Jack Kirby makes my brain hurt

One of the very cool things about teaching comics is that it gives you an excuse to do fun things like inking old Kirby pages during demonstrations. This page got started earlier today in just such a class. I also take in blue line samples of Jim Lee, Joe Mad, Arthur Adams, Chris Jones and the list goes on a bit. But this was my first time using a Kirby sample. And what a great sample to demo with! It's an exercise in varied line weight, spotting blacks, feathered lines, and has spots great for nibs and brushes. Perfect. So why is this the first time Kirby art has been used in a demo?Here's the thing. Kirby is brilliant. A genius. But every time the brush hits the page my brain is flooded with the following signal: "this is wrong. fabric doesn't do that. none of this makes any sense." Objectively I know that trusting Jack will lead to a really cool page when it's finished, but man does it make the old noggin ache like thousand year old hip. This will become a nice addition to the inking portfolio and will no doubt teach me quite a bit about light and shadow, composition, and form. So pass the Advil and I'll soldier onward. ow... ow... ow...

Etrigan in color

A quick bit of color on the Etrigan sketch done for the oh so patient Mr. E.