Backgrounds: Corvette

Doing one or two cartoons per day during the month of October has once again left me a little tired and behind on other efforts.  So, just like last year, the gremlins, Sprocket, Elmo, and I are taking a little break.  I will switch gears for the next several days and not only show the readers of Pesky Gremlins some of the background illustration but also some background on how they are done.

As regular readers of Pesky Gremlins know, the gremlins live in Elmo’s garage with his two classic cars: a Jaguar from the ’70s and a mid 60’s Corvette.  Since I have started this cartoon, I have drawn a lot a Jaguar’s and Corvettes.  So, lets start with some of the Corvette images that showed up as backgrounds or props in 2018.

At this point, most Corvette drawing start out something like this:

That is a 1:18 diecast Corvette model on my drawing board that is “photographed” with a cellphone.  Keen observers will note that the model Corvette is not quite the same as the one that appears in Pesky Gremlins.  That’s because when I first started the cartoon, I was able to photograph a real Corvette from multiple angles.  At one point, I could no longer find Corvette photo’s to match what I needed for the comic and switched to the model.  I really only need it for the initial line drawing.

Speaking of line drawing, here is what the next step, the line drawing looks like.

As mentioned, I draw the line drawing separately from the comic strip.  I do this with the hope and expectation that I will be able to reuse the illustration.  Or maybe it’s just an OCD thing.  For some reason, I rarely reuse a Corvette or Jaguar drawings.  The drawings are all done the old fashioned way with pen and ink on bristol  board.  Then, I scan them into the computer and use a paint program, actually it can be several paint programs, to color and finish them.  Here, again, is the finished Corvette:

Here is another Corvette:

You might notice that this Corvette’s perspective is only SLIGHTLY different from the one above.  I probably could have just used the top one and save a couple of hours.  On the other hand, I really enjoy drawing vintage Corvettes.

Finally, Here is a “worms eye view” of Elmo’s Corvette: