Who's Sorry Now: A Comic Drawing

Drawing in Pen!

I took one correspondence course in commercial art, but most people  know I have only ever sketched in pencil. This started as such. Having read daily comic strips for months now, I became inspired to adapt it for my own style. It took a good many hours in front of the TV, to search for the right scene for re-imagining, and many more hours browsing the internet for what to include in it.

After the initial pencil layout, I was less than impressed by the placement. I let it sit for a month, before deciding on using pen ink to finish it. I had a black gel pen and a set of fine-tip art pens. Setting the drawing on a transparent clipboard, I had a makeshift light table. A couple of design changes later, I continued the hand drawing with coloured pencils.

Sketch Your Heart Away

A composition featuring four scenes of Remington Steele episode Steele Your Heart Away. Also an example of my favourite negative spaces.

The First Inspiration

The final act of Steele Your Heart Away, before Laura pats Mr. Steele on the shoulder, the previous shot that focused on her. The first time I saw the episode on DVD was the first time I decided to take out my sketchbook again. My previous renderings were always Star Trek characters. It's the second time I attempted to draw from the freeze frame. Eventually, I may make a composite with various scenes from this episode.

Inspiration Needed

I have been writing more of late. One goal is a chance to be published in a magazine. This will be my first new original fiction entry in a while.
Unlike fanfiction, it's not that easy to envision. I have half an idea right now and only a little over one month to write it. Only plus side is the low (1000) word count.
Meanwhile, I am continuing the next chapter for my Remington Steele story. I hope to spend a week before I need to switch gears.

Sketches: Passionate for Laura Holt

What to do with a large page? I could have drawn a big picture. But I was used to working with smaller drawing surfaces. So I compromised. Did a series of small sketches on the same subject, with varying scale. The result is my first composition. Starting from the largest portrait in the middle, I opted for images with different angles and expressions. It worked! ☺☺☺

Steele Reeling: An Unpublished Rewrite

The stench of death overwhelmed Laura, when she realized the carriage was where the Ripper had his victims. She covered her mouth with her hand, her tears threatening to spill.
The only words of reassurance to Mr. Steele was spoken in a muffled, "I'm fine."
As detectives led Galt away, Laura accepted a proffered hand down from the cab.
With feet planted firmly on the ground, Laura took a breath and then suddenly took a step back to retch right behind the rear wheel, narrowly missing Steele's midsection. He could only look on helplessly.
At the first wobbly step, Steele took Laura by the elbow and guided her towards the waiting paramedics.

Later in the hotel room ...

On instinct, Laura tensed up in defense, arms ending up in two fists, until she opened her eyes and stared into Mildred's concerned gaze.
"Mildred! Oh!" she sighed with relief and relaxed in the older woman's arms, trying to will the thumping in her chest to quiet itself.
Seeing that Mildred had her in a cradle hold, "What am I doing on the floor?" she asked.
"You tell me, Hon. When you didn't return, and police reports of another attack." Mildred noticed the bruising on Laura's face. "Are you OK?"

---

To get back into the practice of writing, it is always good to do a rewrite. Written above are some re-imagined scenes from one of my fan fictions.

GIMP: The Write Off

For a while now, I have been trying to make a single panel comic work for Remington Steele. I found inspiration from filing income tax. Drawing caricatures is more difficult than I thought. It's even harder to reproduce the lines with the Ink tool.

GIMP: Flowers for Stephanie

I spent the weekend revisiting this drawing with the GIMP Ink Tool. The line art and the colouring is mostly done with this. I used the Airbrush Tool for some of the finer details and background, as well as the Smudge Tool for obvious reasons. It does make the composition look like comic art.

Sketches: Flowers for Stephanie

The idea for this was to do a comical drawing of the cast of Remington Steele. Not since taking that art class in cartooning, have I attempted such an endeavor. It was hard to come up with a style I haven't already seen. So I began studying the character's expressions and simplified the lines.

The sketching was the easy part. Painting presented yet another challenge. I have yet to master the controls in the tablet apps, so it is back to GIMP. Some parts of the drawing, I replaced the line art, some I kept.

Finished!

Started with thumbnails.

One of my favourite poses

The layout had a different drawing

Sketches: Steele in the Dark

This picture was born from a suggestion from a fan at the SteeleWatchers Facebook group. The challenge was to come up with the punchline. Having screened several B&E themed scenes from a dozen episodes, I saw the most potential in the season 2 "High Flying Steele".

Up until recently, I have been using my pocket sketchbook. I was hoping to use a full-sized sketch pad for this project. It ended up badly. Perhaps I was not used to texture of the drawing surface. Perhaps I had the wrong grade pencil. Anyway, I ended up using some storyboard paper I had lying around, made 4 individual drawings and did up the composition in GIMP.

I adjusted the scale for each to fit the size of the image. All the sketches were scanned to 600 dpi (very big jpeg files). When scaled down, I wouldn't lose too much detail. I used a simple colour fill for the background. As it turned out, I didn't have room to add any more details.

