You disappoint me, Disney

I was told I was too young to see Star Wars when it premiered in 1977, but I was overjoyed when I discovered it was being re-released the following year. That announcement was conveyed to me through a magical image on the local theater marquee, a masterpiece of bright colors and bold lines, born from collaboration and error (the poster was actually done by two artists, and a miscommunication led to the original painting be done too small to fit all the necessary titles, so it was mounted to a larger board and the extended space was painted in with images of other “flyers” to create the now infamous “Circus Style” poster.) and to this day, I have a stronger memory of seeing that art for the first time than actually seeing the movie itself.

Honestly, it is that way for most of my favorite movies. If the subject of Raiders of the Lost Ark comes up, before I even visualize Indiana Jones running from the boulder, or Toht’s melting face, my mind goes to a single image: Indy and Marion standing behind the glowing ark, with vignetted portraits of allies, foes, and snakes filling out the corners of an iconic movie poster. When I think of Back to the Future, the first thing that comes to mind is Marty McFly looking at his watch, his foot in the door of the Delorean, streaks of fire burning bright orange against the deep blue night sky.  As a child, when I saw that one sheet image with no context as to what the movie was about, I had no idea what it meant. Except that I HAD to see that movie!

Throughout my childhood (which includes up to right now, by the way) movie posters were such an important part of the entertainment experience. They offered a promise of the magic that was about to come, a hint to the worlds that lie behind the red velvet curtain. Whether it was kismet, or really good marketing teams, all of my favorite movies had the best posters. And as my appreciation for this art form matured, I soon realized that all of those posters were created by the same artist, Drew Struzan.

You may not recognize that name, but you know the art. You may not even like the same kinds of movies I like, but I can guarantee Drew created the poster art for at least one of your favorite movies. He has done hundreds of them, and every one is as breath taking and awe inspiring as the next. His resume basically reads like a Hollywood hit list: Star Wars, E.T., Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Shawshank Redemption, Big Trouble in Little China, Hellboy, The Great Muppet Caper, Coming to America, The Thing, Batteries not included, Hocus Pocus, if you can think of a film with an iconic poster, Drew most likely illustrated it.

So it is no surprise that I was completely taken aback this morning when Disney released the first image of the “official” Star Wars: The Force Awakens one sheet and it was a photoshop montage! After almost two years of publicizing how director JJ Abrams begged Drew to come out of retirement to do the poster, and then teasing us with the magnificent promotional art Drew created for the film at D23, I was shocked that I wasn’t looking at a hand painted masterpiece from the man himself.

It was clear that whoever executed the final product definitely took their cues from Drew’s oeuvre, most likely in the form of endless comps the artist created to design his version of the poster. There is an attempt to recreate the daring color palette Drew is famous for, hints of bold outlines, some blown out highlights…but none of it rings true.

For months, I have been hearing about people exclaiming that they cried when they saw the new trailer, or almost fainted when they saw a new character design in toy form. This time around, I haven’t let my guard down to get that emotionally connected yet. I want to see the movie first before I buy in 100%. I want to know who these characters are before I fill my shelf with 3 ¾” plastic effigies to them. The trailers have definitely shown me that John Boyega and Daisy Ridley have brought their A-game, but it was seeing Drew’s D23 promo art that really endeared me to them for the first time. It made me want to go on an adventure with them. Looking at that art allowed me to believe that “this is going to be great!” And it was for that reason today I actually did shed tears for The Force Awakens, sitting at my desk, staring at my lifeless computer at a soulless photo montage movie poster. Tears of utter disappointment.

                                     Drew's promo teaser art painted for the D23 convention

I was affected so deeply by the decision to use a photo comp poster over Drew’s art that I actually took the time to write this, and for those of you who know me or follow me, you know that I NEVER do anything like this. I have my opinions, as everybody does, but I don’t go plastering them all over the internet. But I felt like this had to be said. This isn’t about Star Wars, or Drew, or my childhood. This is about art, American culture, and Hollywood heritage. This is about tradition and integrity. I’m sure that whatever reasons where brought up in some big executive round table discussion about why it was valid to go with photoshop over a painting made perfect sense to those involved, but why? Why even discuss it in the first place? Why remove the human element out of such a human story? And if you are hell bent on going with photoshop, why not make it unique? Why try so hard to make it look like a Drew painting!?!? He was right there! I know hundreds of filmmakers who would give anything to have a Drew Struzan poster to accompany their film. I’m one of them! You had it and you threw it away? But only AFTER you showed us the possibility of how great Drew’s version would have been with the D23 art? It’s like serving filet mignon for an appetizer, and hot dogs for the main course. Like, 99¢ store deadstock hot dogs, not even Carney’s!

How does Disney not realize that a Drew Struzan poster is a staple of Star Wars? Not to mention the fact that they broke up a set. If there are truly going to be 9 main story Star Wars films, Drew painted 6 of those posters already. When Lucas asked Drew to create a new look for the Special Editions in 1996, the artist insightfully composed a triptych, and then even more cleverly continued the pattern for the prequels, so the whole series lines up like an adventure map. And now we are expected to just slap this computerized design, and those to follow, next to his organic freehand genius? I know I’m ranting now, but I just can’t see the logic. If Drew had remained in retirement, or “lost his touch”, I could see this happening, and there would be nothing we could do about it. . But he signed on, ready and willing, and proved to the world without a doubt that he still “had it” with the D23 teaser.

I have seen all kinds of posts and comments today, and many of you are perfectly fine with the poster. Some of you even think it is “awesome”. All art is subject to opinion, and there is no right or wrong. At the end of the day, it is all about how the image makes you feel. I am just expressing that this images leaves me empty. And like a 30 year Star Wars junkie, I so badly needed a fix. I thought this poster would be it. I thought I would catch a glimpse of it and instantly know I HAD to see this movie. But instead I saw noise, a thin imitation, a backpedal on a promise, and my hopes and dreams were quickly replaced with fear and doubt for what other pitfalls this new film might have in store for me. The saddest part is that it seemed like JJ and all involved were trying so hard to respect the original trilogy, practical effects, design aesthetics, and the majesty of old world artistry. For this reason alone, and I may be in the minority here, but I feel that going with a photoshop poster is the most disrespectful thing of all.

I know we live in the digital age, but we have to keep in mind that a computer is just a tool. I’m not saying its better or worse than a paintbrush, just that it has its applications and a time and place to use them. And this poster was not it. There are amazing digital artists out there, but Star Wars needs a poster illustrator, and Drew is the best. No computer can bring what he does to his art. The compassion, the spontaneity. The pencil on paper, the brush in the hand. The splatters, the random squiggles. You can study a Drew poster for decades and always find new surprises. He doesn’t paint movie stars, he paints characters. When I look at the new digital poster, I see Harrison Ford. When I look at Drew’s D23 art, I see Han Solo.

Even for movies Drew didn’t like, he still loved doing the painting, and you can see that love in the art. You FEEL that love looking at it. If you don’t believe me, do me a favor and look at the new poster again. Really look at it. Let go of worrying about having tickets to the opening night midnight screening, forget about chasing your cat around with your awesome app controlled BB8. Imaging you know nothing about Star Wars, you haven’t been cyber stalking Lawrence Kasdan for hints to Kylo Ren’s backstory. Pretend you are walking past the old one screen theater in your hometown and you catch sight of it… Do you lock eyes with the characters? Are those spaceship leaping out at you? Do you feel the colors flowing over you? Are you mesmerized by the composition? Do you sense there is a greater story just beyond what you see? Does it look rich? Like a dream? Like no matter how long you stare you can’t figure out how it came to exist? Do you picture this poster in a very expensive hand carved frame with UV coated plexi hanging above your couch as you entertain guests 20 years from now? You may see it differently, but my answer to all of the above is NO. And for that I am very disappointed.

Current marketing trends, with giant photos of actors, and heavily filtered images of objects forming logos, have made the once illustrious art of painted movie posters a breed on the verge of extinction. This art form has always been a part of this franchise, and in many ways Star Wars was the last great holdout for art of this kind. By not following in this tradition, Disney has shown me that they don't really understand or care about what Star Wars is at it's core, and have no concerns about letting such a vivid part of American pop culture die. 

I’m certain that the final art Drew meant us to see is crated away somewhere in the Disney vaults, like the ark at the end of Raiders. I believe that art is a horcrux, containing a piece of Drew’s soul. And a piece of my soul, as well as yours and all of us who make up the Star Wars universe. And until that art is out in the world, that universe can never be whole.

Legends in 3 Dimensions: Star Wars

I’m currently in London, and with so much history and grandeur to explore, I am still most excited about a quick trip to Elstree studios. Only because this is where Star Wars was filmed!

