My wife printed off an 11" x 17" copy of this Shadowman coloring page, featuring artwork by Tony Moore. Originally I had intended to work on that. But then I thought: let's just try out the colors on an 8.5"x11", before embarking on the larger size.
This turned out to be a good thing, as it took a long time to lay the color down evenly, and get the richness I wanted on the 8.5"x11". I
worked in half-an-hour to forty-five minutes sessions. After that, my
eyes just couldn't take any more.
Here's my progress after one week.
In retrospect, it may not have been necessary to build up as I did, from lighter to darker colored pencils. Perhaps the copy paper, with very little tooth, would have accepted the darker colors more readily than the thicker paper I normally use. At least working up from light to dark gave me a good sense of how dark I wanted each area to be, even if it seemed to take forever.
Hey, it's a learning experience.
After three weeks, my title pin from Valiant's Shadowman #1 Twitter contest arrived then. It gave me a shot of Deadside adrenaline to power through to the finish.
After another week, my Shadowman coloring page was complete. I really put in the hours during the final week. There's something about knowing you're entering the home stretch that helps you push yourself to your limits. Even if it did a number on my eyes.
The 11"x17" copy came in really handy during this last phase, as Tony Moore's drawing is so intricate. But the more I colored, the more all the detail he built into his drawing grew clear to me.
After working so hard for four weeks, my wife didn't want my Shadowman coloring page to languish. So we went out and bought a matte board and a frame.
I helped her search for her old matte cutter. Eventually we found it under the bed. We wiped off a thick layer of dust, and got busy in the kitchen.
My wife used the box cutter Valiant produced to promote its Killers series to cut the matte board to size. (That five issue series focused on former agents of MI-6's Ninja program, aside from Ninjak). I never liked the title, but it was a fun series, and the box cutter cut the matte board nicely.
After cutting out an 8"x11" rectangle, my wife put our Killers box cutter away. She then used the cutting attachment that came with her matte cutter to cut the interior opening at a 45 degree angle.
I helped her calculate measurements, and hold the matte board to keep it from sliding as she cut. After awhile, our black matte was complete. It hides a little of Tony Moore's drawing, but only a sixteenth to an eighth of an inch on any side.
Since wiping all that dust off the matte cutter box, I haven't been feeling so hot. But I guess I can handle a sore throat and cold/allergy symptoms for awhile. After all, my Shadowman colored pencil project is finally done!
Now matted and framed, Shadowman hangs in our living room, protecting us from evil.
Dragon Dave
P.S. I've started on my Shadowman 11"x17" coloring project. I'm following the same color scheme, this time using Sharpies. As I'm not all that experienced with markers, it's a whole new challenge. And it's fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment