Whisper - City Of Night

Here is another illustration I drew for the anthology edited by Robert Jeschonek. I'll again paste in Robert's words:

"LEGENDS OF INDIE COMICS: WORDS ONLY, (is) an anthology of prose fiction short stories featuring classic indie comics characters (from the 80s heyday mostly) as written by their creators. We have Badger, Jon Sable, The American, Cerebus, Whisper, Concrete, Flaming Carrot, and more. It's a real dream project for me, and I'm thrilled it's coming together so well."

In December I drew a Badger illo for this project, now it's Whisper's turn. It is so interesting to see how I interpret a character now, almost 35 years after I last drew her. Back then, Whisper was my first drawing work for another comics company (First Comics of Chicago), rather than working on my own indie book. It was a huge learning curve for me. Steven Grant's writing was top quality, so I strove to complement that with appropriate art - though I couldn't quite deliver, being such a young and inexperienced artist. Monthly deadlines were a killer to me as a new young artist. The editors were helpful... but brutal to my ego, as in the first few books they were constantly suggesting - and ordering - changes to my art, to make it better. Eventually I got good enough so they didn't have to kick my butt for redraws.

This tight little story by Steven Grant fills in a part of Whisper's history that was left to readers' imaginations back then. It was so nice, as a fan and artist on the title, for me to see this short story fill in that part of her history.

I liked drawing her face in this illo. Whisper is intelligent, strong, inner-driven, circumspect, compassionate, and frequently in turmoil with issues and dynamics that often consume her. I wanted some of that to be evident in her face. A beautiful but also very mature woman.

Bristol board, 10" x 14"