Coincidentally, it is once again May the Fourth, so I have yet another excuse to share my love of Star Wars with you! It doesn’t seem like an entire year has past since I first let you in on my personal secret hobby of making Star Wars Smurfs. It’s been a busy year, so I’ve only been able to create a few more. So many characters still to go! I thought about showing you some new ones, but that would be so redundant! I’ll save those for later. Instead, I wanted to share my first major licensing partnership with Lucasfilm: a series of collectible busts I created for Legends in 3 Dimensions.

Photo 1: When I first started L3D in 1994, my partner Henry Unger asked me to create a list of the licenses I wanted the most. Of course, Star Wars was at the top of the list. But I felt it was there more as a goal than a reality. I figured it was beyond my reach, and too large of a franchise for my fledgling company.

Well, Henry worked his magic and got us a meeting up at Skywalker Ranch almost immediately. So fast in fact, that I hardly had any examples of product to show. At this point, we had only secured two other properties, and those sculptures were both in the works. Henry had sent Lucas a copy of my General Urko bust from Planet of the Apes, and that got them interested in meeting with me. But I felt I needed something really special to seal the deal. So I picked one of my favorite characters and sculpted my first Star Wars bust to show the caliber of product I wished to deliver.

Sadly, although Admiral Ackbar is probably still my favorite L3D bust, this prototype is the only one in existence. The approval department at Lucasfilm requested some changes, which put the piece on the back burner, and he never made it into the fold again. The saddest part, thinking back, is that the only major alteration was an alternate version of the nameplate, which they felt was too “retro”, which I guess is was, as I based it on the original Kenner action figure card backs.  

Photo 2: My original presentation for the L3D Star Wars lineup included mostly obscure characters. With Star Wars being at the height of its popularity today, it may be hard to remember a time when the brand only focused on main characters such as Luke, Han, Darth, R2, and 3PO. You may even be too young to know that pre-prequel background characters didn’t even have names so much as “descriptions” we only knew of from the Kenner action figure card backs. But we still loved them all, and in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when new merchandise was scarce, I spend most of my money tracking down rare gems I couldn’t obtain in my childhood, such as the elusive vinyl capped Jawa, or the European released Yak Face. My vision with L3D was to bring those creatures that only got a few seconds of screen time to endear themselves to us into the spot light and immortalize them as busts. I figure if I would pay $950 for a 3 ¾ used Yak Face, someone would love to have him as a brand new bust for $99!

The reps at the ranch didn’t quite seem to grasp what I was talking about, although it seems I was just too ahead of the curve! Now, companies like SideShow create collectibles of every frame of film in as many various formats as we can consume. It is truly a fan’s paradise these days, but at the time I got a lot of head scratching and questions like, “Do you think anyone would really be interested in a Greedo bust? Han kills him in less than a minute!” (Yes, these meetings were PRE special addition, too!!! )

The compromise was that I would do a rarer main character that also supported the franchise’s most recent effort to provide fresh content, the multi-platformed “Shadows of the Empire”. So I sculpted my first OFFICIAL Star Wars bust, Emperor Palpatine.

I wanted to give each character a base that connected them to their environment, and while creating this “throne room” pedestal, I decided to forgo the nameplates, which then followed through for the majority of L3D busts.

Photo 3: The natural follow up to the Emperor was a bust of Boba Fett. The notorious bounty hunter was deeply integrated in the Dark Horse comics version of Shadows, and had been a fan favorite since he first appeared in animated form in the Star Wars Christmas Special way back in 1978. Once again, up until the late 90’s, there was very little merchandise surrounding this supporting character, so it was a great opportunity to satisfy a growing hunger for Fett fans.

Photo 4: When I start to write these blogs, I always worry that there won’t be enough to talk about on any given subject. But as I start to pull the images, tons of stories flood back into my mind.  One specific thing I remember about creating this bust was controversy over the paint scheme. I presented my prototype based on the Jedi version of Boba, who is commonly known as the “carnival version” due to the bright primary colors on his jet pack.  The approval department rejected it, stating that Boba Fett was always all olive drab, and provided photos from Empire Strikes Back.  I was determined to keep the vibrant colors, so I took my SW laserdisc box set and “stepped” frame by frame through both movies, capturing the slo-mo on VHS to bring to the ranch for proof. Like I said, this was a long time ago.

