Halloween Take-Off

Only cool kids know the BPRD

I kicked off October with a Hellboy piece. I felt that it was appropriate for the season, and I had just finished watching the Mike Mignola documentary, Drawing Monsters. I highly recommend it! Great overview of the creation and impact that Hellboy and Mignola have had on comics and pop culture. Also, if you’re in a creative rut, the doc is sure to help you climb out of it.

Here’s a timelapse video of me making the whole piece. I posted a very short version of this on Instagram a few days ago, but here, you get the full thing.

After inking, I used ink wash (water + ink) for the background. I wanted to give it a sort of smoky and distressed look to increase the spookiness. Ink wash behaves much differently than straight up watercolor. There’s not much absorption, but rather, it lays there on the paper and eventually dries. I like it because you can get some really cool textured areas, especially in a darker toned drawing.

I wanted to make Hellboy, Abe Sapien, and funky skeleton dude the focal points of the piece, so I gray-toned everything in the background, and color painted the main figures. I had fun cartooning Hellboy and Abe. Mike’s design is so iconic, so it was interesting figuring out how to retain the character’s look, but also put my own spin on it. If you’re going to Bedrock City Con in Houston this weekend, you can snag this piece if you’re interested!

Here's to the season of fun and horror! Throw me some scary movie recs if ya got ‘em.

Thanks for your time,

Nico