Superman: The Last Son of Krypton, Issue 40

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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.