Free Comic-Book Day Drawings...

 

 

 

 Free Comic Book Day was back on May 3rd.  And here's a bunch of artwork I did that day (or... week...).  I had wanted to do SOMETHING for FCBD, but I couldn't figure out what.  My local comic shops already booked their resident artists, and I'm not popular enough to be "requested" by an out-of-town shop, so... I was like "What should I do?"

I decided I'd open myself up to some free comissions from my Facebook friends.  I posted a status, that said if they LIKED or COMMENTED on the status, I'd do them up a drawing.  Originally I was planning on keeping it quick and simple like a Con sketch, or if I had landed a comic-book store post for the day.  But, as i started doing them, I decided to fall more and more on my traditional style of coloring and what-not in Photoshop.  I still tried to keep the actual drawings themselves quick and free flowing... but... yeah, didn't quite happen on all of them.

Some of them turned out really well, others... not so much.  My idea was to do it as a "test run" for if I got an Artist Alley table at SDCC this year (Update: I did NOT get a table).  TO see how quickly I could draw "on demand".  I learned a ton going through the process... and even surprised myself a couple times.  So despite some major flaws on some of them, the things I learned will be of great help!

Comic-Con 2014 Souvenir Book SubmissionS

It's that time of the year again... When I submit my entry for the San Diego Comic-Con International Souvenir Book.  This year, I decided to go with THREE submissions.  That was a first.  I might have done more, but these 3 took more than enough time to do.  There were too many good themes to choose form this year.  I knew the 75th Anniversary of Batman was gonna be one of them.  But the 30th Anniversary of the Ninja Turtles, and the 20th Anniversary of Hellboy came as a surprise.

This is the 4th consecutive year, I've submitted for the book.  I had previously submitted for the 2013, 2012, and 2011 books, and each year I got published.  This is the first year that I didn't slap the "Anniversary Year" on the image.  Previous years I had "50 Years" or what not... this year, I just went with a stand-alone image.  This was 2-fold.  One, in past years, it felt... forced, and it was awkward sometimes to put years on the image.  Also, I keep convincing myself that one of these days, the fine folks at SDCC will give me an Artist Alley table.  As I haven't heard from them yet, and it's getting too close to the actual event for me to produce some "original" work, I figured I'd just save these, and run them off as "prints" to sell at the Con.  At least then I'd have 'something' to sell.  We shall see...

Another thing of interest, this was the first time I allowed myself to make some rather drastic changes between what I had drawn on paper, and what eventually came out in Photoshop.  Almost all the art was tweaked a little (some cases a LOT) in Photoshop.  Fixing proportion issues, or some cropping, and just various things.  The most drastic of changes, was what I did in the Batman piece.  Once I had finally settled on my design, I drew it out.  I knew I wanted the murder in Crime Alley depicted, cuz that's when Batman is actually "born".  So I drew the murder, and took it into Photoshop.  I got as far as placing my "flat" colors when I realized... I did not like Martha Wayne AT ALL in the original drawing.  I kept trying to convince myself that it wouldn't matter as Batman was the focus of the image... but Martha Wayne just kept bugging me.  So I bit the bullet, and decided... I'd completely redraw her, insert her in via Photoshop, re-ink, and then color as if she'd been there the whole time.  It was the first time I'd ever make such a drastic change between the paper and the digital.  But, in the end, it was the right decision.

Here is the before and after of Martha Wayne.  Seriously, what the hell was I thinking with that first image?  I mean, SERIOUSLY!  I'm glad I convinced myself to take another stab at her.

Now, I sit back and wait to see how many (if any) of this years submissions make the cut... c'mon July!!!

UPDATE:  Only the Turtles made the cut.  Bummer, because I REALLY LOVED the Batman.  Ah well, I can sell it as prints. Maybe.

Tiger / Ferret / Elephant Mash-Up... a belated birthday gift.

So, at my day job, I work with this girl.  Usually around your birthday she'll come to you and ask you list off 3-5 animals that you like.  Later, she'll come back with a drawing of those animals all mixed up and mashed together.  The quality of her drawing is pretty equivalent to a pre-schooler's drawing, that any mother would put on the fridge.  It's kinda her thing.

Anyways, her birthday was rolling around and rather than give her a giftcard or something else equally lame and uninspired... I decided to ask her to list off 3-5 animals that she likes...  and informed her that I would draw something for her.... using my "professional" drawing skills.

The day job is a retail job, and her birthday was right before the big holiday rush, so the birthday present fell to the sidelines for a bit... but I decided to clear off the drawing table and tackle this assignment.  Her animals were a tiger, a ferret and an elephant.  Initially this presented a quandary because... how does one mix these 3 together?  The sheer size difference alone and the difference in body shapes would not make this easy.  So, I struggled with that a bit.  I knew I wanted the tiger to be the main body... but wasn't sure where to put in the ferret or elephant.  I finally landed on ferret supplying the face and tail, with the elephant being the ears and feet.  Then it all kinda came together.

I later regretted the tiger body cuz all the lines of the body were kinda a bitch...  But, as a whole, I liked the end result... and it was good to draw some animals instead of humanoid things (like I usually do).

(Re-)Coloring the classics...

So I wanted to update my Facebook profile picture for the holiday season.  And I love me some Batman, so I did an image search of "Batman, Christmas".  Very little came up... but one image that kept coming up over and over again was the cover to Batman #27 that was released to public back on December 8, 1944.  Yes, the image is 69 years old... hehe... 69...

Anyway, I liked the image... but it had elements that were not so good.  First of all, the bright solid yellow background.  And Robin acting like an idiot.  Stupid Robin.  Dick Grayson became so much cooler when he became Nightwing, but in the 30s and 40s... he was a complete tool.  But I was like, the main part of the image... Batman and Santa... that could work.

Enter Photoshop.  I pulled a very high rez image of the Batman #27 cover off the Internet and took it into Photoshop.  I then went about altering the image.  I cropped the image down to just Batman and Santa, cutting Robin out entirely.  Cuz... screw Robin.  I then touched up and re-did the black linework of the image.  Once I had cleaned up line work on it's own seperate layer, I took out the color... and proceded to re-color the whole thing.  I updated the blue and grey of Batman to the more current shades of blue and grey used in the comics.  Everything else, i took cues from the original cover as for the base colors... and I then went in and shaded everything.  I replaced the glaring yellow background color of the original comic book cover with a blue to white gradiant, and then I added some snow, to help solidify the winter season.  You can view the process here:

After all was said and done, I was really pleased with the end result, and I wanted to "sign" it.  But... I'm not the guy who drew the image.  I just touched up the original image done by "Bob Kane".  Except, after some Internet research... Bob Kane did NOT draw this image, either.  In fact, although Bob Kane is credited as being the creator of Batman, He did very little artwork (or writing?) on the Batman comic books back in the day... though he was credited for it well into the mid 1960s.  Apparently, back in the day, DC Comics would hire "ghost artists" to work on their books.  But the creator of the character would get all the credit.  So although Batman #27, is credited to Bob Kane, it was in fact... drawn by... JACK BURNLEY.

Jack Burnley apparently did a lot of sports illustrations back in the 30s and 40s, but also worked for a period at DC Comics drawing Superman, and of course, the Batman.  He retired from art just before I was even born, and died about 7 years ago, at the age of 95.

Anyway, since I wanted to throw my scribble on the end result, I felt Jack Burnley should get his credit, too.  Since he wasn't given the credit back in 1944, he might as well get some now.  It was hard finding a useable signature for Burnley.  Being a "ghost artist" means your name doesn't show up anywhere.  I eventually found it on a basketball illustration.  So I lifted it off that, slapped it on there, and threw my (much smaller) scribble under it.

BATMAN... and Ramen!!!

So... here's the finished product to the Batman teaser I put up 2 weeks ago.  On a side note, this blog needs more art!  I've had one other piece in between the teaser and this.  That can not stand!  MORE DRAWING!!!

Anywho, for those not following the current storyline to the "Death of the Family" storyline which ends today with the release of Batman #17... The Joker has come back and is raising a new level hell... he even bludgeoned and kidnapped ALFRED!!!  The popular theory about halfway through the arc is that Alfred would meet his maker...  that got me to thinking... What if that happened?  What would Bruce/Batman do?  Who would fix the Batmobile?  Who would nurse Batman's wounds... who would.... COOK!?!?!?!??

Then the idea came to me for the new crime-fighting duo in town.... Batman AND RAMEN!!!  And this was a picture I just had to draw... and I'm very pleased with the end result.   I tried to draw it in a style similar to Greg Capullo to help it tie-in to the story-arc.  I'm very pleased with the end result of this image... it's funny and still  powerful.

If I had been fortunate enough to have been given an Artist Alley table at this years San Diego Comic-Con, this would easily have been a print I would have sold.  Speakin of San Diego Comic-Con International...  They just annoucned the theme's for this years souvenir book!  I need to get cracking on my submission!

Little Green Martian...

Has it really been almost TWO weeks since my last post?  I need to step on it.  And step on it, I shall!

Anywho, the above is a doodle of a little green martian...  Fairly stereotypical alien looking dude.  Green skin, the big vacant eyes, antennae, etc.  Mars'esque background.

Really just a doodle I may (or may not) have done during a slow work day that was Photoshop'd in some color.

More random doodles in the future, and some commissions down the road.  I'd show them now (or their progress), but as a lot of my commissions are usually gifts for people, I don't like to post the progression of work until the recipient of the commission has seen it first.  So, alas, no sneaky-peeky!  But one day.

Photoshop Babble-On

I've been a fan of Kevin Smith's work since I first saw "Mallrats" on VHS that was rented from a "Mom and Pop" video store.  As almost all those things went with the dinosaurs, you can see I've been a fan for a long time.  Anywho, since I am a fan, I of course listen to the Smodcast Network.  And my favorite show on that network is Hollywood Babble-On.

For those not in the know, Hollywood Babble-On is a weekly show where Kevin Smith and Raplh Garman discuss the coming and goings in Hollyweird and some popular arts.  Ralph Garman is known as the man of a million voices.  Where as Kevin Smith only has ONE.  He does a pretty good impression of Bane from "Dark Knight Rises".  Another segment on the show is called "Kev-IN", where Kevin Smith is Photoshop'd into movies or places.  So I thought I'd Photoshop Kevin into "Dark Knight Rises", possibly as Bane.  But I had a very hard time finding a decent pic from Dark Knight Rises, that would mesh with pics I could find of Kevin Smith.

But I still wanted to slap the Bane mask on Kevin Smith's face.  The poster for Hollywood Babble-On features a James Bond'esque look with Ralph Garman as 007, and Kevin Smith as Jaws from "The Spy Who Loved Me".  But that picture made for a pretty good Bane facial expression.  So I found a picture of Bane, cut out the mask, slapped it on Kevin Smith, and tweaked some things here and there, and got the above picture.  Took me less than an hour, but I really kind dug then end result.  So here it is.

UPDATE: Was listening to the February 24, 2013 (5 months after I posted this and e-mailed them a copy of the above image.) episode of Hollywood Babble-On and they mentioned they had a KevIN from Dark Knight Rises... and instead of being my piece that you see above...  they had this...

What the fuck is this?  It's a pretty bad Photoshop job.  I mean, the glasses alone ruin the whole thing...  Whatevs...  It was quickly glossed over, and Kevin had no desire to do a Bane-imitation to it.  I still think mine's better.  Am I being childish about this?  Yes.  Yes, I am.