The staff was shocked to realize there were differences in the character between movies, and granted me permission to run the carnival version. Since it became so glaringly apparent after this process that there were TWO different Boba Fetts, I decided to do a limited edition variant of the ESB version. We only made 500, and they are so rare, I don’t even have one! This photo is of my original paint masters, which were destroyed in China after the manufacturing run.

Photo 5: Having the Star Wars license brought the company a lot of attention, and the Boba Fett variant got a lot of press. Some of my favorite articles are printed in magazines I can’t even read, like this full page in HOBBY JAPAN.  You can see a shot of me working on the Emperor in the lower right corner. Notice the reference book I’m looking at. It’s the Japanese version of Star Wars Chronicles. The book has highly detailed photos of almost every prop, model, and costume used in the original trilogy. It was originally released in Japan, and later there was an American version available. If you don’t own it, you should!

Photo 5a: You may have also noticed the Cantina diorama at the bottom of the page. I’m gonna save that one for a future blog, because it’s a long story, but you can read more about it in Steve Sansweet’s book, Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Photo 6: Of the L3D Star Wars busts actually released, Greedo is my favorite. I tried to capture his blank expression, subtle head tilt, and groovy 70’s ski jacket. His base is, well, based on the set itself, drawing from the tiled archway tiles and the stucco earthen walls with faded stripes.

Photo 7: This became the first manufacturing challenge for L3D, since I decided to have the Bounty Hunter’s mohawk of spines laid in with individual brass rods. There are about 100 spines per head, all hand glued in place. 

I also built the miniature sets for the product shots. Mos Eisley was probably the most fun to build, and with minor modifications, I was able to use it for several of the other bust, as the cantina was a huge source of inspiration for the L3D lineup.

Photo 8: So, it goes without saying that there would be a Cantina Band Member. I know they all have individual names now, but when I was a kid, they were simply known as the Cantina Band.

What makes the band member bust special is that it was my only use of hands in an L3D SW bust. I wanted to keep the pieces as close to the classical form as possible, but I felt that it was the instruments that really connected these aliens to the band, and most of them were woodwind style props. I went with the one that resembles a flute, as it was compact enough to keep the bust proportionate to the others.

Photo 9: Another unique quality was my use of airbrushing on the piece. I usually tried to avoid this technique, as it often ended up being overly done in production and giving the end product a cheesier, cheaper look. But the color scheme on these creatures was so subtle, standard brush processes were even more risky. In the end, the factories nailed it, and the Cantina Band Member sold out almost instantly.

Photo 10: Putting this blog together, I suddenly realized that majority of the L3D Star Wars line are inhabitants of Tatooine. I guess I was drawn to all of the rustic textures, especially on the Sandpeople, or Tusken Raiders. Wrapped head to toe in protective bandages to shield them from the double suns, the Raiders viewed the world through aluminum tubes breathed through heavy leather sand filters.

Photo 11:  This bust involved as much machining as it did sculpting.

The base is designed to represent the head of the Raider’s Gaffi stick, and I tied him to it by continuing the bandolier straps past the bust cut off. In order to ensure that these thin straps would last on your shelves, I tooled them to be cast separately out of pewter. I needed to engineer deep pegs into the backs of the straps to lock into the cold cast porcelain bust to make sure they held on securely, since even the strongest epoxy has trouble binding the metal.

Photo 12: But not all of my over-engineering makes it to the final product! I was very concerned that Greedo's large, pointy ears and suction cup like antenna would not survive in polystone, so I initially opted to make them as separate white metal pieces. The ears turned out to be too heavy, and we had more issues with them falling off in the drop tests then we had breakage with the cold cast ones. I believe the pewter antenna stayed, although it has been 16 some-odd years since I reviewed these things on the assembly line, so I could be wrong!!!

Photo 13: Many of the Star Wars bust had complicated elements like the straps and ears, so I came up with the idea of showing random steps of the process on the certificate of authenticity. I love Star Wars for many reasons, but perhaps most of all for introducing me to “behind the scenes” at such an early age. Lucas never had any reservations about pulling back the curtain and revealing exactly how he made the magic, and who the artist were that helped him make it happen. Even in the original Topps trading card sets, images of models in progress, concept art, and sets under construction found their way between the final film frames and character glamour shots. In my mind, “the making of” is just part of the Star Wars esthetic, so I tried to include as much of that in my product as possible.

