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Zip

@ziplequick.bsky.social

80 followers 54 following 116 posts

I'm a cartoonist with big plans, a long history, and low expectations. Connoisseur of the finest trash culture. ziplequick.neocities.org malu.thecomicseries.com

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Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Skeleton season is upon us. #penandink #skeleton #monster #OSR #DND #cartooning #drawing #sketchbook

A pen and ink sketch of a menacing group of skeleton warriors in tattered armor gathered in a crooked corridor.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I keep intending to upload more often. For the briefest moment, I even thought, "maybe daily," but that ain't happening. So, for now, I'll kinda try for weekly-ish to semi-reliably (whatever that ends up meaning.) #cartooning #monsterart #OSR #DND #sketchbook #ghoul #drawing #penandink

A ghoul in a dark place, apparently having its gruesome meal interrupted. The ghoul is in the foreground, with an amorphous pile of bodies behind it, and what looks like a cave passage in the background. It's a sketch drawn with colorful pens, using heavy crosshatching. Sickly greens, yellows, and reds for the ghoul and its meal, juxtaposed against blues and purples in the background

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

"Lizard Man" mixed media, 5"x7" #fantasyart #cartooning #sketchbook #ttrpg #osr #osrart #dnd

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I don't "finish" sketchbooks. I keep them around for years and years, and just keep drawing in them. The #sketchbook I'm currently #drawing in has some stuff from about 9-10 years ago. I like them a lot, still. They represent a big shift in my #cartooning style, that still holds today. #comicart

Ink sketch of a muscular guy with huge arms, in a casual stance, holding a large club over his shoulder. He's wearing jeans and a tank top, and he's got a bandage wrapped around his head, covering one eye.

Ink cartoon drawing of a man holding a large sword, stuck into the ground next to him. The man is drawn in a clean, open-line and graphic style. He's wearing black pants and a sort of poet's shirt. His legs and arms are long and skinny. The sword is longer than he is tall.

Cartoon ink sketch of a woman sitting on some sort of bar structure, holding a gun. She's dressed in a padded coverall, like a racing suit. She has long hair and a side cut.

Open-line ink sketch of a woman holding a sword, slung across her shoulders. The sword is in a scabbard. The woman is wearing jeans, a tank top, suspenders, a kind of bowler hat with a feather in it, and some shoulder armor.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

As much as I loathe sharing my work on social media, here we are. I'm scanning the piles of #drawings and #paintings I've been making lately, to compile into #tradingcard and #zine projects. I might as well upload stuff here, too. I'm sure nobody will see this stuff, or give a damn. #cartooning

Highly crosshatched pen and ink cartoon of a laughing grim reaper. Behind him is the onomatopoeia of a guffaw, "HAW HAW HAW" in the style of hatemonger and legendary indie cartoonist Jack T Chick. The grim reaper character is also enthusiastically stating, "We're all having SUCH a GREAT TIME!"

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Oh, hey. I keep forgetting I have this account. "Helluva Planet to Lose a Moon-Cow" Mixed Media, 7.5" x 10.5" #scifi #retrofuturism #cartoon #cartooning #art #drawing #mixedmedia

A woman wearing a retro-futuristic space suit, holding a ray gun, looking warily about an "alien" landscape that looks suspiciously like red, orange, and yellow hoodoo rock formations found in the Southwest United States. There is a shattered moon looming in the dark blue sky, and the space woman's rocket ship is landed nearby, behind her.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

I think I'm starting to dial in what I want Malu to really be. Underdrawing for the next card front / page. #MaluComic #comic #webcomic #comicart #art #drawing #sketching #sketchbook #WIP #painting #mixedmedia #inking #characterdrawing #cartooning #fantasyart #swordandsorcery #darkfantasy

Rough underdrawing of an action scene. Our protagonist finds himself surrounded by hostile guards, and in a headlock.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

More neon skeletons. #art #drawing #sketching #sketchbook #sketching #painting #mixedmedia #inking #characterdrawing #cartooning #OSR #ttrpg #dnd #swordandsorcery #darkfantasy #horror #skeleton #undead

Highly saturated mixed media sketches of warrior skeletons.

Highly saturated mixed media sketches of warrior skeletons. Glamorous social media style framing, with all sorts of art supplies, and an oblique angle. Influential!

