Stan Sakai wrote: September 7, 2015
I finished the cover for UY Saga # 7 yesterday. 8.5x12.5 on 4-ply, 500 series cold press Strathmore bristol board.
The finished drawing is done with ink, ink wash, watercolors and color pencils.
Here is the process:
1. Penciled first with a .3 mm 2H mechanical pencil, then a .5 mm HB.
2. I inked the foreground with black and the background with a gray ink wash, then masked everything but the sky.
3. Worked on the sky with watercolors and color pencils.
4. Colored the background characters. I considered adding those "death skulls" over their heads, but did not want to distract from the mood of the cover.
5. Removed the mask from the foreground.
6.
7. The final step was removing the mask from around the border. My "assistant" did that. smile emoticon
The cover of UY i27 upon which the painting was based.
Tom Luth did the colors for the comics, and I based much of my colors upon his color choices.
Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
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Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
- Maka
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Re: Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
Awesome! I didn't know color pencils were used as well.
Stan, you often talk about "masking" the piece when you do washes or water colors. What does that mean?
Peace, maka
Stan, you often talk about "masking" the piece when you do washes or water colors. What does that mean?
Peace, maka
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Re: Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
Very cool!
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Re: Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
Given I own the original cover to issue #127, then this is doubly excellent in my book

Simply means putting something on top of the original in a particular area, so that if the colouring runs over from another section, it doesn't affect the area in question. You can see it most clearly in picture 2, the sky is still white from the Bristol board, but everything else is a light cream instead. What do you use to mask with Stan?Maka wrote:Stan, you often talk about "masking" the piece when you do washes or water colors. What does that mean?
With a breeze comes a storm, but then you'll all be washed away...
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Re: Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
Napoleon Dynamite voice: Lucky!Mayhem wrote:Given I own the original cover to issue #127, then this is doubly excellent in my book![]()
That is awesome!
Re: Usagi Yojimbo Saga #7 cover process
that orange/brown hue in the back ground in the earlier steps is really cool. i almost wish it didn't get toned down in the final product.