I haven't posted anything since January and we're in the ides of March already!
The depiction of Holmes and Watson, which you can click on to enlarge (I think), was done purely digitally. No pencils were harmed in the making of this cartoon. When I work in this manner I become acutely aware of some of my short-comings, but then it's all grist to the mill and is part of my (exceedingly and tortuously slow) artistic development.
Having said that, I think digitally cartooning can impose some of its own problems on the cartoonist. When I work with pencil and paper, I am aware of the finite space and area in which I am drawing. One's spatial awareness can be a little lost whizzing around on a screen, altering image size, joining enlarged lines etc. On top of which pencil pressure is constantly under control. To a certain extent I know exactly what sort of mark on the paper I will be making, light or dark; and where. Again, on a graphics pad, making marks has (for me) an element of unpredictability. Then again, I have been able to do things on the graphics pad in a blink of an eye that would have created far more work in the three dimensional world. If I make a mistake in pencil, yes I may rub it out, but it may leave an indelible smudge on the paper. And a mistake in Indian Ink... well it just doesn't bear thinking about. Whereas on a pad... Buggered up ink line? No probs, Mr. McGuire. The undo button is your friend. Especially if your bladder is full.
I forgot to mention that the cartoon that led to the red marks on your thigh due to you continually slapping it, was provoked by
The Cartoonists' Club of Great Britain's weekly caption competition and depicts are rather tense moment in A Study in Scarlet
