Circa 1993

Both these images are from '93. At this point I was drawing a lot on biology paper. I'm not sure what else it's used for but I drew on it. It was a sort of heavyish kinda paper that absorbed ink really well. I started using it because an art teacher in High School had us use it in class (I can only assume as a cheap alternative to 100 lb. Bristol Board, though it was not as heavy).

The paper itself was 8.5 x 11 had three pre-punched holes so it could be placed in 3 ring binders. In retrospect this factor on top of its limited size made it difficult to do anything good with it, but at the time I loved this stuff.

This is about the time I started inking in my work with the tools I still use to this day. While I experimented with Micron and Tech-Liner graphic pens as well as a few others, the Staedtler Pigment Liners were always, and continue to be the best graphic pen I have ever used.

Anyway my lines here (among many other things - check out that wack-ass left leg on Rob Liefelds character Chapel in the lower image!) clearly need work. I really didn't have any significant understanding yet of varying line weight. When I grew as an artist I learned how to really make figures really pop from and environment or background. While experience was allowing me to learn this (and other) lesson(s) on my own I owe a lot to artist and former instructor Rick Reese for aiding me in getting these concepts and practices to really gel for me.

By the way - can you tell I clearly have a thing for bats at this point? Not unlike my (then) comic book idol Todd McFarlane...