Why would I post on a Sunday around 1:30pm (when I could be napping)?

To tell you what these little shapes are, of course! Would you’d care to guess??

When I introduce a new graphic, it seems to follow that I’m asked how I draw the graphic, and what program I use.

Although I’ve answered the program question—I’ll cover that again—it’s easier than linking to earlier explanations. I use three pieces of software: MS Word (kinda old, from Office 2003), MS Publisher (to combine hand drawn graphics with jpeg photos, also from Office 2003), Adobe Photoshop Elements (also a bit long-of tooth: version 2.02, 2002).

The question I’ve never really answered, is how I draw the graphics. And today I’ll cover that—sort-of.

I’ve spent a lot of time these past several days working on new characters for the “Danger Bay” story series, and completed the first character, “Medlar Farkleberry,” owner of the Star Gas Station, in what passes for downtown “Danger Bay.”

The bits & pieces above are elements of Medlar’s face, and the graphic below will show the steps taken to build the face of any character, through to the finished product. Each piece is drawn individually.

The following is all done in MS Word:

1. Draw the shape.
2. Add color.
3. Give the shape dimension & shading using “Fill Effects”
4. Combine shapes, making sure that the pieces are in the correct order(eyes, for example—the pupil must be in the front of the eye, so using the “Order” selection in the pop-up section under “Draw” on the graphics toolbar, with the pupil selected I click on “Bring to Front”), remove the lines, and finally “Group” the elements using the “Group” command on the Drawing pop-up window.
5. Draw, color, and combine and group the elements into individual features of the face.
6. Finally combine all to form the face.

Simple, huh (…and that’s just his head)! To see how this all looks in the context of a complete drawing—and get to read the first “Danger Bay” installment—click here!

Oops—I forgot to warn you—another link-post— ;-)