How different pens create different images

Someone wrote to me asking why I sometimes mention what pens I'm using for different illustrations. What you use often makes a significant difference in how your final image will look.

Below the middle image shows the original pencil sketch for my Day 01 Inktober 2018 entry. Note the difference of the outer two images on the left and right.

Showing how different brush pens can change the look of a drawing. Click on the image to see a larger version.

The left image is more detailed with finer lines because there was a harder point on that brush pen. So that inspires adding more tighter lines for shading and details. The image on the right was drawn with a softer brush tip, which makes it easier to create the flowing and thicker lines. That pen inspired me to use fewer lines and a simpler iconic look. The end results are quite different even though they were both based on the same pencil sketch.

The quick answer to that original question above:
By mentioning the items used to create an image, allows others to know how they could get similar results by using the same product(s).

Daily Quick Sketch: Burrito VS Taco! (1 of 2)

Funny how inspiration works. One of my favorite Facebook people is Jason Curtis, a cartoonist with a true sense of humor, original wit, and a fantastic simple style. I dislike Facebook, but Jason is one of the few reasons I check in once in a while.

Long story short: Jason did a cartoon one day that had the punch-line asking who would win in a match between a Burrito and a Taco. Somehow that cartoon was in my head when I was trying to sleep, I pictured what that match would look like. So, since I was awake, I drew the two characters.

In this corner, wearing red trucks that are WAY too high up his body -- The Beefy Burrito! 

The original inking of the Burrito character, using a Kuretake ZIG brush pen.

The original pencil sketch

Here's the link for Taco.

Daily Quick Sketch: Burrito VS Taco! (2 of 2)

Here is the Taco character. I felt burrito would be a heavyweight boxer, while poor old Taco would a more frail character.

And in this corner, a simple shell of a man, it is --The Crisp and Breakable Taco!

The original inking of the Taco character, using a Kuretake ZIG brush pen.

The original pencil sketch

Here's the link to Burrito.

Daily Sketch: Bug

New concept sketch of a character I'm developing for my latest picture book manuscript, Bug. His name is Allen, a character with an extreme identity crisis.
Swipe to see the original sketch, inking, and color breakdown images.

Sidenote: I used an inking brush setting which resembles a leaky pen. I really like how fluid and random the line becomes.

Final color version

Original pencil sketch

Inking with some shading

Alternative image with color background

Throwback Thursday: Golf Dad Mug Design

REPOST DUE TO SO CORRUPT AND/OR LOST IMAGE FILE WITH BLOGGER:
Originally posted on 2/4/16

This one goes back many years ago when I worked for a giftware company designing novelty products. They wanted a humorous Father's Day mug related to golf. I wrote as many insults and oddities about a typical Dad playing golf.

The mug sold well on the market, so someone asked me to create 3 more for the following year. I remember the three follow-up mugs were, Fisherman, BBQ Chef and Couch Potato -- but this original Golf mug outsold the other mugs combined.

One thing I remember while creating this design was that I did a spotless vector version, which looked very polished with solid clean lines. But this rough and loose style seemed to work much better with the text humor.