Helena Handbag: Pinup Hottie & All-round Badass!

[Poppy Fields]

Along with the ink drawing for HellInAHandbag, I also did a set of pinup sketches. HIAH had said she loved the Poppy Fields sketches and that was what I was intending to send to her. Then I sat down to draw and the other lot came out instead.
But once I got that out of my system, the sketches just flowed!

I pictured the character of Helena Handbag as a saucy badass; the kind of woman who would have been right at home in Russ Meyers' "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" She would undoubtedly carry a switchblade (and you'd better believe she knows how to use it!), a pack of smokes and be able to hold her liquor with the best of them. To complete the deadly little package, she'd be smokin' hot.
Absolutely smokin'.

There were a few poses I knew I wanted to do, but the rest evolved as I went along. The sketches started out reasonably detailed, but became more simple and basic as I got into the swing of things. The real magic happened when I decided to try something new.
I grabbed a fatass Sharpie with a bullet-point and loosely "swooped" over the pencil guides.
Oh my.
::swoop swoop swoop::
Oh my indeed.

The lines, they're so... dynamic!
They have life, and character, and body.
And it's so easy! The pen glides and changes subtly with pressure and angle, shaping as it goes. Before I knew it, I had 16 done and had to force myself to stop so that I could finally mail the goods :D
Sure, mistakes can't be erased, but for loose sketching it's perfect and I'll learn to be more precise with the marker with practise. I guess I understand now why Sharpies are the medium of choice for artists at conventions etc.
Why did nobody tell me years ago that a Sharpie could revolutionize my drawing experience like this???
Better late than never, I guess!

You can view them all in "Zee Artiste" album.

[Hell In A Handbag]

I'm framing these as well, and plan to hang 'em in my lab!