Jason Lenox

This page had several challenges to bring it to inked completion.

#1- getting the space right- where is INJUN in realtionship to El Alacran, to Elijah to the Chinaman- the top panel lays that out well and then shows us El Alacran coming into the scene.

#2- Getting the El Alacran Gang done right- there are a slew of small changes from pencils to final inks, but it looks solid and kep tthe character designs and overall menacing look good witht he larger pinup panel at bottom.

#3- Inks- Lots of overlaying textures and shapes in the bottom panel- it was a tough row to hoe, but the overlapping elements work to build a 3-D space while not having any visual issues- primarily eliminating tangents- what is a tangent- well Ryan Pancoast gives a great explanation here. 

Overall-  I felt the inks worked with the pencils to keep the style theme and mood together, and the page also kept the story moving ahead-

Page 9 – 100% done and ready to color….

So another insanely complicated piece to ink fraught with tough spots – Injun’s left hand still haunts me… but the final product nailed it- from the characters far off in the background, the tough to ink tassel leather pants, the rubble on the demolished building, it all worked.  And we moved the story, added some tough and different angles, and went from closeups of Chinaman and Elijah to some wide angle shots- a really hard page, but it paid off artistically and in moving the story forward appropriately.  I changed the wood rubble to a rope in the final inks, thanks to Dave Sharpe for the push to do this- nice change, it works.

Included are pencils, and a middle ink, with only basic lines, no shading or rendering for comparison.

Page 8 of PLOSQ- 100% inked and ready to go to color…

Still on a page a week schedule, and this page was ambitious, maybe one of my most ambitious pages yet- the angles, shading, stark changes in perspective, motion and close ups (really digging the fist and outfit of Chinaman in Panel #1!) really have this 3 panel set moving and pushing the action between Chinaman and Elijah, and introducing INJUN, my one man killing machine!  Enjoy the inks, and prior pencils and lets keep this story moving to completion!

Page 7 of 22 is now inked and in the can.  The big changes were in the bottom panel- altering the cowboy hat to the correct height, giving Elijah more “anger” in his eyes, and increasing the size of the gun/hand- all three edits really improved the dramatic impact of that panel as you can see from pencils to inks in the two images below.  Lots of linework to keep the old world feel in the textures of the inks as it relates to fabric, leather, metal etc.

Im realizing as I ink this story, that it is really intimate and alot of small interactions with some well fleshed out characters, and less “large scale” like last year’s “Through the Eyes of Grizelda” which had alot of crowds and masses of background characters.

The action pinup page of “Painted Ladies of San Quentin” in full inks!

The big changes were the hand , and horse’s eye location (anatomy) and the gun (Technical Corrections).

The fun inking parts were the Chinaman’s textured clothing, and the close up cross hatching on Elijah’s arm as we get a POV of the Gunslinger in action for the first time.  The up close foreground cross hatching which was a fun effect I hadnt done before, and I will definitely use again!  The story here is in the action, or a picture is worth 1000 words!

And in this case, one big word- BANG!