The Art of Pendant

We're back!

2010-04-27T10:06:00.002-04:00

Hey Everybody,

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've been having massive computer problems and was barely able to get the final covers out to the producers. I'm glad to say that now the computer issues are done with, and the blog will be back to regular updates, so keep checkin' back.

Thanks.

Batman TAOD 51

2010-04-14T15:03:00.002-04:00

Whew. This was a cake walk after last issue's project, especially because I had such a great idea to work with. Here's the cover, y'all. Enjoy:

Batman 51: Bruce Wayne, Auf... by ~justplainruk on deviant ART

Video commentary: http://tinyurl.com/taod51

Audio commentary: http://tinyurl.com/taod51-audio

Batman TAOD 50

2010-03-17T12:08:00.004-04:00

Hiya, guys. This was a massive project, and I hope you enjoyed seeing something a little different to celebrate Batman: The Ace of Detectives's 50th episode.

Batman TAOD 50 Official Ver. by ~justplainruk on deviant ART

If you'd like to see or hear how the project went from sketch to completion, hop to it and click these here links:

Video: http://tinyurl.com/taod50

Audio: http://tinyurl.com/taod50-audio

- Adam

Genesis Avalon 6 Process

2010-02-22T12:56:00.005-05:00

Hi Guys,
I just wanted to show the process from blue line to finished for Genesis Avalon Episode 6.
Hope you like it!
DC

Star Trek: Defiant 43 - Family

2010-02-05T10:36:00.003-05:00

Here is the cover and commentary for Defiant 43.

Star Trek: Defiant Eps 40-42

2010-01-13T13:43:00.004-05:00

Hey, everybody.

Sorry for the delay on this, but here are the covers for 40-42 with commentary.

Batman 47: The Principal Move In a Game of Chess

2009-12-11T01:51:00.004-05:00

Howdy all. Been awhile since I posted last, and for that, I'm sorry. Anyway, here's a closer look at the cover for Batman 47, before it got all Pendantified:

Batman 47: The Principal... by ~justplainruk on deviant ART

If you'd like to view the video commentary for this cover, you can do that here.

If, however, you'd just like to go the audio route with the commentary, well, you can do that here.

If you'd like to skip both options and think I'm an idiot for putting two versions of the commentary out on the Web, well, then you can go right here.

Thank you, and good night.

- Adam

Final Art for Genesis Avalon 3

2009-11-23T16:27:00.003-05:00

Hi Peeps,
I thought you would like to see the final art before it was placed into the magazine format. Have fun! Hope you like it!

DC

Supergirl 30 and some news

2009-11-05T19:11:00.002-05:00

Hi guys,

Here's the process for Supergirl 30. The episode had a few key moments but I thought the most fun was the idea of pizza. I combined the idea with the pose that pays homage to Superman # 1.

The other thing I wanted to bring up was my holiday sketch drive.
Simply put you get an 11 x 14 piece of art either water color or digital color.
Guaranteed delivery by Christmas if you order before December 10th.

Hit me up at mannycartoon@hotmail.com

Thanks and enjoy!

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T22:20:00.003-04:00

On behalf of myself and Paul Leclerc, we wanted to wish you all a Happy Halloween. And, what better way to celebrate than with a Selina/Kal wallpaper?

Paul did all of the linework and I colored it in photoshop. In his original he had Selina in the classic Robin suit, which I altered later to make it the Tim Drake suit. That's the only thing I changed on the linework. As far as coloring, I used Tim's colors for the suit, and I almost left Kal without green hair and a white face; then I thought that if he's gonna dress up he may as well go all out.

Selina's candy wrapper was a last minute addition, but I love it!

You can find all the different sizes here.

Progressions

2009-10-26T11:08:00.005-04:00

Hi Guys,
I thought I would take a page from Manny's post and show the progression to the finished. Like Manny I usually start with a sketch. This gives me a chance to look through all the angles of light that I will be needing in the finished rendering. After that I begin my digital painting in Photoshop. From here, I try not to use any hard lines, trying to keep the illustration as soft yet structured. What we're left with is the finished product.

I usually try two variations to see which one has the most impact and discuss it with Kat (the almighty yet extremely cool director) and which ever direction she likes. We go from there. Hope you enjoy it!

Supergirl 29-Better late than never!

2009-10-25T12:11:00.003-04:00

Hi Guys,

I'll be putting up similar posts for each cover as they are released.
This basically takes you thought my process a little.

I usually start with a really loose sketch in blue to sort of block in my shapes and staging. From there I love onto a slightly tighter sketch in a dark red to get in all the details.

My last step is bumping up the DIP and doing a final inking pass with darker versions of the objects they surround.

Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Final LSOK Commentary

2009-10-16T10:42:00.004-04:00

It looks like we're about to get commentary crazy up in here.

Here is my final commentary for Superman. I've enjoyed working for nearly two years on the show, and look forward to working with Brian and Dale over on Defiant.

'Til next time.

Batman TAOD 45

2009-10-16T03:14:00.004-04:00

Hope you like.

Batman TAOD 45 Cover by ~justplainruk on deviant ART

Video commentary may be viewed here, if you're into that sort of thing.

fun show seeking new artist

2009-09-09T17:19:00.003-04:00

its been fun, a year a half after my first cover and 15 covers later i will sadly be leaving defiant. however, this leaves a spot for someone else to step into fill those empty shoes, as mentioned on the previous post. so there is a gap as mentioned in twip but they are looking for someone so i hope this is an good thing, an oportunity for an up and coming artists looking to showcase their work, as i was, its a good group of guys (And girls) and you get some exciting scripts to work from. if your interested the contact info is in the previous post or in the latest TWIP. later, and thanks for the opportunity. -Z
ps: as always the inks and process work are on my blog.

Star Trek: Defiant, Ep. 39 by ~xaqBazit on deviant ART

Mea Culpa! and Artist News

2009-09-09T16:28:00.003-04:00

Firstly, a giant "Mea Culpa" goes out to Kristen Bays, and the Art Blog audience at large for my neglecting to release the banner with the debut of Dixie 36. I have no excuse for doing so, especially since it was made ahead of time. I'm sorry. However, you can now see it along with the cover for Defiant 39.

