Inktober 2014 - Happy Halloween!

Last one! Tabitha is very proud to have been entrusted with Granny's Hallowe'en deliveries this year, although she still hasn't quite got the hang of flying with her hat on.

This probably would have turned out an awful lot better if I'd used watercolour instead of coloured ink, but since Inktober is all about getting better at using ink that didn't seem to be within the spirit of the challenge. So I used coloured ink and messed it up, but I'm okay with that.

Inktober 2014 - part 5

Day 25 - cartridge pen. This is the same pen I use for ink and water, but without the water there's no way to correct my horrible perspective.

Day 26 - fineliner, grey pens and ink painter. This is the same Derwent fineliner and one of their new ink paint pens that I was given at LICAF. Nettle and Spider are not really the same height, but they look more dramatic this way.

Day 27 - g-pen. Since I drew Chiihon, here's her friend the Devil Boy, who is a pre-Disaster vrega. Their planet was not a nice place to live back then. (It's not now either, but at least it doesn't make your teeth fall out any more.)

27.5 - ink and water. My manager wanted me to draw a lightbulb in ink, so I did.

Day 28 - g-pen. I think I made Nettle too short this time. She probably wants the hug but doesn't really know how to express that, so she'll just stand there awkwardly until it stops.

Day 29 - brush pen. Meruch likes to carry Violet because otherwise all he can see is the top of her head.

Day 30 - mapping pen. Ely's toenails are just as long and gross as her fingernails.

Inktober 2014 - part 4

I got ill in the week before London MCM, so between that and con prep I fell very behind on these. I think the next one that was drawn on the right day is 29.

Day 19 - g-pen. I inked this on a moving train. Visuk thought being carried by Meruch would be fun, but it turns out it's mostly embarrassing. Also Visuk has at least two scars that I forgot to draw.

Day 20 - ink and water. I realised I'd never drawn Lottie in ink and water, so here she is.

Day 21 - mapping pen. I wasn't totally happy with the way I drew Trispin's standard glamour, so here's another try.

Day 22 - ink and water. Adventures in late-night character design. This is the doctor on Meruch and Visuk's ship. He's also a priest, which is common. He wears the ponytail and that vial for religious reasons, and is a lot older than he looks to humans. (He looks his age to other Vrega, since they know what they're looking for.)

Day 23 - g-pen. This is where I fell behind, I sketched this on the 24th, but didn't ink it until the 27th. This is Chiihon, who appears to be a mammal but is really a carnivorous plant. Her people eat their planet's native hominids.

Day 24 - ink and water. I tried drawing the Crowboy this way too.

Inktober 2014 - part 3

 A little late in posting, but here are some more Inktober pictures.

Day 13 - ink and water. Levitation practice is also nap-time.

Day 14 - brush pen. I have a Pentel brush pen that I usually use to fill in black areas or occasionally for observational sketches, so I tried using it for a whole picture. It quickly became a game of 'how much black can I put on this before it becomes an unreadable mess?'

Day 15 - mapping pen. I drew Trispin a lot, so here's Ely.

Day 16 - g-pen. If you're wondering why other people don't just stay away from Ely and Trispin when they're so obviously bad news, the answer is glamours.

Day 17 - brush pen. This one was done at LICAF! Violet is tiny compared to most Vrega. For reference, Khet (who is carrying her) is just over 6' tall.

Day 18 - fineliners and grey pens. The Derwent people gave us free fineliners at LICAF. Take three cards and Lena will tell your fortune.

Inktober 2014 - part 2

Day 7 - Ink and water. Trying to see if I could do good smoke effects with this technique.

Day 8 - brush pen and G-pen. The mirror twins might be ghosts or they might just be creepy. (Although they're certainly not 'mirror twins' in the medical sense.)

Day 9 - gel pen and brush pen. Violet doesn't need a ladder, she can just climb on her giant alien.

Day 10 - gel pen. I was torn between wanting to draw a background and really, really, not wanting to draw anything.

Day 11 - brush inking and ink wash. I found some white ink after I finished this one so I had a go at using it for highlights.

Day 12 - mapping pen. My cheap mapping pens remain my favourite inking tools. Don't take any food Trispin offers you.

Inktober 2014 - Part 1

Day 1 - ink and water. A lesson in how ink and water can go horribly wrong. I chose the wrong cartridge pen so it was doomed from the beginning.

Day 2 - brush inking and ink wash. One day I'll be confident enough in this medium to use it outside of Inktober.

Day 3 - G-pen. Simple headshots to break in a new pen.

Day 4 - ink and water. I felt bad for messing up Louise on the first day, so I drew her again with the right cartridge pen.

Day 5 - various. I was still quite tired from a convention at the weekend so I scribbled up some Poppets in various ways. Smiling Poppet with the G-pen, happy Poppet in ink and water, angry Poppet with a brush, surprised Poppet with a mapping pen, sad Poppet with a brush pen.

Day 6 - brush inking. Lena is wearing her brother's jacket.

Music Zine Highlights

Some highlights from the new issue of This Is Not A Serious Music Publication. I was introduced to a lot of new music this year, so it was much easier to come up with feature ideas than last time!

Sammy's already put this issue up for sale in her shop.