Cross Hatching - Tumblr Posts
I’ve been working on some illustrations for The Spook’s Apprentice to put in my portfolio, since my book illustrations are a bit scant at the moment.
Originally I planned to use my gel pen for finer hatching like I usually do, but I have some older pieces done that way that I’m still pleased with, so I tried thicker hatching using my mapping pen instead. I think it looks pretty good so far. I’m also trying to be a bit more creative with composition. I’ll probably do three full page illustrations and three insets, and then pick the best ones out of those.
Two more illustrations for The Spook’s Apprentice. Yet more fun with foreshortening, which is usually my mortal enemy. I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it.
Are the illustrations scary enough? Or... too scary? Probably not the second one!
Here are the last two illustrations for The Spook’s Apprentice. We’re firmly back in my comfort zone with ‘scary old ladies’, but the last one was probably the hardest to do with the thicker hatching. I’m still not entirely sure it works on that one.
Some Jessie doodles. Looking grouchy at her very old-fashioned school desk.
Magical transforming cats are just as keen on getting in your way as the normal kind. Somewhat less likely to roll on their back and then savage your hand though, since they can tell you in words whether they want to be petted or are expressing trust by showing you their stomach.
Inktober 2016 - Day 1 : mapping pen What’s this? An Inktober picture posted on the same day I drew it? And I didn’t goof up the first one? Incredible! Don’t take fruit from fairies, children. Not even if they go to your school. Especially not if they haven’t even bothered to put glamours on. I’m not really prepared for Inktober this year, but I’ll do it anyway!
Inktober 2016 - Day 8 : G-pen It says something about Spider’s personality that he can be so happy about bending a spoon when Nettle is lifting herself, him and probably half the house in the air without even really trying. I think I’ve drawn a variation of this picture for the last 3 Inktobers in a row. It’s probably fine as long as I use a different inking method each time.
Inktober 2016 - Day 10 : mapping pen Lottie lives in a very cold place where Summer is short and Autumn is freezing, but her adoptive parents buy her plenty of fashionable fur-trimmed coats.
Inktober 2016 - Day 12 : gel pen The Crow Boy doesn’t mean to be creepy, but he usually is anyway.
Inktober 2016 - Day 15 : gel pen Tempting with fruit isn’t the only way for a bad fairy to entrap unsuspecting humans. (Ely is also wearing her glamour like a sensible changeling.)
Inktober 2016 - Day 21 : mapping pen
I wasn’t feeling well yesterday, so I could only manage a quick sketch with minimal shading. I also messed up Louise’s face but I do that so often that I’m sure she’ll forgive me. Autumn is a good time for fairy-spotting.
Inktober 2016 - Day 26 : mapping pen I already drew Ely with her glamour, so here she is without it. She’s just as gross as Trispin.
I don‘t have time to do Mermay properly, but I drew one mermaid anyway. I’ve committed my own greatest pet peeve though and drawn something different to what’s described in the text! That’s no ‘comb and glass’ in that mermaid’s hand. (It’s the slightly weird Fairport Convention version of ‘Sir Patrick Spens’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voL7UNyZyf0 ) For a challenge I tried to ink it using only one pen, a slightly uncooperative gel pen.
Inktober 2017 : Day 5 - gel pen I think it hurts Jessie to channel lightning through her body like that, but it’s really the only combat magic she knows. One of these days I’ll have to work out what she wears when she’s not in uniform. She appeared when I was a teenager and still dressed all my characters in black, but now that I’m older I realise it doesn’t really suit her. Hmm.
Inktober 2017 - Day 9 : gel pen
If you pick a magical fight with Nat assuming he’ll be as unprepared as his sister, you’re going to get yourself seriously hurt. In fairness, getting struck by Jessie’s lightning is probably going to hurt too. The difference is Nat won’t hurt himself as well.
Inktober 2017 : Day 14 - G-pen (and a brush to fill in the black) When one awakes in a strange, dark world with no idea what is going on, Shasta’s is not the most comforting face to see looming overhead.
Inktober 2017 : Day 15 - mapping pen (and some others) This one is a bit of a hodge-podge, it’s mostly mapping pen, but I used a brush pen for the black areas (including the shine on the ribbons) and a fineliner for the red. A bundle of oak, thorn and ash twigs tied with red string will ward off fairies, both good and bad.
Inktober 2017 : Day 16 - gel pens
Wipe that glamour off your face Trispin, Ely isn’t impressed. I have a super-fine gel pen (0.25) that I rarely use, so I tried it for the cross-hatching on this. I like it but it’s just so scratchy! I had to pull paper fluff out of the nib several times.
Inktober 2017 : Day 20 - gel pen Someone walking past probably wouldn’t see the shadow, but it’s there. Oof. This one was definitely in the ‘why have I done this to myself’ category. I was up several hours past my usual bedtime finishing the many layers of crosshatching! It was also stressful because this sort of hatching looks like arse until it’s nearly done, so I’m never quite sure if it’s going to work.
Inktober 2017 : Day 23 - G-pen Tree fairies of his type don’t usually venture far from their home tree, so Sweetpea has never seen a sweet chestnut before. It’s like a little hedgehog!
Inktober 2017 : Day 25 - cartridge pen
Lottie is fairly sure she shouldn’t be talking to the Crow Boy, but she doesn’t really want him to leave either.