Secondly, as heard on this week's TWIP, Zach Basset has made Star Trek: Defiant issue 39 his last. We all wish him the best.

However, that leaves us an opening that needs to be filled. If you are a Star Trek fan, and also an artist (or know someone who is) please contact either myself (carl@pendantaudio.com), or Jeffrey Bridges (jeffrey@pendantaudio.com) and submit a drawing or a link to an art portfolio.

We look forward to seeing your stuff!

Covering Supergirl

2009-09-05T18:53:00.004-04:00

Hey guys it's great to be a part of the Pendant Family. The image you see is a really rough sketch of the main players in the Pendant Super girl cast. I hope I can bring something special to the party.

Manny

New Artist

2009-08-28T09:42:00.003-04:00

I'm saddened to announce that Kristy Plotkin will no longer be working on Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton. She has decided to give up her position due to personal reasons. We certainly wish her all the best in future endeavors.

Starting with Issue 29 the covers will be done by Manuel Aguilera.

Please join me in welcoming Manny to the "artist's pit".

Artist Transition

2009-08-24T19:55:00.005-04:00

As mentioned in this week's TWIP, Maija Urrelo will be transitioning from Martian Manhunter (which recently ended production) and taking over cover duties for Seminar from Kristy Plotkin.

You can see Maija's Seminar debut in this month's release, episode 29.

Welcome Daniel Chon

2009-08-13T10:46:00.003-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Please join me in welcoming Daniel Chon. As he stated below, he is the cover artist for the as-yet-to-be-released Red Sands Investigations; as well as Genesis Avalon. His artwork will debut along with GA on September 28, 2009.

The Newbie

2009-08-12T18:13:00.004-04:00

Hi Gang,

I'm Daniel and I'm the newbie here on the covers front. I've gotten to work with Jeffrey Bridges and Fiona Thraille on a very cool project called "Red Sands", and I'm already set to work with Kathryn Pryde on a new series called "Genesis Avalon" which has been a lot of fun and will really knock your socks off.

Thanks to everyone I've met so far. They've really made me feel welcome. I'm really looking forward to producing some hopefully really cool covers.

TTFN

New Artist for The Kingery

2009-08-12T16:58:00.004-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In case you may have missed the announcement in TWIP, we now have a new artist for The Kingery. Paul Leclerc has stepped down from The Kingery, but will still be working on Catwoman: Queen of Thieves. Taking over for Paul is Nick Peneleton. You will see the debut of his artwork this month in The Kingery episode 3x04 - "Everybody Needs Money".

Please, join me in thanking Paul for his great work on the show, and, welcome Nick into the Artist's Pit.

Batman 43, Ex Tempus 5

2009-08-12T14:59:00.005-04:00

Batman TAOD 43, Ex Tempus 5 by ~justplainruk on deviant ART

For audio commentary, checka-check this link.

For video, try this one.

And listen to the episode for yourself to hear Elizabeth's sexy cooing as Pam Isley! Yowza!

Defiant 38

2009-08-08T07:06:00.001-04:00

Star Trek: Defiant, 38 by ~xaqBazit on deviant ART
I have an in depth look at the inspiration, inks and alternate colored versions of this piece on my blog, here.

LSOK 55/ Ex Tempus 3

2009-07-29T17:17:00.002-04:00

Hey everyone. Sorry, no audio commentary this month. It's Metallo's eye with the Zod shield in the center. That's all there really is to say.

Ex Tempus has ARRIVED

2009-07-22T07:00:00.002-04:00

Late Defiant

2009-07-14T15:55:00.006-04:00

I cut it very close with this one, and ran very late. I'm sorry for the wait, I had a lot going the week of the episode. Should have taken care of it sooner, that being said this is one of my favourite covers of the last few I've done. I used some interesting techniques coloring it and I urge you to read them at my blog also you can see just the digital colors and inks before I added the fx over the top using photos and layers in photoshop. Hope you like.

New Feeds

2009-07-13T21:06:00.004-04:00

Now there are more ways to follow up with The Art of Pendant. We are now set up on Facebook and Twitter. Each will have its own unique content, so follow both. You'll find the links to them on your right hand side.

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 54

2009-06-24T21:59:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the delay. As promised, here's the commentary. Enjoy.

-Carl

Defiant 36

2009-06-03T22:22:00.000-04:00

Star Trek: Defiant, Ep. 36 by ~xaqBazit on deviant ART
I wrote an in-depth blog about this one you can read here

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 53

2009-06-02T10:03:00.004-04:00

Sorry I'm late posting this everyone. It's been a hectic week. Commentary can be found here.

Catwoman Issue 9

2009-05-14T17:03:00.002-04:00

Hey All,

Here's Catwoman 9 cover. I just had my wisdom tooth pulled out. Gonna sign off now. Enjoy..

Batman 40

2009-05-13T12:09:00.003-04:00

Star Trek 35

2009-05-08T19:54:00.000-04:00

Star Trek Defiant, Ep. 35 by ~xaqBazit on deviant ART

2009-05-06T06:56:00.001-04:00

You've asked, and I listened. Starting today, the banner won't contain the bare bones covers, but will instead have the typography on them.

LSOK 52

2009-04-29T17:05:00.003-04:00

Look, it's Atomic Skull! And not Ghost Rider!

Commentary here!

2009-04-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

I made this using water color and photoshop. I hope my covers will improve over time (i.e. drawing more than just Martian Manhunter's head) Sigh lol. I hope they still liked it. :D
I wonder what I'll do next?

Seminar 25

2009-04-24T13:26:00.013-04:00

Hey all! Long time, no see. XD

I been busy.

Anyway, I'm the new Seminar artist: yayyyyy!

So here's mah first cover.
I actually played around with this a bit before sending it out.
So this is what I started with...well, like. I laid down the base of the tea cup, which was easy enough. I just used elliptical marquees and gradients, &ct. Look closely, there's like depth and stuff (no leaves though). XD The background was originally green because I was going to try and do a computer motherboard for the background. I came to my senses eventually, though I don't doubt that would have been freakin' awesome.
Then came the wave of tea. I was actually pretty proud of my wave. It made me sad I intended to have Mal popping out at the viewer...which would essentially cover it up. I tried to figure out just how much would get covered up with the following:I was like...eh. I like the pose. Let's see if it works. So I then had to squiggle in some white so I could lay down ...some form of line work.Oh, I forgot to mention the dingy little surfboard. That came before anything else - he needed to stand on something. =nod= Plus that would give me an ending point for whatever weird perspective I was going for.
Then I wanted to cry - he's completely covering the wave. =head desk= Thank goodness for layers! I'm smart sometimes (usually I forget to make layers for certain things...).

