David Petersen's Blog

In the video below, I show and talk about building it for The Black Axe and it's modularity, how it was used, and why having models like this are important for my design process as well as for the reference in drawing the same location over and over again. 

I have released a new Mouse Guard coloring book! It is a 10" x 10" 96 page coloring book! This item is available EXCLUSIVELY through my online store and at conventions I attend:
http://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/mouse-guard-coloring-book

"Experience David Petersen's beloved comic series Mouse Guard with this lush coloring book. Featuring over 90 black and white illustrations showcasing the intricate detail of the environments, cities, and characters from across the Mouse Territories, readers of Mouse Guard and colorists alike can bring this world to life with th vivid colors of their imaginations."

We also went with a lay-flat binding option so that you can open the book to any page and have the book stay open without having to fight the page next to you closing or break the spine to stop it. 

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's a Kestrel archer with a mouse helper. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

Leaning into the era of Mouse Guard before the Guard...when mice were in the employ of other beasts (see Jeremy Bastian's Legends of the Guard Vol 1) I wanted to show a bird using a weapon of its own as a mouse helper rode with it keeping arrows stocked.

I drew the kestrel based on photo reference (though I made anatomical adjustments to get the legs in the right position to draw back the bowstring) and then on another sheet of copy paper overlayed on the first drawing, I drew the mouse & bow. These were assembled in Photoshop where I dropped in some vector silhouettes of pine trees as background.

The inking focus was on the kestrel's feather pattern and on all those pine needle clusters. Originally my plan was to use the bird & mouse as a tee shirt design and to drop the pine branches away for the shirt, but ink them in so the original art looked more finished. I opted to not use this as a shirt (mouse was too small).

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started. The kestrel colors were referenced from the photo, but I certainly made hue, value, and saturation decisions with the base colors. The mouse colors were to echo the orange and grey-blue of the kestrel's head.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for the feather patterns, bow string, and the pine branches.

The last step was to render the colors with dodge and burn tools and a stock textured brush. Dodge and Burn are tools based on photography terms (and from when Photoshop was a photo retouching program) having to do with purposely over or under exposing areas––or in other words darkening or lightening them.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I also shifted colors a bit here or there either with a soft paintbrush or a feathered lasso and the color balance tool.

This illustration, along with many more, is in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts'
which is available in my online store: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

In the video below, I show and talk about every step in making it 20 years after I drew the scene in the first issue of Mouse Guard to mark it's anniversary with a print in 2025 as well as wandering the woods with it taking photos at tree bases until the right reference photo leaps out as the one to use.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam approaching Barkstone. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

One of the 'Past Whereabouts' I wanted to journey back to was that walkway up to the gates of Barkstone from Fall 1152. The location was based on a real tree behind the antique store I worked for when I started Mouse Guard. I still had reference photos to look at as I drew the tree and rotted root walkway. On another sheet of copy paper I drew the characters, and then in Photoshop assembled them all with some light color blocking while adding in a photo of the door reference from Fall as well as a stained glass window with references to 'strength' and 'home' I felt was appropriate for thiscity on the western edge of the mouse territories.

The digitally assembled layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol and placed on a light pad. With the light shining up, I was able to see through the bristol surface to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the artwork. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to do the inking (the 0.7 nib mostly)

The inking focus was on all that texture of the tree bark and fallen ground cover and debris. I tried to keep some of the tree bits open as well as to not flood the characters with too much line density so the eye has somewhere to rest.

At this stage I also established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) flag/banner design.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. 

This illustration, along with many more, is in my NEW sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' available in my online store: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's A weasel in Darkheather with a bat companion. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

In the epilogue for Winter 1152, I included a few panels showing a weasel in a boat in the distance with a candle on their head and a bat hanging from their arm like an upside-down falcon on a falconer's arm. I think I had a clever idea of what that was going to be some day for a future story––but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. No worries, I can still go back to it whenever I have a clever idea of how to tie it in.

The weasel, bat, and room were all drawn separately on sheets of copy paper and then digitally assembled. I was looking at reference for the bat, and certainly am referencing a photo of a Moorish tunnel room for the location (though I flooded it and added a boat)

The inking focus was on the stippling of the stone bricks so the candle offered a bit of halo glow, but also so the tone of the background pushed the more open figures forward.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for the cobweb shawl, candle glow, tile symbols on the staff, and the water ripples.

The last step was to render the colors with dodge and burn tools and a stock textured brush. Dodge and Burn are tools based on photography terms (and from when Photoshop was a photo retouching program) having to do with purposely over or under exposing areas––or in other words darkening or lightening them.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. There was a lot of adjustment to color balance wherever the candle light would hit that had to be selected using a lasso tool with a soft feather.

This illustration, along with many more, is in my NEW sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' available in my online store: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

This year the piece is titled 'Marigold'. Below I'll show the step-by-step of creating the art.

