Zeke Facial Expressions

Zeke Expressions

Growing up, I spent many hours pouring over Calvin and Hobbes books and trying to redraw the best/most hilarious facial expressions I could find. Sneezing, laughing, furious rage, he could do it all. How do you communicate that much emotion with so few lines? I obviously still don’t know… But one thing I do know is that facial expressions are key to bringing characters to life. Thanks to Bill Watterson, any cartoon character I draw will need to be a facial contortionist. This sketch is a few warm-up exercises. Pace yourself Zeke. You don’t want to sprain an eyebrow.

Zeke Meets “Fine Art”

Zeke in Paint

I landed myself a Wacom tablet a while back, and have been looking for time to experiment with it ever since. I am still getting the feel for it, but the potential is exciting! The above sketch was done in Painter using oil paint, and then drawn over the top with pencil. The second sketch (below) was done with chalk and then rubbed down for a smoother final product.

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Detours book release?

detours book cover

I can explain. It all started with a swirly texture that I sketched out a few days ago. I had no choice but to scan it in and start playing with it in PhotoShop. Once I came up with a few interesting variations, I thought, “That would make one sweet background for a comic!” Of course I couldn’t stop there, having come so far, so I worked up this scene of Zeke exploring something. How it turned into a book cover is anybody’s guess.

Will there be an actual Detours book rolling off the presses?
I’m not currently at liberty to say… Although I can say this much; it definitely isn’t going to be printed before I actually draw the comic. Pretty sure on that part.

All I’ve got for you so far, are the fragments of my experimental comic.