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.

Happy NEW Post / Commission / Year

Hello... anybody who still reads this.

Sorry for the absence...  Actually no, I'm not.  It's my blog, I do what I want!  HOWEVER, I don't like that I haven't really been as post-y on here as much as I should be.  So with a new year, comes new determination.  This blog was always intended to be a place of quantity over quality.  So I'm determined to post on here as close to daily as is possible for me.  So unless I'm out of town or unable to post, I'd like to post at least once a day on here.  *fingers crossed*

As I'm slightly hung-over from last nights festivities, and I have a long day of work at my day job ahead of me, today's post is a bit of a cop-out as I drew it in the middle of last year.  But, it's new to the blog so it's new!  Above is a commission I was asked to do.  What excited me the MOST about this commission was... I DID NOT KNOW THE CLIENT!!!

Most of the work I've done is for friends.  Which is fun and all, but I'd like to branch out.  So this particular commission is for a friend of a friend.  Who I did not know.  This was great, mainly cuz I could pretty much drop the "friends and family" discount.  I gots to get paid!  Anyway, the client saw the commission I had done for my friend, and she thought it'd be neato to get something similar of her and her man.  So she got my contact info from my friend and contacted me out of the blue and we got the ball rolling on what she wanted and how much.

One challenge was she wanted a print of this, and she wanted it LARGE.  24"x36" large!  That's huge.  I usually draw in pencil, and ink/color on the computer.  And most of the time I draw slightly smaller than whatever I want to print at (cuz my scanner is small).  But this was intended to be printed at 24"x36"!  I couldn't draw 11x14'ish and blow it up.  It'd look bad!   So what I did instead was....   DREW IT AT 24"x36".  I drew it on 8.5"x11" sheets of printer paper, taped them all together.  Drew the thing.  Un-taped all the paper.  Scanned each individual 8.5"x11" sheet into the computer.  Re-assembled them all in Photoshop... touched up lines here and there where stuff didn't quite line up, then went about my normal inking/coloring process.   A LOT of work.  If I had foreseen how complex that was gonna be, I might of charged more.  But live and learn, I suppose.

Anywho, the end result was quite impressive.  She got it just before Thanksgiving and was intended for a Christmas present for her man, but she liked it so much, he got it early for Thanksgiving.  And now I'm sharing it here.

Cool story, eh?

See you tomorrow.

Pascal (Progressed?)

Yeesh, almost 2 weeks of no posts...  for shame Bob!   SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME!

Anywho, I started this Pascal drawing back in January cuz I was aching to do some shading/coloring with my Crayola's, and with Tangled coming out on BluRay yesterday, I was like "Hrmm, I should finish that drawing".  So here it is... Pascal in his fully colored glory!  I started the drawing in Crayola colored pencil (mostly the head) or see the Pascal in Progress (PIP?) post from January 5th, but I had left my Crayolas at work, so I pulled out my Prismacolors to finish this guy up.  So the head, Crayloa.  Everything else, Prisma.  Can you see the difference?

Watchin American Idol...

So was watching American Idol last night, as they narrowed in on the Top 24 contestants... and opted to start some doodling for today's Drawsiness... and this is what I got.

If I have a "style" this is probably a good example of it.  This is just me letting my mind wander and let the hand kinda do whatever it wants.  Final projects and what not, or something that needs a particular look, I get hung up on proportions and way things look.  This is me just not really carrying and letting stuff come naturally.  Not worrying about proportions, or perspective or any other "art" rule.  Just freedom to draw whatever.

America better vote off that Pauly Shore lookin' mofo, he annoys me!

Turtle Power!

So before I got all in love with Batman... I was crazy obsessed with... POWER RANGERS!


But before I was all crazy obsessed with the Power Rangers, I was hardcore obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Raphael was my favorite.  Kinda of a loner, kind of a smart ass, the only one who's colors didn't change when they brought them to TV in the 80s (yes kids, originally ALL the turtles wore red!).  Also, his name began with an R, my name began with an R.  When you're 8, that's important stuff!

Anywho, drew this last night in Sharpie and ballpoint pen (high tech, i know!), and then colored digitally.  Fun Fact:  The base colors before all the shading were taken from a pic of Raphael from the classic 80s Ninja Turtles cartoon.

I should take crack at the Shredder sometime...

She's baaaaaaaaaaaack!

Woke up this morning, and hopped on to the computer to read an article that Hollyweird is gonna make a new movie (or "reinvention") of Pippi Longstocking.  Probably in 3D too, since that seems to be the craze.


I don't remember much about Pippi, I know I saw the 1988 film when I was 7, and I think I saw the animated series that followed shortly after.  But other than her being a cute red head with a monkey, I don't recall anything else about her.  But, it seemed like it would be something fun to draw, and an hour or so later, you have the above.

Pascal in Progress (PIP?)

I do a lot of drawing that then gets scanned, and I usually finish it, color it, and polish it off in Photoshop.  But every now and then I like to color things by hand.  While you can mimic and do many things in the computer there's something aesthetically pleasing about crafting by hand.  That's why I enjoy to paint (hopefully I'll post some this year), you can't truly paint digitally in my opinion.  You can do things that look LIKE painting.  But a painting is a painting and digital art is digital art.  Call me old, but that's my belief.  They're different media with different tools.

Anyway, I had the itch to bust out some colored pencils (Crayola, specifically), and do some layering with them and developing up the form.  So I picked the ever lovable Pascal from Disney's Tangled.  If you have not yet seen this flick, go out to a theater and see it.  And if you can find a theater still showing it in 3D (though many have moved on to Tron and other 3D fare), go see it in 3D!  The scene in the boat, is stunning in 3D, and the story as a whole is handled very much in the classic Disney model, while still being very fresh and modern!  Go!.  Movie critique aside, I figured all the different greens (with some accents of yellow and blue) would be the perfect creature to build up in colored pencils. So far it's working, but it's time consuming (that's an advantage to computer coloring, time!)  Hopefully I'll finish it up later today or tomorrow, and post the finished thing soon.