The last few years of botanicals have mostly been in the pinky-purple color range and my first inclination was to do a flower with some yellow or orange warmth, some sunshine for all of us mice. Then picked a Matriarch whose robes/cloak was in the blue range (contrasting color to orange) and saw Laria from the stained glass portraits from the Matriarch chamber in Black Axe as a perfect addition. I drew her on one sheet of copy paper, the marigolds (looking at reference) on another (with the shield),  and then the leaves on yet a third.

These were assembled in Photoshop and I did a fast color blocking to help me visualize the final as well as see the different shapes clearer in the next step.

I printed the digitally assembled layout/pencils and taped them to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad I was able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as a guide while I inked with a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen.

Line weight in the marigold petals and her robes plated a big part in making the inks work and offsetting the areas where I did more fill-in or texture like on her hood, sleeves, cloak, and the rocks. I'd originally envisioned her hood being ringmail, but then decided to ink it more like it's a coarse knit or crochet texture. But in the end, I think it's still ambiguous. 

The inks were scanned and using the layout color blocking to pick from, I layed in flat colors. This first step of coloring is called 'flatting' for that reason, it's simply about establishing color areas with flat (not shaded, not textured) base colors. 

There were still several tweaks I needed to make to all these base colors in terms of hue, value, and saturation before I got to the flat version you see here. At this stage I also establish color holds (areas where I want the inks to be a color other than black) on her knit/mail, the shield design, the darker areas behind her, and the marigolds going off into the distance.

The last step was to render the colors. I used the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock textured brush to get all the lights and shadows. In a few placed I painted with the paintbrush tool (something I rarely use) to blend in the marigold buds that have not opened yet to have yellow tops.

The Marigold signed and numbered print debut at ECCC and is 

now available in my online store.

The final image was sent off to FACTS where it will become a VIP badge and print. Id you will be attending FACTS in Ghent Belgium April 11-12, I look forward to seeing you there!
https://www.facts.be/en/

Also of note––if you are attending FACTS, I have a commission pre-orders open in my online store: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/facts-brush-pen-commission

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's a ferret riding a fox facing a vulture. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

This one started by seeing a photo of a fox and a vulture squaring off. It occurred to me it wouldn't take much change for that to fit into my Mouse Guard world. I referenced the photo to get the fox and vulture (though I drew them separately so I could move them relative to one another for composition. I then added a ferret, wearing a similar crown to King Luthebon (is this one of his ancestors? decendants?) which was drawn on yet another sheet of copy paper

The drawings were all assembled digitally and color blocked (along with the debris and ground)

The inking focus was on those vulture feathers as well as the ground cover and debris being kicked up everywhere. Lots of chaos!

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started I went with realistic base colors for the fox and vulture  and decided this was an intense scene where the sky could be pink or red and tinted the animal base colors a bit accordingly.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) on the distant background debris being kicked up.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I pushed the intense lighting behind the ferret and fox to help draw the viewer's eye where I wanted it.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's Em of Appleloft and a crow friend. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

I made a list of places to return for 'Past Whereabouts' and had Em of Appleloft at the top. I started with a drawing of the outside of her home, a balcony/air-dock-perch with an awning looking into the open knothole in an apple tree. I referenced my original drawings from The Black Axe volume as well as some photos of apple trees. On a new sheet of copy paper I drew em and a crow (based on photo reference).

These were all digitally assembled in photoshop with some color blocking to help identify the forms.

The digitally assembled pencil layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Strathmore Bristol and placed on a light pad. With the light shining up, I was able to see through the bristol surface to the printout to use as a guide as I ink the artwork. I used Copic Multiliner SP pens to do the inking (the 0.7 nib mostly)

The inking focus was on making sense of all the organic shapes of the bark, the balcony bracing, the leaves, etc by trying to be careful with texture and line density differences. 

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for Em's clothing embroidery, the leaf veins, and the speckles on the apples.

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I also toyed with pushing the other leaves and apples back a bit by adding some lighting effects in the lower right corner.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

As I work toward a new sketchbook this year, I'll be doing a series of posts about Mouse Guard illustrations I've done that will be included in that new release: 'Past Whereabouts' that will debut at Emerald City Comic Con and be available in my online store soon afterwards.

Sketchbook illustrations are often a chance to explore corners of Mouse Guard that I haven't gotten to yet. Whether it's certain locations, characters, or just ideas or thematic tones. For this illustration it's a funeral in the Lillygrove Library. In this post I'll break down the steps to creating the illustration

After dusting off the Library Arch model for a recent Architectural Model Video (https://youtu.be/sqiKdE50BNc) I wanted to revisit that location for an illustration, and liked the idea of the sun streaming in, but also keeping the ghostly tone of when I showed the location in Legends of the Guard Vol 1 by setting a funeral there.

