SPQR BLUES Chapter V

I’m making my way through the pages of that Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook and, y’know, I don’t hate it. It’s ok. One good thing about it has been that, because it’s been such a challenge to see whether it can live up to its hype, I’ve been filling the pages with test pieces, instead of being too timid to “ruin” the book by doing art wrong.

This sketch took me a while to figure out, and the pencils were erased many times before the page was inked then the light wash was put on. The paper held up extremely well to all the erasing, and although it seemed to buckle a lot with the water, it’s flattening out. Not completely flat, but no worse than the previous pages.

I was going to watercolour the whole thing, add in more Felix-y details, and include Venus in the drawing, but started liking it as is. Of course, he might see Venus anyway. It’s hard to tell with him.

Alternatively, he might be describing a fish that got away….

Hmm. This just dredged up a memory. Once when I drew something and didn’t completely define each finger, the editor said it looked like the character’s fingers had been “fused together in a horrible industrial accident.” I’m not bothered.