Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aquarian

Aquarian

Here is the original entry for the Aquarian to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".  

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And here is my entry to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Redux.  

This one was a bit of a cheat for me.  I actually submitted a story idea to Marvel Comics for an Aquarian One-Shot about 15 years ago using pretty much this redesign of the character.  Sad, but true--with the sad part being that of all the characters in the Marvel Universe, I picked the Aquarian, of course.  :-D

I don't know why, but the character somehow captured my imagination.  The story involved Wundarr/Aquarian getting a Cosmic Cube and deciding to give humanity enlightenment--whether it wanted it or not.  It was going to be part action-adventure/part deep, philosophical treatise about the nature humanity...  Well, stuff that strikes you as philosophically deep when you're in your mid-twenties (but, probably isn't).  It had references to Wundarr/Aquarian selling his life-story to a comic book company, involved Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four, and the death of Disco music.  

Needless to say, it was rejected.  :-)

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Here's the part where I usually say "Here's the process of those who are interested"... but, this time there really isn't much involved in the process.  This is the first picture I did as digital from start-to-finish and forgot to do screen shots of the steps along the way until it was mostly done.  

But, just so I'm not leaving anyone empty-handed, I created a new document in PhotoShop that was 1,500 x 2,500 pixels, and then started working in black-and-white to lay down values, first.  I used a chalk-based brush which I found left an interesting texture.  (I have no idea if I got it from one of the DVD's from the many issues of "ImagineFX Magazine" I have, or if it was a free one I found on the internet.  Sorry!)  

When I was finished with the black-and-white digital drawing, I created a new MULTIPLY LAYER and set to colorizing the work.  Lastly, I added a glow to the Cosmic Cube and called it DONE!

Now that I look at it, though, I think I like the black-and-white version of the picture more than the colorized version. Sigh...

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This was done digitally in PhotoShop.

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DC Special #29 - Cover Replica

DC Special #29

Here is the original cover by Neal Adams.

Well, I **FINALLY** finished this GIANT cover re-creation for my pal, Jim, from Jimmy Jams.  I've been working on this thing for far too long--it's been yet another albatross around my neck for the past few months.  Mostly, I'm just glad to have this off my easel.  Now I can FINALLY get around to finishing up a few other projects I've had to set aside to get this thing done.  :-)

One reason this cover (which was one of Jim's favorites from his childhood) took so long is that it is just crazy: You've got Hitler, Nazi atom bombs, Valkyrie mounted on flying horses, the Atom punching out one of the horses, and just so much more.  To me, this cover is just a crowded mess.  But, oh, well.  Sometimes, there's no accounting for taste.  :-)

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STEP ONE:  I glued a sheet of (140#) Stonehenge paper, which is 100% cotton, to a 20" x 30" (that's 50.8cm x 76.2cm to those of you who use the Metric System) sheet of hard board/medium density fiberboard.  I then used a mixture of gesso and size (glue) to serve as a ground to the painting.  I then gridded out the drawing and drew in the larger parts of the picture.

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STEP TWO:  Using acrylic paint, I began to lay in large swaths of color.  Trying to match all the various gradients in the background is also a real pain in the butt.

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STEP THREE:  After adding a bit more paint, I began lettering.  Bleh, I **HATE** lettering... it always takes me so long to get it done and it still only looks half-assed.

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STEP FOUR:  Well, after countless hours, here is the finished, ginormous re-creation of the cover.  After I finished all the under-coloring for figures and lettering, I did all the linework over top.  Once done, I sprayed it with a varnish and UV protectant and took it in to Jim.  

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This was done with acrylic paint on 20" x 30" gessoed Stonehenge paper glued to hardboard.

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Repaneled Blog - RIP

First, it was COVERED, and now REPANELED.  It is sad to see a second blog I regularly visited (and submitted to) go away.

But, I want to take a few moments to personally thank Anthony Vukojevich for the opportunity to show my work on his REPANELED Blog.  It was the first blog I ever posted to (other than my own, of course) and really helped launch my own, modest blog--it brought my first significant bump in traffic, so you all know who to blame, now.  Also, I cannot read a comic book any longer without thinking somewhere in the back of my mind "Hey, that panel would be a GREAT submission to REPANELED" (and will continue to do so, even now that it is gone).  Granted, that list of comic book panels under consideration was astronomically long--and continually growing--and I was just getting ready to work on my next couple submissions when Anthony announced it was the end of his blog.

