Appleseed

Yestreday I went on a Masamune Shirow kick. Readin' comics and trying to decipher his comic techniques. One thing I really like that he does is more than one thing going on in one panel. There will be main characters in the foreground talking about story relevant stuff, and in the background there will be nameless characters talking about sports or something.


In this example the guy's the first character we see on this page turn, then he's upstaged by the main story but he still hangs around for a bit. And then he and his son are never heard from again. At least in this issue. I don't have the others.

So anyway, on my Shirow high I copied this Appleseed painting today. I think it took me 4 hours. I never really time myself but I started a little after 1:00. I went with a crow-quill nib so I could get microscopic details on this tiny little note card(got a new stack as a gift from an extra wonderful person) I drew it on. I think I got an epiphany while doing this. If you want your drawing to look real good, just kind of dab your pen around and make a bunch "artistic" dots. It's the stupidest thing but it actually works. I guess it gives things texture.

So here's the goods. Left to Right; just inks, primsacolor grey markers, photoshop colors. I almost water colored it.


and here's a size comparison.

Oh yeah, here's the original