Here are the pencils for the sketchbook cover. I added a few fanciful flying machines to the piece to give it a bit more ‘oomph’… a little more balance. From the initial sketch I posted last time, you can see that I was playing with the idea of also drawing in a grand alien city in the background, but after thinking about it, I decided not to make the piece SO busy. I wanted to keep it relatively simple, especially in light of the fact that I’m going to try to color it myself– IF, that is, I end up even doing a color cover. I’m still considering whether or not to print the sketchbook as one of those traditional ‘8 1/2 x 11 inch folded in half with a one-color cardstock cover’ sketchbooks that seem to be the norm these days. I have played with the idea of doing something more elaborate and having a 64 page prestige format book and maybe see if I could get IMAGE to agree to publish it….. but I haven’t decided. Now, the next step is to consider whether to digitally ink the piece, or IF I decide to color it, color it from the pencils alone.

So many things to consider…….

Anyway– here’s the pencil piece:

I suppose the next day or two will reveal what I decide to do. If you’ve got any comments/opinions of your own about it, feel free to leave them.

I’ve decided to keep a running count of my blog posts from now on, so that I don’t miss any more ‘anniversaries’ like the ‘100th post milestone’. So I’ll end each post with the number of that days post– starting with today’s: Entry 116

Mike