Superb Man

'lo all.


I thought I'd spend a day or two working on a full colour Superman piece and it only ended up eating a week out of my life. 


Anyways, here's a step-by-step process:

The original, hand-drawn lines...

I then took said lines and digitally traced over

them in Flash (that 'S' shield had to be completely

redone as the original version was a mess)...

Next up, I add the basic, flat colours. This can take a while,

as I want the colours to look just right...

In order to make the piece 'pop' a bit more, I decided to add

a nice and vibrant sky background; nothing too fancy, but it

does the trick. During this stage, I also add the shades and

delete many of the outlines. The few outlines that are left

have some colour added so they blend in more. As you can

see, I also changed the shade of red on Supe's costume in

order to make it contrast more against the blue...

This is how the image looks after I've exported it from Flash

to Photoshop. Most of what you see here will get cropped out

in the final stage...

Before I go on to do the final crop, I add a simple gradient overlay

on a separate layer on top of the image. I find this gives the image that

extra bit of 'oomph' and really gives the colours an extra bit of

vibrancy. I also do some minor alterations to the image levels...

Et voilà! The final piece, post crop.

The Wright Man

Following on from me and Ty's collaboration on the Miyamoto piece, we decided to try our collective hand at another legend in electronic gaming: Will Wright, the mind behind such franchises as Sim City and (of course) The Sims.

Here are my lines:

You can view the photo I used for reference here.

Originally, I was going to insert (this was Ty's idea) the 'Sims Diamond' (Google it if you don't know what it is) above Mr. Wright's head. However, nothing I drew was really working out. The only design I finished is so far removed from a diamond that it looks nothing like one, but I spent ages at it and it's fairly interesting in its own right, so here it is:

Electric Mouse

One final update before I hit the hay.

I did these while watching TV. Been quite a while since I've done that, in fact, last time was when I was in Toronto. Nice to just let the drawing hand do its own thing and seeing what comes out.

O' Tec

The ol' creative juices weren't flowing so well today so I think I'll spend tomorrow doing some basics: contour drawing, quick sketches of the human body...that sort of thing. My drawing still feels way too stiff in places and I need to rectify that. I'm also hoping to get started on some Rodney Tentakle-related pinups, get them done in time for my trip to the New York Comic Con next month.

As you can see, I started a pic of Judge Dredd but left it unfinished as, to be honest, it wasn't really going anywhere interesting (well, aside from the slight redesign I gave his costume). I also did up a quick sketch of Manotec.

Spoon

Drew this up for a Spawn fan. Original sketch first, rejigged version second:

Moto

This guy (Shigeru Miyamoto) is probably one of the most famous game designers in the world but god DAMN is he a scary looking mother...

Click here to view the image I used for reference.

Mega Rock

One more pic before I call it a night.

I'm sure any of you that are any way knowledgeable about videogames will recognise where I got my inspiration for the following:

Super Wizard!

I decided to do some drawing today as I was afraid of getting rusty. Felt nice to physically draw on paper after spending so long doing digital work!

First up, we have my version of one of the main character from one of the oddest and most interesting comics of the Golden Age. His name? Stardust the Super Wizard! I apologise for how terribly his hand is drawn and also for the incredibly tiny head, no excuses for such terrible mistakes.
I first came across this comic in reprinted form within the pages of "An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Vol. 1" (a must-buy if you're into comics at all). The first thing that strikes you about Stardust is that the art is extremely primitive looking, being pretty badly drawn even for Golden Age standards. However, ironically enough, the art (coupled with the insane writing) is what lends this comic its strange charm. It also happens to be incredibly creepy, feeling almost akin to a fever dream put down on paper in visual form. Whether this was intentional or not, we'll never know.
The creator of Stardust, Hank Fletcher, is just as much of an enigma as his fictional creation. Little is known of the man and it is only in recent years that he has gained any kind of popularity. This sense of mystery behind the creator is quite apt considering his output.

Anyways, moving on to my next (decidedly different) image. It's...well...see for yourself:

Only a tiny handful of people will 'get' this image. For those of you that don't? You're better off, believe me.

w h o

I'm on a bit of a Doctor Who kick lately so I decided to do up some quick pics of the 'modern day' Doctors.

I was always aware of Doctor Who growing up but never really had much exposure to it. I always thought it was interesting though, the concept of some guy travelling around time and space in a vehicle that happens to look like a police box was just really out there.

It wasn't until Russel T. Davies resurrected the series in 2005 that I actually sat down to watch Who. Despite a few shonky episodes, I found it to be quite enjoyable. Skip to 5 years later and we now have a brand new series along with a brand new Doctor. I've only seen the first episode so far but all signs point to it being one of the best Whos yet.

Anyways, enough chit-chat and more pictures!

PINGAS!

Robotnik likes promotions. He likes promotions so much that he promoted himself to full colour!

Fantastic

More sketches I did before going to bed:

Wheeeeee

Lots of images for you to look at in the latest update. Check 'em out!

Random head doodles.

Supes. Making a face.



Blackstar character sketches.

Richard J. Smith's 'Uncle Swifty.'

I won't even attempt to explain this. Just watch this video...


Aaaaand last, but certainly not least, Bob Byrne's character 'Mister Amperduke' from the fantastic book by the same name.

"Attack me if you dare - I will crush you."

Finally done with all this cloning business. As you can see, I've done both Akuma and Dan, based on the original Ryu model. The final image is a piece I've put together for the Con, combining all characters into one image.

Whew.

Sketchcard GET!

Sketchcards I've done for the upcoming FanExpo '09.