I hand drew over 50 illustrations for the paperback and ebook editions of Hammer and Wails. Here is a collection of some of the scans of those drawings in their rough form. I’ve left the best ones out. You’ll have to read the book to see those! Despite them being pretty basic images, this collection took me many hours over the course of about two weeks to finish (mostly working on them at night when I had the most time).
I drew many of the illustrations knowing I would later work on them digitally. So I would draw individual elements alone, and combine them digitally. This was especially true in scenes I was less confident in how it should look. Or if I didn’t want to ruin a part I already liked, I’d draw the rest on the side just in case I got it wrong. You’ll see things like mouths, eyes, arms, even faces, all drawn separately because of this.
I long debated hiring someone to draw professional images, but I didn’t have the budget to do that. I was in talks with someone willing to do some for free, but this was at his own convenience, so I knew I couldn’t get the amount I wanted through him. So, I thought hard about what style I could make work with my own skills, and I went for it. Hammer and Wails is pretty quirky, and I thought if I fully embraced the fun style of stick figures I could make it work. And I really think it makes it all more enjoyable!
