So, here’re inked versions of the Oyster War characters I posted yesterday.  This is actually my second attempt at inking them; the first was pretty disastrous.

I’m giving myself some real challenges with this book both because of the format and the technique I want to use.  First, I’m wanting the finished book trim size to be 8 1/2″ x 11 1/2″–or, more familiarly, “TinTin format,” the size of those ubiquitous large paperback editions of TinTin stories.   Keeping with this format, I’m going to follow Hergé’s four-tiered page grid, rather than the more standard three-tier style most common in smaller books.  This does, though, have the effect of making for some pretty small panels.  2 3/8″ is the usual height for a panel in TinTin.

Another thing, though, that’s adding to my list of challenges is that I want to do this book entirely with a dip pen–no brushes.  I haven’t worked this way much and there’s a real learning curve involved.  Now, I usually work pretty large–between 180% and 200% of print size–but I’d heard that with pen work, one wants to work closer to the final printed size, 150% or lower.  The problem, though, with my first inking pass was that 150% of 2 3/8″ is tiny.  I felt like I should be working with the aid of one of those spring-loaded magnifying glasses you can attach to a drafting table.  In addition to the small page size, I was trying to use my usual G-Pen nibs which I discovered just don’t produce fine enough line work.

On my next pass, though, I upped my page size to 180% and began using the G-Pen for just the big outlines and breaking out the old Hunts 102 for the rest.  The results this time around were much better, I think.  I’m going to have to find some higher-quality substitute for the 102, though.  I’d forgotten what poor quality most Hunts/Speedball nibs are these days.  The word on the street is that the maru pen nibs and saji pen nibs are very similar to the 102 line-wise, but with the same heft and quality as the G-Pen, so I’m planning on ordering some of those today to check out.

I’ve been using the few weeks since I wrapped up my Amelia pages to take on a number of tasks, among them getting back to work on Oyster War.  One of the first things I wanted to address was my character designs.  I really want to move away from the level of visual literalism that I’ve been using in things like Midnight Sun and Ameila and, for lack of a better word, get more “cartoony.”   But, man is it hard…. and it really shouldn’t be.  If you were to look at most of my free drawing in my sketchbook, you’d see things that are far looser and less realistic than what’s become my “house style” of late.

Anyway, here are a few old characters revamped ( one, in ink there,  left exactly the same) and a few new ones.  I’m reasonably satisfied with these, although I seem to have real difficulty moving beyond my standard egg/oval for a head shape.  One reason I put my characters together in a single image like this is to establish the relative heights of each, but more important at the design level is also to make sure that each character has a distinctive shape.  I try to imagine them all in silhouette and then ask myself if I’d be able to tell them apart even drawn relatively small.  I think these satisfy that reasonably well at least…