Daily Sketch: Skunk Outside on a Snowy Day

Helping Future Artists

I have been helped along in my art and publishing by many artists who took time to write about their creative processes, and recommend programs and tools. It has saved me time and money, and I am attempting to pass this on. Check out my new articles on HUB Pages and learn a little about my process for Ramone Cologne and other publishing projects. I've tried to condense some of the advice I've received into this article for two reasons:
1) To Encourage New Artists to Get Their Work in Front of an Audience (it can happen faster
than you might think)
2) To Save You Time and Money with Recommendations for Helpful and Free Programs and
Techniques

My article can be found here: http://rickmc.hubpages.com/hub/MakeYourWebComic

Daily Sketch: Smelling

Drawing Ramone enjoying the scent of flowers seems ironic at first. Skunks have excellent senses of smell, though. Who's to say they don't enjoy a nice scent every now and then?

This is another quick sketch started with non-photo blue pencil. Several artists have recommended this pencil for prelim drawings, since there's no erasing necessary. Your scanner shouldn't pick up the blue tone, and even if it does, it's a quick step to remove it in Inkscape, Photoshop, etc. You're left with nice strong ink lines and no eraser dust everywhere. Sweet!

New Pen + New Inking Process = New Look for Ramone Cologne

My newest pen and inking process for quick sketches translates to a furrier look for Ramone Cologne, and I like it. The solid blacks are gone from the earlier renditions, and I think it gives the sketchier look I've been thinking of trying out in the next book. We'll see...

Ramone's Valentine

My wife asked me to make her a Valentine's Day card this year, and this is the front of the card I drew. It was much more fun than spending four dollars on clip art and glossy card-stock at Target. I added text to the outside, and the inside had a few more love-note paper planes flying her way, along with some mushy prose. I appreciate Ramone helping me earn a few husband brownie points!