Pitt VS Spartan

A little something different this week.  Sequentials!

Not only that, but I go a little into the process from different thumbnails up to a semi completed page.


 This is my first attempt at a layout.  I don't have a script, I am just spit balling right now.  I know I want a city, PITT and Spartan.  I always loved PITT.  He was just so brutal and made no apologize for not being anything more then that.  And then Spartan (or is it Cyclops?) I just really dug his design.  I didn't understand his leg fins but I didn't care.

So that first panel is supposed to be a city...hey I am just thumbnailing, leave me alone.  Then Spartan faces off with a foot.  Then close up of Spartan.  Then PITT being stoic.  Then fight.  Then PITT chokes out Spartan. 

I thought it was a little tight and the panels didn't really breath.  There was no WOW moment either.  All the panels are about the same size too.

So this is the second attempt. There may have been a couple other panel sketches. I will try to keep better track of all my skribbles and not erase them all.

Starts with the city.  Then PITT crouching in foreground, Spartan in background.  CU of Spartan and then aggressive PITT.  Then attack.

Not much different then the first one.  I thought the panels had more room and panel 4 was more exciting.  But PITT was way too small in the last panel.  LAME.  I do like panel 4's PITT pose but it wasn't meant to be.

Here I get rid of the cityscape and just show the side of the building with a energy blast and PITT jumping to safety.  Tried a more interesting composition in panel 2 with PITT kneeling in the foreground and framing Spartan in the background.  But the pose didn't really work with the shot, his leg would have been in the way.

This one didn't change much, I tried to make PITT bigger in the last panel.  But it still was too small for me.

OK, now I am getting annoyed.  Sequentials are tough.  There are a million ways to draw something but prolly only a handful of good ones.

So we go back to the cityscape.  panel 2 I decide to show full bodies on both characters plus some buildings.  Then we do a close up on PITT, notice he is on the other side.  The Spartan charges up.  Then ATTACK.

PITT is pretty large in this last panel, which I like.  I prolly tried to draw the last panel 20 times before I got this. I couldn't figure out the perspective of PITT in the air, Spartan on the ground and energy blast between then. 

I take a step back and decide this is the best I can do right now.  I am moving the camera from long to short distance.  I am moving the horizon line up and down.  I am including background.

So I decide to stick with this layout and now clean it up.  I twisted Spartan in the last panel because the original pose was a little too lame.  However it kind of threw off my alignment of characters.  I could have slid PITT up a little but then I would have lost some of his hand.  I could have broken the panel border but that would have made the reader skip panel 4.

Now I do a quick "ink".  This is really loose for a finished page.  I did it more for practice of composition then taking it too completion.  I figure if I can fire off a lot of these quick layouts then I can get better quicken then if I did a page all the way to completion.  Really after the layout it is just polishing.  So hopefully you're polishing a diamond and not a turd.

All of these are digital.  If I was doing this page for real.  I would have printed out the blue lines above on 11x17 bristol and then pencilled it for real.  And then inked it.

I know it is a lot of steps. but I am still unsure of my skills, so I take a lot of steps.  Maybe in a few years I will be able to shorten the process.

I try to put some thicker border about the characters and foreground elements.  thin lines on the background.  Just trying to create some depth with line weight and quality. 

Marvel Feedback

Got the response from Marvel. Which was basically keep working. However they did give me some things to work on and tips. So figured you guys would like to see it also. These are things I've often felt I was lacking in and I am not really sure how to fix. Anatomy, perspective, no problem. I know how to study and practice those. But depth and cinematography? I think those are more natural born talents that are harder to hone.

"Change how close and how far away your camera is from the action. You are using mostly one distance from the action and it makes the story feel static. Make the reader feel like they are there in the scene with them. Move the camera around so the readers feel like they are moving around with the action, dodging out of the way of the characters, looking over their shoulders, knocked down and looking up at them etc. Pull the camera out to show more of the figures.

I’d suggest bringing as much scope to the panels as possible, with backgrounds and camera angles and camera distance. You’re doing that already but take it to another level. Think how Olivier Coipel is able to make even a two head shot feel like a window on a wider, grander world instead of a box around two heads. Make the reader feel like they can step through the panel and join the characters.

Try to draw the most exciting second of actions. It’s not enough to draw what is happening, but to capture the exact second when things are most exciting so the art is most exciting. Imagine what a sports photographer would look for if they’re trying to photograph a football game. What would be THE shot that would land them on the front page of a newspaper. This doesn’t have to be every panel but makes the story more dynamic and active. The reader then imagines the actions that led up to that panel and the ones afterwards and engages them more with the story."

Here are the pages I submitted.

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.



Batman's Rogue Gallery

Batman Rogue Gallery.  This was a pretty fun piece.  Trying to do my own spin on each of the characters.  Really I just picked my favorite pieces of each rendition and mashed them together.  The Penguin was pure Danny Devito.  I just loved how nasty he was.