A God Incarnate, In Digital Inks

Michelle and I finally saw Shin Godzilla this month. It’s been out for a decade, but we don’t like to rush things. The movie was just the inspiration I needed to try out a few more of the new digital brushes I purchased for Affinity.

Shin Godzilla ©Toho Pictures, 2016

If you’ve seen the movie, you know how visually chaotic this version of Godzilla is. What better monster to draw with my new Rusty Nib brushes from True Grit Texture Supply.

Sketch stage in the free Affinity with Rusty Nib brushes at the ready.

The Rusty Nib brushes are designed to have the distressed look of natural media ink hitting a toothy sheet of paper and bleeding into the texture of the page. Some have drop out, some feel scratch or sketchy, some have a chalky softness, and others have an unpredictable thick-and-thin line.

The key to drawing this force of nature: move quickly, don’t look back.

And like I said, what better behemoth to use unpredictable brushes on than Shin Godzilla. I wasn’t prepared for the number of forms Godzilla would take in this film. So when he first burst onto the screen as an armless, bug-eyed blood lizard, it was disorienting. I decided to draw him in his fourth form — something close to the traditional look he’s had since the 1960s.

Shin Godzilla is one of the scariest Kaiju I’ve ever seen.

If you’d like to hear Michelle and I talk about our experience with Shin Godzilla — and watch me draw this monster from sketch to full color — you can catch it all in this week’s video at the link below.