Photo 14: Speaking of the Star Wars aesthetic, there is one man whose art is synonymous with the franchise: Drew Struzan. Drew has illustrated some of the most famous Star Wars posters. He also gave us a wide collection of book covers and promotional art since the galaxy far, far away was first brought to our attention. When it came time to create the box art, it was the only logical choice for me to ask Drew to do it. I had been creating the most of the L3D box art myself up to this time, but in no know universe could I even dream of bringing the Star Wars characters to life the way that Drew does.

Photo 15: Drew created 4 unique panels for the box: two sides, the back, and the lid. He designed a “space port” border to connect all the paintings as the wrap around the box, and I cut out the character art from one of the panels to create the border for the box front window.

Each panel is so beautiful, I couldn’t begin to pick a favorite. But being as R2 and 3PO are my favorite characters, it was a dream come true to have this piece of art created exclusively to house my sculptures.

Photo 16: The opposite side of the box featured a squad of Stormtroopers charging at us, with TIE fighters blasting something into smithereens in the background.

Photo 17: But without a doubt, the greatest Star Wars moment in my life came from seeing this piece of art. It was customary to include a photo of the artists involved in the sculpture on the back of the L3D box, and Drew asked me if I planned to do the same for Star Wars. I was going to be the only sculptor, so Drew asked if I wanted him to draw my portrait instead of using a photo. Drew is most famous for his portrait work, immortalizing the likenesses of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, and Dustin Hoffman as Hook, just to name a few, so it was a great honor to have him do an illustration of me.

Photo 18: While designing the box layout, Drew decided that I needed to integrate into the Star Wars theme rather than just be a floating head on the back of the box. So he put my head on Luke Skywalker’s flight suited body from Empire Strikes Back. He gave me this black and white comp to submit to Lucasfilm, and I nearly passed out! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but I was pretty sure that there was no way that George was going to approve it!

I went to San Fran to present it to Lucas, and he laughed heartily. It turns out that by this time, he had become a big fan of my work, and was very pleased with the L3D prototypes. He gave me permission to use Drew’s art on the box under one condition: remove the lightsaber. His exact quote, “You are not a Jedi yet!”

That moment will forever be the highlight of my geek life. Drew removed the lightsaber, and the finished art made it onto the box. I guess this made me the first person not in the original films to be represented as a Star Wars character on official merchandise!

Photo 19: The Star Wars line was very successful, and I was invited to Skywalker Ranch a lot to talk about new product and to show my progress on new pieces. During one trip, I was in the president of Lucasfilm’s office when I noticed that he had my 1/6^th scale sculpture of the Gamorean Guard on his desk. When I mentioned that I had created it, the room went very quiet. It turns out that the sculpture had a lot of history with the company, and as much as they loved the art, it came in their possession in what was viewed as a very negative way.

I had sculpted the pieces years earlier to be a resin garage kit when that was a popular hobby. I never actually finished it, but a friend who owned a specialty model shop saw pictures of the work in progress and asked if I could finish a prototype for him to present to Lucasfilm in hopes of getting an official license. When the company got the statue, it came with rumors that they were already available on the underground kit market. They sent my friend a cease and desist letter, but kept the Gamorean Guard.

I had only heard that the license had not been approved, and I thought my friend kept the original. I explained that the piece Lucasfilm had been the only one in existence, and that I had the original molds locked safely away. We were able to work out a deal that let me finally release the sculpt as an official product, but the president still kept the original prototype!

Photo 20: I had big plans to continue the L3D Star Wars line, and hopefully someday I will get to continue that vision. I got to do some cool interactive promotions with Lucasfilm in the meanwhile, like this full size Jabba the Hutt photo-op for Star Wars Celebration 1. Over the course of the 3-day weekend, we ended up shooting hundreds of digital photos with excited fans. It was great to be able to share my love for Star Wars with so many people in person, and learn that I had made so many of them happy with my sculptures. Hopefully you are one of them!

May the Fourth be with you!!!!

Think Tink

This weekend is C2E2, or Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, if you didn't know! It's a huge show, and I am excited to attend, representing Floppets!

We will be doing a big push for The Guild Floppets, and I am thrilled that Amy Okuda will be joining me to promote them.

Since we will both be at the show, I thought it would be fun to do an exclusive piece of art that we can sign for fans when they come for their Guild Floppets. And what better subject matter to draw than Amy as Tink...

Photo 1: I know, another blog about a Guild project. Shocking! Well, it's an awesome show, and they are my friends, and I have yet to hear anyone say to me that they are sick of Guild projects! And guys, c'mon! AMY OKUDA!

