S'more CHESTACLESE!

Okay, I was gonna keep this hidden from public viewing.. But with Jim Smith's blessing, here it be! Both the pencilled & inked versions of the 1st Pass at CHESTACLESE..

Probably the biggest difference from the 2nd Pass,-- is that my initial take on it, was much more detail-oriented.. I added more muscletone, where there wasn't any featured in Jim's initial sketch. I guess I felt more free to add my own touches with the Battleaxe & the Lower Legs.. As they weren't even featured in Jim's drawing..
I've always enjoyed the way Berni Wrightson would add those bigass Tricep muscles to Arms.. So that's probably why I added that? I don't think the "feathered" inking works quite so well here, though..

I was sorting thru older Drawings.. when I dug up an older 'CHESTACLESE' sketch, that a guy named Marc (from Dorval, Quebec) had commissioned from me at a 2005 Toronto comic-book convention..
It freaks me out a little bit, how savage I drew him.. This is closer to the older model of 'CHESTACLESE' that Jim featured in his sketchbook, a few years back..

More of a crazed CONAN-esque barbarian/brigand? I like the way the Demon turned out here.. I think I must've been calling up imagery from that weird 70's-era Ernest Borgnine horror movie: "The Devil's Rain".. heh

Jim Smith's CHESTACLESE!

Many moons ago,-- I worked as a Layout Artist on 'The RIPPING FRIENDS' cartoon series.. Overall, the experience was bittersweet. But one of my favorite memories from that show, was working with Spümco art director extraordinaire: Jim Smith; who worked in-house with us for a few short weeks.. Looking over his shoulder, watching him put the "Stinky Butt" episode storyboards together, was a bee-yoot-iful thing!

And if you haven't already heard the Good News: Jim Smith has also joined this here new-fangled Internuts contraption! Lots of terrific artwork to ogle.. And you can learn more about his latest 'CHESTACLESE' animation/comic-book project, by visiting either his Bloggywog or Website

Just recently, I'd helped Jim figger out a few of Blogger's finer Posting details. And he kindly offered to send me a "free" Drawing, as a token of his "Thanks!".. To which I counter-offered: "Hey, send me that Drawing.. And I'll send it back to you Inked!".. Before too long, he'd e-mailed me a 'Chestaclese' rough to work on.. And boy howdy,-- this was gonna be FUN!!

There were a few miscommunications along the way.. Which I blame mainly on trying to talk about Artistic approaches, solely thru e-mail? Sometimes the meaning & subtleties of what you're trying to actually say to someone, can get a bit muddied & skewed..
My initial inking attempts were overly-detailled. And I was beginning to lose the very "guts" of Jim's original sketches. But by my 2nd Pass on it, (I like to think that) I solved most of those shortcomings.


After I finished the inks.. I decided to throw some Color on it, too. It's mostly colored pencils, over a basecoat of light pantone markers. The BG was a definite cheat.. I sampled (what I imagined was) an appropriate/suitable Frazetta painting. Blurring it slightly, to soften the halftone printing dots..
I'll let the Frazetta fanatics, try and guess which painting it was! haha

Thanks for letting me take the old College try on this one, Jim.. I had lotsa fun.. And I hope you're satisfied with the results!