Monstrous X-Men Pages

New portfolio pages from the batch of scripts I got from Marvel.  These are from Astonishing X-Men 37.

Overall I am pretty happy with how they came out.  I never draw dragons, so I am not sure why I decided to pick this script.  Dragons are tough.  I think I just wanted to draw the city.  I am most happy with page 2, but I really do like the Foom head on the bottom of page 5.

So these have been sent off to a dude at Marvel to look over.  I am sure it will be a while before I am up in the queue, but once I hear back I will be sure to let you know any pointers I get.

If you guys want to leave me some pointers, I'd love to hear them. I really did learn a lot from these pages. Mostly what works and doesn't work for me. The other thing I learned was just to finish the page. Sometimes I know something is wrong, but I just don't have the time to rethink every move and erase an hour of work just because something is wrong. I have to file away that learning moment and use it next time I draw a page. Otherwise I would never finish.  Plus you also get to learn how to try to hide mistakes.  :-)

 

Princess Bride and Warmups

Another week means time for another update.  Well almost a week. First up we have some pieces I did for Drawn Blanks.  Drawn Blanks is a themed sketch blog that I started with some friends.  Each week we select a new theme and do our own take on it.  Here we got Princess Bride and Silver Age Marvel.  Check out the blog at http://www.drawnblanks.com/.

Below those we have some watercolor warmups.  These are small 4x6 watercolor boards.

I am going to be getting back to my Marvel submission pages in the next couple of weeks.

Warmups

First up is the completed piece I showed last time.  Watercolors are super fun.  I love the way the colors mix and how easily it is to blend.

Next up is all my warmups for last week.  These are little 4.5x5 inch boards.  I really wanted to play around with watercolors, so this was a really great way to introduce myself to them.

I think the watercolors allow me to be more 'messy' which is my natural state. Markers are cool, but I always felt like I had to be so deliberate with them.

I finished my set of cards for 5finity and will be sending them back this week.  Hopefully they get approved.

Other then that I have some stuff I need to finish up so I can start working on actual stories again.

Down with the Warmup

So I was thinking about these warmups and while they are awesome practice for me, I doubt you want me spamming you all day long with my trashy art.

So I have a new idea!  I will keep doing my warmups but just not show them to you!

Well I guess that isn't really far.  How about this?  I will do my warmups and at the end of the week, I will compile some of the better ones and post them.

That way you can still see my dregs and not get daily spam from me.  I will also try to include a more complete piece as well.  So you can see why I warm up.

So in honor of that, I'll meet you halfway and give you a half-complete finished piece...does that make sense?  This will eventually have ink wash...maybe watercolors....do I dare?

Warmup: Catwoman

Ever do one of those drawings, where you don't actually look at what you're drawing?  Well I just did that with this one.  Wasn't really paying attention, just going with it.  But now that I finished and am looking at it, I can see a bunch of insanity going on.  Oh well...just a warmup right?

Funny thing about these warmups.  I am pretty much warming up to do nothing.  By the time I get off work and get everything else done, and finish the warmup, it is time for me to go to bed. 

I guess it is still good practice.

Warmup: X-23

 A little X-23 action.  I've actually drawn her a few times, but I never quite get her right.  Eventually I will.  Also I want to start doing some more poses that overlap body parts.  So we will see how well they go.

Also the random face was a test of a new stylus I got and my ipad.  I used sketchbook mobile.  The stylus was from a Kickstarter project I backed.  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/donlehman/more-real-stylus-cap

The stylus works fairly well.  Way better then my finger.  But I have to press a little harder to get it to register.  Also the tip is rubber, it slides pretty well, but it also bends a lot.  So I feel like with all the quick movements involved with drawing and painting, I will eventually tear the tip off.

I did all of it on the ipad.  except the signature.

2 Guys and Guy

At San Diego Comic Con, I met a Deviant Art pal I'd been following for a bit.  Actually he was the winner of the Deviant Art SDCC contest.  So you know this dude's got some skillz.

Plus he is a pretty cool guy with a wicked sense of humor.  So today's warmup is a bit of fan art for his webcomic, 2 Guys and Guy.  Strip about 3 people that just have a horribly, dysfunctional relationship but in a humorous light.  Yes, the girl's name is 'Guy'.  Want to know why?

Then read my favorite comic

I would love to see Ost vs. Wayne (the blond dude in the middle).

If you like what you see, what not give him a quick, painless, single click vote on Top Web Comics?  It's the right thing to do.  http://topwebcomics.com/vote/13070/default.aspx

You can follow him on Deviant Art

Warmup: Black Cat

Another female and my 6th day in a row of warmup sketches.  Go me!

I actually do a couple of life studies and then I jump into one of these more complete pieces. I think next week I will move into doing it traditionally on 5.5"x7.5" pieces of watercolor paper so I can start testing my watercolor skills.

I also just got my first sketchcard job!  Cards came in the mail today.  I have no idea what the rules are about talking or showing the cards, but when I can I will show them off.

I am kind of nervous cause I am supposed to do 10 cards and I only have 10 cards.  The cards are custom printed, so I can't really mess up and start over on a fresh card.  I think there may be some lightboxing involved on the first couple.

Wish me luck.

Warmup: Buffy

Buffy is one of my favorite shows of all time.  Doesn't really make sense that I've never drawn her.  I think the reason is because I don't do likeness very well.  As you can see here, the cheerleader outfit and stakes are what sell this as Buffy.

