(above) Pencil sketch by Gene Colan
Another holy grail moment for me, folks. Steve Pillarella's 4th commission for me to ink was a (Tomb of) Dracula sketch by Gene "The Dean" Colan. I adjusted the hairline in front because in the sketch Drac's hair was touching his thick brow so I added a little more forehead. I was going to spatter the bats in a gradation of black ink but I've done that to death so I instead decided to cross- hatch lines which looks better since it adds some delicate, thin lines in contrast to the bold ones used for the profile art. Mostly done in brush with some marker & brush marker used (mostly on the bats), I added the little bit of zip for shadow in honor of Gene's longtime prime inking partner Tom Palmer who used a LOT of zip in his work (Klaus Janson was another key Colan inker). I'm clearly no Palmer or Janson, though:-) This roughly 11 X 14 image (which was on 11 X 17 board) was completed by me on 7/6/05.
Gene "The Dean" Colan's Virtual Studio