We live in a world where it is usually cheaper to buy a new, superior product than to repair an older, now obsolete one. Case in point. My old light box that I bought second hand some six years ago, a fluorescent tube dealie, began to make a loud humming noise lately, which grew in intensity to the point where I needed to wear headphones and listen to loud music lest it drive me mad.

I took the light box to an electronics repair store (one of the very few left around) and was informed it would cost 40 dollars just for the repairman to look at the thing. A quick google later and I saw that for the same cost I could buy a new, LED light box- thinner, lighter, and more efficient. So, c’est la vie you old piece of shit, and hello to a new and improved light box experience. Oh yeah. That’s the stuff. 

I needed a good functional light box because of a new workflow I’m trialling on Dr Mike 2000’s Universe Gun, from digital layouts to traditional pencils. I’ve used a standard 0.5 mechanical pencil, HB I think. Going on from the digital layouts which I covered in a previous post, the pencilling stage is all about rendering fine details, cloth, and all the fiddly bits that I like to include which will most likely either A- not reproduce or B- be covered by word balloons. But I do it anyway, for the love of it.

Page two was a challenge. I had intended to render all of the little mosaic pebbles but I very quickly decided that way lie madness, and instead opted to just sort it out via duplication in Photoshop. Possibly not my best decision, as you’ll see in a later blog.

Page three involved a bit of reference in skeletons and a lot of faking it with regard to drapery. I should really dedicate more time to studying the way cloth folds and falls. And anatomy. As well as pose, hair, gesture, perspective, vehicles, architecture, flora, fauna, texture, expressions… actually, I need to get better at drawing everything. And yet here I sit on the couch writing a blog instead. 

That’s it for this post. Two more to come, inks and colours. Stay tuned!