Grimm Spectre of Death. The creation of the final image for the layout took many stages to achieve. I pretty much started with the basic pencil version at left (or top if your resolution is skinny). I drew it, but then I didn't know how to proceed. My natural instinct was to ink it and colour it up in Adobe Photoshop like I always have done. However, the basis for this picture, in case you don't know is this:
I kept it big so you can see the detail. The arts, Edward Gorey, does not hide his line work and hatching. No, he uses it as a highlight and defining tool. I wanted my image to come off as Gorey-esque in style as possible and didn't think I could do it with inks as my inks have a tendency to be sloppy. Digital then? No, this wouldn't look as natural, organic if you will, as Gorey's. I tried an experiment, and scanned the same pencils as a black and white image rather than full colour (the left image is full colour). What I got was amazing and I ran with it. I coloured in the figure with hard pencils and scanned him as black and white. The picture on the right is the result of that, after some computer touch ups to clean up the white areas. I managed to get the grain and direction of strokes reminiscent of Gorey's work and I was ecstatic. For the final product used in the layout, I used the computer to move the umbrella and draw in the handle. I really dig it!