Copper Barrel: WIP
Added 2020-10-13 23:10:43 +0000 UTCSome environmental work for the first page of Copper Barrel! All the thumbnails (sketches) are done, now it's time to ink! I spend a lot of time collecting references and trying to understand the setting that the characters are in. Backgrounds get overlooked very easily, in my opinion, but I feel like it's crucial to make a space believable and recognizable.
Here's just a peek at some of the references I've collected. You can see that no one image is being used to create the drawing but a mixture of multiple aspects. References are largely used to recognize what -should- be in the location. There's a lot of little things that we never think about or recognize unless we're looking for them! Thinks like flood lights, gutters, meters, a payphone, a handicap parking spot; references help us look for these items to make the area believable. Then, what unique aspects define this particular area? For me, this was encapsulated by the bricked-in arch of an old doorway or window. This building is old, it's been used for other purposes, how can I show that in a way that's recognizable?
I was once told that the nuts and bolts are what make a drawing 'real'. I think what that REALLY means is that it's the tiny things we don't typically notice in our day to day are noticeable when they're absent. Those tiny things may not make the entire image believable, but their absence takes away some of that believability.
Now I have to work on populating the interior and making it believably the character's personal bar, not just any old bar. Maybe it's a lot of thought into 'unimportant' parts of an adult comic, but I personally appreciate doing these little details.