Highly saturated mixed media sketch of a warrior skeleton.

Highly saturated mixed media sketch of a warrior skeleton.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Honestly, this is the coolest thing I've made in a long time. Card front and back! #comic #webcomic #comicart #fantasyart #cartooning #handdrawn #printing #OSR #darkfantasy #weirdfantasy #MaluComic #tradingcards #artisttradingcards #DIY #diymerch #proofofconcept #mockup

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Trading card test prints I made into stickers. All-around success! Awesome to hold, and look great as part of the sticker bomb. Glossy color prints next? #comic #webcomic #comicart #fantasyart #cartooning #handdrawn #printing #OSR #darkfantasy #weirdfantasy #MaluComic #tradingcards #stickers

Black and white test print of some of my artwork in trading card format, two and a half inches by three and a half inches, for a new project.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

Malu panel 2 art. #comic #webcomic #comicart #fantasyart #swordandsorcery #cartooning #handdrawn #ink #inking #OSR #darkfantasy #weirdfantasy #Malu

Strange animals graze in a field of odd vegetation, alerted as a figure walks past in the distance.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Individual shots of the sketches, with the saturation pushed way up, which I think helps heighten the weirdness. #art #drawing #sketching #sketchbook #painting #mixedmedia #inking #characterdrawing #cartooning #OSR #ttrpg #dnd #swordandsorcery #skeleton #undead

A sketch of a skeleton warrior, standing against a field of blue, holding a rotten sword and shield. The saturation has been digitally amplified to almost neon levels.

A skeleton stands against a field of bright yellow, and is swinging a tarnished two-handed battle ax. The saturation of the colors has been digitally amplified to an almost neon level.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

Neon skeleton sketchbook spread, presented both in social media photo style, and more straightforward. #art #drawing #sketching #sketchbook #painting #mixedmedia #inking #characterdrawing #cartooning #OSR #ttrpg #dnd #swordandsorcery #skeleton #undead

One of my biggest peeves is that social media has ruined aesthetic presentation. Now, everything has to be staged, surrounded with a bunch of useless visual noise. If I'm looking at a person's art, i want to see the art! Not a bunch of props and shitty angles. Anyway, this is a sketchbook spread, social media style, with a bunch of nonsense props surrounding the colorful sketches of skeleton warriors. (I couldn't bring myself to do a shitty angle.)

A sketchbook spread featuring two colorful cartoon drawings of skeleton warriors brandishing old and damaged weapons. The skeleton on the left is set against a field of blue, holding a rotten sword and shield. The skeleton on the right is set against a yellow background, about to swing a tarnished two-handed battle ax.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

"Larry Daring" Tons of unused colored pens and markers, sketchbooks full of half-finished pencil scribbles of odd little dudes, and a little downtime -- a winning combo. #art #drawing #sketching #cartooning #inking #characters #oddballs #weirdoids

A colored ink sketch of a man wearing a jet-helmet. Yes, a jet-helmet.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

In my pocket today. A 1:72 scale (about 25mm) Dark Alliance miniature figure of an undead warrior. #pockettoy #toy #minis #toys #ttrpg #osr #dnd

Back view of a molded plastic miniature undead warrior figure, 1:72 scale. It was the toy I had in my pocket today.

Front view of a molded plastic miniature undead warrior figure, 1:72 scale. It was the toy I had in my pocket today.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

In my pocket today. #pockettoy #toy #hotwheels #minis #diecast #toys

A Hot Wheels purple toy street rod.

000

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Finally moving forward (again) with my comic-thing, Malu. #comic #webcomic #comicart #fantasyart #swordandsorcery #cartooning #handdrawn #ink #inking #OSR #darkfantasy

The first page/panel of the comic, Malu.

A man comes to the end of a long journey.
"Praise the skies," he thinks to himself as he takes in the sprawl of a city in a dusty valley.
"With fortune on my side, perhaps my mission may soon be fulfilled!"
And perhaps it may, but he will first have to face...
...THE TYRANT OF TARKO!

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

New cover art for my comic project, Malu. Links on my profile. #comic #webcomic #comicart #fantasyart #swordandsorcery #pinupart #drawing #painting #mixedmedia #ink #gouache #coloredpencil #illustration #coverart #cartooning

A painted scene in a typical book cover composition. A nude woman is sitting in the foreground, long hair waving in the wind, as she gazes outward. A man, wearing only a wrap around his waist, is in the mid-ground, holding a staff or spear, and also gazing off. In the background looms a city, bathed in orange and golden light. The title reads "Malu".