So yeah. I moved it. Because I wanted some of the work I put into the wave to show up. And I moved the cup, too. Thing was - Mal was so small when I shrunk him and moved the surfboard...so I kept messing around to figure out how I could have Mal IN YOUR FACE...and then...uh...I kept playing around with it centered but it didn't look right, so I moved it to the side a wee bit and made Mal BIG. Woo.

<
So then I added shading. =nod= You might notice the colors look a lot prettier like this. That's because .jpgs hate me and make my colors massively lighter.

Oh and fun sidenote, I rethought the positioning because I have a thing about mild symmetry. So I put it in the center and it looked a little awkward because I realized you couldn't see a handle. So I made one. >

It looks cool, but I guess it doesn't grab you as much. =nod=

I sent both out, though, because I was sleep deprived and indecisive.

Sooo...yeah. This is what happens when I have the forethought to prnt scrn. You get to see....my process? I guess I have a process. =shrug= It's fairly organic and there's a vast lack of forethought normally.

Perhaps if I gain massive forethought I'll make commentary in the future, though I'm already rambly enough in textual form. XD

Catwoman Issue 8

2009-04-20T20:43:00.002-04:00

Hiya Folks,

I'll put up an auditory commentary on it soon. Here's cover 8 though. I'm not gonna post the photo references that I used cuz I took pictures of myself doing those poses....with a camera on a tripod.....and me jumpinng in the air onto my bed.....ya....anyways.......

Defiant 34

2009-04-08T10:21:00.001-04:00

Star Trek Defiant, Ep. 34 by ~xaqBazit on deviant ART
You can view my inks and comments on my blog, here.

The Kingery

2009-03-28T15:20:00.003-04:00

Hey everybody. I just wanted to take some time out to thank Nick Hadley for all the hard work he has done on The Kingery for the past two years. Nick has decided to take a hiatus from doing the coverwork for the time being, but expects to be back sometime in the Fall.

In the meantime, Paul Leclerc (who you already know as cover artist for Catwoman: Queen of Thieves) has volunteered his services starting with Season 3, episode 1 which will debut on May 29.

So, on behalf of all the artists in Pendant, thanks for all the great covers and we wish you all the best on your hiatus.

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 51

2009-03-25T07:05:00.003-04:00

Hi everybody. I hope you're having a good Wednesday. My commentary is here, and this is the poster I was talking about:

-Carl

2009-03-20T00:41:00.003-04:00

Hey! Kris here with a commentary for Wonder Woman Champion of Themyscira #38's cover. I dont normally make commentary stuff because, well, I do art for 2 shows, write and help on directing with another, edit 5 more shows, and act a bunch. My time is limited. But I got the program Adam Bell mentioned on his Ace of Detectives cover commentary and recorded the process of my cover art drawingz! The whole thing took about 3 and a half hours from start to finish, and you can watch it all in about 9 and a half minutes! Nice.

Also, note: This is the NEW TIARA! First time I've gotten to draw it! Diana got it from Clark back in the Superman Christmas episode! It's awesome looking.

Catwoman Issue 7

2009-03-16T20:24:00.007-04:00

Hi All,

Sorry this has been so late. It's been busy at home and work! I've posted my reference photos for this one here.

The first is the covergirl of sports illustrated. I wanted Selina kneeling down because the story takes place in Japan. The background actually came first in my head. The classic Japanese Tea room walls, the hanging lanterns and the writing on the wall is "Cat" in Japanese (I hope it does, I just googled it on the net!!!)

Then I wanted Catwoman kneeling as if having tea (kindof.) And I came across the sports illustrated photo.

I included the rough sketch as well there, so you can see that.

Finally, I included 4 drawings of sketch cards that I did for an upcoming auction called Comics for Cure.

"There will be a public exhibition at Comics 2 Games, Florence, Ky location on April 4th 2009. The auction of all the original art cards will go online starting the week before the Sketch Card exhibition and will end that evening. All proceeds from the sale of the cards will go to the American Cancer Society."

www.comicsforcures.com is the website for more info.

See ya,

Paul

Batman 38: A special treat!

2009-03-11T11:38:00.004-04:00

Click here! (and enjoy!)

Defiant 33

2009-03-04T00:01:00.004-05:00

you can see my comments on the cover at my blog here.
or see the final colored version on my deviantart, here.

New Artist for Seminar

2009-02-27T09:15:00.004-05:00

As mentioned in this week's (air date 2/22/09) TWIP Loran Skinkis is no longer able to continue on as cover artist for Semninar. Kristy Plotkin will now assume cover duties starting with next month's release. Congrats, Kristy; and we all wish Loran the best in all of his future artistic endeavours!

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 50

2009-02-25T17:36:00.003-05:00

This episode was pretty metal. I absolutely loved it, and drawing this cover. Commentary is here.

Catwoman Issue 6

2009-02-15T11:30:00.004-05:00

Hey All,

Here's the cover for Catwoman Issue 6. I mixed some drawing from reference as well as some drawing from my own head. Catwoman was drawn from my head. I thought of a pose and drew it as a stick figure. Then I did alot of scribbling (gesture drawing) until I came up with the right look. I wanted her jumping from the page and so that was why I gave her that pose. I also wanted some foreshortening.

So I had her arm coming forward and threw in her whip doing a little 3D effect as well. The reference drawing came from Charlize Theron photo. I liked it a lot cuz it made her look frustrated that she hasn't caught up yet with Catwoman, yet it shows her overlooking her as she is getting closer and closer.

I did the drawing on a Blue Line art board. I just bought them and decided to try it out. It works well with pencils. The stomps smoothed out the pencils and blended them well.

All in all, I am pretty happy with it. I like the action in the drawing and I like the portrait drawing of Tsarina just so people can see what I think she would look like.

Enjoy!

commentary is below

Defiant, ep. 32

2009-02-04T09:47:00.002-05:00

you can view my comments on this piece on my blog, here.

