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Chad Sell

@chadsell01.bsky.social

390 followers 920 following 89 posts

Comics author and illustrator. I've worked on a number of children's book series like: The Cardboard Kingdom, Doodleville, and The Stupendous Switcheroo! (he/him)

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · Jun 13

I have a new comic *for adults* called THE SECRETS OF SKULL CASTLE! It's the secret gay love story of two toys, and yes, it's as weird as it sounds. Get a print copy from ‪@radiatorcomics.bsky.social‬ (www.radiatorcomics.com/shop/uncateg...) or read it digitally at chadsell.itch.io/skull-castle

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 12h

I wanted to combine a sense of rigid geometry with rough textures in this piece. But I might not know what I'm talking about.

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 12h

One of my childhood obsessions was the early CGI cartoon Reboot. It would only air intermittently, and I scoured the early internet to find out everything I missed from the episodes that didn’t air in the US. Hexadecimal was not the main villain of the show, but she was my favorite. 🎭

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like Goliath's pose ended up looking a bit more stiff than I wanted, but he did spend a couple centuries turned to stone, right?

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 1d

Who would have thought of basing an entire children's show on…gargoyles? Truly, a wild concept from the 90s, but with some ageless character designs! (Though, admittedly, I'm not sure about that hair! 😂)

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 2d

The original sketch--I wish I had kept the angle of this in the final version! Oh well.

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 2d

A friend recently lent me the entire boxed set of Akira, which was such a revelation! Pretty much the most amazing comic art I’ve ever seen. I particularly loved Tetsuo's monstrous transformation and had to try drawing it!

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 3d

This piece was one of the few this month that I inked digitally--I didn't want to work directly off the original sketch. You can also see that I tweaked his pose a little!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 3d

One of my favorite comics discoveries of the past few years has been Stephen McCranie’s Space Boy! I love the sweet story, sunny art style, and adorable character designs. The Wanderer is a mysterious menace lurking behind the scenes, and I'm dying to know what he's really up to!

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 4d

I am *not* a digital painter, as you can probably tell, but I tried to add some rich shadows to the tiny little pen drawing I started with!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 4d

Talk about a literal dream daddy, right? Spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3, but the real appearance of the Emperor is such a delicious surprise–all those tantalizing tentacles! @larianstudios.com

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 5d

The original drawing! Skullboy has such a fun, simple design, but I can never draw his head right on the first try! 🤣

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 5d

When I first started making comics after college, I held up @jacobchabot.bsky.social’s The Mighty Skullboy Army as the pinnacle of what kids’ comics could be. Jacob was kind enough to sketch me a Skullboy commission at NYCC last year, and I proudly hang it in my studio!

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 6d

The original drawing for Audrey II was surprisingly tiny! But the nice, thick gel pen ink worked well for the shading!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 6d

The crowning moment of my high school theater career was starring as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors with my best friend Andie playing Audrey. So here’s a tribute to the power of growth and possibility–with enough blood and sweat (and more blood), any of us can take over the world! 💚 🌱

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 7d

The original art for this Lynel. I don't know why he ended up so much more cartoony than the other monsters I drew this month!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 7d

To be honest, I didn't really know what Lynels looked like in the recent Zelda games because I would stay far, far away from them or they would immediately kill me. I didn’t realize they're literally lion-y centaur guys until I looked them up! 😅

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 8d

The original scan for Ursula--mostly inked with Tombow Fudenosuke brushpens and shaded with colored pencils and china marker!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 8d

What is there to say about this spectacular sea queen? As a child of the 90s, Ursula will forever be the iconic Disney villain of my dreams.💜

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 9d

The initial sketch was really simple because I knew I would be keeping it pretty cartoony!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 9d

I adored my He-Man toys as a kid, especially the weirdo villains. These guys are called Two Bad, and I think they’re just the absolute silliest!

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 10d

I sketched him in a hostel living room hanging out with other cartoonists at CXC last month!

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 10d

I’ve always loved the wild tusks and hair of oni, Japanese ogres. I could have drawn them *every day* for my Month of Monsters, but I limited myself to just this one.

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 11d

The original sketch of Gary. I figured this one would really rely on the final coloring. (I think Fiffe uses colored pencils to render all of Gary's cool gradations!)

Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 11d

There are countless iconic character designs in Michel Fiffe’s COPRA comics, but Gary stands out for his elemental simplicity. No one draws wild crystals and cyborgs and extradimensional beings like @michelfiffe.bsky.social

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Chad Sell @chadsell01.bsky.social · 12d

The original sketch for Gossamer. I foolishly used both a blue pencil and an orange brush marker, which made it tricky to get a clean line drawing from the scan.