Steampunk Collie 9x6
Ugh, midnight and I must work early tomorrow and then board a plane for Florida. (Much cheaper tickets the week after a holiday.) But I’ve been meaning to finish this beast for days. Usually I start and finish one of these 8x10s or 9x6s in one night, or occasionally, two. So this one sitting for five or six days was an anomaly. And dammit I’m staying up to finish this post.
I fear he’s been a bit overworked. By the pen, not by his boss or something. I don’t know if he has a boss. Frankly, he’s been rather mysterious about his past. The only thing he will say for certain is that he is certainly NOT a collie. As you can see, these protestations have not led to my changing the title of this illustration or this post. And sure, he’s not a classic Lassie collie.
He’s also slightly standoffish, so I’m not actually sure if he’s wearing a fuzzy green coat, or that’s his actual dog coat. Although… it’s probably not fair to call him standoffish. Deep in thought is much more likely. Inventor-types so often are.
I finally broke out a white gel pen I had picked up, but I really don’t know anything about how to best use it. I did some swirls on the cat part of the eyepiece (then went back over them in black because I didn’t love the look of it), and put a few swipes on his nostrils. (The eye is not gel pen, it was just not colored.) Anyway, progress pics!
Steampunk Collie Sketch
Steampunk Collie Color 1
Steampunk Collie Color 2
Steampunk Collie 9x6
Some combination of the second to last version and the final version would have been preferable, I think. I like some of the effects that were added, but it is too busy and I should have stopped sooner.
Overall I like him and despite the enormous number of outstanding dog/animal artists on Etsy, I must do more dog beasts. They are, if not the best kind of beast, then at least in the top 5% of beasts. Amirite? Thank you so much for dropping in!
Very nice! I agree that you shouldn’t worry about all of the animal artists on Etsy. Animals are my favorite subject matter as well!
Kitties – I would buy a steam punk kitty.
Your work is excellent and amazing. My markers will be here tomorrow (finally) and I am going to work my little fingers to the bone learning how to use them.
Thank you both!
[There is in fact a steampunk kitty – prints and greeting cards. (See Etsy Shop in sidebar.)]
Good luck with the Copics, they are very fun. Most of my early frustration came from muddying up colors so if you really like the direction of a particular drawing you might test out color combos on a separate paper. Of course I am still learning myself. :)
He is fantastic! Safe flying!
Right after I wrote that I went to your etsy site and saw the kitty. He’s cute.
I am a fan of Laurel Burch colors. My kitty would have to have much more color.
Soooooooooooooooooo – if your ever in the mood the make a another kitty – I’m your customer!
Be safe.
:D
Ah, a collie but not a lassie – I shall call him Laddie. He does look a bit mysterious, shall we say even a little melancholy? but his aqua colouring is quite divine. Florida! Have fun. Going to get warm I guess. Cindy, I have to put you onto this site if you haven’t found it already – some more great marker art for your Marker Movement: http://mulgasroom.blogspot.com. I am sorely tempted to get some markers too…
Nice stuff. This is copic? Very cool!
I love seeing your process.
Great color work and compositions.
It’s neat to see the drawing get pushed from pretty cool (step three) to super awesome (step four) with all the addition of the little patterns..! Impressive that you can finish one of these a night (usually)… I’ll be dropping in to see more. :)
Thanks, Rubin!
Thank you, moof! Sometimes I add too much stuff at the end, so I’m trying to pay a bit more attention to that. (In this one for instance, the cat on the eyepiece got a bit too obscured by swirls. Arrgh!)