INKING BIG JOHN BUSCEMA

It's a futile thing to attempt under the best of circumstances.

Getting a completed drawing of one of the legends of comics and attempting to interpret them with inks is a huge challenge for veteran professionals, or so I've read, so it's certainly not a walk in the park for this amateur.

But I had to take it one step further and pick a loose character sketch, a vague layout that gives you the gist of the figure but not the desired details that would make inking more, for me, unto a thing of tracing.

And then, it's a John Buscema sketch.  The guy who famously was unhappy with the vast majority of the work inkers would do to interpret his pencils.  A man whose talent makes most pros look like children drawing stick figures.

The man who literally co-wrote the book on drawing good superhero comics.

Yeah, no pressure.

Oh, and then I decided to try to ink it digitally.

Doh.

Well, here's the progression...

(Please click on any of these for further detail)

Haven't gotten around to finish it yet, but that pile of bodies will be the death of me...

I will say that it has gotten me more used to digital inking and I can't say that I hate it, it makes for fine attempts at experimentation and creative choices I would be afraid to try on a real piece of art.  Must look into it further.