Today, I have a livestream I did for drawing ‘The Banshee” for FANSTRATICS as well as some conceptual work!

As with most of these characters for this series, it begins with several sketch idea for poses and designs, scribbled in ink in my sketchbook. The notes I was from the art director asked for options for both a normal-looking figure in the middle of a harrowing scream, along with exploring of the idea of the screaming head being detached.

I tried several options for trying to visually simulate the screaming effect, concentric lines, swirling chains, and garments being whipped around. I tried to move the poses around a lot as I did this, as it is easy to get locked into just one pose when making these little sketches. I initially drew them as just a simple figure in a Victorian gown, but then added chains and locks to each one, to suggest a grim backstory as well.

The art director got back with me asking for #2, but for a few elements from the other options as well.  With that, I did a clean-up drawing (above) to refine the drawing. Adding this second stage of refinement to the sketch, (before I start shading anything) always saves me a ton of headaches later on! It will make for a lot less erasures and reworks.

After this, I transferred the drawing down to Strathmore smooth bristol, grabbed some 2H and 2B pencils and we are off to the races.  To see more of how I go from the above line sketch to the final drawing below, check out the video linked above!