A Dramatic Entrance

Well, I return to the whole art-blog thing just in time to meet my monthly Sharply Dressed Heroines obligation. In case you were wondering, she's a Satyr crashing through a window.

"Why would you draw that?" you ask. Good question. The inspiration for this particular image comes from some good old-fashioned table-top roleplaying action. Shadowrun was the game, and one of the Player Characters was a Satyr (a variant of Ork in that game) looking for a surprise entrance to the a gun-runner's hideout.

Promises Kept

So, last month I posted my first Sharply Dressed Heroine. I promised to make it a monthly feature. So, here, before the end of June, I keep that promise. I hope you enjoy it.



This is a quick scan. The original drawing was done in pencil, then gone over in pen and marker for a nice, crisp look. Perhaps I'll take it into Illustrator later or make a background in Photoshop. I may even colorize it if the fancy strikes me (or if anyone is interested).

I've got a couple of more fully-rendered pencil drawings I'm trying to finish up this week that'll hopefully make for a couple of nice posts later this week or weekend, too. One of them I started a long time ago, and the other more recently, but I've been itching to finish them.

Oh, Free Scanner

Sometimes my capacity for ingratitude makes me lose faith in myself. A friend of mine gave me a flatbed scanner. Free. No charge, not even a favor. Hardly an expensive one, but she had another, better scanner, and no need of this one, so she gave it to me.

I had some trouble installing it, thanks to Windows' inability to find the correct driver, and the correct driver's inability to operate the hardware without some tweaking (note to self, when actually purchasing a scanner for myself, do not buy Lexmark). That trouble frustrated me. Then, when scanning a couple of pencil drawings rife with delicate shading, I found that the scanner simply couldn't pick up the finer marks, regardless of how I changed the settings. Rather than immediately accepting this as the limitations of a free scanner, I actually had the gall to get mad. I'm over it now, though, and I must say I feel a little silly about it.

On to the image:



And now, the story behind it:

My wife and I attend the Pittsburgh Comicon every year (military duty permitting). This year, while wandering artists' alley, she laughed about the outfits worn by 95% of female action stars in comic books, and asked me if I could draw a monthly series she first called "women with clothes on" to differentiate it from the comic book norm. Now, almost exactly one month later, I've finally gotten around to drawing the first one of these Sharply Dressed Heroines. I'll try to post one picture a month of an action girl or heroine wearing reasonable or practical clothes for their professed activity or expertise. No guarantees.

Also, let me pause to link Scott McDaniel's web site. He's one of the best artists in the comic book business, and a fantastic person to know. His home page could use some work (frames are so 2001, amirite?), but his art is 1st rate and he's taught me a lot in the time I've known him. Do him a favor and pick up a copy of DC's Great Ten mini-series.