More sketchbook pages, this time showing Dan, the hero of my comic-gothic novella Dan and the Dead, due to be published next summer by A&C Black. I’m illustrating this with black and white chapter heading pictures and a colour cover, and I want to give the book a graphic novel/comic feel, because I believe that will help make it more appealing for its core audience: boys, 10 – 14, who have little motivation to read.
These samples are interesting (to me, anyway) because they are free hand sketches and not pen work tracing a pencil rough beneath. This will hopefully allow me to keep some of the energy and movement of original drawing, rather than turning the rough into an ink fossil of itself. In other words, it’s seat-of-the-pants work. I hope my bottom doesn’t stick out too much.
Click for a closer look if you like. Still working on lots of things, not least the lettering…
Oh, and if you’ve got any spare money, Dan and the Dead is now available for pre-order.
Don’t forget, books look better in pairs:)
Very cool; he just oozes character and attitude.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Simon:)
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