Casualties Of Their Own Flesh

I actually drew this for a journal layout. The full image is a lot wider, but it's just several inches of crinkly paper, so you're not missing anything. (The layout looks great, by the way! Transparent content with black text over textured white paper, so stylish!)

Anyway, 'tis Stein and Spirit in Back in the Day Mode. Just because I think their younger selves are kinda cool. The title is just a line from a Smashing Pumpkins song that I rather like. Since you have to call these things something, and all...

Anyway, I like their poses/expressions. Spirit looks so uncomfortable, in an "OH GOD THIS GUY CUTS ME OPEN BUT I HAVE TO HANG OUT WITH HIM" way. Stein just looks like he's thinking really hard about something, which is kind of what he does, so that's pretty awesome.

To make this, I started by crumpling up a page from my sketchbook until it reached the desired texture. Then I let it mellow out in an anatomy textbook until it was level enough to draw. I was kind of hard drawing on a surface that casts so many shadows, but not as hard as I though it would be. In fact, it made drawing the characters a bit easier, because I saw a little flash of their shape in the creases before I started working. (If you look closely, you might see that Stein's back follows a curve in the paper.) After finishing the sketch, I painted and inked the image like I usually do. Crinkly sketchbook paper isn't as hard to watercolor as you might think. I was worried that it might make the paper fall apart, but the paper held up well, and the creases made the texture interesting, because they're absorbent and hold more paint than the flat sections.

Pencil, watercolor, and felt-tip on crumpled drawing paper.