Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 17/03/2025A screenshot from my iPad Pro this morning showing my progress so far on comic #7. Page 13 is now laid out and ready for (quite a lot of) pencilling. I started this issue at Christmas and I’m just about halfway through it at the moment. It’s a lot of work to draw a comic book. 021
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 16/03/2025Another one of my hundreds of unused outtakes from the last book… 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 16/03/2025I used the reflected sky as the flat river surface in the distance. (At the suggestion of @iesornozines.bsky.social -Thanks.) I think it works well. 130
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 14/03/2025Good to be getting back to drawing some of my old familiar characters again. 020
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 14/03/2025I think I’m addicted to churning out foliage foregrounds. Is there a special term for that? 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 14/03/2025The first page of the second part of comic #7 is now taking shape as the posse reach the Chelmer River on their way to Silver End. 021
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025If you notice I’ve used the same sky in the whole of the latest book so far. As you say, thematic. 110
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Here’s another one of my skies. I did dozens of them one weekend a few years ago. And now use them all the time. Probably should do some new ones. 100
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Yes, the brushes are just tools. It’s how you use them that counts. Just like playing jazz on a clarinet. More than just blowing and pressing buttons. But the advantage I have is I’m designing the brushes with exactly the requirements I’m looking for when eventually using them. 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Here’s the actual picture. Easier to see when it’s not jumping about… 110
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025Here you go. I filmed it in real time. It’s not sped up or anything like that. I had to do it fast though because Bluesky limits video clips to 3 minutes only. (I think this is just over 2 mins). Normally I’d spend a little more time on this kind of thing. 110
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025This now becomes a comic I may or may not draw one day… 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025A composition constructed in part with the foreground I put together this morning with my new foliage brush. With a few other bits added in. 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025You can see some of my latest foliage work in real depth here on my free Substack blog. The image quality on Substack is excellent and allows zooming in to appreciate detail. open.substack.com/pub/stevebee...open.substack.comThe First 10 pages of Buffalo Bill Amos Rides Again! Issue #7They said it couldn't be done, so I did it...better read it while you can... 021
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025I suppose I’d describe them as being deliberately random in that I have control of brush size, colour and depth of layer. The brushes are one thing. The way you use them (individually or together) quite another. The brushes are good time-saving tools though. 110
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025You’ll probably notice if you look really carefully that there is a part of the brush-head that’s a bit too distinctive (and distracting) - it’s somewhere between ten to and five to on the clock face of the brush. It shows up too much on the art piece. I’ll need to remove it when I edit the brush. 000
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025The image quality on this platform doesn’t really do things justice though. It’s very fuzzy close up. In a more precise medium the design has a sharp edge even when blown up. Fascinating really to see how these things can merge and produce endless combinations. 110
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025OK so this is something I’m calling foreground foliage (foliage with me, as ever although there’s nothing to stop me doing stones like this). This was produced solely with two (rotating) brush heads. One the one I developed yesterday and the other, one of my old ones called Tamarisk. 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/03/2025I’m probably giving away some kind of trade secret of mine here or something, but I’d find it hard to explain what I mean with just words. The design here is a brush-head I’ve constructed as a direct result of this week’s Burgos experiments. I’ll show a picture I made with it in a moment. 020
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 12/03/2025Using some new techniques here that are accidentally coming from my recent experimentation based on the 1950s work of Carl Burgos. A treasure trove of ideas; rich avenue - thank you @iesornozines.bsky.social Will probably make this a two-page spread in the latest comic book. 130
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 11/03/2025…I’ve spent ages looking at the foreground stones on this cover though. Really looking. I need to find some way to replicate that. It’s wonderful. 100
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 11/03/2025Happy to be compared to anything Carl Burgos did - thank you. I get what you mean by the rainclouds here, the line inking is done within pencilled areas. As you say, just as I do with my trees and foliage… 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 02/03/2025The start of another page of the never-ending story… 000
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 02/03/2025Another day, another tree. I’ve nearly got my own forest already. 000
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/02/2025Pour yourself a coffee, put your feet up and follow the action in slo-mo as it is created in real time. 020
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 13/02/2025substack.com/@stevebeecar...substack.comSteve Bee on SubstackComic book production in slo-mo. The way it happens in real life. 000
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 09/02/2025substack.com/@stevebeecar...substack.comComic Books and Wasting TimeYou don't have to do that... 010
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 28/01/2025My latest Substack post… open.substack.com/pub/stevebee...open.substack.comDrawn Out on the Trail #2What if the Wild West had happened in East London and Essex? 000
Steve Bee @stevebeecartoons.bsky.social · 27/01/2025One drawing today that’s all. Good one though. Quiet day. 010
