Something New/Old

Something New/Old
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry: Scott Iwahashi)

Attached is the tryout image I sent to Wildstorm before initially getting work. I was asked to depict Zealot and Warblade and given free reign from there. Posting this old image, ironically, marks a new shift in my work. After getting a taste of penciling, I have really come to realize I am not suited for it.

That isn't to say I'm not suited to drawing, but that my process is far more nebulous. To compartmentalize my thought process into penciling, inking and coloring is counter-intuitive to me. When I create an image I think about the finished printed page and as a result the amount of penciling, inking and coloring I will do varies tremendously.

My perspective on comic book art is that every step should plus the last. In many cases, when I see the finished linework of someone like Michael Golden I feel that color is superfluous. It might separate objects from one another more, but it can also lose the depth, contours and gesture accomplished in line.

For that, at any given stage beside the final product, my work doesn't look complete. My pencils don't look finished, my inks look simple, but once the color is added the entire piece comes together in a way that incorporates every part and hopefully, rounds out the product. When I attempted to pencil, I couldn't fully separate penciling from inking and inking from coloring to get a sense of the leeway that each step requires. In that way, I feel that there were missteps as well as achievements that forced me to really reevaluate where my work should go.