FA+
Shop
6963
Views
Views
428
Favorites
Favorites
Category
Artwork (Traditional) / Portraits
Species Skunk
Size 622 x 800
File Size 252.9 kB
Report this content
More from Skunkworks
Unfortunately, everybody gets older. Except zombies. This drawing shows how Onyx would look now, or at the time she and her siblings are featured in the Caterwaul book. They do make a brief appearance in the "Penance" story, but they're just kids then. At this age, she's dropped the "mohawk" look and grown all her hair out, instead of just cutting off the black part.
This picture is my first full drawing since early last year. I had to do it in two stages, since my hands seem to shake after a few hours of intensive detailing and/or inking. Originally inked in 2013, and then detailed and colored this year as my health began to return. Thought I would take one of my various sketches and see how long it would take to complete. Needless to say, I won't be winning any races. But at least I can finally ink and color again, so I'm itching to get the linework finished for the "replacement" dakimakuras and send out the first commission (finally). E-mail inquiries will be sent out as I get to your commission. Let me know if you want it posted publicly or not (by default, I do not post commissions).
Mediums used are Prismacolor pens and a couple pencils on 24-lb paper. Nothing fancy, just an exercise to see if I was up to drawing like I used to. I think I very well may be.
This picture is my first full drawing since early last year. I had to do it in two stages, since my hands seem to shake after a few hours of intensive detailing and/or inking. Originally inked in 2013, and then detailed and colored this year as my health began to return. Thought I would take one of my various sketches and see how long it would take to complete. Needless to say, I won't be winning any races. But at least I can finally ink and color again, so I'm itching to get the linework finished for the "replacement" dakimakuras and send out the first commission (finally). E-mail inquiries will be sent out as I get to your commission. Let me know if you want it posted publicly or not (by default, I do not post commissions).
Mediums used are Prismacolor pens and a couple pencils on 24-lb paper. Nothing fancy, just an exercise to see if I was up to drawing like I used to. I think I very well may be.
Category Artwork (Traditional) / Portraits
Species Skunk
Size 622 x 800px
File Size 252.9 kB
Yeah, while setting up the Caterwaul and Penance storylines, I had to do some math to figure out when everything would occur, and make sure everyone's ages would line up. The skunks appear briefly in the Penance story, but that story occurs a few years before Valencia even creates the Skunkworks studio. By the time of the first Caterwaul story (and the end of the Penance story), the girls are 17-18 years old. By the time the Onika story rolls around, the girls are 21-22, and by the time Penance reappears in Caterwaul, they are 23. Whoo!
Oh yeah. By this point in time, she and her sisters have their own place, and they only work at the studio (behind the scenes) part-time. School and/or other jobs, as well as the typical maturity of age, steers them in new directions.
Besides, those folios and prints were all staged. Haven't you ever seen porno mags? They're like that; posed and photographed, then redrawn as art. If those girls were like what they were portrayed as in the folios, they'd have all sorts of medical issues, haha!
Besides, those folios and prints were all staged. Haven't you ever seen porno mags? They're like that; posed and photographed, then redrawn as art. If those girls were like what they were portrayed as in the folios, they'd have all sorts of medical issues, haha!
I will try to keep the number short so that I do not overwhelm you.
The first: What weight and roughness of paper do you recommend? Too rough and it bleeds, too smooth and it smears, too low a weight and it breaks the paper while too high a weight acts like a paper towel and hinders blending, argh! Your description says 24LB which is in the range where I find I cannot layer marker or pen on without damaging it which brings me to me next question.
How do you personally layer ink so that it is neither overdone with stepladder contrast or light and faded looking? Pens... I have no technique but with markers I personally lay down a base colour before using a spiraling gesture in order to add 2 squentially darker layers where the shadows are before using the original base colour to gradient the two colours together and the end effect is this...
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3081521/
Blocky, high contrast, no cohesiveness between the markers and ink with a lot of runoff. This picture was done using a combination of prisma colour pens and markers and does not look much different than what I can do today. I am not sure if their ink is similar but the effect speaks for itself. Do you recommend only using markers or pens depending on the picture rather than both?
Have you ever used paint to try and create highlights over top of ink? I have never actually found a good tutorial or teacher to tell me how it is done.
Lastly, before I go on too long, how do you personally texture using prisma colour pens? I try using them to texture rock and fur with the exact same generic technique as using a pencil but the effect either generates way too much detail which scars the paper or it bleeds with no discernible gradients.
In summery, could I get a quick explanation of your favourite paper, technique for shading using pens/markers/white paint, and best way to use them to create textures as normal penciling techniques do not yield remotely similar results.
The first: What weight and roughness of paper do you recommend? Too rough and it bleeds, too smooth and it smears, too low a weight and it breaks the paper while too high a weight acts like a paper towel and hinders blending, argh! Your description says 24LB which is in the range where I find I cannot layer marker or pen on without damaging it which brings me to me next question.
How do you personally layer ink so that it is neither overdone with stepladder contrast or light and faded looking? Pens... I have no technique but with markers I personally lay down a base colour before using a spiraling gesture in order to add 2 squentially darker layers where the shadows are before using the original base colour to gradient the two colours together and the end effect is this...
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3081521/
Blocky, high contrast, no cohesiveness between the markers and ink with a lot of runoff. This picture was done using a combination of prisma colour pens and markers and does not look much different than what I can do today. I am not sure if their ink is similar but the effect speaks for itself. Do you recommend only using markers or pens depending on the picture rather than both?
Have you ever used paint to try and create highlights over top of ink? I have never actually found a good tutorial or teacher to tell me how it is done.
Lastly, before I go on too long, how do you personally texture using prisma colour pens? I try using them to texture rock and fur with the exact same generic technique as using a pencil but the effect either generates way too much detail which scars the paper or it bleeds with no discernible gradients.
