Executioner's Counting Rhyme

Executioner's Counting Rhyme
(to the tune of "Enny Meeny Miny Mo")

Hangman Headsman Guillotine
Pick a knickknack to show the Queen.
You play pebbles,
I'll play jacks,
Headsman plays with his favorite ax...and this... is... it.

*Loren and I's contribution to Illustration Friday: Choose.
I've included my roughs in this post, you can click them below to see a bigger version. I usually do my thumbnails very small to get the initial layout down. Then I scan my thumbnail, blow it up, print it out, then work out the details directly on the printout. If you look closely you can see my initial lines on the second rough. Once I get the layout and details all worked out I'll scan this version, drop the transparency down, then print a copy and ink right on top of that. Sometimes I'll skip this step and ink right on top of my pencils, depending on how clean I want the final image. I'll then scan my inks (greyscale) and manipulate them in photoshop. I like to give my final lines a sepia look so I'll change the image to RGB then do a hue change. I try to let some pencil lines and "noise" remain giving the final piece a little more character. I wanted to color this guy but it's been a busy week and I've been sick. Yippee.