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Fear Smiling
"Fear Smiling"
Sold at Ebay Aucton, Dec 4 for $95.00
11x14 Sable Brush, Higgins Ink Black, F.W. Acrylic White.
"I have gotten into this really bad habit of drawing with permanent marker pens (Zig and Staedtler) and though their ink is dark and permanent and they are marvelous for doing meticulous cross-hatching I really do long to feel the easy stroke of a brush across the paper. Thick lush lines and delicate feathering, there is something special in a brush ink drawing. It is alive and organic, it breathes and sparkles, and for doing shadows it is pure magic. "All things are possible in darkness." So on this piece I made a deliberate attempt to try all my brush tricks; Feathering, Dry Brush, White on black highlights. I learned all this stuff by studying Bernie Wrightson's early work. He is the master of brush shadows. Check out DC's early Swamp Thing issues to see him at his peak.
I think the brush really brought out the horror in Eric's eyes and by under lighting his face it adds more drama than a weeks worth of pen scratching could've added."
-James