Nightlight Comics pinup

As an artist, when you attend a convention, it's easy to spend a good-chunk-o-change on fellow creators. Someone's artwork inspires you and you have to own a little piece of their magic. And between sketchbooks, prints, and commissions, you just end up spending what little money you make (the only real winner is Kinkos). So someone out there, in their infinite wisdom, created the greatest Artist Alley ritual ever - trading.

Case in point...

I met Matt Chicorel at last years' Fallcon and we had a great time. Matt is the creator behind Nightlight Comics, home to the "Non Adventures of Trenchcoat and Kim." During this years' Wizard World Chicago, Matt was kind enough to give me a copy of his latest issue in exchange for a copy of my Space Ghost pinup. Unfortunately, the con's craziness got the better of me and I forgot to give Matt the pinup. So I decided to make-up for my forgetfulness by drawing a pinup of Matt's characters, Trenchcoat and Kim.

Initially, I was going to go with an action shot. But considering that the book is about their "Non-Adventures," Iit made sense to go with something more lew key. And after reading the latest issue, I immediately new what to do: Trenchcoat And Kim sitting on a roof, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Using a technique that's worked for me a few times now, I decided to draw the characters separately from the background. So here's my rendition of Trenchcoat:

And here's my rendition of Kim:

Trenchcoat turned out OK. But I'm pretty happy with Kim. I tried to give her some of the attitude Matt's gives her in the comic. Hopefully, that comes across in the drawing through her posture and her smoking. As for the background, although I did sketch it out on paper, the majority of the work was done in Photoshop.

So after a few hours of blood, sweat, and tears, here's the final outcome:

Overall, it turned out alright. But the important thing is that Matt likes it. He even said he'd put it in the next issue. Sweet.

Lesson learned: Considering that the pinup took about 5 hours from start to finish, I need to find a way to speed up without losing quality. I know, that sounds like a complete contradiction but I think that ability comes with time and practice. Luckily, I'm willing to put in the hours to keeping developing my style. What's the saying? "If you're not moving forward..."

Bernie