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Working on Malu, my "forever" comic project, which I've been chipping away at, but I haven't talked about much here. These are the pencils redoing (again) the cover painting and the first page/panel. #comic #comicart #artprocess #pencil #painting #drawing #cartooning #fantasyart #sketch

A drawing board with two loose pencil sketches, underdrawings for the cover painting and the first page of my comic project.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Tip Top Comics, 1940, a letter describing the making and distributing "cheer up books" -- zines from before zines were called zines! #zines #DIY #comics #comicshistory

A page from a 1940 issue of Tip Top Comics, with a letter describing making and distributing zines, which they call "cheer-up books".

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Val Kilmer has been many things in his iconic career, but to me, he'll always be the greatest swordsman that ever lived!

Madmartigan, holding a sword while making his escape from the mountaintop camp of the Nockmaar army, after his failed attempt to seduce Sorsha while high on the Dust of Broken Heart.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Guys. For the first time in ten years, I have a dedicated workspace. Not just a TV table and the edge of my bed, but an actual desk, where I can set up my boards, and get down to business! #art #artist #workspace #artspace #battlestation #drawing #painting #cartooning #illustration

My new workspace! A desk in the corner, and a bunch of my bins with all my pens, inks, paints, and pencils. And three lamps, because lighting is important.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

If you see this, share a skellington.

It's a full-body drawing of a skeleton, in a 3/4 turn. The skeleton is fully intact, except it's missing its jaw. There are glowing points in the eye sockets. OMG, is it (un)alive?!

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Sometimes, we draw region maps of our fantasy settings, as a treat. #OSR #ODnD #ttrpg #rpg #sologaming #solottrpg #dndart #osrart #mapmaking #mapdesign #gamedesign #GMing #prepisplay #BECMI #ADnD #BX #handdrawnmap #rpgmaterial #rpgart

A hand-drawn region map, done in pencil, depicting coast, islands, forests, and mountains. Some notations are made of a few major landmarks and areas.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Upper level redesign of Quasqueton, from #DnD module B1: In Search of the Unknown. Explanation in the alt text. #OSR #ODnD #ttrpg #rpg #sologaming #solottrpg #dndart #osrart #mapmaking #mapdesign #gamedesign #GMing #prepisplay #BECMI #ADnD #BX

On the left, the original map for the upper level of Quasqueton, the dungeon from the first basic adventure module for Dungeon & Dragons, In Search of the Unknown. The floor plan is largely nonsensical, being designed as a "dungeon" in an old school game sense, It is explicitly designed as a maze, rather than a living space, and as such, it is meant to frustrate and confuse players who seek to explore it. There are so many twisting corridors that lead literally nowhere, and so many weird rooms in odd places, unnecessary secret doors which hide necessary progress, and SO MUCH wasted space.

On the left is my redraw of the floor plan, focusing on what it might look like if it was designed as a place that was built for heroes and their followers to live, and to stand as a monument to their glory. I've removed the maze elements, expanded and shifted deserved focus to the set pieces, made it more logical and accessible, and significantly condensed the space (even though I still have a lot of dead space, especially on the wizard's half of the dungeon, where things would be a bit more eccentrically designed.)

There's something to be said for the idea that the dungeon should be a maze, especially if you subscribe to the theory that a dungeon is a "living thing", and there's nothing that says things haven't shifted around, and it's grown more maze-like in the years that the stronghold has been unoccupied. I like that idea, in that it give a great weird, flavored reasoning for a very gamey design. The problem is that the inconsistency doesn't just frustrate players; even running a map like this is pretty painful. Starting with a map that feels recognizable from the outset gives room to weird it up with deeper exploration, especially once a party delves into the caverns on the lower level.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Quasqueton from the #DnD module B1, In Search of the Unknown is so frustratingly nonsensical. Redrawing that floor plan is some fun problem-solving. #OSR #ODnD #ttrpg #rpg #sologaming #solottrpg #dndart #osrart #mapmaking #prepisplay #BECMI #ADnD #BX

