Wonder Woman Loves Batman Commission

Wonder Woman, Copic markers on bristol, 9x12", 2009.

Just finished up this commission of Wonder Woman. The client really wanted a romantic image of Wonder Woman with Batman's cape and cowl, a secret love affair maybe. I had a couple sketches that I couldn't decide between so I gave the client the choice and he chose this one. I enjoyed this because I was able to really focus on her face and convey that loving emotion between the two. My original idea for colors was to just do the black and warm grays for Batman's cape and cowl, but I've been reading Detective with Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen and I love his style with Bats where he uses the blue and grey. It is kind of like the old school colors that I grew up with watching the old Justice League cartoons.

The day after...

Batman, Copic markers on bristol, 8x10", 2009.

Well the Boone Comicon turned out to be a fun little con. For being such a small town convention, a lot of people came through. Saw people I knew from work and met some cool new artist that were local to the surrounding areas. I also found out from the guys running the con, that the next one will be in October, so hopefully they will keep it going for years to come. The only thing that bumed me out was that no one wanted any commissions. But I did draw up this Batman sketch while I sat there, thought it turned out pretty nice. I drew it on that semi-smooth bristol from Strathmore and I made a very cool discovery with it. No matter how much I saturated the paper with the markers, it did not bleed through to the other side at all. Very amazing stuff.

Boone Comicon Tomorrow

Hello, sorry for the delay in posts this week. I have been trying to finish up some stuff before the Boone Comicon tomorrow. If you are in the area, please come by and support the con. I will be doing 8x10 character head sketches in color for $10 if anyone is interested. I will also be selling prints and original art as well.

Captain Marvel, Photoshop CS3, 9x15", 2009.

Thought I'd share this Shazam drawing that I did last year for a commission. I've wanted to recolor it for awhile now because I was not very pleased with how the first version turned out. I spent a few hours working on it one night this week and was so into it that I totally forgot to save it from time to time (stupid mistake). Well, my computer decided to do an update, which resulted in a restart of my system and all that work disappeared. So actually this is the third version of this little drawing. But I'm finally starting to get comfortable with Photoshop again and hopefully I can produce more colorful and dynamic images this year. This image will be available as a print at this years cons too.

And in other news, I finally started up a Deviant Art account: http://sweatybuffalo.deviantart.com/.
So please feel free to visit there as well as here for more updates on my artwork.

Jocasta Commission

Here are some process shots of my latest commission, Jocasta. I have to confess I did not know that much about her. She looked familiar but had no idea she was an Avenger. Anyway, hope you enjoy a look into my work method.

Blue pencil on Stonehenge, 9x12", 2009.

I really like the softness of the blue pencil lead in my pictures and it's hard to ink over them all the time but it makes it easier to color over later.

Gray and black ink on Stonehenge, 9x12", 2009.

She was looking a little empty inside all that blank whiteness, so I included some wire work coming from her, like she was in the process of being created.
I like the effect it gave the picture as a whole, gave it a more balanced composition.
For Jocasta I inked her in a light gray Copic Multiliner which kept her softness and for the wires I just used a standard black.

Copic markers on Stonehenge, 9x12", 2009.

The metal look to her body was hard to render with the Copics. I started out with the lightest grays I had and slowly worked more blue tones into it. The color that I found to work the best with her metal skin was Pale Blue Gray (B60), light but just enough punch of color to bring her out from the white background. I wanted her to have a glow about her, like liquid metal, so I made the wire work behind her darker shades of blues and grays. They have a dirty rusty feel to them, where Jocasta is shiny and new.

I have so much work to finish up before the conventions so keep checking back for more updates. (Also if interested in commissions, I have a list of prices and formats to the right of the blog.)

I find your lack of faith disturbing

Here is a nice process look at one of my latest commission pieces. I always enjoy looking at the process of other artist work so I thought I'd share mine.

Blue pencil on Stonehenge, 11x17", 2009.

To start out I usually do a few thumbnails to get the feel of the character. Most of the time its just a bunch of shapes to get the composition of a pose. Lately I found myself using the computer to do this process so I don't end up wasting a lot a paper. The next phase is just doing a small rough sketch to flesh out the character's costume and anatomy. Then I will blow that up on the computer and transfer it to another sheet of paper. This is mainly to get rid of any unnecessary marks and to have an overall clean drawing. I knew I was going to have to color over this one so the line work is not as tight as some my other drawings.

Ink on Stonehenge, 11x17", 2009.

The next step for me is to just ink over it so the lines don't get lost in the marker. I never realized how much detail Vader had with his costume. This is probably my favorite of the three processes for him. The inks turned out better than I could have hoped. I left it fairly simple with the lines, no hatching or heavy blacks because the colors should keep him rounded out.

Copic markers on Stonehenge, 11x17", 2009.

Last up is the coloring. Nothing really special here just finding the light source and have at it. I love coloring with markers so I always jump at the chance to add color to commissions. This one was a challenge because he is pretty much wearing all black. I did not just want to use black with white outlines, so I went the full gray scale on this one. The only part of him that is true black is the tech stuff on his chest and belt.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did drawing it and keep checking back for more.
(Thanks again Laura and Chris for another great Star Wars commission.)

Gangsta Doom

Dr. Doom, Blue pencil on Strathmore semi-smooth bristol, 8x11", 2009.

Just went with a simple mug shot on Victor Von Doom here. Took some liberties with his mask. I was going for more of an old school look but not that satisfied with it. Might redo it if I get some time. I got some new commissions so I will take a break from my work and focus on those. But keep checking back because I will post them as I finish and I have to say there are some pretty cool characters in the bunch. Later.

Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler, Blue pencil on Strathmore semi-smooth bristol, 11x17", 2009.

Well this took longer than necessary to finish. but at least it's done. I tried out this new semi-smooth bristol board from Strathmore for this piece. I found it a little difficult to get used to at first because if you mess up a line or change your mind about something, there is no erasing it. I found myself using a lighter touch with it, which is fine, and I like the overall effect it gave to the final drawing. I guess the next test is trying out some ink pens and markers on it. Apparantly this is the same paper that Marvel gives it's artist to draw up their pages.
Next up on the list is Dr. DOOM.