David Finch part II

Now that I am a little more comfortable with The style that is everything Finch, I wanted to tackle something a little more complex. I had some fun with it and put in about three hours on it. I think I like inking David Finch. It feels sort of...natural. Maybe someday he'll realize this as well and then , BAM! I'll be inking his stuff for real and not for portfolio peices. Someday...

David Finch

I never really felt my inking style would mesh well with Finch pencils so I never thought to try it. Then I figured I should be able to ink any pencil style. I mean, any inker worth his salt should be able to right? Versatility! That is the key. So I went for it. I wanted to start out on a simpler piece just so I could find the groove of his pencils.

I approached this with a lighter, looser hand than I normaly would, trying to prevent the stiff, super controlled lines I usually throw. I used a thicker base line as well. I think it gave me more of a choppy feel and the thicker pen tip kept me from becoming too obsessed with details and was able to see "the big picture" throughout. I was finished in just over two hours. It flew by pretty fast.

All in all, I am pretty pleased with the way this came out. I now feel I can become compatible with Finch, or any other penciling style for that matter. It's just a matter of know the pencilers intent and and following the pencils to their logical ink conclusion.

Michel Turner

Michel Turner has always been hit and miss with me but when I saw this I pretty much fell in love with it.Once I started it I fell into a groove pretty fast and 3 hours later it was done. I should have been sleeping but hey. One must sacrifice sleep for quality inks.

Surprisingly, The horse was the most fun to ink on the page. Over all, I am pretty pleased with the way this one turned out.

Marc Silvestri

I just wrapped up penciling, inking and lettering a ten page short for a Las Vegas anthology, so to celebrate, I decided to treat myself to just inking a fun page. Something for me.

In comes the Marc Silvestri  page you see to your left. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I spent about 4 hours on it. I could feel it going faster than most pages I attempt to ink. I think it is because Silvestri pencils are so kinetic and full of life and movement that I was unable to be my super controlled, stiff self. I was really able to loosen up. Getting the fur of the tiger right was I think, the most consious effort I put into this one. The rest just kind of felt natural.

All in all, this was tons of fun and it loosened me up. I'm ready to get back to my assignments tomorrow and really get down on it!

Jim Lee

 I was working on a project with a tight deadline and lots personal changes happening in my life. It felt like every line I was laying down on anything was forced. I needed to get back on track.

I came across this Rogue pic while searching for inspiration and was instantly transported to a time in my youth when my heroes were the characters in the comics I was reading and not the creators. This felt good.

So I took a few hours to  break from my tight deadlines and go back in time. While I was inking this I was on total auto pilot and I don't think I made a single concious decision on it. Before I knew it, 3 hours had passed and I was staring at a fully inked page.

I know I am no Scott Williams but I am pretty happy with the way this turned out. I managed to keep Rogue in that statuesqe, iconic, larger than life kind of light. The Dinosaur kind falls into the waterfall and cliff. I'm not sure how to fix that but it presents a new challenge for me to overcome another day.

Joe Maduriera

A buddy of mine is a huge Joe Mad fan and was never really attractedto his work. One day he showed me this two page spread and I knew I had to go for it. It's a pretty busy page so I figured I would tackle it in planes. Closest to farthest. Twenty minutes in, I knew this approach would not work It's such a busy page and the Tiny Wasp all big and in front of Thor really played with my head. Usualy the figure or mass that is closest is the largest mass and would therefore get the thickest lines and variations. Not so here. I needed to make sure the Wasp still looked small, just very close to the camera. Which made me go somewhere I am not comfortabele. The wonderful world of halos.

I am not a fan of halos but like any other device an inker can use on a page, it has it's place and purpose. This was truly my first time experimenting with this technique and am still trying to find it's proper use. I think it was a successful beginning.

Then I the was all the different textures I was able to play with. Giving bricks, leather and sentient symbiotic space goo all need look like different surfaces. This area is one of my favorite playgrounds. To me,this is where you can make a page come to life. Making all the surfaces look anfeel real gives the page an anchor in reality and allows the reader to suspend disbelief and accept that a giant Venom monster is crashing through a wall chasing a thunder god.

Jose Luis

This is a series of character studies I was commissioned to ink by Morgan Bramlet. They were penciled by an amazing penciler named Jose Luis who is currently doing some work for DC. These were some of the most fun pieces I have ever worked on. Jose has an amazing eye for detail and I didn't want to lose an ounce of it. His pencils really challenge me to do my best and then push beyond my best. Just a quick note, The backgrounds were left out of the inked version upon Morgans request. This would allow for a cleaner figure that could be cut and pasted later for promo use.