Getting to know the characters of Bug Pudding will hopefully be as much fun for you guys as it is for me. I plan on introducing them a few at a time beginning with Bentley the snail and Monroe the turtle. I’ve been working with these guys for a while now and they are still evolving as I get more familiar with drawing them.
Above are some expression views that I drew of Bentley. He is actually the evolution of a snail character which I began drawing in 1983, and just like me, he looks a lot different these days. In these sketches he’s missing his very expressive feelers. I actually only like to draw feelers and bug antennas when I’m finishing up a pose. I like to try to catch the feelings of the moment in them. (no pun intended)
Here is a sketch of a close up of poor old Monroe. He is not a happy camper these days with having to vacate his shell due to the summer heat and his unwelcome new neighbors down at the lake. I have to confess that I love drawing Monroe when his is down and out like this. He is sure a funny old geezer.
I hope you enjoyed this quick peek into my behind the scenes sketching and I also hope that you will stick around and get more familiar with the other members of the Bug Pudding cast as they begin to appear over time in future strips.
6 Comments
Congrats JK. Those sketches look incredibly amazing, and even more so attached to a peg bar. 🙂 Do you do a lot of construction lines before, or does Bentley come out looking like that on the first go?
Renato,
I’ll certainly plan to do more posts on my work processes, I’m glad you enjoyed these sketches.
I typically start with some under forms to try to capture the basic pose or in this case the head positioning. I work very light and loose using either a non-photo blue or a light green lead. As I add levels of detail on to the under forms, I darken the sketching. Eventually I switch to a dark blue or dark green lead to clean up my roughs. Sometimes I use multiple paper layers, but because I scan these types of sketches into the computer mostly as guides for inking and digital clean up, I usually just build up the sketch drawings on a single piece of paper.
I like using animation paper because it takes erasing really well and the peg registration is useful because I like to use animation techniques to capture pose to pose type action even in the static panel series of a strip.
Cool sketches, reminds me of the art in that 80’s animated movie “Land Before Time”. Y’know, the little dinosaurs?
Is that non-repro blue lead you have in the mechanical pencil? It’s hard to tell exactly what that is, or if it’s a blue or green brush pen instead.
I use Col-erase non repro blues, but they don’t hold a point like I wish they would. I’d love to find blue lead for mechanical pencils.
Here is a link to the Turquoise Non-Photo Blue 2mm leads that I use, which are very similar to Prismicolor Pencils. And here is a link to a good quality TK 9400 Clutch Pencil lead holder and lead sharpener. These Loew Cornell Sanding Block 12 Sheets Medium are also great for keeping a useful point. I hope this info is helpful and I hope you will become a regular Bug Pudding reader. Thanks.
I really love these character Jk! Youre making me wanna sit down and draw some stuff ye olde fashion way. Amazing line quality on the pencil work.