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 49

2009-01-28T12:12:00.003-05:00

Behold! Farfel in all of his glory! You can find the commentary here.

A new member of the blog!

2009-01-25T17:50:00.002-05:00

Everybody, please join me in welcoming our newest member of the Art of Pendant family, Maija Urrelo. As mentioned in today's TWIP, Maija will be working on Martian Manhunter: Strange Visitor which will debut sometime in March. Look for a promotional poster for Martian Manhunter in the near future.

Welcome aboard, Maija!

Once Upon a Time in Vegas, chapter 17

2009-01-16T14:19:00.006-05:00

Hey guys! Sorry I've been MIA for the last, oh, five chapters. It's been crazy over at casa de Julie lately.

Here's the lovely Ginger, making her cover debut. I was thinking of doing another Chloe cover, but Alicia gave me some great Gin-spiration. XD She was originally more pinup-y, but about halfway through I reread her character description and realized that she was supposed to be very thin, not 50s-style curvy. I had to go back and do some plastic surgery. ;) She's still a little curvier than she should be, I think, but oh well. Fortunately, there are lots of curvy ladies to draw in Vegas, so all my research is not for naught!

Anyways, I thought I'd go back and review the covers I missed, briefly.
Vegas 16. I think I did this one in record time, and I had a lot of fun painting glass in Photoshop. There was a big gaffe in this episode, though; the name tag is supposed to have a company logo on it. Whoops! I still want to go back and add one in...

Vegas 15. Chloe! I love her character but I was not entirely happy with this art. I can't wait to redeem her by drawing her again.

Vegas 14. The departure from people to still life was a little risky for me, but this cover planted itself in my brain and wouldn't let go. Fortunately, the producers liked the idea! I "sketched" the cover with vector shapes in Photoshop, and then painted over them. I am horrible at draftsmanship and can't draw a circle to save my life, so there we go.

Vegas 13. I think this is my favorite cover out of all the ones I've done. It came together quite well. In fact, here - have a close-up!

And that's it for me. See you in a few weeks!

Catwoman 5

2009-01-15T09:25:00.006-05:00

Hi All,

Here's the Catwoman cover with the reference photo and the audio clip explaining the cover

See ya,

Paul

Poison cover

2009-01-07T17:54:00.003-05:00

you can read up more on my thoughts about the cover on my deviantart page here.
or see the inks and other thoughts on my blog here.

Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton 20

2008-12-24T15:46:00.003-05:00

I keep getting the best presents this season. I was very thankful that I was allowed to borrow my friend's tablet once again as my poor little pen has been lost to the nethers and as of current has not been replaced.

So anyway, here we have Kara and the Amateur. And there's a background (woah!) because I had so much time on my hands after having drawn the characters. It's nice to have time to think about these! (This is ironic, by the way, since I had the script for the least amount of time out of any of the episodes I've done)

I tried out about five different poses for these two, from various different angles and various different closenesses...Anything else didn't show enough or was entirely too complicated for my wee little brain.

The Amateur's costume was interesting to figure out. He had about five different costumes. I made it green because it's the easiest color to mistake for having something to do with Christmas when wearing tights (had he been in anything poofy, it would have been red). I asked Blinkie about his costume and she said he should have a mask. So I gave him one. XD That mask went through three different variations.

The music stage I figured could have some silly snow and note theme to it. I attempted a candy-cane thing on the eighth note, but I was having pressure sensitivity problems with the pen. Hm...I should have made the backdrop a darker color, or a more subdued color. It's meant to be a backdrop, so logically it wouldn't detract from who was in front of it so much. Oh well. XD

As for the rest of the background - I hate drawing architecture with a passion. And it's luckily a background image, so I can get away with impressionistic type things. I didn't have much patience with the people, so they became formless blobs. I put a layer of grey over the background here (which I should have done something similar for the backdrop, like I said) because there was way too much in the background otherwise.

So yeah. That's all this time!

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 48

2008-12-24T12:43:00.002-05:00

Commentary here. To all, Happy Holidays.

-Carl

the assassin's cover

2008-12-03T14:01:00.004-05:00

you can see and hear more about my process and inspiration for the new cover here.

Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton 19

2008-11-26T22:32:00.003-05:00

Right, so here's the cover art for episode 19.

As you can see, Kara's eyes are green. Woops.

And the lemonade isn't entirely yellow.

And we're back to colored pencil, with the continued loss of my tablet pen. =sniffle= Which means that mistakes I make due to a mild case of low lighting are incredibly hard to fix. >.<

Yay for...whoever fixed Kara's eyes to blue. XD

Although I have to admit - this whole bit with the Kara pointing upwards was a result of cracking up after hearing TWIP and thorougly on purpose. It combatted with my original idea to have Kara looking out at the corn fields and have the corn fields turn into the yellow flowers. But the funny won over. >.<

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 47

2008-11-26T06:59:00.003-05:00

Hey everybody! Your commentary is here. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

2008-11-13T21:04:00.003-05:00

Catwoman Issue 3

Hey all,

Here's my drawing for Issue 3. I did it differently than what I normally do. Usually I use photo references and draw from those. This time I drew freehand from my mind and then shaded it like I normally do. The only photo reference I used was the gun (an Uzi.)

In this scene Catwoman is sneaking around a compound in Cancun and the hoodlums below keep walking by and leaving. So I decided to go for a low view point with a close up of the hoodlum and his mean looking gun, with Catwoman in her element sneaking around the wall. Kind of like a cat walking along fences at night.

I used a B pencil to quick sketch it. Then used a 2B to outline the characters and wall. After that, I used stomps to blend in the shading and there you have it!

See ya

Paul

(next time, I'll scan the drawing step by step and post the steps.)

the Wedding episode

2008-11-07T12:38:00.002-05:00

heres my inks for the cover. fairly simple but i liked it a lot. i meant it to be a little sexier than it turned out, her expression turned out so shy, but that's okay. i liked the subtle hatching i used, and being a female i was drawing i tried to restrain the rendering because it is really easy to over do it and make her look old or just plain ugly. but all in all i think it was very successful. you can see the colored final version on my deviantart or on the pendant website.

