Back from London. I took a lot of photos I mean to use for future images, but this self portrait started from a photo my sister took of me on the Tube while there. I started sketching freehand, no grid or anything. Did a couple of corrections and got to the final one at the bottom. Then it was sent over to the iPad where I decided to keep things really loose. I really like the idea of having a very concrete, exact structure on which I can just mess about. This assures that, even if abstract or gestural, the features are in the right place. It gives me a freedom, oddly enough.

I got to this version in Procreate. As is often the case, I worked in highlights which I later dropped out. They made the image too complicated and, to my eye, didn't add anything. From here, I sent the layers separately to SuperVectorizer and then pulled them into AD.

This was the initial color pass. I wasn't satisfied with a few of the colors, so tweaked them and got to the final.

These days, I feel like showing the work is more important than ever. I'm pretty happy with this one. it came together rather quickly and I think works really well. I like the mix of precision placement and imprecise marks.

 

 It's been forever since I drew anything. Part of the issue was that I went to London for 10 days and, as usual, I didn't touch a pencil the entire time. Art is made in my studio and never anywhere else. Don't know why. I did bring my iPad and sketchbook. Never touched either. Still, this damned comic is taking too long. I have been going back and looking at old pages and I'm generally really happy with it. It's just such a HUGE task, even 2/3 done, it feels like a mountain. Well, one page at a time.