Thursday, August 11, 2011

Space Accountant

Everyone's heard of Space Cowboys (especially Steve Miller fans), and there've been tons of stories about dreaded Space Pirates. But not many people have heard of that rarest of stellar occupations: Space Accountant!

Marvel at the thrilling adventures of Space Accountant and his amazing Universal Calculator, as he balances the galaxy's books! Gasp in wonder as he calculates asset depreciation! Gape in awe as he issues financial statements! It's Space Accountant!

This is another one of those drawings that took forever. Most likely because I redrew each character several times. After I drew the initial sketch, the whole thing just seemed kind of meh. The Cowboy and Pirate both looked more dull than the Accountant. So I scrapped them and kept plugging away at it until I came up with the versions seen here. That's today's art lesson, kids: Don't settle for the first thing that comes out of your pencil. Push yourself to come up with something better. 

Another reason this drawing took so long is that there are a lot of little details. Every time I'd think I was done, I'd remember something I meant to draw, like the star on the Cowboy's chest, the Pirate's earring, and even his robotic parrot! Yes, I actually forgot about the parrot. By the way, the robotic parrot gave me some trouble too. I wanted it to sit on the Pirate's shoulder of course, but there wasn't room with his giant helmet. I tried having the parrot sit on top of the helmet, but that didn't look right either. Eventually I came up with the idea of a perch jutting out of the side of the helmet.

The text was hand lettered. It might look like the "SPACE" in each name is identical, but they're all slightly different.

Drawn in Photoshop on the graphic tablet.


Here's the original sketch. Like I said above, kind of meh.


Here's the second sketch. Much better. These versions of the characters have much more personality, in my opinion.

5 comments:

  1. I like the symmetricalness of the space parrot

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  2. I love all three of them! The contrast between the exciting and dangerous looking cowboy and pirate and the dull accountant is hilarious!

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  3. KW: Thanks. But then aren't most animals symmetrical?

    R64: Thanks! That contrast is what I was shooting for.

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  4. This is the best! I love, love, love the parrot's perch on the helmet. Great idea to make the Accountant's helmet fit the shape of his head instead of a round bubble. I enjoy your artwork so much :)

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