Ursine.
A.K.A. bears. Inkbeard post #32
New Word
Once and a while, one learns a new word. Fortunately (and the antonym of said word) for me, this happens with great frequency. Fortunate, because my extensive lexicon is in a state of continuous enlargement. It’s also, like, proving how much I don’t know words.
Art.
This week I started working on a finished piece, starting with the sketch and figuring out the perspective and layout for the inking. My inspiration was drawn mainly from the Americana of Gravity Falls, and also borrowing the idea of anthropomorphic woodland creatures dressed in high fantasy garb.
Below are two of the better pages filled with thumbnails. The rest were littered with poor attempts at perspective drawings. funnily enough, the two below are the first and last fruits of my hours of sketching. The subject is a small roadside stop dubbed the “Snack Shack”, at which a bear, badger, and hare have stopped on their journey for a quick bite to eat. (Also, is “bight” even a word?).
This is the first step in the process. I think I want to rework the perspective a little; bring the camera’s level lower and angle it up. The next step is to sketch the final image, adding more detail as I do. Then inking, and lastly coloring. I’ve decided to start sharing the whole process, firstly because It sounds easier than rushing to meet a deadline, and also because it sounds more interesting.
The Snack Shack.
On a lonely highway in wooded Wild Hollow, a small goblin was walking to the next village to sell tomatoes, when he stopped at the side of the road to let his donkey rest. His stomach growled, and the goblin, whose name was Nerb, thought to himself,
“It’s too bad that there isn’t a place to rest one’s feet here. One could make a pretty penny off of weary traveler’s empty bellies.”
That’s when Nerb decided to quit the tomato farming business and go into chain wayside rest stops. After a month, there was a small wooden hut with a sparkly new neon sign reading “Snack Shack”, where once there was only moss and mushrooms. After a year, another chain had opened up on another highway, advertising free water with purchase of goods.
The Snack Shack franchise prospered adequately, and as Nerb said to his nephew Gnob on his deathbed,
“It was a good life. My only regret was not asking Nibbina to dance, and eating that bad bowl of mushroom soup, deciding not to run a line of Snack Shack dish sets, also not patching that hole in the roof, and neglecting my mustachios. But it was a good life.”
The End.
I hope you all enjoyed this little bright spot in the rest of a sunny, and partially rainy and smoky, week. I enjoyed writing this little snippet of story, and may do more similar. I hope you will spread the word of Inkbeard’s wonderful Blog, and be ever so gracious as to return in one fortnight to read the next instalment.
Many thanks and a tear-felt farewell,
Inkbeard