Pencils

03-15-2015
New in the shop: The BIG Tickle Sketch Book! All the sketches on which the three Sensitive Spots albums were based, by Coco, published by MTJ publishing. Thirty sketches, with three additional full color pages, featuring the album covers. A word from Coco.

Occasionally, people will let me know they prefer my sketches to the finished product. Though I don't necessarily agree (all that work for naught?!), I can see where they're coming from, and I actually experienced the feeling myself a few times while putting together this book.


Usually, my drawings are created in three phases. One is (very) exciting, most of the time, one almost equally exciting, with some other, added interest, and one exceedingly boring.
I begin by sketching a page in full detail. I may do some doodling first, to try out certain ideas, but the real first phase is drawing the whole lay out in its completeness. This is usually quite exciting, as you are bringing an arousing fantasy to life. Even as you may see it in your mind, seeing it on paper after a while is so much more satisfying. After that, the boring part follows.
Here I really have to have something else going on, like an interesting documentary, or some music from a favorite composer, or some very funny show: anything to keep my brain occupied. It's time to line the thing. Basically, your just tracing the sketch with a pen, every line, every small detail, everything. You're following the exact same steps you took earlier, but without the arousal, frustrated at the pace and with huge impatience. What you end up with is a far less interesting, more bland page. Yuck!
After that, it gets scanned into the computer, and then phase three begins: the rendering. This is artistically more satisfying of course, and in time, the old feelings of excitement return, as you are trying to capture some of the original energy from the sketch again.

Coco

CBAP