Photo 2: I picked my favorite photo from the DATE MY AVATAR photoshoot, and did a quick pencil sketch of it. I thought it would be cool to put the words THINK TINK behind her, hence the name of this blog. I did them in classic college font, like the Victoria's Secrets Think Pink campaign. The drawing is a rough guideline, so I wasn't worried about keeping it too clean and straight. I also didn't do any shading, since I planned on doing it in Copic Markers and didn't want the pencil to dictate any tone.

Photo 3: Even though I am old school and actually still use things like markers and paint, I have found a few life saving advantages of the digital age. One useful technique is scanning the original pencil and markering on a printout. That way, if I really mess it up (it happens!) I don't have to completely redraw it. I usually lighten the pencils in photoshop, too, so that they are just ghost lines on the paper. This helps them disappear in the final art. I print it on standard bond, because I like how the markers react to it best.

Photo 4: When I am doing a painting in acrylic or oil, I ALWAYS start with the furthest plain back and work forward. With marker, it doesn't really matter. So, I usually start with the face, because if you are going to botch up a piece of art anywhere, it's usually going to be on the face of the subject. My philosophy is that, if I get the face correct, the rest will be smooth sailing. Tonite, I was pretty tired getting started, and felt like I needed some warm up before I dove that deep, so the elbow seemed appealing!

Photo 5: And then I stalled a little more with the neck. But ultimately I had to get to the face. Markers work a lot like watercolor, and the Copics have beautiful blending properties. I usually start with a middle tone base color.

Photo 6: Then I build up some shadows, hitting the whole area with the base color again to blend the shadows in a bit.

Photo 7: And then I take advantage of the Copic's ability to "erase" by using a lighter tone, or sometimes the colorless blender, and draw out some of the color to create highlights.

Photo 7: I was moving pretty quick on this, and kept forgetting to take comprehensive photos of every step, so hopefully this torso section will explain what I mean better. Step one, middle tone base color.

Photo 8: Step two, shadows. You can see the various degrees of shading I've added. At this point, I don't even worry about soft edges or blending, just blocking in the tones.

Photo 9: Step three, blending. Here I used the lightest skin tone I had. I find that using lighter tones often provides better results than the colorless blender, especially when you want to keep the area saturated. You can control how much of the shadow color stays by how much or how little you work the lighter marker over it.

Photo 10: Here is Amy with all her skin tones blocked in. Is it me, or am I saying "tones" a lot!?!

Photo 11: The blending and color lifting abilities of these markers are the greatest things ever, but you do need to be careful. You are essentially flooding your paper with excess ink, and it needs to go somewhere! If you are working directly on the surface of your desk, it will most likely collect, and cause bleeding, or smear and bleed through your art as you move it. I work on a stack of blank paper, and every couple areas I color, I pull the top sheet out to keep a clean working surface.

Photo 12: Next is the purple! Same process, middle base, shadows, highlight blending.

Photo 13: The regular household printing paper really absorbs the marker color, and also freely lets it go with the blending and erasing techniques, unlike illustration board or hot press bristol. But it is that same paper property that allows the ink to bleed so easily. I try to control it as much as possible, but often you just have to let it go. I'll show you what I do about it in a few.

Photo 14: If you've never used alcohol based markers before, definitely experiment some before working on an important piece. Different combinations actually provide different results. For instance, light tones (tones!) over dark will often create a grainy texture, while building up shadows over highlights will lay down smooth. Both are interesting and effective, you just need to plan what you want where ahead of time.

Photo 15: Here's what the light lilac did going over the darker blue berry. I focused the stroke in the middle, so the edges stayed darker. Notice the grain I mentioned.

Photo 16: And I'm sure you noticed the excessive bleed! Trying to pull back on a really dark color takes a lot of lighter ink, so it's important to remember to shift the paper under your art so the excess being drawn out doesn't pool and absorb back up into your art! And, I know it's a waste of paper, but throw that layer out after this. The same way that these markers lift and blend colors on your art sheet, they can revive and lift colors up from the work surface underneath back into your art. You don't want to forget that the dark purple stain is under there, start working on the face, and have it bleed through!

Photo 17: Back to Amy. So the bow was dark to light, here I am going light to dark, to get a softer blend for the hair.

Photo 18: Middle tone (TONE!!!)

Photo 19: And then the darkest. Still missing something, you say? I'm going to finish the piece in Prismacolor Pencils! The markers are just the base.

