After the fun I had at Woking Comic Con, I felt it was time to start drawing again. These conventions always inspire me, and there are so many creatives to enjoy at these events.
With that in mind, I picked up my pencil and, for some reason, was inspired to draw a goblin-like creature who had obviously picked up a staff (or part of a staff) of great power.
The thought of a small, insignificant creature getting something like this was borne from Lord Of The Rings, with Gollum/Bilbo/Frodo having such a powerful item for ones so small…
After sketching it out, I took the opportunity to practice using a dip pen for this one, getting used to the flow, grip, and nib. I seem to be getting better with it and more confident.
For colouring, I used my promarkers. I have a large selection of them and have been changing how I shade and colour with them.
Then there is the problem of scanning it…
So, above are three different versions of the original art. The first is a straight scan - using my HP printer/scanner at 600dpi, you can see the image fine, although some of the colours are slightly faded-looking, especially the light green of the skin.
The middle version is imported into ClipStudio, where I fiddled with some of the levels. You can see the lines are more defined and the colours show up more.
Finally, the one on the right is edited using open-source software Gimp. I played with the levels again and used some of the filters available.
Overall, I think the ClipStudio version strikes a good middle ground. It defines the colours and lines well, while not losing the feel of the image itself. I also had to do some ‘clearing up’ in the Gimp-edited image, as it became a little messy in the white space areas.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Leave a comment with your thoughts.