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”! 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 on honor of Gene’s longtime, primary, inking partner Tom Palmer who used a LOT of zip in his work (Klaus Janson was another key Colan inker who used lots of zip). I’m CLEARLY no Palmer of Janson, though. This roughly 11X14 image (which was on 11X17 board) was completed by me on 7/6/2005.

Pencil sketch by Gene Colan

Bob’s Inks