Artist Highlight
So today I’m gonna talk about Hugo Pratt. Who doesn’t have a website or blog, because he died in 1995 at age 68. So he’s old school awesome comic art. He’s most famous for his work on Corto Maltese.
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If any of his look reminds you of more famous comic artist today (like Frank Miller author of Sin City), that’s because he’s probably one of their influences. This is where is can pay off to look up who your favorite artists are looking at when they were learning their craft. For example, the author of the Meek really digs Sky Doll, Evan Dahm of Rice Boy and Aaron Daiz of Dresden Codak are huge fans of Mobius. I personally don’t like Frank Miller’s work, but I thought he did interesting things with design and using just black and white. So when I went to see where he was maybe taking cues from I found Hugo Pratt.
He does a great job using just black and white to seperate things and display light and shadow clearly with simple brush strokes. I mean all the folds are clearly displayed with just thick quick brush strokes. He also does a good job leading your eye. At now point is it hard to tell what is happening of where you should go next. It’s all very well done and clear.
Every silohette is clear and simple as well so. He’s fine with just suggesting the collar of the coat and where is it’s folding. He is confident that with that simple hint your head can fill in the rest.
And he knows how to convey a mood and weather of all kinds with just black and white. No gray. He does it expertly by using black, patterns, and white to make sure everything is separate and clear. No color needed.
So next time there is an artist you like or you want to figure out how they got to do something in particular with art, maybe find out who they looked at and were inspired by. You could find some thing you were clueless about before.
Dumbing of Age: Redesigning the Head Alien and Monkey Master
When I started putting together the Dumbing of Age world from bits and pieces of my previous webcomics, I purposefully left out stuff like aliens, martians, and giant robot gorillas. Unlike Roomies! and It’s Walky! and Shortpacked!, I wanted Dumbing of Age to be more down to earth. Sure, there might be the random costumed superhero, but that’s a far cry from a tiny purple-spacesuited guy from another planet and his cosmic pals. I wanted a college setting and no distractions from said college setting. No saving the world!
But the Head Alien and Monkey Master remain two of my favorite characters to both draw and write for. They had to have some small influence on this new sci-fi-less world. So I decided that within Dumbing of Age, they’re fictional characters. They’re stars of a cartoon show on a network like Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network. Walky’s a big fan of the show. For Dorothy, it’s a guilty pleasure. Their faces are on folders and mugs and lunchboxes.
(I did decide to give the Head Alien the nickname the It’s Walky! fandom awarded him, “Dexter.” I felt like he needed a real name to put in the title of his fictional cartoon show, so there you go.)
What this meant is that Head Alien (er, Dexter) and Monkey Master had to get some design tweaks. I wanted them to look like they were actually from an afternoon cartoon, with very simplified, geometric shapes and thick outlines. Streamlined for budget animation, if you will. For example, Monkey Master’s head is now a single rounded wedge instead of a conglomeration of multiple wedges. The Head Alien is shorter and cuter. I also felt like their color palette should be more vibrant. So I sat down, cranked out some sketches, and arrived at the designs you see below. I hope you like them!
Winner of the Blanklabel Art off
We have our first winner of the blanklabel art off.
It’s by Brain who does the comic Shifter. Check him out!