In summery, could I get a quick explanation of your favourite paper, technique for shading using pens/markers/white paint, and best way to use them to create textures as normal penciling techniques do not yield remotely similar results.
No, I'm not online all that much, and the questions above will require a lengthy explanation. Just want to make sure I get all the details straight in my head before I start explaining them! I'd make a lousy art teacher, because most of the time, I don't know how to explain how to do something!
This was a rough sketch that I decided to clean up and complete. It was mostly a practice piece just drawn to see if I was still able to draw like that. I've been working on regaining my art abilities over the past few months, as I didn't do much drawing last year and health issues kept me from drawing for most of the past year. I very rarely draw color commissions, though. They are usually B&W or greyscale.
She looks very nice, thank you for sharing this one with us. I espically love her claws and her nose, a lot of times folks draw the nose wrong in proportion to the face and skunks have a very particular shape and size nose in contrast to their face but anyways what im really getting at is what a great job you did ^.^
Will begin rescanning those pages this week. Could not locate the CD it was on, and my bad habit of deleting files from the computer every month (if they are no longer needed) resulted in my dumb ass having to rescan 'em. Luckily, I still have the smaller versions on a back-up disc so I can just use those as reference for the text. Also, certain details and backgrounds were redone by hand, since the ones on the online versions looked kinda shitty due to Photoshop insta-fills. I'll drop you a message before I send it out (I received your holiday letter, so I am assuming the address still works, right?
Your work never ceases to amaze me, this pic is beautiful! I really like how Onyx hair looks but it's still going to take a while for me to get used to seeing her without the Mohawk. I really look forward to seeing what else you put out this year and hopefully chatting with you again as your schedule allows =3
Since their world isn't quite like ours, the age brackets are a bit different, and more akin to how animals age in our world (short youth, long adult years, short senior years). At the time of the last published folio (Skunkworks Animated) they were still 17. The Skunkworks VII folio features them at 18, but that one has not been completed yet.
In their world, schooling is finished by the age of 16, and folks are considered fully adult at that age, although many may reach adulthood by their 15th year (think of how cats or dogs can start breeding by the time they're a year or two old, despite living for 15-20 years).
In their world, schooling is finished by the age of 16, and folks are considered fully adult at that age, although many may reach adulthood by their 15th year (think of how cats or dogs can start breeding by the time they're a year or two old, despite living for 15-20 years).
None of them have any kids at this point. Natasha works at the studio part-time and is going to college for fashion design, Lori still works at the studio, although most of it is behind the scenes, and Onyx splits her time between pursuing musical ambitions and working behind the camera at the studio. The three girls moved out of Val's place when they were 20, and they currently share a complex within the same city that their mother lives in.
Realistically, the trio were at Jim's place for about 2 months while Valencia was taking care of some business in Vermont. The funny Skunkworks comics just took that brief experience and used it as the backdrop for that time period.
Lori does a lot of scene set-up and directing. The studio is primarily an advertising and modeling studio; they just also happen to produce adult material as well (something that likely wouldn't be taken so lightly in our world). Chances are, she's probably busy working on some advertising campaign for a paying business client.
Kinda takes the "fantasy" element out of the earlier work, but the way things appeared in the prints and folios were often quite different from how they really would be. Think of a photo shoot for a girlie magazine, except instead of publishing the photos directly, they have the scenes redrawn by hand and sold directly from the studio.
Lori does a lot of scene set-up and directing. The studio is primarily an advertising and modeling studio; they just also happen to produce adult material as well (something that likely wouldn't be taken so lightly in our world). Chances are, she's probably busy working on some advertising campaign for a paying business client.
Kinda takes the "fantasy" element out of the earlier work, but the way things appeared in the prints and folios were often quite different from how they really would be. Think of a photo shoot for a girlie magazine, except instead of publishing the photos directly, they have the scenes redrawn by hand and sold directly from the studio.
So many furry artists seem afraid to make their characters furry. I love the texture, makes you want to run your fingers through her elbow tufts, which is not something I ever though I'd say. The claws also really "sell" her as an anthropomorphized animal and not just a person in a mask.
Basically, this is the closest I've seen to what would happen if a mad scientist were given dictatorial control over the economy of a superpower and a copy of The Island of Doctor Moreau.
Basically, this is the closest I've seen to what would happen if a mad scientist were given dictatorial control over the economy of a superpower and a copy of The Island of Doctor Moreau.
By the time they all turned 19, they were done with working in front of the camera. I have information for them up until the age of 25, at which point Lori is engaged to be married, Natasha is getting involved with fashion design work, and Onyx works in the advertising department of the studio. Technically, "Skunkworks 10" would've been their last "on-camera" portfolio (if I was still drawing portfolios).
A long ways from your "By the Tail" drawings. I love the detail you put in--I wish more people would try at least a little to make their "furries" actually look like they have fur, instead of shiny vinyl. I've never been any good drawing with colored pens, markers, etc, though I do try to improve my techique with mechanical pencils by studying the art created by certain others...you're one of the ones I've tried to learn from.
Do you mean the old versions of By The Tail from 1990? I only handled some of the inking for the web comic version. Trying to go more for realism , although too much realism resulted in a very "Uncanny Valley" look, so there's still a little "cartoon" mixed in with the style. Although I would love to draw the characters fully realistic, I don't think too many folks would like that. There would be very little recognizably-human aspects in those designs!
Glad you like the picture! I have an old journal about different art supplies and books that I've used as reference, if you want to browse through the journals. I think it's called "Tools of the Trade" or something like that.
Glad you like the picture! I have an old journal about different art supplies and books that I've used as reference, if you want to browse through the journals. I think it's called "Tools of the Trade" or something like that.
Comments