Poor Yorick

circa 2000
artwork

Among his many talents, my friend Rich is a cartoonist. This is a standard sketchbook, but I decorated the cover with polymer clay and acrylics.

I used a texturing medium to give dimension to the acrylic backgrounds. The letters were pressed into the clay with stamps; the clay was then baked, and then filled with the opposite color. For added fun, the light parts of the letters glow in the dark.

The Jester's skull came out really well: the photo doesn't do it justice. I used several applications of watered-down sepia paint to "age" the bone and make it look dirt-encrusted: each application was wiped on, allowed to dry just a little, and scrubbed off. Eventually you get a buildup in the cracks and recesses which gives you a lot of texture.