2008-11-02T21:52:00.003-05:00

Hi all,

Here's the Halloween drawing that Kristy, Kristen and I came up with. I'll post a comment shortly, and Kristen and Kristy might as well. Just posting it so everyone can take a look and see what we came up with.

Enjoy!

Paul

Ok, here's the commentary....way late.

We got together for the halloween jam and came up with the idea of putting the DC girls in each other's costumes to go out trick or treating. They all happened to meet at the same house while trick or treating. As you can see, Wonder Woman looks peeved at Catwoman wearing her costume. Catwoman looks coy wearing hers. And Kara looks like she's happy to get some treats. The kiddies are kind of surprised to see them and their costumes.

I did the pencils, Kristen did the inking and Kristy did the colouring. It was fun to jam on this. Hope to do it again.

Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton 18

2008-10-29T19:04:00.003-04:00

Here is the cover this month. You may notice a lot of the lines are incredibly sloppy and the line art itself is sketchy. Right, so, this week has been busy.

But on another note - you may be asking why Metallo and Kara are frolicking. It's inspired by an insinuation Steve makes. And I thought them frolicking would be funny.

As far as what I wish I had time to change (I drew this in essentially 16 interrupted hours)...the biggest problem is Metallo's hand, if you ask me. That should be properly colored. The fact that there's a lot of places where other colors cross lines they shouldn't. I should have fixed the sun in the background, and whatnot. Kara's face transgressed 6 years back to the drawing style I had in 8th grade (I guess I can blame this on being in a car (I took every moment my hands weren't doing something to work on this)).

I have to say, though. I like how the pants turned out. They /were/ the first thing I started fixing up as soon as I'd gotten the base colors down. The method I used for working on this cover were sketching out the shapes with a light blue, making another layer to draw the sketchy lineart, and then getting rid of the shapes (except I was horribly sleep deprived and didn't quite do this. The shape layer ended up on the same layer as the skin and pants). Anyways, the thing I did after laying down the colors (on varying layers depending on when I would remember to make new ones), was go through and shade with some degree of properness whilst also fixing up the lines so they weren't so sketchy and bad. And I still managed to miss a lot (particularly Metallo's hand) due to the sleep deprivation.

Which brings me to the following conclusion and moral of the story: I need to a) remember I need to draw things once a month and b) not procrastinate.

However, this was a terrible week for me to get anything done without being sleep-deprived. I just got exceptionally busy over the past four days, and have been doing my best to get it all done in time.

I also had the misfortune of losing my tablet pen about a week and a half ago, and have been searching for that frantically ever since. This cover was brought to you by the kind heart of my best friend (and her tablet-lending fantasticness).

I'll stop rambling, as now I'm trying to get a certain something else colored with as much goodness and quickness as possible. The tablet has to go back to my best friend today. (Then I have to write a script, storyboard, schedule and budget a film in a day. Oh good god).

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Issue 46

2008-10-29T16:33:00.003-04:00

Commentary can be found here.

Catoman Issue 2. Starting over from scratch

2008-10-15T21:22:00.006-04:00

Hiya,

So, for issue 2, I went back to what I know and am comfortable with...pencil...straight pencil... I'm happy with how this cover turned out. I thought I would draw Catwoman without her mask and costume. So now the listeners get to see what's under the mask.

She's leaning against the patio door/window looking out into the night and I decided to throw a little bit of a freudian art thingy-ma-bob in there with her eye looking like a cat's eye in her reflection...hmmmm....

Her hair was fun to do. Trying to get a nice modern, but normal type haircut.

The cat (Issus) was a little harder to draw just cause she's black. I've found that drawing black cats and dogs is more difficult than a light coloured cat or dog. I can't go too dark all over, otherwise, it looks flat and bad. So, some light shading with my kneadable eraser after the fact helps out.

Take it easy,

Paul

Defiant Episode 28

2008-10-08T18:16:00.004-04:00

My 1st digital inks! I like this a lot. You can find my sketch and various stages of coloring as well as my thoughts on my blog at http://xaqbazit.blogspot.com/2008/10/vulcan-nerve-pinch.html

Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton 17

2008-10-05T21:48:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I know this is obnoxiously late...

But Rene and I were looking on Pendant and she felt the need to comment:

"Funny sidenote guys, Supergirl's phone is an EnV2"

Or rather, based on one.

And it's based on Rene's phone, to be specific. Because hers is less complicated and looks cooler than mine.

Also, this is the first time I've touched a tablet since...well, since my Tablet PC exploded. Which was last year? A year and a half ago? Something like that.

So I apologize for the roughness. XD

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Issue 45

2008-09-24T10:23:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody. LSOK is out. You can find my commentary here, and the image I was talking about is here.

Catwoman Issue 1

2008-09-11T20:33:00.004-04:00

Hi All,

Just want to say that I'm happy to be drawinng for Pendant Audio and especially the Catwoman series since I am a fan of comics with Batman being one of my favorites throughout the years.

I did this drawing in coloured pencils. Normally I just use graphite pencils
(like the Catwoman promo poster), but I decided to try colour for the first issue. I'm still practicing using coloured pencil and like Kristy (Hi Kristy), my hand hurts too. I'm happy with the final product, but I still need practice. Anyways, for the next few covers, I'm going to go back to using just pencils.

I used my Adobe Photoshop program on the computer to touch up the walls and columns and floor. But I don't have a tablet, so using the mouse was difficult.

I decided to draw Catwoman from behind just to play coy in issue 1. I thought a little bit of "booty" would be kind of funny and different for a first issue (usually it's a head on action shot of the hero/character.)

Anyways, glad to be hear and having fun looking at other's art for pendant. If you want to see more of my art, my website is http://www.paulsdrawings.com/.

Take care, have fun doodling....Paul

The Nest

2008-09-03T13:01:00.003-04:00

Here's a few different versions of my cover, before the lens flair effect, with some textures i didn't use, inks etc.

Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton 16

2008-08-27T16:31:00.003-04:00

Hey all. So as you may have noticed, Eric's no longer doing Supergirl.

Which leaves me here. Hi! I'm Kristy. Here's my first Pendant cover. It's the first contribution I've made to Pendant that's debuted. I still have...three scripts in Seminar that haven't come out yet, and I'm in the Christmas episode of Superman as a small part.

