Inspiration

I discovered the art of Bernie Wrightson a few months ago and was immediately awestruck by his amazing illustrations (one of which is above) for the recently re-released Frankenstein. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to hear him speak for several hours today at Fullerton College. He shared many of his images, his process, and which artists have inspired him (Frank Frazetta, J.C. Cole, Charles Dana Gibson, Franklin Booth, Gustave Dore', Heinrich Kley). While his inking technique is quite remarkable, it is his preliminary approaches to a drawing I found most interesting and useful. After creating compositionally strong thumbnails of large shapes and values (and virtually no detail), he resolves all issues (including laying in most if not all of the line work in pencil) before he does the final inking. He lays in his darkest (solid black) areas first, and follows with the line work. Clearly his methodical approach works. I know I will be using it from now on.