Operation Total Chaos!

Over on his Writing Samples page, Tom Gastall has posted the first act of Operation Total Chaos! A master villain schemes to destroy a small town, and there’s only one person who can stand up to him… his babysitter. Check it out!

Paul Pope's Inking Demo at Comic-Con

One of the highlights at SDCC for me was the inking demo that Paul Pope gave for the CBLDF. Pope inked the skull of Yorick from Hamlet for the demo. The process really came together for me when Pope added the shadow of the skull on the fingers of the hand holding it, establishing the relation of the hand and the skull in a 3d space.

Some of my notes from the demo:
-Pope uses Koh-i-norr & Sumi ink, and a ceramic dish to hold the ink when working.
-For Paper, Pope uses Strathmore Hot press 2-ply, or cold press for an "old masters" effect.
-Pope uses a variety of brushes for inking, including Windsor Newton Series 7 & the University Series.
-Fill in large black areas with a small sponge to save time.
-Don't store your brushes in the jar point-down.
-When inking with a caligraphy brush, plant your pinky on the paper to steady your hand.
-He uses Masters Brush Cleaner for cleaning brushes.
-Pope likes to "activate" his brush before use by allowing the ink to soak into the bristles for a few minutes.
-He likes to watch episodes of the Outer Limits for lighting ideas.

Check out some video clips of the demo from around the web:

Paul Pope talks about inking (part 1) from Christine Rhee on Vimeo.

Paul Pope talks about inking (part 2) from Christine Rhee on Vimeo.

Check out some of my other comics-related posts here.

Hokus Krokus Studio

We've moved over to Hokus Krokus Studio to better present what we're up to. Come check us out.

Unicorpse

HK collaborator Ian Wilson Ross wrote the closing track to UNICORPSE, the 48 Hour Film Project Providence fantasy entry by They're Using Tools! Check it out.

Batman by Sonic Nova - Final

Here's the final version of Sonic Nova's Batman. Originally I wanted the coloring to have a modern look, along the lines of Dave Stewart's work on Hellboy. But I soon discovered that it was difficult to apply modeled coloring to this particular drawing. Flat colors were the only thing that seemed to work. I might try coloring a chiaroscuro drawing next time around for better results. There were quite a few phases for this one, but here are the phases that actually mattered:

-original pencil sketch by Sonic Nova
-redrafted pencils to alter the perspective.
-digital inks with Adobe Illustrator.
-graytone drawing in Photoshop to establish values.
-rough colors in Photoshop.
-final colors in Photoshop by Ursula (because I'm slightly color-blind.)

Ethan Banville at The Haha Cafe

Behold! Footage of Hokus Krokus collaborator Ethan Banville at The Haha Cafe in Burbank. The performance was part of Gerry Katzman's popular standup comedy class... nsfw.

Ethan Banville: standup at the Haha Cafe

Author, television writer, and Hokus Krokus favorite Ethan Banville will be performing standup at The Haha Cafe in North Hollywood on Tuesday, December 1st at 7pm. Admission is free.