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Frank Cho Lets You Play With His Stipples

Frank Cho has been getting lot of people asking about his ballpoint pen drawing technique over the years. So he decided to show some of the step-by-step progress. He tells Bleeding Cool,

Step 1 – I lightly outline the figure in pencil first. Then, I start crosshatching to fill the figure in a general gray tone. (I use several photos for references.)

skybourne005covstep1and2

Step 2 – I vary the angle of the crosshatching defining and detailing the areas of light and shadow. At this point I focus on the face.

skybourne005covstep3

Step 3 – I keep crosshatching until I'm satisfied with the shadow and light of the skin tone. I go in with a brush and India ink for the silky hair. Once dried, I finish with white paint to add the hair high lights.

The whole crosshatching process takes about 10 hours from start to finish and you really need a steady hand to achieve this surface image.

skybourne005cov

Here's the finished Skybourne #5 cover.

And yes, that's Cthulhu, the ancient god, on the cover. Things will end with a WTF and over the top epic finish.

Skybourne #2 hits stores the end of October.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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