The location was drawn on a sheet of copy paper over the top of a composite photo of the model with and added design of the window (based on a tile pattern). Then the dead mouse and altar and flowers were drawn on another sheet, and the mouse paying respects on yet another sheet. They were all assembled in Photoshop (each tinted a different color) and a tone blocking to help me see where the light's edges were.

The inking focus was on keeping the line weight and details spare in the stream of light, but much more dense the further in the corners everything was. There was still a lot of detail in the walls, mice, flowers, and books to worry about on top of those lighting concerns too.

With the inks scanned, the color flatting (painting areas of flat color to establish all the color areas) started. I pulled colors from the Legends of the Guard issue cover with this library for starters before shifting everything a bit darker and greener.

It's also at this stage that I established color holds (areas where I wanted the lineart to be a color other than black) for the window and the murals (as well as that one open book).

I use these tools to create shadows and highlights to my base colors while giving a bit of a pebbly texture with that stock brush. I also toyed with additional layers to help sell the beam of light streaming in and the cast tones from all the window glass on the floor and deceased Guardmouse.

This illustration, along with many more, will be published in the sketchbook 'Past Whereabouts' which will debut at Emerald City Comic Con in March 2026 and will be available in my online store soon afterwards: https://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/

My RPG friends from childhood have reunited to roll some dice again. Jesse Glenn got inspired to run a newer RPG from the folks at Critical Role called  Daggerheart. We've had two sessions so-far, a character creation session and then the first part of the adventure. I've posted art process for my character and Mike's character (see links at the bottom of the post)

Soren is a Drakona (Dragon person) Seraph who wields a divine sword for his dragon god Azhdaha. Nich gave a me a lot of free reign on the dragon design parts (he asked the horns not be too big or crazy) and focused more on his skin tone being muted earth colors (and an eye that has a pupil of flame that I couldn't show well enough in a drawing this size).
I looked at several references for poses of human knights from RPG artists before settling on drawing this readied stance I could add my dragon head drawing to. The horns, sword, and crossbow were images/3D assets I pasted in as shape holders to make life easier, and the same for painting in a quick tail shape.

The layout was printed out and taped to the back of a sheet of Stathmore 300 series bristol. On my Huion lightpad I was able to use the printout below as a guide while I inked on the surface of the bristol. I used a 0.7 nib Copic Multiliner SP pen for the whole thing.

I scanned the inked art into Photoshop and started the color process. This first step is just to separate the different parts of the drawing as different flat colors, a professional version of coloring-in-the-lines.

As I said, Nick asked that Soren's skin be muted warm earth tones, which gave me some room to do richer warm tones for his other clothing and a cool green/grey for the armor.

The final colors were rendered using the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop with a stock brush that also adds a pebbling texture.

Drawing your RPG character (as well as the other players in your party, if you happen to be the 'artist' of the group, is one of the real pleasures of playing an RPG and part that I certainly missed.

The Mouse Guard: Dawn of the Black Axe hardcover is OUT TODAY!
You can pick it up from your local comic/book shop or various online retailers (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/813486/mouse-guard-dawn-of-the-black-axe-by-david-petersen/)

I entrusted Gabriel Rodriguez with the visuals of my world of mouse adventure as we told the story of Bardrick, the first Black Axe and he did nothing short of a masterpiece of illustrating.

I'm offering a 8"x8" print in my online store mouseguard.bigcartel.com I drew of Bardrick with the axe and the five snakes who surrounded all that was. Below I'll walk you through the process of creating the artwork (and another bonus FREE papercraft at the bottom of the post)

I inked this using a Copic Multiliner SP 0.7 nib pen. On the lightpad I'm able to see through the surface of the bristol to the printout to use as a guide as I ink––which means no erasing away pencils or digitally adjusting away blueline.

When in the inks were finished, I scanned them and started the coloring process. That first step is called 'flatting' and is basically establishing flat color areas for each part of the illustration. No textures, no lighting––just flat base colors. Much of the color choices were already established either from the comic issues (which I colored) or my rough starting sketch...though lots of the colors needed little adjustments for hue, saturation, and value before I felt like I had a place to start rendering.

Here again are the final colors all rendered out mainly using the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to get all my shadows and highlights and the textures are achieved by using a stock textured brush in Photoshop.

The Hardcover book (out today!) collects all three issues (including all the variant covers) of Dawn of the Black Axe, and this print is available right now as well in my online store: mouseguard.bigcartel.com





Also available for FREE is a PDF print & assemble papercraft of Bardrick I designed on the Mouse Guard website:

https://www.mouseguard.net/s/Bardrick-Papercraft.pdf

(See past Fan Art Blogposts here)

 Spectralidax

Adam Murphy: Bardrick

Adam Murphy: Celanawe

Adam Murphy: Em

RMG

Piero Ali: RPG Characters

Renzus S

Roxanne Davis

Ryko

sirpentines

Slovakcat

smc_tait

Steve Nickel

Tony Miranda

??? Lost the name of the fan who drew these for me???

Vurrunna