Tuff-Girl, Las Vegas (cover to sketchbook No. 2)
carmine red Col-Erase pencil on Bristol board
43.18 cm x 27.94 cm (17.00 in. x 11. 00 in.)
Sept. 2009
Last year, I drew, re-drew, and inked an image to be the cover of my second booklet of Tuff-Girl sketches (monotonae entry Apr. 21, 2008). I had the idea that I wanted to have the option of it being a wrap-around cover illustration, but also to at least have it be something in a horizontal landscape format where most of the illustrations I already had were in a portrait layout. I even brought it to full completion with digital color.
With the twelve pages drawn of the most recent "Tuff-Girl" story (the one I've been working on on and off for two years) completed in roungh pencil form, I thought I could finish the sketchbook.
I a way that many artists regard their own works, I decided I wasn't happy with the year old illustration, and so re-drew it once again. The compostion is improved on a number of accounts: the left and right wings are better filled out respectively with a Vegas styled chapel and limo turned on its side; man-lizard baddie, Rip Tyler is introduced to the scene better relating to the twelve page story; and the famous, albeit modified, "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign is at a more pleasing angle in the layout. Tuff-Girl is smaller as a sacrifice to make the roulette wheel's perspective more believable.
The central, foreground thug (Doug) comes in to the cover from the left, rather than moving away and out of the older cover. In this way, I used his body to cover a lot more dead space.
Despite her smaller size, I think the drawing of Tuff-Girl is better this time around, with a bit more arc and off-vertical angle to the pose, and more twist to to her body. Even having her left arm angled forward looks more natural than back as in the older version.
The book itself will be a 5.5" x 8.5", 48-page collection of Tuff-Girl related sketches from the last three years. I complicated the project with the inclusion of a gate-fold and cut-out activity and at least two new sketches intended for the book. Rather than saddle stapling twelve sheets together, I will be attempting a square spine "perfect bound" approach, requiring ten folded sheets, each making up four consecutive pages combined with the gate fold and activity sheet. The cover adds four more pages to the count.
