the obvious that illustrators can do?

Yes, there are plenty of opportunities. You just have to be open minded and creative. You can start your own thing. Some illustrators went right into creating merchandise with their art on it, be it characters, cartoons, designs. Toys, fabrics, wallpapers, colouring books, clothing, accessories, novelties, greeting cards, kid's books, tv shows, lawn ornaments... Get creative, explore options, and research viability (This is really easy to do for internet marketing at a site called "WordTracker").

• Advertising Industry: Proposal sketches/renderings, illustrated elements for ads on TV, internet, print ads in magazines and newspapers.
• Publishing industry for book covers, book interiors, CD covers,
• Animation/game industry: Production design, character design, background art...
• Toy/gift/retail industry use illustration for packaging, greeting cards, gift wrap, gift bags...
• Fashion industry: not sure how that works, but illustration is involved there.
• And there are probably hundreds of niche markets. Find a niche that needs you and you're golden.

So those are some of the questions that have been in my mind for awhile now that maybe you could help clarify and be a good way for me to take in consideration. If you maybe have an ideas where my art would fit in within the industry, that would be a good starting off point for me. I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can. My site is:

www.laurennoon.com

Thanks so much for your time,
Lauren Noon

No problem Lauren.
Cheers!
Scott

Head Transplant

This is a new head for a head transplant on a corporate communcations comic I've been working on. I thought this ink drawing looked really pretty, want to share it with y'all.

I needed to change the identity of one character in this comic. In my illustration vernacular a head transplant is what happens when, for whatever reason, I need to change the face of a character in an illustration. I draw a new head and lay it over the old one. "Never draw anything twice if you can aviod it" was some early illustration advice from my mentor when I was just starting out. Saves a lot of redrawing! The same advice can apply to a lot of things in life!

Cheers!
Scott

Blotter Doodle

It's been a while! Here's a blotter doodle from today's inking session. Gave her a bit of an oversized hand... and I guess her head is a bit too big too, but that's what you get with these things. No pencil under-drawing. Just ink laid down on white paper, one stroke every minute or two whenever it's time to test the brush charge again.

Cheers!
Scott

Rejected Superhero

Here's a rejected pencil That no one would ever see, even though I really like it. I put in too many buildings, making it too busy for the needs of the communication peice. But, as a stand alone comics style image I'm pretty pleased with it, so here it is for the world to see.

Cheers!
Scott Mooney

Phone Doodle

Trina Thinks I'm rude for doodling while holding a conversation, but beleive it or not it actually helps me focus on what the other person is saying. I honestly don't know why. I actually can follow the thread of what the person is saying better. Maybe it's because my mind can't sit still very long, but drawing is a non interruptive, non verbal thing I can focus the other part of my brain on so it doesn't start pulling me out of the conversation with entertaining inner dialogue.

I watched Pixar's superhero film "The Incredibles" twice in the last two days and the cool caricatured fantastic shapes and costumes are constantly dancing in my head. As you can see it's influenced my phone doodle here.

Cheers!
Scott Mooney

PS. Check out my new EFT blog site. If you need a web presence in a hurry, Blogger is an amazing resource! I started my EFT business almost instantly by building a Blogger blog in about 15 minutes (content was pre existing on my http://ArtofSelfDev.com blog), buying the domain name http://EFT-in-Guelph.com and pointing it to the blog. Presto! Instant web presence!

Yes, It's All About Me

Trina took a nicer portrait of me today looking much happier than the previous photo I had on here, so I'm sticking it in this post becasue that's the only way I know how to access it for my profile. Also, I thought you'd all be soooo interested in what I look like. ;-)

Rope Skipping Babe, and EFT

This was a test illustration for a job that would have been on TV. Sadly, it's not going to happen this time. The good news is that I got to draw this sexy retro girl-next-door doing her calisthenics! I figure she deserves her time in the spotlight anyway, so here she is.



On a completely different subject, if you are at all interested in self development stuff, I just wrote an article on EFT on my other blog at www.artofselfdev.com. EFT is an amazingly effective and easy to learn energy psychology technique that combines tapping on certain acupressure points with key statements in order to clear emotional disruptions, such as phobias, aversions to things you'd rather not be averse to, stuck emotions (anger, frustration, resentment) and the like. This can be really handy when you're trying to accomplish something but can't because of these distracting and detracting emotions. Amazingly, the stress relief people experience from this technique often has powerful effects on physical ailments too. Anyway, you can read all about it in my article, which is about how to do EFT, called "Be Free with EFT" by clicking here.

Earl's My New Favorite Show

Jason Lee, who you've probably seen in a bunch of Kevin Smith movies, is in an amazing show with amazing writing, great comedic acting, and a good positive message in a dirtbag context. The show's called My Name is Earl. Season one is out on DVD and I'm totally addicted. It's HBO show quality, only it's not HBO. Politically incorrect with a heart of gold. It's right up there with Malcolm in the Middle, Sex and the City, Futurama, and Northern Exposure.

Wascawy Skeweton!

Does this skeleton remind you of anyone you know?

How 'bout this little medical illustration?

Looks like Elmer finally got his way.

If I could read Russian I could credit the artists who created these amazing anatomical masterpieces. For now, you'll have to be satisfied with the pictures.

Cheers!
Scott

Hold Doodle

Operator put me on hold, doodled this on the corner of my to-do list while I waited. Funny thing about the creative process, your best work happens by accident when you're not trying to make it good, you're just playing around. That's why I have a hard time drawing on expensive paper... my expectations are too high.

Drawing Tip:
If you're creatively stuck, draw on cheap paper that you won't mind throwing in the garbage. Just doodle, don't try to make it good. Let go of the result. If you want to do the same on good paper, buy the paper with the intent to throw it all in the garbage. Don't get attached to the paper, or the resulting image. Think of it more as an experiment to see what emerges as you play.

Lessons anyone? Half price offer for E-Lessons.
I've updated my workshops page at http://www.moon-man.com/workshops.htm. It's got pricing and descriptions of what you can learn in private lessons with me. I'd also like to experiment with distance teaching over email and/or telephone. If anyone wants to be my guinea pig I'll give the first three people who sign up for distance learning 4 one-hour lessons at half price. Just put "Drawing lessons distance ed at half price?" in the subject line when you email me at scott@moon-man.com.

Jabberwocks

The 8 page full colour, multi-medium Sci-Fi comic story called "Jabberwocks" I co-created years ago with writer Robyn Harrington and then-editor of Remote Veiws (an anthology of short stories) Andrew Foley, is now live on my site, available in it's entirety to the public for the first time! Go to the comics section at www.moon-man.com to check it out.


Robyn passed away without ever seeing the story published. She was so excited about it, being her first comic story ever produced. She really enjoyed showing it around to her friends. It's been on the shelf for a long time, so it feels really good to have it available to the public now. I'd love to hear your feedback if you read it.

More Blotter Doodles

Every time I recharge my brush (that is, dip it in ink) I test it with a few strokes on a scrap of paper before I risk it on my artwork. I decided to try and make drawings with those test strokes. It was a cool experience, like what I imagine the Japanese art of Sumi-i must feel like. I just look at the paper and intuitively make one or two strokes that feel like they'll add to the drawing. Then I go back to inking my comics untill the brush needs more ink and I do a few more intuitive strokes. The ensuing image tends to be a neat surprise. If I wasn't inking something else at the same time, I'd never have the patience to make this kind of drawing. I'd rush it and over work it and it wouldn't have the same simplicity and clarity.