I have no real art program on my current laptop (I have Photoshop, but that's on my very terrible and hard to use tablet PC which is ready to implode at any second, so you can understand I'd rather not try to do something on that)...

So I chose colored pencil. Because it's the best non-computer medium for me. My wrist hurts. XD I also used up my best friend's colorless blender halfway and I should just buy her a new one because she uses it as much, if not more than I do. The colorless blender is what makes all the colors pop with limited amounts of pressure with the original pencil.

Makes me wish I learned marker better. That stuff is just naturally saturated.

Anyway, if you'd like to see more of what I've drawn in the past 5 years or so... http://tregetry.deviantart.com , which has a few doodles I did to try out styles for Supergirl, and a few fanarts for Vegas (because Rene and I are really good friends, though the stuff is of Teri and Danny, which is strange because Jeff and Tessa are my favorites) ...or for some older stuff: http://dragonpixy.deviantart.com .

I shall stop rambling, mostly because I'm hungry. Once again, Hi everybody!

2008-08-27T15:50:00.003-04:00

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to say hi and I'm glad to be blogging on the Art of Pendant as well as drawing for Pendant Audio's Catwoman. I'm very excited and I hope everyone enjoys the drawings.

Take care,
Paul

Superman: Last Son of Krypton Issue 44

2008-08-27T08:32:00.003-04:00

Happy Wednesday everybody. You can find the commentary here.

2 new artists!!!

2008-08-26T14:37:00.003-04:00

Everybody, please join me in welcoming our 2 newest members to The Art of Pendant blog. Kristy Plotkin, whom is the cover artist of Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton, will have her first cover debut tomorrow along its sister show Superman: Last Son of Krypton.

Also welcome Paul Leclerc, whose work will debut with Catwoman: Queen of Thieves on September 10th.

Congratulations on landing your covers, and welcome to the Pendant family!

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton Issue 43/ Vindicatum7

2008-08-01T12:39:00.004-04:00

I'm late. I know, I suck.

Commentary here! Thanks for listening.

Vegas 12: now with 75% more Tessa

2008-07-18T13:47:00.008-04:00

Okay, remember how, in my last post, I promised to draw someone other than Tessa? Shortly after I posted, Jeffrey told me to read the next script. It's all about Tessa. Whoops! Well, I didn't really renege on my promise; Jeff is there, too. In the background. That counts, right?

Anyways, I knew I'd have to do this scene for the cover after I heard the preview at the end of Vegas 11. It basically popped into my head, fully-formed, and demanded to be drawn. So I did a sketch and sent it off to be approved.
Then I thought that as long as I had the file sitting there in Photoshop, I should try throwing some color on it to see what sticks. I'm not used to doing dark, dramatically-lighted scenes. And THEN I got all caught up in trying out some new CG painting techniques, and before I knew it I'd decided to digitally paint the cover.

Let's just say it's a good thing I was really ahead when I started, because I am very, very slow with CG work. CG is a double-edged sword; on the plus side, you can fix anything at almost any stage. On the minus side, you can fix almost anything at any stage. So I worked and reworked and re-re-worked it until I realized that I would eventually have to, you know, finish it.

Painting (traditional OR digital) is not my strong suit. I'm not great with color. Fortunately, I found this wonderful tutorial by Julie Dillon that made all the difference. There's some clever stuff there!

The PSD at 100%, along with the giant list of layers.

The final file, sans text and the fun grungy-book effect, was 662 mb. It's 600dpi, which is about as big as I've ever worked. It really helped, too, although it was at the limit of what my newish laptop could do. ;) There are something like 26 layers on it and it took around a minute to save. The maddening thing I discovered about the painting technique was that I couldn't really flatten any of the layers unless I wanted to flatten them down to the background; it would ruin the way the colors blended. Because of this, I ended up working on the Tessa figure in a different file to speed things up a bit.

The floor and door textures in this piece are from cgtextures.com. Big giant thanks to EK and Meghan for critiquing my works-in-progress!

NEXT TIME: I make no promises about next time. I've learned my lesson. I may try to do it in less time, though. This took me about two weeks!

Batman: The Ace of Detectives, Issue 30 (Vindicatum 5)!

2008-07-16T14:42:00.003-04:00

Here 'tis, viewers. Enjoy!

Commentary is available hyaw.

~ Harley says hi. ~

The Reveal

2008-07-09T19:37:00.005-04:00

Heres just the inks, since I don't have a scanner I had to take a photo, I tried to clean it up in Photoshop, but ended up leaving it a bit lighter than this, especially since the colors showed the forms so much.
This is just all the color layers in Photoshop w/o the inks, was just to show how much I colored underneath. I didn't really care for the image so I tried to beef it up with some fun colors. I think I was trying to stick so closely to the character sheet for the characters that I ended up emulating that style instead of making it my own - at least on this cover. But seeing as most were pleased with this cover, I know the next one will be even better received. I'd really like to do a close up face, some sort of emotional scene or action scene. I haven’t been drawing a lot lately and it shows. So personally, I think the covers I've done so far have been sort of stagnant or boring... But i plan to change that! And here's the final with everything together.
Oh yeah, and I also got a table so I was kind of out of my element, it was nice for a change but took some getting used to. I do like the wings though, that was fun. Until next month, -XaqBazit.

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton Issue 42/ Vindicatum 3

2008-06-25T17:38:00.003-04:00

Hey folks,

Ya didn't think I'd forget aboutcha, right? Right. Anyway, Here is the cover for Superman LSOK 42/ Vindicatum 3.

My commentary is provided here! Enjoy, and thanks for listening.

Long time listener, first time cover artist

2008-06-20T16:09:00.006-04:00

Hey guys, I just took over duties doing covers for Star Trek: Defiant, sorry I'm a little late with the post but i did have some things I wanted to share about my work on episode 25.
So being in Co on a vacation when i got the job to do the first cover, instead of in Ga where i live and have all my supplies. i didn't have the supplies i would usually draw upon, so i drew them separate and assembled them in Photoshop.

So here's a picture of the original inks.
And here's all the pieces compiled in Photoshop.

And lastly here is an early rough version of the colors.

