Category Archives: The Amazing Adventures of Ruby June

Charcoal of Ruby June and Charter Jack Setting Sail

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

Fixed up another one of my earlier panels. This one was basically okay, I just needed to push the values further and make sure everything had a good range and looked consistent.

In this panel, Ruby June and Charter Jack are setting off to recover the treasure before the Deep Ones can get it. Exciting! A sea voyage! By the way, Charter Jack is Ruby June’s uncle. I didn’t want you all to think I’m letting our girl set off to sea with just any old rummy. Guess I’ll have to cover that somewhere between panel 1-5.

Charcoal of Ruby June on the Beach

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

This one is a panel I worked on a long time ago and needed to go back into. I’m glad I skipped using fixative on this one as Ruby June’s proportions and look needed some tweaking to get her in line with the other, newer panels. Also the values needed pushing. After some time, I was able, finally to get it where it needed to be. Hooray!

In this panel, Ruby June is preparing for her day at the beach when she spies a deep one, well, spying on her. I get the feeling adventure is about to ensue!

Ruby June finds the hidden temple

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

Another charcoal value pass for “Ruby June and the Voice of the Sea” where Ruby June has found the hidden temple. This one was a bear! I had to use a different brand of canvas and found that the new canvas wasn’t primed as much as my usual brand. It was really hard to push the charcoal into the canvas. By the end, my workspace was covered in fine charcoal dust. I told my co-workers that I was trying to re-create post Industrial Revolution London.

Ruby June breaks the spell

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

Felt terrible about not posting over the weekend (freelance and kids birthday parties getting in the way) so I thought it might be nice to show off a few images of the process. Here I am working from the initial thumbnail. First I tone and grid off, blocking in my shot with my eraser, then I determine the direction of my light source and start applying that to the forms. Next I start to push the value range and flesh out the rest of the value range. Next stop is color studies and then painting on top of the values. That won’t be for a little while, though as I am getting all the panels to this state and then will apply color at the same time, so the colors are consistent.

This is the panel where Ruby June blows the Voice of the Sea and breaks Coo-Thoo-Loo’s spell. Hooray for our heroine!

Coming ashore with the Voice of the Sea

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

I finished another charcoal piece for my book, Ruby June and the Voice of the Sea. This panel depicts her coming ashore to blow into the magic horn to break the spell over the deep ones. Of course, part of the inspiration for the book comes from H P Lovecraft. I still feel there are not enough Lovecraft inspired children’s books on the market. Hopefully I can remedy that. I’m debating on naming the octopus in the work Coo-Thoo-Loo.

The charcoal is what I use as an under-painting, setting up my values before I paint on top of them. Once I have finished all the charcoals, I plan to paint them all at the same time, making sure my colors are consistent throughout.

Illustration of Ruby june imprisoned

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

Here is the illustrated page 13, a cleaned up version of the thumbnail that I will re-work in charcoal on the canvas. This is the last painting for my show. From here out I am thinking I will work on all the pieces at the same time. I will do all the cleaned up illustrations, then all the charcoal too the canvas then all the painting. If it weren’t for the art show and wanting to get some pieces out there in front of people, this is how I would have worked from the start.

Page 15 painted

September 25, 2013Blog, Selected Works, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

I finally finished the page 15 painting, or at least got it where I want it for the time being (are these things ever really done?) It took me a little while with many comparisons to the cover illustration to get the color where I wanted it. I’m almost hoping I don’t sell these at the September show so I have something to compare the later ones to.

Page 15 charcoals done

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

I finished the charcoals of my page 15 last night, the scene where Ruby June finds the Voice of the Sea. Or at least I think I finished them. I kept stepping back and wondering if it was where I wanted it. At the time it was but I find it always better to sleep on it and come back with fresh eyes before committing to spray fixing. It was close enough that I could scan it and start work on digital color studies.

starting page 15

September 25, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

I’m starting work on page 15. I felt pretty confident in that composition and thought it would make another good stand-alone piece for the September gallery show I’m doing at the City Arts Factory in downtown Orlando. It was a choice between this one and page 13 (I just liked the look of those deep ones.) In the end, this one one out for the next piece. Here is the gridded off refined thumbnail… which is more of an illustration at this point. Later today I’ll start work on the charcoals.

Tweaked Thumbnails

September 24, 2013Blog, The Amazing Adventures of Ruby Junemsanborn

I finally got around to fixing the few thumbnails that were bothering me and I managed to lose 1 and keep the story pretty cohesive in the stand-alone visual read. I wish I could lose more visual pages as the fewer pages the more cost effective the book will be… not that I want to skimp on the visuals. If I thought people would shell out for it, I’d make the book HUGE! Anyway, here are the revised thumbs… not too different. I think I can move forward now and be happy.