Older Sketches

My Art: A Chronological Journey

In 1991, my right hand got caught in a door. The pain in my middle finger was so great, I could not write with it for a week.

That summer, I started to draw. At first, I just had 2 Star Trek magazines given to me. I started to make sketches of the portraits.

When The X-Files came along, I was working odd hours. So I taped every episode. I started to draw from the freeze frames.

By the time, I started work in the animation industry, a colleague chose a few of my drawings for my portfolio. At this time, I was buying more magazines with my paycheck. A couple years later, I even sold 2 drawings.

That was not enough incentive to make it as an artist. Even though I did take art classes, I wouldn't have been able to handle the rejection.

Fast forward to 2003, I am still making a living in animation. I would buy sketchbooks and pencils (medium of choice) to fuel my hobby. A few summers later, I would be invited to paint a decoration on canvas walls.

Sure I can draw. I might even display my drawings from time to time, but I don't ever want to make money from it any more.

Beginnings of a Serial

This coin was just the start of the mystery

The first of many. In this story, I present Sally 'Minor' Descoine. First introduced in the Remington Steele season two episode Elegy in Steele. I am planning to have a deeper look into her past and what is in her agenda for the Steele's. It remains one of my current projects for time being.

Steele Here, To Keep You Warm
Author: loneguppy
Remington Steele
English, Rated: K
Mystery/Hurt/Comfort
Chapters: 3, Words: 3,374, Reviews: 7, Rated: K, Complete
Vacation plans gone awry. Not everything is as it seems, when the Steele's tried to take a break from work.

The Comic Strip

My first ever comic strip.

 

So here is the comic strip. All the artwork was scanned in at 75 dpi. (Not very big and without the added dimension by a directed light source.)

I found the drawing program GIMP was lacking. I used it to create the border around each individual image and then added a text layer. Then lined up each panel. I used Paint to add in free hand lines. It allowed me more control.

As for the drawings. The medium close-ups were more difficult. If I didn't get the angle of the baseball caps just right, the whole drawing would have to be scrapped.

Filters have very little affect on the scanned images. The drawings were already simplified little posters.

Although it's a free form creation, I find it more of a challenge to getting it right. I can't wait to try it on Star Trek and The X-Files, which I have also drawn in the past.

Comic Strip Fan Art

When you are stuck for words as I sometimes am, I doodle. I looked into Remington Steele episode Second Base Steele for inspiration. With twentyish still frames, I am planning a comic strip.

1. Well done, Mickey!
2. You think so?
3. Why don't you try and hit one next time, St. James?
4. What? Deprive me a chance to steal first base?

Small Sketchbook

My black coiled writing notebook lies underneath my small drawing pad. Both can go anywhere with me. So far, I am focused on portraits. Eventually, I would like to do landscapes.

Next Chapter in Creativity

To think, I used to dread drawing hair. Now there is volume and texture. Could it turn into part time vocation? Perhaps towards retirement.

After two whole years on a single production, my mind is opening up with new ideas again. I am hoping they will keep on growing.

In case you haven't noticed it, I have been writing quite frequently. It hasn't been that busy at work. So. I am practicing for the CBC creative nonfiction contest. I am writing anything and everything I could to keep the words flowing. I even submitted an animated short story idea.

During the coming holiday week, when I will be off, I hope to make a paper automaton of a carousel. I've worked it out roughly. I just need to execute it.

Fan Art for Covers

Steeke Reeling (Posterized and Framed)

Steele Here, To Keep You Warm

I also sketched cover art to go with the fan fiction I've been writing for Remington Steele. While I am mind-mapping, I often make doodles to help me visualize the story. My pocket sketchbook is used for much more than portraits or just Star Trek characters. (See my rendition of Dr. Crusher.)

When it looks flat, as is most often the case when using my pencil stubs, I put it through light and filters to see the drawing in a different perspective.

Since I am quite new to composition, the small size of the sketchbook is making it easy to plan the picture. Scale is one of the things I am trying to work on.

More Sketches

 

This is a sketch of actress Stephanie Zimbalist as Laura Holt. It was done before the drawing previous post. It's taken from a scene in the second season episode Hounded Steele. The hat framed the face very effectively. There was a lot of bright sunlight. It's also one of the times I went straight to HB pencil.

Latest Sketches

 

I have been drawing lately to exercise my right ("lazy") eye. It helps to keep it focused on something. I've been watching Remington Steele on DVD. I have a bit of blind spot on my right side. So. It's always a challenge starting a new drawing. As I did a few of these already, I began to notice that Stephanie Zimbalist's left eye seemed bigger than her right. It wasn't just in my drawings. If I have to choose, I prefer exterior scenes, that last more than five frames.

Because I haven't scanned these, I found the light cast on it added depth that wasn't in the original drawing.

Caricature "I Am Spock"

Updated image

I got whimsical and did a drawing today. The thing that inspired this caricature was a "Fringe" fan fiction I wrote. I Am Spock It's been a while since I drew anything, and was quite happy with this composition. I had trouble with Charlie's expression, but I think it was his legs I really needed to capture. OK. Enough fun for now. Back to writing.