Sketching with the Tombo Airpress pen.

I'm not a big ball point guy, but the Tombo Airpress at JetPens terrific. It came in handy when  personalized copies of paperbacks that I had illustrated. I would prefer to use one of my favorite fountains, but with the pulpy stock I did not want to run the risk of making a mess of the title pages.

 Beowulf, Dante's Inferno, Ten Plays of Sophocles and Ben-Hur are just a few of the covers I've designed and illustrated for Penguin, USA. To say I was red-faced to be asked to sign some copies would be an understatement, but I truly appreciated the sentiment!

The Airpress has a nice smooth line and a chunky barrel that feels good to hold. It's also pretty cool looking, you can see the inside mechanism that forces air into the ink cartridge, making it easy to write (or draw) on tricky surfaces. Comes in different colors too. Ten buck us a little pricey for a ball point in my opinion, but it makes up for it in it's cool design features and usability.

I can only hope the owner of this book likes my sketch as much as I enjoyed making it! 

Thanks to Drew at Goulet Pens for ask me to sign them!

Ben Hur in print

I created the cover artwork for this new edition of BEN-HUR back in August. I just received an advance copy from Penguin Books that will be on sale starting April 3rd.

It was great to do a new edition of this classic story!

I used Noodler's flex pens and #41 brown ink for the drawings; all acquired at Goulet Pens.

Goulet carries the full line of Noodler's pens and inks.

I also used a reed pen in some designs.

You can see more about the alternate illustrations and cover designs at the original posting:

Noodler's Flex pens.

The Pilot Falcon and "The Song of Roland."

The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving work of French literature; dating from the twelfth century. It tells the story of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass where the rear guard of Charlemagne's army was slaughtetered to the last man... so it's a "feel good" book as well. Penguin USA wanted a fresh cover design for this new edition, I used my Pilot Falcon for the job.

This is hands-down my favorite fountain pen to draw with. It's got an beautiful flex nib; I could not believe my eyes the first time I gave it a try. Fantastic line quality, thick to thin with a generous flow of ink. The Falcon II is all metal and lists for $280.00, but Goulet Pens carries a more economical resin version; the Pilot /Namiki Falcon. It's the unusual nib that really make the difference.

These are four of the proposed cover designs.

Below is the approved design for the edition that will be in bookstores in March, 2012.

My thumbnails were the guides to the finished drawings. They were sketched quickly with a combination of the Falcon and Pentel brush Pen. It was important to sketch out the type design as well to determine the proportions I needed for the final layout.

I used a combination of my Pilot Falcon and a Pentel Brush pen for this design.

The Pilot Falcon II uses cartridges or fills with an

included converter. I used Aurora black fountain ink.

The line variation is awesome.

The Falcon II is just a great feeling pen; it's hefty, nicely balanced with a smooth finish. The nib is fantastic, besides the very economical Noodler's Flex, this is the only flex pen that I've found. Works like a dream.

 The Pentel Brush Pen did most of the work on these two design with the Falcon adding the sharp details.

The Falcon and brush combo really helped capture the carnage.

Higgin's Eternal and King Arthur.

This new edition of Sir Thomas Malory's LE MORTE D'ARTHUR was a terrific project to work on. Penguin USA wanted a new cover and type treatment for this classic.

My tools of choice for this project was my old Speedball nibs and handles, a bamboo reed pen and sumi brush with Higgin's Eternal ink.

Working from my thumbnails, I knew bold rough marks were needed to go with the broken gothic mix of typography I had in mind.

This 140 lb Lanaquarelle watercolor paper is terrific stuff. Really tough and can take the roughest, scratchiest marks without feathering. Washes are a breeze. I got this large 113/4" x 15 3/4" from Legion Paper; a fantastic company for quality art paper.

My roughs for King Arthur started...well... rough; dunno why I started on a white legal pad. I used a Sheaffer NoNonsense fountain, Pentel brush pen, Faber Castell Pitt brush pen and a Sharpie.

My Sharpie is contained in this snazzy Sherpa pen shell. A great holder for Sharpies and other pens; they come in different colors and designs. I picked it up at Fountain Pen Hospital.

As usual, the thumbnail process sets the tone for the whole project.

After the project was completed, I thought it would be great to make woodblock prints of the approved and alternate cover designs. I'll have a future post of the finished blocks and prints along with the details of the tools and material that I use from McClain's Printmaking Supplies.

This Shina Polywood cuts like butter.

A completed block, before printing.

Brause Nibs for astrology guides.

After seeing some of these Brause nibs in action, I knew I had to have some. I found a great little set at Goulet Pens and they really are terrific. They were a nice addition to the Speedball nibs and handles that I've used for years and they came in handy for illustrating the 2012 editions of Sydney Omarr's astrological guides for Penguin books.

This set comes with 6 nibs and a wooden handle.

I ordered extra handles.

The nib designs are awesome, each offering it's own line variation. 

Pieces in Noodler's brown ink.

Aries

Virgo

I needed to do a lot of thumbnails for this series design and my choice of tools varied. 

I love these  Pentel Twist -Erase mechanical pencils. They come in 0.7 and 0.9 sizes. I prefer the .9 for a wide lead that does not snap easily. The long twistable eraser is not one of those little nubby ones that can't take any pressure, it's awesome. They're easy to find at your local Staples. As usual, I buy in bulk for fear of them being discontinued. 

Both the 0.7 and 0.9 Pentel Twist-Erase pencils.

A Sharpie and a legal pad was all I had handy when
sketching ideas on the phone.

Sometimes a seemingly insignificant thought
becomes the start of an entire idea.

If it wasn't for these sloppy little drawings,
I'd never be able to get this job off the ground!

The Omarr guides are on the shelf in bookstores.

I colorized the artwork digitally so they could be adjusted in the final design; each guide needed it's own color scheme. We created the type design and look for the entire series.  The 2013 guides are in the works at my studio now.