Friday 1 April 2016

Into The Grate Beyond


Ok, ok! Sheesh, can't a guy work two jobs in peace and quiet? I did this drawing a few weeks ago and should have posted it sooner and saved myself some harassment from you, yes, you, Mr. I. Ghost!  

But anyway... the idea for this one came from a poem by David Huebert entitled Grate, Dundas St. that won honourable mention in a local poetry contest (you read it here. I really like his imagining of going into a grate on the side walk and the world underneath. He mentioned "engines boring" and "wastelands of steam" and "black tears oozing slowly". All very evocative. I'm tempted to take another go at the machinery/underground city part of my drawing (the section right in the middle) because I didn't get anywhere close to what I was imagining based on the poem.

While I like drawing of the man before he falls into the grate, I was letting the pen take too much control, so he doesn't look enough like the other people to the right, and the while the last drawing of the man riding a busted wooden door on an subterranean river is also good, the proportions aren't quite right.

What I do like it the perspective, and I think I effectively showed movement into the underground. Looking at it now these three weeks later, I realize I could have drawn a rectangular light above the falling figure's feet to further indicate he's falling in. While the pen did take control, I like the line work which isn't fussy, but is sharp in clear. 


When I was drawing it I knew it was going to need to be severely rendered in black, but I wasn't comfortable doing that as I thought I might wreck it. I put the drawing shown below as an example of the marker rendering style I should use on this sort of piece. I hold the marker on like one does a piece of chalk which puts the side of the marker to the page, not the tip. You can get a nice scratchy texture and control the darkness far better than using the tip.


And yes, Mr. Illustrated Ghost... that's you!