April 1, 2015

I sent in the endpaper art for the Usagi Yojimbo Book 30 hardcover. This one is subtitled "Thieves and Spies"

Approximately 10x13.5 inches on 2-ply 500 series cold press Strathmore Bristol paper.

The story, as well as the cover painting of the book, involves a boat on fire so I decided to carry that theme into the endpaper.

I used a 3mm 2H mechanical pencil to block out the scene, using basic shapes to develop the characters. I also defined the more important and more complicated characters.



I switched to a 5mm HB pencil lead to finish the pencils.

I like the interplay of all the characters--the complexity and intimacy of the group fighting Usagi and well as the distance separating Chizu the ninja as she dispatched another samurai with a shuriken.



The foreground was inked with a Koh-i-Noor Art Pen filled with Badger Black Opaque ink (old formula). The recipe for the Badger ink was changed many years ago to an acrylic base, which is terrible. Fortunately, I still have some of the old stuff left, but I am quickly running out of it. The ArtPen was discontinued as well. It was a fountain pen with a very nice flexible nib that gave wonderful thicks and thins within the same stroke. There is another Koh-i-Noor ArtPen on the market which is a technical pen with a very rigid line.

I went over the silhouette of the foreground character to pull him even more forward, increasing the distance between him and Chizu.



That same Koh-i-Noor pen was used for the mid-ground characters, including Usagi.



The background was drawn with a fine tip Uni-Ball pen.



Black were spotted with a Pentel Brush Pen filled with the Badger ink. I like the Pentel Brushes as I don't have to wash them out. I use them only for spotting blacks, and the occasional sound effect.



Clothing details and textures were accomplished with a variety of pens.



The art still looked a bit too white, so I added some blacks in the foreground waves and that brought it even more forward.

Done!