Air Raid Robertson

Author notes

Rhapsody in Beige Page 1

Air Raid Robertson

on July 27, 2011

As you can see, crosshatching has returned to Air Raid Robertson in a big way…
One of my biggest influences as a wannabe comics artist in high school was Robert Crumb. And, through an appreciation of his art, I became enamored of all the great illustrators of the 19th and early 20th century. I greatly enjoy the metal and woodblock prints of gentlemen like Gustave Dore, but overall I prefer the pen & ink stuff by Jospeh Clement Coll and Franklin Booth.
I've been wanting to do a story in the old school pen & ink style for a long time now. I've been pretty nervous about going through with it though since I fear that I lack the technical ability as an artist to pull it off. The above page is pretty rough and messy when you compare it to the immaculate linework of a Franklin Booth piece, but it did come out a lot better than I thought it was going to. I find the result of my work on this page to be encouraging. I'm certain that the next few pages will only get better.
The title of this storyline is derived from "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. I'm not sure why, but that piece of music always creeps into my thoughts whenever I look at pen & ink art from the turn of the century. And, considering the color tone I'm using here, "Rhapsody in Beige" feels appropriate.
I hope the rest of you like the direction I'm going in for the next few pages.