Photo of the D&D Basic module B1, In Search of the Unknown, and its absolutely stupid dungeon map, which is being redrawn by me, in order to actually make some sense as a place where people lived, rather than a maze of wasted space and needlessly-twisting corridors meant to frustrate people playing the module.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Composition thumbnails for trading card-style illustrations. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #doodling #thumbnails #ideation #comic #comicart #cartooning #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #ttrpgart #gamebook #characterart #OC #OCart #fantasyart #bunchaguys

A page of eighteen composition thumbnails, sketched in ink, showing rough illustration compositions, with dynamic characters in action within a setting. The idea is to make striking "trading card" illustrations, so the challenge is to work out interesting scenes, especially utilizing space and value, while focusing primarily upon the characters.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Just a buncha guys. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #doodling #thumbnails #ideation #comic #comicart #cartooning #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #ttrpgart #gamebook #character #characterart #OC #OCart #fantasyart #scifiart #bunchaguys

A sketchbook page filled with pencil thumbnail sketches of dozens of little figure, mostly with a fantasy and sci-fi flavor to their design.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

She Bites I like the underdrawing better. #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #pencil #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #OC #portraitpainting #characterart #comic #artforfun #halloween #horrorart #horror #vampire #goth #gothart #gothicart #gothichorror #darkart #darkfantasy

An acrylic portrait painting of a Victorian vampire lady.

A loose pencil sketch portrait of a Victorian vampire lady.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

Moonlit Encounter #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #OC #portraitpainting #characterart #comic #conceptart #artforfun #halloween #horrorart #horror #death #maiden #skull #grimreaper #ghost #wraith #darkart #darkfantasy

An acrylic painted bust portrait of a young woman in front of a large yellow moon and the silhouettes of bare tree branches. She has a drape of cloth obscuring half her face, which is just as well, because in the moonlight, her hidden features bear the resemblance of a skull.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

O Death #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #OC #portraitpainting #characterart #comic #conceptart #artforfun #halloween #horrorart #horror #death #skeleton #skull #grimreaper #ghost #wraith #bunchaguys

A small, loose acrylic portrait of Death -- an empty-eyed skull draped in gossamer white.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Punkin #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #OC #portraitpainting #characterart #comic #conceptart #artforfun #halloween #horrorart #horror #jackolantern #pumpkinhead #pumpkinpie #bunchaguys

Here's a little pumpkin guy, eating him some pumpkin pie.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I dug up a pile of small paintings (5"x7" and 8"x10") I'd done for fun a little while back. #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sciciart #OC #portraitpainting #characterart #comic #conceptart #artforfun

Acrylic portrait painting of a pretty woman in a space suit.

Acrylic painting of a woman in a space suit on an alien planet, holding a ray-gun. She's turning dramatically around to find she's being ambushed by a green alien with lots of eyes, antennae, and tentacles.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Surgeons -- mixed media on paper 8.5x11 #art #drawing #painting #acrylic #gouache #ink #mixedmedia #artprocess #illustration #comic #comicart #cartooning #darkart #darkfantasy #horror #horrorart #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #character #surreal #mythopoeia

A rather abstract image of three figures, strangely proportioned, and dressed all in black, with strange and birdlike heads. Their poses are are odd and stiff, and the figure furthest in the foreground is holding a scalpel. The figures are blue and purple over black, and the background is a field of bright yellow.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Midpoint #WIP still needs detailing. Painting over these figures has abstracted them quite a bit, and I really like the feel of it. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #artprocess #illustration #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #character #surreal #mythopoeia

A rather abstract image of three figures, strangely proportioned, and dressed all in black, with strange and birdlike heads. Their poses are are odd and stiff, and the figure furthest in the foreground is holding a scalpel. The figures are blue and purple over black, and the background is a field of bright yellow.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 23/01/2025

What does one do with a drawing that is just plain ugly? I guess we'll see. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #goddess #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

Quick an expressive, but ugly, ink sketch of three figures, strangely proportioned, and dressed all in black, with strange and birdlike heads. Their poses are are odd and stiff, and the figure furthest in the foreground is holding a scalpel.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

I keep fiddling with the details. Time to call it done. A Sister of Muse -- 8.5"x11" mixed media. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #goddess #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

A portrait of a woman in elaborate jewelry, wavy hair, some sort of halo, and what seems to be a split down the side of her head -- from the temple to the bottom of the jaw, that causes a separation of her face from the head in a way that looks like it might be a mask. Some sort of halo seems to be emerging from the gap at her temple.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Highlights. Girl no longer so yellow. Still needs some details to finish it out. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #goddess #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

Highlight stage of painting for the portrait of a woman in elaborate jewelry, wavy hair, some sort of halo, and what seems to be a split down the side of her head -- from the temple to the bottom of the jaw, that causes a separation of her face from the head in a way that looks like it might be a mask. Some sort of halo seems to be emerging from the gap at her temple.

