No, I don’t actually speak Chamorro. But this month’s illustration is dedicated to my Dad.
The goal for this response was two-fold. When I was thinking of the gift I was going to give my Dad this year (who is by far the hardest person to shop for en la familia), I was influenced by this month’s prompt and decided to do an illustration. He was super into superhero comics in his youth, so I decided to render that with his passion for swimming into his very own comic book cover.
On August 11th, 2007, my Dad made an attempt to do a solo swim across the English Channel, which is 32 km/21 miles wide. He finished it successfully in 10 hours and 37 minutes, becoming the first and still the only Chamorro (from the Marianas Islands) to have completed the swim. Our relationship wasn’t the strongest at the time because we didn’t live together, but I later found out that he dedicated the feat to his late mom, as well as to us kiddos.
We’ve become a lot closer since and I wanted to find a cool way to honor him–not necessarily for cool stuff like the channel swim, but for working his ass off to support a scattered family.
As far as the illustration itself goes, it was really fun but also a work-intensive process. As with all period-related stuff, there was a lot of studying to do, from rendering styles (e.g. early Luke Cage, Aquaman) and pose references to color schemes and typefaces. Also, this was my first go at drawing the ocean and crashing waves, which is one of the more difficult things I’ve ever tried to draw. I took some cues again from existing comic works, and I think it just comes down to how much time you want to spend on it. I didn’t do all I could have, but it was enough to be satisfied.
Another thing that came in handy was knowing what Photoshop’s strengths are over Illustrator’s, and vice versa. I did all the ‘illustrating’ on ink/color/background layers over the original pencils in PS, and then hopped over to AI for titling, type, and word bubbles, since they interact with the layers of the artwork. Finally, back to PS for adding texture and a slight reduction in the blacks to mimic the look of aged-ink.
Whew! That’s a lot of words for the sake of context and process. So here’s something else I want to say!
Y’all have been one of the most imaginative, supportive, and helpful circles of friends I’ve ever had the fortune to create with, and thanks so much for being a part of this project. Our little Tank Engine turns one now, and how bloomin’ exciting is that! I’ve learned some incredibly valuable approaches and techniques from all of you, and I feel that my capacity as an illustrator has improved remarkably over the course of this past year. Learning, bettering, expressing, enjoying others’ work, and having fun–these are the reasons I wanted to start something like this, and you guys have made that possible. (Plus, look at the sizzlin’ portfolios we’ve put together over the year!)
I’d love to continue riding this train as long as it serves all of us, so here’s to a wonderful 2014! Perhaps we ought to invite some new members, and re-invite some old ones? We’ve got a pretty concrete system established here, so feel free to invite aboard anyone you like!
Happy new year, Imaginators.
The Ink Tank Engine 