We see a broken Jessica Holman running to the Sheriff’s side- and she is devastated from the loss of her lover/co-conspirator.  One of the things the reader can determine is the question of her emotional state- is it based on a real connection with the dying Sheriff, or a realization her plot has failed and she will be arrested or killed?  And we see the judgement and mercy of Elijah Holman to walk away from killing a “defenseless” woman…

From a layout standpoint, overlapping elements again dominate the main panel with the huge hand of Elijah in the foreground, and the raw emotion Jessica shows next to a dying man… and the bottom panel, just conveys the death of the redeemed sheriff and Elijah follows the way of the lord- “love thy enemy” … this layout is still, on purpose, to convey a lack of action. Also I really worked to not add too much to the grass behind Jessica to let her figure dominate that space and to shade away from her, to highlight her emotion/face/rage/anger fill the reader as the POV comes from behind Elijah directed to her.

 From a technical standpoint, move Jessica’s right hand to better effect below the Sheriff’s head, and really got more solid blacks and contouring into the mix to really keep that old school engraving look together, and build some drama with my use of lights and darks.  Really pleased with the inks to build Jessica’s emotional face, and dress texture. Also note the stipling and heavy line work under the sheriff to have the blood pool overlaid with shadows to show he is a bit lifted up by Jessica’s hand.  This was an added benefit of moving her hand- see the improvement from pencils to final inks on that one element.  It really improved the figures.  Also a slight change on the Sheriff’s right arm placement, and his left hand is now in a more natural position from the original pencils to the ink- these also really improved the page as well.

As usual- I’ve included the pencils, line work and final inked rendered page for review and analysis below. 

Jessica reveals that she is a stone cold killer, and makes her move to eliminate Elijah Holman once and for all, but one thing ruins her vicious strike.. the Sheriff has a conscience, and gets in the way of the bullet, saving Elijah at the price of his own life, but will it redeem the Sheriff’s soul?  Jessica has a visceral reaction to her plans unraveling…

From a layout standpoint, overlapping elements of the three principal characters dominate the main panel, and tight and gorgeous profile of a screaming Jessica.  I felt I really brought emotion to the four faces on the page.

From a technical standpoint, I used contouring to great effect with stippling as the choice of texture for flesh.  Just falling in love with my insane textures for hair, it takes a long time, but you can’t help but get lost in the long odd textures of that black hair spilling down Jessica’s shoulders!  The large change from pencils was the sheriff’s right arm placement- the gun that led into Jessica’s face was a tangent causing nightmare- so it had to go, I was pleased with the new arm/hand and lack of rifle.

For me this page was another tough challenge- it seems like the closer I get to the end the harder each step takes- I’m going to do whatever it takes to get this monster under control and finish strong!! I’ve included the pencils, line work and final inked rendered page for review and analysis below.

A showdown, and a Flashback from the Sheriff- gives the reveal that Elijah Holman was a preacher before (now a skilled gunslinger), and we learn that Jessica Belmont doesn’t care- and in her words “Elijah Holman can meet Jesus!”- the last few pages lead to an explosive finish as we continue to raise the stakes!

From a layout standpoint, this page was HARD- look at the changes from pencil to final inks- added panels, extreme changes etc. etc.  but dammit- it works!  Thank god I get some great advice from people to make changes to make my work better.  The flash back middle panel serves as a stark contrast to the top and bottom.  One of the tougher pages I have done so far.

From a technical standpoint, I used alot of solid blacks – this is for the mood of this page going bad as it moves forward and to switch up the style a bit to not get too predictable- a touch of Frank Miller in the bottom panel?  It really highlights the detail work in the middle panel on both sides and acts as a solid frame for the wonderful inks in the background of Jessica at the bottom with Elijah’s dark frame all around her.  I loved the contours of the hand at the top, and the religious banned in the middle and Elijah’s hair in the foreground at the bottom.

For me this page was like a wall to get past when I pencilled it and was a barrier in the inks- It was hard, like the wall you hit creatively to get to the finish- I’m sniffing the end of the project now! I’ve included the pencils, line work and final inked rendered page for review and analysis below.