Photo 20: So...about that bleed...

Photo 21: I used some neutral grays, blended with some cool blue to "eat" the bleed away. Normally I would try to leave some white surface, but these areas are too small, so I'll deal with that later. Be careful not to over saturate the area when fighting back the bleed, because you will end up reversing the situation and bleed back into the previous color.

Photo 22: With all of the marker laid in, it was time to move onto pencils. I started again with the flesh tones (dammit). As I am forever a slave in attempting to emulate my most favorite artist in the history of art, Drew Struzan, I chose to outline Amy with darker pencil lines. I didn't blend them into the shadows, they just stay as stylized pencil lines. I used burnt sienna around her flesh t.... I give up.

Photo 23: The same process for the rest of Amy, finding a suiting outline color to correspond with each area.

Photo 24: Some of the areas needed more pop, so I went in with a secondary, darker, outline. I also started adding highlights with a white pencil.

Photo 25: Highlights in the hair.

Photo 26: OK, all of the outlining is done, and I've procrastinated enough. And, I'm not getting any not tireder. See!?! Time for the face.

Photo 27: I always start with the eyes, as they are the "make or break" feature. I don't know why I am showing you THIS picture. Right now, we are leaning towards the "break" side of things. I need more pencil movement...

Photo 28: Alright, that's better. Looks much more like Amy. Or, Tink, at least.

Photo 29: Using white acrylic, I put back some of the highlights that got markered over earlier.

Photo 30: I also use the acrylic to brighten the whites of her eyes, and pop in a few more highlights.

Photo 31: Add in the arrow and the bow string, and Tink is finished. Now all I have to do tonite is color the background. And write this blog...

Photo 32: Ordinarily, I like to keep my art "live", meaning, as one whole, continous piece so the final art is a complete original. Looks better in a frame that way. But it was right after I finished Tink that I decided I wanted to blog about this art BEFORE I got to C2E2, which meant I had to do it tonite (or last night, probably, by the time you read this) because I have a few other projects due before I leave on Friday. So knowing that it would take a few hours to blog, I had to decide on the best way to get the art done quickly. Coloring the lettering around the figure is totally possible, but I would have to take my time to not mess it up! So, despite my instincts, I chose to go digital once again. Well, digitally assisted, any way. I printed out another line art, and based out the letters on a second sheet.

Photo 33: I used a few different shades to create a gradation. At this point you are probably wondering why I did just do the whole background in photoshop, right? Well, I still wanted it to be a hand drawn illustration, and in my mind, comping two hand drawn elements to make a finished product is an acceptable cheat.

Photo 34: Same principles as with the figure: Middle t...shade.

Photo 35: Darker...color.

Photo 36: Then blended with a lighter... hue.

Photo 37: I repeated the same for the font outline. With the nerve wrecking concern of having to work around Tink gone, I was able to marker these letters fast and loose. I didn't have to worry about bleed, which gave me better, and more importantly, faster, blends.

Photo 38: Back to the pencil. When I was a kid painting signs in Manhattan, I would strive to make my hand lettering look like a machine. Now, with every font available to eveybody at a click of a button, I actually try to make sure the lettering in my art reads as hand done. Hand done? Can you say that? Am I sounding ignorant by trying to save a single word and not saying "done by hand"??? But you know what I meant.

Photo 39: Everything is outlined, some with a ruler, some freehand. Now to clean up that bleed.

Photo 40: Really, I don't hate the computer. I just like to keep my digital art and my "analog" art separate. I know I could select and delete the bleed from the digital file after I scan this, but it just seemed more natural to me to clean it up with some acrylic and a brush.

Photo 41: Think Tink is ready to be scanned, comped, and printed for C2E2! You'll have to wait till the show to see what the final looks like! Don't worry, that's only like 30 some odd hours away! Come check it out and say hi to Amy and I at booth #530.

Photo 42: And if you can't make it to Chicago, don't despair. Tink wasn't the only piece of art I did this week that you can get your hands on. I've been messing around with some Mac skins as a "decompressing" ritual from the massive new show I just filmed with Sandeep Parikh. Hopefully I can talk about that soon. In the mean time, if you are a fan of the Doctor, check out my Ood...

Photo 43: And, because I can't go a single day without thinking about Star Wars, here's a Boushh. You can find both of these designs at my etsy shop! Check back often, I'll be posting more designs as I get them done between projects.