What Keeps Me from Sleeping at Night

I should be spending more time on my storyboards. Instead, I think I'm in comic book mode and have been doing a lot of late night sketching with old movies on in the background. Sometimes into the wee hours of the night. That is some of the quietest and most creative times for many artists but hell on getting up at a decent time. And with the return of our Indian Summer today, it was a bad day to waste.

But, back on track, much of the late night sketching has been some Halloween-themed creations. This one features an angry pinhead guy (No, the 1930s movie FREAKS wasn't playing). These drawings help me loosen up with exaggerating before I come back later and clean them up before inking.

Up top is my gray-toned final. I have to keep remembering that the rest of the world responds to color more than I do but I prefer things in black and white or gray-toned. Perhaps, as an artist, I just respond to the values and contrast with the grays or the drawing of a black and white (the color distracts from the drawing for me) but it also might be my graphic arts background (black and white=easy to scan) or my comic book background at work (color would be left to someone else).

Above: Pencils before inks.

Above: Line Art version.

Above: A darker graytone. My original attempt at tones. The darker version might fit the mood but I think I went too dark.

\