Elijah- our hero- is now out of bullets, out of friends, injured and on the ropes with an enraged and armed Jessica Belmont with the Sheriff in tow.  The two plotters  having just dispatched “El Alacran” with a shotgun blast to the back,  aren’t in a forgiving mood after telling Elijah Holman to leave town, advice he told them he couldn’t follow… murderin’s still a sin….

From a layout standpoint, this page was my pinup for Jessica and Sheriff- I wanted to give them that one nice (almost) full page to really show them off.  Also to establish that Jessica was the “Gangster Bitch” and in charge of the relationship as the dominant one, and the Sheriff was the passive one following her orders as she pulls the strings over all of San Quentin.  This is also in keeping with the reveal of her as the top villain of the story- you were never quite sure until now if it was her or the Sheriff in charge.  Also, Im keeping up the theme of Elijah’s eyes being hidden, he’s building up to something that’s been bottled up- a secret perhaps?

From a technical standpoint, I had alot of fun layering and texturing Elijah in panel #1- especially the texture on the beard and gun.  The main pinup had some fun shadowing effects with the ruined building and El Alacran’s body.  I used stipling to really build out Jessica’s dress, and had fun with the skin tones on her arms, the hair texturing, and her facial features which were a struggle to get that combo of “hot” and “psycho” on a slightly off profile point of view.  Finally I was really pleased with the Sheriff- from his hands, to folds of fat on his face to the wood and metal on his double barrel shotgun.

For me this page worked from a story telling standpoint, character establishment and as a technical piece- I’ve included the pencils, line work and final inked rendered page for review and analysis below. 

Page 16 leads us to the third and final act of “The Painted Ladies of San Quentin”.  An explosive re-introduction to the Sheriff and Jessica Belmont who we last saw in flashback form on page 5.  Now this page establishes how violent they are, last time their “evil acts” were shown as an aftermath- three women burning- discussion of them burning the whore house- now I wanted to show them literally cutting a hole through El Alacran by shooting him in the back, and we see it as a POV shot.  As my good friend Brian Berg said about this project this week….

“Quentin Tarantino will be envious of the bloodshed”

… Indeed, we can only hope so!

And on the artistic notes from the pencilled page to the inked page- not much changed on page 16.  Of note is the highly stylized old time look of the gore, I’ve found with this particular inking style my inks make blood and guys look like an old medical drawing– which is a fun way to make a hold in a man’s gut look- so enjoy this piece as we race towards our bloody showdown and conclusion over the next 6 pages!

Page 15 could be described as … “LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR” from Drowning Pool!  Four Dead Bandits laid out for you to see the bodies, and Chinaman finally gets the big send off with a shot in the back from “El Alacran”, showing his true villain’s nature.  The story is moving towards the third act and finale as the second act comes to a close.

Technique wise- I loved the geography of the bodies and characters in the long panning shot in panel #1 and it was fun to do the detail on the dead bodies panning back towards the horizon line, and of note is the small blades of grass I added to the ground elements- arms, dropped gun, shoes etc.

Correction-wise, Elijah’s hat got lowered which corrected an error and made him seem more “angry” so that was a big improvement, and I tweaked El Alacran in panels 2 & 3 from the pencils a tad.

Confession- I was happy to kill off Chinaman, I was SO TIRED of drawing that damn outfit I designed last summer- R.I.P Xi Chou Long, it’s been a great 9 months together!

The second half of my madcap 2 page full out action gun sword fight ends with two more fatalities, and some really fun camera angles and crazy inking.

The major changes from start to finish are Chinaman’s hand holding his sword- it ended up from the side to straight on (anatomy!) and the foot placement of rifle killer guy in the bottom right panel- the twisted up feet got changed in favor of a straight right leg and more of a falling with energy motion pose as opposed to the stutter step that I had initially tried to get.

The inking on the long hair on the top panel and blood/gunshot in the last panel are my inking highlights for me as a reader- I was really pleased how they turned out.

Page #14 is dedicated to Russ Nicholson, a childhood favorite artist of mine that I just discovered is alive and well on facebook- and he even “liked” my art page!  This guy is a pen and ink god, and I think he has influenced me more than I realized now that I’ve been going back and looking at his work from the FIGHTING FANTASY GAMEBOOK series I first picked up when I was about 6 years old!  Thanks Russ, you still rock man, this page wouldnt be what it is without your inspiration to me as a young lad!