Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

Today marks the 96th anniversary of the birth of Jack Kirby. Here's my portrait of the great man for Kirby-Vision's annual birthday gallery.

Size matters

I have a tendency to draw quite small when character sketching. So in an effort to open things up a little I've been drawing to the full height of the page (14cm). The end result is a lot more satisfying as extra time was needed for the structure of the bodies. I did find though that once scanned, the carbon 'inks' did not render as strong as my smaller drawings and had to be touched up in Photoshop.

Testing 7 - Faces

Another pencil verses ink test. Top - Pencils (via PSD levels), below - Micron fineliner and brushpen.

Testing 6 - Portraits

Family portraits in pencils (via PSD levels - top) and Micron fineliner and brushpen (bottom).

Testing 5

Background lighting experiments in pencil via PSD levels.