And the final. All color layers are under the inks which have a multiply layer filter on them, and then i airbrushed the thrusters out of the back of the ship and added the lens flair on top of the inks layer.
I was very inspired by Jack Kirby's stylistic version of space, and drew allot from his old work on Silver Surfer, Fantastic 4 etc. I also drew allot of inspiration from the colors of Cam Kenedy's work on Star Wars: Dark Empire.

I had just gotten a description for the last episodes cover because I only came on board a few days before it was due but now with the longer episodes that are starting to happen with Defiant it seems the hardest part of the job will be just getting through the script in time. Looking forward to doing my first cover with the characters on episode 26, look for it by the 8th of July.

Vegas 11 is now boarding

2008-06-19T10:03:00.002-04:00

Hi again! Here's the cover for "Once Upon a Time in Vegas" chapter 11. It was more of a struggle this time, but I think it turned out well in the end. I wasn't intending on doing another Tessa cover, but I thought this scene would work out best. I'll draw someone else next time! Promise!

The cover was colored in Photoshop this time around; I had a time crunch, I still need to replace some markers, and I needed to tweak the drawing a lot. This worked out well because I got to play with the colors a lot more in PS than I'd have been able to with marker. I actually colored everything but Tessa in various grays, and then ended up with the sepia tone after playing around with an adjustment layer. (What's an adjustment layer? Check out this video tutorial to find out.)

I got a kick out of drawing O'Hare, by the way. I know airport gates are generally the same everywhere, but O'Hare is my "home" airport. Thanks, Rene and Alicia, for putting that little detail in. ;)

Batman: The Ace of Detectives, Issue 29 (Vindicatum 1)!

2008-06-11T17:21:00.005-04:00

Excited about part 1 of Vindicatum yet? No? Well, get excited, darn it! And then you can take a look at the cover I made:

Commentary is available, and may be found at: http://www.zshare.net/audio/134741756786567c/

The sketch which I mention in the commentary may be viewed on my DeviantArt account here.

~ Harley says hi. ~

The Kingery Episode 2x02

2008-06-03T20:18:00.002-04:00

I went back to a more traditional look with this one but I forgot to keep the logo placement in mind so his hands ended up being completely covered. Oh well . . . to err is human etc. etc.

Once Upon a Time in Vegas #10

2008-05-30T14:07:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! Sorry this is a little late. I was working a convention the weekend this episode came out, and I am just now crawling out from the rock I was hiding under post-con.

This is my first cover for Vegas, although it's not my first Pendant work. I also did the promotional poster for Dixie Stenberg. Both Dixie and this Vegas cover are done in Copic marker on Bristol board.

Anyways! The lovely ladies behind Vegas requested a pulp novel look, which got me really excited. I love vintage art, and pulp novels are no different. I used a lot more blacks and greys than normal in order to emulate the cheap printing method of old pulp novels. This cover also had a lot of Photoshoppin' done to it; some of the markers I was using up and died on me and so I Photoshopped in some of the background. I'm not telling where!

After I finished the main art, I needed to age the cover. Bright clean marker colors aren't very convincing as a 50-year-old book. I used some stock textures and Photoshop brushes to beat up the image a bit.

One more thing I worked on was aging the logo. Paper tends to yellow over time, and inks fade. I putzed around a bit until the logo looked as old and yellow as the rest of the image.

Finally, I dug up a font that had some of the vintage look of pulp novels. The cover uses a slightly tweaked Gill Sans Condensed. I crossed my fingers that Jeffrey wouldn't kill me for being so picky and was done! Here's the end result.

I had a lot of fun working on this cover. I'm looking forward to blabbing about the next one!

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Issue 41

2008-05-28T10:55:00.003-04:00

How's it goin' everybody? Issue 41 is up and running. You can hear my commentary for this cover here. I really enjoyed this cover. It's got a nice, sinister feel to it. Enjoy!

Two, count 'em, TWO new artists!

2008-05-20T16:42:00.003-04:00

We're growing so much, you'd think we're on HGH (we're not, LOL)! Please join us all in welcoming Rebecca Hicks (yeah, I'm a little late on that, I suck) whom is doing the cover work for Star Wars: Blue Harvest, and Loran Skinkis whose art debuts with Seminar this Friday. Look forward to seeing their artwork displayed here along with their commentaries.

Welcome aboard!

Yet, another new member!

2008-05-15T09:21:00.003-04:00

Please join me in welcoming Julie Lindsey to the Pendant Artists family! Julie is the artist for Once Upon A Time In Vegas, with her newest cover premiering with Vegas #10 tomorrow! Keep checking back with us as she will be posting her artwork and providing commentary.

Welcome aboard, Julie!

Site Maintenance

2008-05-14T10:35:00.005-04:00

If some of you were on here earlier today, you may have noticed the banner was replaced with a black rectangle for a short period. I was checking size ratios for the new banner I was working on.

I decided to reconstruct the banner for a few reasons.

a.) I felt the image sizes were too small.
b.) I decided to put the images in reverse chronological order [oldest release image on your left, to newest release image to your right].
c.) We will be welcoming aboard a few new artists in the near future (more on that soon) and at the current size, I couldn't fit any more on there, so rotating the images chronologically made sense to me.

It's all finished now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Batman: The Ace of Detectives, Issue 28!

2008-05-14T01:27:00.004-04:00

Greetings again, all. Been a while since I made a post, I know, but there isn't a whole lot one can do on this blog in between covers that won't invoke the wrath of the Spoiler Dahaka (even worse than the Assassins!). To that end, here's the cover for 28, before it got all Pendantized:

Commentary, as always, is available, and can be found at the following address: http://www.zshare.net/audio/11992353e418721a/

I'll have something to show you again—hopefully, sooner rather than later this time.

~ Harley says hi. ~

Dixie 22!

2008-05-10T09:13:00.003-04:00

I suppose I should talk about this, ne? I drew the thumbnail for this while at work, which was really just a scribble of robot zooming out of a triangle that had an arrow pointing to it which said "Why are you yet again drawing modes of transportation? You suck at drawing modes of transportation." And dont say that I dont. If you see a large inanimate object drawn by me, there is a very good chance that it's been drawn from a reference, or sometimes even outline traced. I'll do my own detail work once I have the general shape of it, though.