A little bit of tightening up and detailing are still to be done.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Painting in the dark and middle values, AKA the "girl be yellow" stage. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #goddess #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

Dark value stage of painting for the portrait of a woman in elaborate jewelry, wavy hair, some sort of halo, and what seems to be a split down the side of her head -- from the temple to the bottom of the jaw, that causes a separation of her face from the head in a way that looks like it might be a mask. Some sort of halo seems to be emerging from the gap at her temple.

The underpainting is ink and acrylic over a loose pencil sketch. For this step, I'm using gouache to establish the dark and middle values.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Underpainting stage. It's rough, obviously, but this stage in this piece is surprisingly pleasing to me. #art #drawing #painting #ink #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

Ink and pastel underpainting for a portrait of a woman in elaborate jewelry, wavy hair, some sort of halo, and what seems to be a split down the side of her head -- from the temple to the bottom of the jaw, that causes a separation of her face from the head in a way that looks like it might be a mask. Some sort of halo seems to be emerging from the gap at her temple.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

I keep my underdrawings loose, because I like the process to be loose and expressive. #art #drawing #painting #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #DnDart #osrart #sketchbook #conceptbook #workbook #ideation #myth #worldbuilding #character #portrait #surreal

Pencil underdrawng for a portrait of a woman in elaborate jewelry, wavy hair, some sort of halo, and what seems to be a split down the side of her head -- from the temple to the bottom of the jaw, that causes a separation of her face from the head in a way that looks like it might be a mask.

This is a loose, rough sketch, where only the face is tightly rendered. I prefer to work form loose underdrawings and underpaintings, blocking in shapes and gestures, and keeping full rendering to a minimum, because I want the work process to be as expressive as possible.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Strolling Past the Cage Tree - Mixed media on paper, 8.5"x11" #art #drawing #painting #mixedmedia #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #DnDart #OSR #osrart #sketchbook #character #ttrpg #comic #darkart #darkfantasy #horror #horrorart #conceptart

"Strolling Past the Cage Tree". A funny little man in a long red hood, with a satchel at his side, and a lantern on a hook that serves also as his walking stick, is passing by a massive, gnarled old tree with three prison cages hanging from its branches. A great thing about working with gouache in mixed media is that it plays so well with things like colored pencil, which can be fussy if there's no tooth to the surface. Lots of paint and ink dries quite smooth or glossy, but gouache has a natural surface texture that takes well to drawing over top of it.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Today's progress. A lot of tree and hood work. Man, I love gouache. The way it works is like some weird alchemy, where you don't really see what it will be until it dries. #art #drawing #painting #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #DnDart #osrart #sketchbook

Work in progress for the mixed-media illustration, "Strolling Past the Cage Tree". A funny little man in a long red hood, with a satchel at his side, and a lantern on a hook that serves also as his walking stick, is passing by a massive, gnarled old tree with three prison cages hanging from its branches. At this point, details are being rendered in. I mostly focused on getting the tree right in a way I like, and working out the man's face and hood in the lantern light. I seriously love the look of gouache, especially the intensity of that fully-saturated, straight from the tube cyan in the sky, and the granularity of the texture. High pigment paint -- if you have the means to buy the good stuff, it's worth it. No filler, no muddy mixes, it's so much easier to work.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Over the years, I've grown to really appreciate the ugly stage of a piece's creation. You know what it should be, you're not sure you'll get there, but there's no going back. #art #drawing #painting #mixedmedia #WIP #artprocess #illustration #cartooning #fantasyart #DnDart #osrart #sketchbook

