Charlie Harper» The Art and Life of Charlie Harper

Updates and Ambitions

Charlie — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 02:02:32 +0000

Life
Being a new father has not been as challenging as I thought it might be. Of course the sleepless nights or just the nights where you get only 5 hours do begin to take a toll on you. You sadly get used to operating on a whole other level of energy. My wonderful wife Laura is the reason being a new parent isn’t so tuff. She is such a fantastic mother. You would have thought she had written several books on motherhood before my son Brody arrived. She is also quite the photographer as you will see if you check out the updated images on my About page. Our friends Jin and Anna Yang gave Laura a new lens as a gift over the weekend. She has a Nikon D90 and she has gone baby picture crazy. I swear to everyone I see that my son’s first words will be “chiii chiii”. (the sound the camera makes).

Comics
I am now taking on the challenge of writing, illustrating, and self publishing a graphic novel. I also plan to publish this to the web over at FiretowerStudios.com. I want to prove to myself that I can bring my own ideas to life. I am creating a world that includes apparitions, ghouls, and a new look at human nature. I am currently writing it in long form. When I begin thumb-nailing I will work out the dialog. I have some major events, twists, the beginning and the ending figured out already. I am writing this for the story and not the characters. Although I do have a few character ideas outlined already I want them to be brought to life by the events and decisions made in the story rather than have their personalities traits etc. lead my imagination through their world. I can’t wait to start sharing my process with this project. I am also going to be making some videos with my webcam about all of it.

With being a new father, homeowner, husband, working at IBM, and everything else I had to choose one thing just for me to escape with. I decided to follow this passion I have had in me for several years now. Let the games begin.

This is a character study of Wyatt. He is one of the main characters in the story.

Illustration
Some Moleskine sketching action on my lunch breaks. Click the images to see a larger version.

My Recent Experiments With Traditional Inking

Charlie — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 03:30:14 +0000

I have been practicing to improve my traditional inking abilities between diaper changes, work, and sleep. Below are the tools I am using. I listed them and where to get them online because I know I am always curious about what people are using when I visit other artist websites.

As far as my process is concerned. I started out with a simple drawing done in a Prismacolor Light Blue Col-Erase pencil. I lined the drawing, essentially redrawing most of it with the nib pen. I let it dry and using a kneaded eraser I removed the Col-Erase blue line from below the ink. I then brush inked in spot blacks. I let that dry and finished with some light wash with the same brush.

These were inked with Speedball Super Black Waterproof India ink, Gillott 303 nib in a Gillott Drawing Pen Holder, and a Pointed Round, Size 2 Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brush.

Plugging Back Into My Passions

Charlie — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:35:29 +0000

I have been away from my passions for far too long. I have a new home and a new baby. My little man, Brody, has inspired me so much. I want to create things for him to hold and for him to one day say “My Daddy was awesome and he did this and he did that!”.

I am trying out some new techniques and exploring some mixed media. I am really liking inking with both the nib and the brush. I read a lot about comic inking and usually most artists go with either one or the other. I prefer both it seems.

Cinda (Inked with Gillott 303 nib, speedball super black ink, gouache wash, and colored with pastel)

Bird Warrior Dude (Inked with nib and brush, washed ink with brush)