Taking A Run At Scooby-Doo’s Ghost Clown

The comedy-themed project streak continues unabated this week as Michelle and I each take a turn at rendering the classic Scooby-Doo villain, Ghost Clown. And everyone knows there’s nothing funnier than a clown who could swallow you whole.

The clown first appeared in episode 10 of the first season, Bedlam In The Bigtop. I’m guessing the original clown design was done by Iwao Takamodo, since he handled most of the designs for those early Scooby-Doo episode. His design was tight and perfect for the show, and looked like this:

I love that clown. But I wanted to try to make him a little scarier. So, after a few sketches, I landed on a slug-like monster with two-rows of razor sharp teeth. I lightboxed my digital sketch, and inked it with Microns, Tombow Brush Pens, and some brushed inks.

The wash I use is just water and Dr.Ph Martin’s Black Star ink. I keep a few pre-mixed jars of it so I don’t have to work out the ink-to-water proportions every time I sit down to do a wash. Once all of that ink is dry — all of it waterproof — I put down some nice, bright, circus colors that echo the original Scooby-Doo design.

And in addition to my version of the clown, this week Michelle plays another round of Ink It or Stink It where she tries to ink one of my drawings for a panel of judges. I sketched out the original Takamodo design for her to try her hand at, and members of our Patreon voted whether the final outcome was an “ink” or a “stink.”

If you want to see the process video, and hear us talk about Bedlam In the Bigtop, the video link is below.

That Creeper’s A Real Doll

That’s right. The Scooby Gang’s nemesis from season two (and beyond), The Creeper, is back. And this time he’s not some two-dimensional cartoon drawing. This time he’s a fully-posable art doll. Good thing he’s only eleven-and-a-half-inches tall or he’d be dangerous.

In a recent blog post on my website, I go into what ‘art dolls’ are, and the process Michelle and I went through to make this one. The basics are pretty easy to guess. It takes a little bit of sculpting, a dash of painting, and a smidge of sewing. But that sewing…gotta be honest, that’s a tough smidge.

Creeper’s only our second attempt at an art doll (the first being that pumpkinhead scarecrow we made in 2021), and we’re relatively happy with our progress. They’re both crafted in the same way; by sculpting the extremities, attaching them to an armature, and stuffing the body so that it’s soft and pliable. Last time (with pumpkinhead) we used Sculpey for the hard parts. But in an effort to make this doll slightly more durable, we used CosClay for the hands, feet, and head.

The end result is an adorable, posable doll of a disgraced bank president who tried to con the Scooby Gang but got caught. A perfect doll, you might think, for your 8-yeear old niece who’s at the stage of life where kids begin to learn that not all bank presidents are virtuous and ethical. But art dolls like this are mostly made for display, and not for play. So, for now, Creeper can just hang out with our other retro action figures.

If you’d like to see us put this monster together, you can watch our process video below. -v

Inking and Coloring Scooby Doo’s Captain Cutler and Trying Out Neon Markers

Had a little fun with another Scooby Doo villain. This time it’s Captain Cutler, the creep in the glowing diving suit that chases the gang around Rocky Point Beach.

I inked him with Sakura PIGMA Brush Pens, and colored him with some Copic Markers and Winsor and Newton Neon Markers that I ordered just for this little project.

And while I do all that, Run Red Run and I talk about markers, old-time diving suits, and that one time I went fishing. Here’s the video.

Scooby Doo’s Space Kook : Trying Out Ink Wash

Hey, if you’ve been following these short process videos I’ve been putting up with my friend RunRedRun, maybe you saw us ink a werewolf earlier this week.

But this past Thursday, we had fun trying out ink wash technique for the very first time with a quick illustration of Scooby Doo’s creepiest monster, The Spooky Space Kook!

How did it all turn out? You can watch the video below and decide for yourself. In just six or seven minutes RunRedRun and I manage to squeeze in quick conversations about inking, Scooby Doo, and Star Trek while I work.