I think doing caricatures and likeness is a different type of skill.  One I never really practice.  As much as I would like to be able to do it, there is just so many other things I need to learn.

Warmup: King Shark

Well here's a character I didn't even know existed.  I found out about him when I saw the cover for the new Suicide Squad.  The one with the evil looking Harley on the cover.  I didn't even see this guy in the background at first.  I still know nothing about him.

Wonder if he would be a good match for Aquaman?

Warmup: Aquaman

Let's just keep the ball rolling with another character I've never drawn.

I don't really know too much about this guy.  King of the seas, can talk to sea animals.  He just always seemed pretty limited to me.  But who knows, maybe he is super awesome and I just don't know.

I will prolly check out Justice League #1 when it comes out.

Warmup: Juggers

Never drawn this guy before.  But Skottie Young did it recently so thought I'd give it a go.  I've always been confused by this guy's helmet.  I am not really sure how the head works in this thing and how the mouth and eyes are visible.  Almost as confusing as Wolverine's ears.

I guess they are superheroes...they don't have to make sense.

Anyways, another daily warmup.  that's two in a row. Look at me go.  If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Biggy T in Lil' C

Piece for the Drawn Blanks sketchblog.  Me and 5 other artist rocking out new art daily based on a weekly theme.  Check it out.

What an utterly, ridicously awesome movie.  What the heck is going on?  Who cares...Kung FU!  I give it up to the Kaymonstar for picking this topic.

I wanted to pay homage to the original movie poster.  The guy who did that poster is a master, so I didn't want to recreate it,  but I wanted my own little movie poster.  I had ideas of just jamming it full of references, but in the end, went with something more open.  I knew I had to have Jack Burton to be large and in charge.  Glorious mullet and oil chest in full effect.

I started with trying to get a likeness down, but realized that just isn't my thing.  So I completely scrapped it and started over.  But I think it ended up looking more like him then I intended.

11x17, Copic Multiliner and Copic Sketch, Gelly Roll white.

Marvel Girl Sketch Cards

Did these to practice with my copic markers.  I have to say this is a great way to learn how to use markers quickly.  I had been doing full 11x17 illustrations and doing markers on those.  But after spending so much time on them, I was worried about messing it up during the marker phase.  So I would play it safe.  But just whipping out a small sketch card is nothing.  So I was more adventurous when it came time to color them.  The main thing I was trying to play with was secondary, colored lighting.  I have these pieces in the order I did them, left to right, top to bottom.

So you can see with the Psylocke piece that was kind of rough with the pink lighting.  So much so that I didn't do any secondary lighting on the white queen.  Then with She-Hulk I did a little bit, but I did some background elements.  Even the the lighting was small, I was pretty happy with the suit rendering.  Then came Mystique.  Here I just threw the purple highlights on right away.  Previously I would color everything and just leave open white spaces for the secondary lighting.  So I went with the secondary lighting first on Mystique so I wouldn't have to be worried about ruining anything.  Also it was a head shot so it was quicker to create.  Overall I was pretty happy with it, looks better in person.  They all do.  Last was Storm.  I am really happy with this one.  I did all the blue lighting on the body first and then I went to town with my new Gelly Roll White Pen.

Sirius and Harry Back together!

This piece went up over at Drawn Blanks.  A sketchblog I've started with some local artists.  Each week we select a new theme and we all do our own version of the subject matter.  So if you like my potter pic, please head over to Drawn Blanks and check out the other cool Harry Potter Art!  Drawn Blanks

So let's just get one thing clear.  I am a freak for Harry Potter.  I think the stories are just brilliant.  The world breathes. The characters are all so beautifully flawed that they are perfect.

Sirius is by far my favorite character.  Dark, brooding...maybe slightly insane.  I can relate.  And when "you know what" happened I was so pissed. GAH!

So maybe with the power of pencil and paper, I can give Harry, and myself, one more moment.

Below is a process shot.  I would like to say I copied at each step for teaching my process, but really it's because I am paranoid I will mess up at any given stage.

Finally there is a commission I did at Heroes Con that was the inspiration for this piece.  I was so jealous of the person I did this for, that I had to make one for myself.



Atomic Robo

11x17, microns.

If you haven't, check out Atomic Robo from Red 5 comics.  Fun book.  Also if you get them digitally it is super well priced.  I think 4 bucks for an entire trade.  That beats DC/Marvel/Image with this same as print costs.  blarg.

Ayways, I really want to color with my Copics, but I have no idea how to tackle it.  I want to do the gun blast glowing off the skin of the monster thing in the back.  Fears of ruining the piece are high.

Charlie Bones

Ran across this creator owned character and the design totally blew my mind.  So I had to lay down some ink.  It is like a cowboy mixed with Grifter mixed with Deadpool mixed with the Mexican holiday 'Day of the Dead'.  I just freaking love it.

The character belongs to Jeromy Smith.  You can check him out here http://jeromysmithart.blogspot.com/

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

Indiana Jones VS. Red Skull

Entry for this month's Penciljack's PUMMEL.  I think this one got away from me a little.

Silver Surfer and Galactus

My local comic shop has an art jam every month.  Last month was to do a cover image for a random character pulled out of hat.  I got Silver Surfer.  One guy got Krypto the wonder dog.  I think I would have tore that piece of paper up.