Sketches: Betty After Bob Montana 1

Going through my old sketchbooks, I didn't realize how much time I'd spent drawing Bob Montana's Archie comic strips.  Regrettably, I wasn't drawing like Bob after going through a couple of sketchbooks, but who does? 

I liked Archie Comics, but this volume of Montana's daily newspaper strips was a revelation.  These strips were the reason Archie was popular to begin with.  The opening storyline featured Archie on an unintentional double date for prom.  That was probably a hackneyed plot in the 40's, but it reads fresh and funny here.  Part of the appeal was Betty and Veronica being the most glamorous high school girls ever.  Even in these little black and white panels, they are artistically inspirational. 

I posted a review on an Archie Comics fansite.  The publisher read it and blurbed my comment, "This is the best Archie book I've ever read."  I also posted a bunch of scans and fanart and even some fan fiction there.  Unfortunately, the whole site crashed and it all disappeared.  So much for the Internet being "forever."  Here are some of the sketches. 

These first two were pencil drawings that I inked over. 

I think the next two are pencil drawings.

For some reason, I did several in charcoal.  Somebody should really take the charcoal away from me until somebody teaches me how to use it correctly.