Sketch Pile Friday (nsfw kink pic included)

Part of me would probably like to stretch these sketches out over the course of four updates. I definitely used to do that before Patreon updated with gallery posting. But I would always have that worry in the back of my mind, that the patrons aren't getting enough value per post. I like to think your dollar goes a long way in the sketch blog. Stuffing it full of content definitely helps me sleep at night. Some artists don't come with egos, and it often surprises me that people like this stuff as much as they do.

ANYWAY, the top pic here is probably the most interesting one. Top Cow (the comic publisher) does this yearly talent hunt competition. It sorta sounds like a contest but it's really a good sort of method for open submissions. They're not looking to steal and publish work from newbies, for free. They're just making opening up their editors to see work from new talent. Comic companies used to be all about open submissions but as more creators overwhelm the limited number of noteworthy publishers out there, the publishers had to close their doors to seeing every portfolio.

What Top Cow wants to do is see if you can follow instructions and work like an employee, as well as seeing if you bring something new to the table. And that involves working on one of their sample scripts, which is pulled from real work that they publish. They're also interested in hiring a new writer too, if you wanna apply to that yourself. 

As my boss at Hiveworks likes to remind me, they're still waiting on a Pretty Julie pitch so I think that should be my priority really. But it was fun to think about what I would do if I were were to draw Jackie Estacado, of The Darkness. I thought about what his creatures would look like and an obvious inspiration would be deep sea creatures. Not unlike being inspiration for Lovecraftian creatures. Eels and angler fish with their gills and spines make for natural analogs to the shapes that The Darkness tends to take. The liquid shadow would be my own extra touch on that.

As for Jackie himself, I'd like to draw him as more gaunt and haunted than the 90's trenchcoat ideal badass. He could look drained, as if the mere act of existing is giving him pain. Yet he should be intense in that sorta... emo 90's teen power fantasy way. When the Darkness armor envelops him, I'd have it exaggerate his musculature and stuff.

It'd be a fun project to work on! But yeah, as my team at Hive likes to remind me, I already have a lot of work to do! I just sometimes look at the world of comics publishing and wish I was known better out there. It's a whole, ego self worth thing.