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This is my entry for the Paper Wings Wacom Challenge.

Title: Weird Austen Tales
The brief was to create a piece inspired by a quote from a famous artist. There were three quotes to choose from and I went with “Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery” by Jane Austen.
You can now see my entry on the Paper Wings website where you can begin voting on it in a few hours. If you like it and want to vote just click the Facebook “Like” button. I appreciate your support.

Check it out here:
http://www.paperwingspodcast.com/2011/07/weird-austen-tales-by-crosby/

Development Process

My first idea was to have Jane Austen surrounded by ghouls and monsters. The Elivra lookalike is trying to interest Jane in her manuscript. I scrapped this idea once I thought about doing it has a 1950′s horror comic inspired by titles such as EC’s Weird Fantasy and Tales from the Crypt.

Here’s my first attempt at inking it, using sable brush, brush pen on bristol paper (and plenty of white out). I tried to show the severed hand writing her name but it didn’t fit into the space.

The final inked drawing cleaned up in Photoshop and converted to a bitmap.

Played around with various colour schemes and eventually went for cool colours in the background with warmer colours up front. Then used this excellent tutorial to achieve the mis-registered old comic look.
http://jonnycrossbones.com/tutorials/how-to-color-like-a-little-old-lady/

For the worn paper texture I made my own “black paper” on my laser printer, then repeatedly creased and crushed it and scanned it back in.

Various logos and type I recreated for the cover. All the elements were then assembled in Photoshop.

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