Inking test

For a new project.

Random pic

The first not-work related drawing I do since February 10!

Ezio

Flavius Aetius, I mean, not Ezio Auditore of Assassin's Creed.

I have this Aetius' biography in mind (to do I don't know when), and I used him to do a bit of inking practice. I read Klaus Janson's DC Guide to Inking, recently, and I tried a few tips described in the book.

 

This was inked starting with the fine lines inside and then adding the black outside. Finer lines were inked with a Leonardt nib (not my usual one), while outer borders were done with a brush. Not my usual method, of course. 

This was inked entirely with a brush.
 

 

The figure on the right (which should represent a normal soldier of the late empire, if I got my references right) was inked starting with the outer border, inked with a brush, and then the inside was inked with my usual Hunt 108 nib. The Hun on the left was inked entirely with #108 except for the fur.

Again, inked entirely with a Hunt 108.

Burial

Another little sci-fi doodle.

doodle

Clelia Conti

Just finished reading La Chartreuse de Parme... And I had a spare sheet, so I did a quick sketch of Clelia.

Hexed

Hexed, the comic written by Matt O'Keefe I worked on at the beginning of the year, was finally posted! Please read it here: http://deadlesscomic.blogspot.it/p/hexed.html

Historical Characters: Romulus Augustus

Woe to that land that's governed by a child.
(Richard III, II, iii, 11)

For the Historical Characters series
The last Western Roman emperor (deposed 476 AD)

This one was inked with a Sennelier Indian ink and my usual Hunt #108 nib. It's a very thick ink, so much that the nib clogs after a few strokes. I would recommend to dilute it when using with thin nibs.

Historical characters: Augustus and Julia the Elder

I shamelessly fangirl Emperor Augustus <3

Boadicea

I have in mind doing a series of historical characters as exercise... Boadicea was suggested by a couple of people on deviantArt and facebook.

Inked with a Leonardt 300 nib and coloured with Photoshop.

Flavius Aetius

Flavius Aetius [link] defeated Attila's Huns at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, on June 20, 451 aD, thus saving the Empire against the Hunnic invasion. I didn't know anything about Aetius before watching the movie "Attila" with Gerard Butler, in which he is masterfully played by Powers Boothe.

I'd like to draw a comic about him, one day.

Fanart Friday again!

These are not exactly fanart, rather concepts that I was finally inspired to draw by the magnificent story about Adam and Eve, Original Sin, featured in A Flight of Angels, the new graphic novel by the wondrous Rebecca Guay.

Time sight

Time is in the eye of the beholder.

Lucca 2011 is approaching!

On Sunday I'll leave for Lucca Comics & Games, and will be there until Wednesday.

Recently I've done a lot of sketches for A Dance with Dragons. You may find them on my tumblr.

I've sketched a new medieval short story recently... some 24 pages long, more or less. I wish I had the time to complete it. Who wants to publish it?

Diving fairies

I was in a inking mood yesterday.

Flawed

Flawed by *cabepfir on deviantART

For the "Flawed" contest on tumblr.

Eddard Stark refuses Renly Baratheon’s help: “And what should I do with a hundred swords, my lord?” (AGoT 508)

This was the first scene in which I realised, truly realised, that Ned was going to crumble under his inability to play the game of thrones. He senses it himself: “He found himself wondering if he had done the right thing by refusing Lord Renly’s offer.”

Ned was wearing a "white linen tunic and grey cloak", while Renly was "still in his hunting greens, his cloak spattered with blood".

ASOIAF (c) George RR Martin

Morgana and Owain

A little drawing for my friend Sigune's comic, Gawain.

Singbird

Waiting for new material, a little concept from the past. Drawn at ACA, Florida, October 2010.

Sophy and Charles

Sophy and Charles by *cabepfir on deviantART

Joanne Renaud asked me to draw a fanart for Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy, and here you go. It's the first time I inked with a G-pen (a Japanese nib) and it's not even as flexible as Hunt #108 Flexible Quill.

inks, nibs, Asanor & Hook

This is the first picture I ink with the new Hunt #108. The brand new brass surface had difficulties in keeping the ink, and it also seemed harder than the previous (now broken ç_ç) nib. At the beginning I had to dip the nib in the ink bottle almost every centimetre. I had almost finished inking when the nib started to be dirty enough to behave as I expected.

Anyway, this is my usual clutter when I try to ink in a clean way - I don't know, but I always get less interesting results when I try to be clean. Moreover, I'm still unsatisfied when I try to place deep blacks.

This drawing, in any case, was intended to show two main characters of my saga, Asanor: the protagonist (on the right) and his love interest, Miriel (on the left). She is the daughter of a typographer, hence their well-equipped bookshelves.



This, instead, is the last drawing I inked with the late #108. It's Hook peeling an apple for Wendy. You could tell I had just re-watched the Peter Pan movie with Jason Isaacs (squee). What you couldn't tell, since I adjusted the level, is that it was inked with a Lefranc & Bourgeois Chinese Ink, bought in Angoulême. It's a truly dreadful ink, if I may say the truth. I heard that people call the Pelikan ink a diluted wash; it only means they haven't tried the Lefranc & Bourgeois, because, meh, this is dirt water with a drop of black, not an ink. The only pro is that it's extremely flowing; but it's way too clear, almost grey, not pitch-black.