Character Sketch: Archeology Professor

One of my favorite things about writing stories is creating new characters and new worlds. In my latest I needed an archeology professor, so I created Professor Kissinger. She's not a very nice lady, as you can see from the picture.

The name came from one of my many debate coaches in high school. Originally I was going to make her skinny and angular, but after looking thru a lot of images of women, I decided to go the other direction. I love the frog-like look of her face. The way her eyes slant down and her mouth puckers tightly with the checks and mouth wide remind me of Chuck Jones' version of the grinch. And I think she is very distinct.

I drew her with a Staedtler 2B pencil, inked her with a Zig calligraphy pen, and colored her in Corel Painter X, still the best version of the software.

So what is the name of the project she's from? I'll give you a hint: it's a new format I'm experimenting with, a hybrid of a graphic novel and an illustrated novel.

I'll give you another hint: it's called The Caveman Conspiracy. I hope to have it out in a month or so. I've finished several pages of it, but have many more to go.

Character Sketches: A Boxer Contemplating

So I've been sketching again, and this time I did something I hadn't done before. It's funny, I hate boxing, and I hate watching it, but I do enjoy movies about it and art about it. I'm not sure why.

This was drawn with a Staedtler 2B pencil, inked with a Zig calligraphy pen, and colored in Corel Painter X. I was really pleased with how it turned out. The words are because I'm testing out a font and a style for my next graphic novel which should be out in a month or so.

Let me know what you think!