So, this cover. I did the thumbnail at work a week ago. Figured "I'll do it when I get home" then it slipped my mind. Time passes. I'm sitting on my couch Sunday (the day before release) going "What do I want to do today? I know! I can go see Iron Man again!" then I remember "Crap... I have a Dixie cover due!!" So I start hunting online to find a sutible war era allied submarine that I can reference. I found one, got it all drawn and it looked AWESOME. Really clean lines. Drew Robot, who I actualy dont need a reference for as there is an easy trick with her since she's so geometric. All her detail looked awesome, I positioned her where I wanted her to be to look like she was being torpedoed, I went to merge the Sub line art and the Robot line art AND....

I hit Control + W instead of Control + E. When it popped up asking if I really wanted to close the window, my cursor happened to be over the "no, dont save changes" button and.... Bye bye robot and sub. ::SIGH:: So I started all over, and I didnt spend as much time because at this point it was 10:30 at night. So where before I might have spent an hour on making sure all the lines were strait on Robot and the sub, I spent about 20 minutes just to get it on the page. Coloring on both Robot and the Sub were done using a nifty effect, which I tend to use anytime I need to draw metal, that uses feathering and levels and layer effect embossing. I then did my super secret under water effect (ok, I randomly drew lighter blue streaks coming down from the top of the screen, then did dodges to put in lighter streaks and put the streaking layer infront of the sub but behind Robot.) I've spent a fair amount of time under water (SCUBA!) so I know how light works filtered through 100 feet of ocean. Paint in some bubbles for motion, then all that was left was to put the Umket add together, position the episode title and credits so that they arent in the way of the art, then ship it off to Jeffrey. I finished at about 2 in the morning, but I'll admit that I was heavily distracted, as well, by people IMing me.

The Kingery season 2 episode 1

2008-05-05T00:07:00.003-04:00

First post jitters so please forgive me. I don't really have much to say about this one. I had fun getting to paint Madeleine for the first time and designing the uniforms of the officers. Other than that, I tried a different approach to this painting than I have used on the previous ones. For this one I tried to pretty much wing it as I went along and keep it loose. I learned a few more things about digital painting in the process, but i doubt that I'll work this way again on future episodes.

A new member of the blog!

2008-05-02T14:07:00.003-04:00

Please join us in welcoming Nick Hadley to The Art of Pendant blog. Nick has been the artist on The Kingery since the beginning of the show, and will post his final piece for today's release in the near future.

You'll find a smaller version of his work in the banner on the far right.

Welcome aboard, Nick.

Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Issue 40

2008-04-30T10:45:00.003-04:00

I absolutely could not wait to get into making this cover. I read the script at the very least 5 times, and each time it blew me away.

For this issue it could've been a very clean cut shot of Krypton exploding, but I felt that it wouldn't elicit a proper reaction. It is implied in the act of Krypton exploding that everybody dies, and it's sad, but you don't really feel the weight of it until you see the toll it takes on Jor-El and Lara.

As for the technical aspects, Jor-El and Lara were inspired in part by Superman: The Movie. They were drawn and inked, then scanned into Photoshop and then colored.

Krypton was originally drawn but I couldn't get the effect I wanted, so I found a tutorial on how to make exploding planets. Krypton itself is actually a pic of dried mud worked through Photoshop to get the end result.

Until next time.

Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira Issue 27

2008-04-23T21:50:00.003-04:00

WOOT! My first post! Why? Because I'm too lazy to comment on old issues covers for Dixie and Wondy. This issue marks my twelfth cover on COT! Go me! The original pencils were done in all red with a red, erasable colored pencil. Why? Not because I had some art reason, but because it was all I could find when I sat down to draw that day. You can kind of see the original pencils HERE, but they are faint.

I scanned them into photoshop, made them their own layer, then dialed down their optipacity to 20% or so so I could start inking. You can see the finished inks Here. To color it, I made a new layer, filled it all with a medium pinkish hue, then used a yellowish orangy hue and a blended airbrush brush with the optipacity at 30% and Flow at 20% or so. I then painted. It's hard to explain other than that. Maybe one day I'll make a screen captured video so you can see it. I've done the digital painting technique a couple of other times, and those always end up being my favorite covers, but it takes a really long time.

Here are the finished colors for Diana, Ironsides, and Mabel. And if you look closely, yes, Mabel is drawn almost identical to Nebulon. Haha. I win. Well, no. Susan wins for making the reference in the first place. I then drew the lasso and shaded it though clever usage of inner glow, outer glow, and bevel/emboss. Yay, filters! I agonized over the background and ended up using a stock photo reference then making it look trashed. I hate back grounds. And now, the completed!!

Supes 41 progress

2008-04-23T17:29:00.001-04:00

I have the 3 main components drawn and have the base colors put down in photoshop. All in all I'd say that I'm about half way there.

One week until Superman 40!

Nat Irons

2008-04-18T11:55:00.003-04:00

No real progress to speak of in terms of the new cover since I had been sick, but I figured I'd post the character design I did for Nat to prepare me for Superman 38. If you look close enough, you can still see part of the "wire frame" or "skeletal system" I used for the figure.

I don't think I changed that much. I took off the metal hair, added the shoulder guards, and took off all the "up & down" arrows on her helmet and shoulders and instead put them on top of her gloves.
Other than that, I don't think I changed much.

Batman: The Ace of Detectives, Issue 27!

2008-04-16T19:22:00.002-04:00

All right. I said a crap-ton more in my audio commentary than I'd ever care to type, so why don't you head on over there and listen to the (nearly half-hour) of self-indulgent madness. I'll even give you a little trivia about each and every character in the pic, too, so it won't be a total time-sink for you!

Commentary for this cover is available here: http://www.zshare.net/audio/10648528b6114d46/

It's go time

2008-04-15T15:14:00.000-04:00

I got word back from Jeffrey what cover he wanted. A wise choice, if I do say so myself. I will start the actual penciling and inking in the next day or so.

I will post more about it as needed.

Until next time, Gadget. NNNNNNEXT TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME! *muahahaha*

The Waiting Game

2008-04-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading the script for Superman 41 and made some thumbnails (coming from a Graphic Design background, that's how I'm used to doing it) for Jeffrey to look at. He'll then give me the go ahead on which one he wants and I'll go from there.

I'll post more about it as I progress on the cover.