Work in progress for the mixed-media illustration, "Strolling Past the Cage Tree". A funny little man in a long red hood, with a satchel at his side, and a lantern on a hook that serves also as his walking stick, is passing by a massive, gnarled old tree with three prison cages hanging from its branches. This stage of the painting is what I call the ugly stage. It's essentially the underpainting or flatting stage, where all of the forms and colors are now blocked in, but it's rough, and none of the details have been rendered out yet. It really does look terrible, which is thrilling, because the potential of the piece is still there, waiting to be prized out.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

A long-awaited package finally arrives. Oh, but what could it be? Spoilers: It's gouache! Also a bunch of awesome books! #art #artist #books #artbooks #haul #supplyhaul #artsupplies #painting #drawing #illustration #consume #consume #consume

Sealed box.

A package containing expensive gouache paint. I could only find Holbein in CMYK, which is weird. I guess I'm getting old, because there was a time when I could find process colors from several brands. It's not like CMYK isn't still the base for printing, but I suppose digital color correction means less need for the physical paint that best corresponds to the printed output.

A five-pack of Holbein artist's gouache -- cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and white -- and a ten-pack of Windsor & Netwon designer's gouache, all ready for me to use to paint masterpieces of pulp and cheesecake! It's been a long time since I've bought gouache, and even longer since I've bough some gouache of high quality, and I'm happy to admit I've been impatiently waiting almost two weeks for them to arrive. I use gouache in mixed media work, so all these tubes should last me for a while.

BOOKS!

From top to bottom:

Umbra by Jordan Speer -- a gorgeous wordless narrative picture book. I'm honestly not sure the methods Speer has used to create the images, which in itself is quite intriguing.

Sorayama: Complete Masterworks -- stoked to have this to add to my pinup collection. Sorayama is maybe my favorite pinup artist, because he gets weird in ways others don't. Lots to stare at in this book, but I do wish the dimensions of the volume were a bit roomier.

Richard Corbin's Murky World -- Gotta catch up on completing my Corbin collection. These recent Dark Horse volumes are lovely.

Amphigorey Again -- a fourth volume compiling Edward Gorey cartoons. I think this completes my Amphigorey collection.

Sex and Horror: The Art of Roberto Molino
Sex and Horror: The Art of Fernando Carcupino

Sex and Horror collects the cover artwork for "fumetti sexy" (Italian adult comics) generally by artist. I'd say they are the ultimate iteration of pulp aesthetics, with full id on display. Quick, rough, dynamic, highly saturated, explicit and uncensored subject matter, urging the impulse spending of pocket change at the news stand. I've been staring at digital copies of these for some time now, and finally pulled the trigger to buy the whole series. TBH, these books are a major inspiration that led to my purchase of new gouache.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Sketches aren't precious. I'm having fun finding old sketches to rework, and test out some new mixed media methods. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #mixedmedia #illustration #cartooning #art #drawing #doodling #ideation #comic #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #character #fantasyart

Mixed media drawing of a beefy dude wearing a weird mask, brandishing some kind of club.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

I got some Posca paint pens for a great price at a local outlet store, and I'm seeing what they can do. Bright, opaque, I like 'em. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #doodling #ideation #comic #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #character #fantasyart #bunchaguys

A blue elf cave man. What? You Think this is a goblin? Clearly, you're wrong; this creature is blue.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

A page of rough compositions for a larger mixed-media project that lives in my head. I do hope to get some of this project out into the world this year. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #doodling #ideation #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #fantasyart #gamebook

A 3x3 grid of rough composition sketches, drawn in pencil.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

New warmup for the new year: I got some cheap 5x7 sketchbooks that will be perfect to just fill up with a buncha guys. This is #1 in the buncha. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #ideation #comic #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #character #fantasyart #scifiart

An ink and colored pencil sketch of a figure, bare arms and legs, muscular, wearing a strange sort of patchwork outfit with a sort of cowl/helmet with a mask that fully obscures the face. He's adorned with piles of colorful necklaces. He's holding a cord, like a lasso, and is taking a tense, ready pose.

Zip @ziplequick.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

I like drawing weird little guys. #sketchbook #conceptbook #notebook #sketching #journaling #art #drawing #doodling #ideation #comic #osr #osrart #dnd #dndart #ttrpg #character #fantasyart #scifiart

A sheet of paper with 24 different oddball alien-type creatures doodled onto it in ink.