I am sure I will continue to redo/update panels as the muse strikes me, but it just won't be the same without REPANELED, alas.  I mean, what good is showing off if no one is there to see you, right?  :-)

Again, queue the sad Hulk music as we walk down memory lane...  Below are all my submissions to REPANELED, and a link to the process for those who are interested.

Batman: Year One #1

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Detective Comics #32

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Tales to Astonish #63

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Animal Man #19

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Eternal #18

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Fantastic Four #5

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ROM #1

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Action Comics #544

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Thanks and best of luck, Anthony!  I owe you a LOT!  REPANELED will be greatly missed!  :-)

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Happy Halloween! - Zombie Dark Phoenix (Redux)

Happy Halloween!

OK, this one probably looks familiar to those who have visited the blog before.  It is pretty much the same as the drawing I did last year for Halloween of ZOMBIE DARK PHOENIX... but, this time, I flipped the pose around, did it in black and white acrylic paint, and got around to digitally coloring it.

For those interested in the process... well, you know the drill and keep readin'...  :-)

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STEP ONE:  Here is a real quick pencil layout on 9" x 12" sized and gessoed 1/8" masonite.  I wasn't completely happy with the pose and modified it a bit while I was painting it...

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STEP TWO:  Here is the black-and-white acrylic painting.  I took a digital photo of the painting and imported it into Photoshop to clean it up and to do some digital coloring.

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STEP THREE:  I added a MULTIPLY Layer and then put in a gradient.  I then added some flat color so I could create and Save some Selection Areas, which is why some of the coloring on the sash and Phoenix symbols are colored a little off-key--it is easier to select each part separately, and then recolor it once I save it as a Selection area.  I saved selections for the HEAD, BODY, GLOVES/BOOTS, SASH, and PHOENIX SYMBOLS.  I could then select them and add highlights without having to worry about the colors running over into something else I just colorized--I use the Saved Selections as a quick-and-dirty masked areas.

For fun, here is both MULTIPLY Layer with flat color over top the painting, and the colored MULTIPLY Layer by itself for comparison.

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STEP FOUR:  After looking at it a little bit, I thought it looked a little muddy and dark, so I decided to lighten and black-and-white painting a bit more.  I also digitally extended the top a little bit more, as the (undead) Phoenix Force was cropped a little close to the top-edge of the board.  

Here are the finished black-and-white layer, as well as the color plate.

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STEP FIVE:  And here is everything all put together.  I added another one or two layers for highlights and a few other odds and ends, then lightened the picture just a little bit more and Saved it.

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Done with acrylic paint on 9" x 12" sized and gessoed masonite panel, and digital coloring in Photoshop.

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Repaneled: Action Comics #544

Brainiac - "Rebirth"

Here is the original panel, written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Gil Kane.

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And here's my submission to the REPANELED site.

Brainiac is one of the great Superman villains (probably my favorite, offhand), and the robotic version of Brainiac was awesome (although, I also have a great fondness for the green-skinned alien with diodes in his head, so I was glad to see his return of late, as well).  I may have to do some more panels from this story in the future...  :-)

And, for those interested, here's the process:

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the image on 6" x 9" piece of Stonehenge (#140) paper, which was attached to a 6" x 9" piece of 1/4" medium density fiberboard with some size/glue.

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STEP TWO:  Here's a start on the watercolor, after about one hour or so...

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished watercolor painting.  I then scanned it into Photoshop.

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STEP FOUR:  Using Photoshop, I added an air-brush effect to make the birthing chamber look more like glass.  I also darkened the edges to put more focus on baby Brainiac.  I also made the eye flat red in color as I think it give more emphasis to that area and draw the eye in to that focal point.

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STEP FIVE:  Here's the final image as it was when I originally finished it.  I went back-and-forth, but in the end decided to crop a bit off the top,  as it seemed extraneous (and put even more focus on baby Brainiac), and submitted it to REPANELED.

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Done with watercolor on 6" x 9" Stonehenge Paper and digitally touched up.

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Covered Blog: RIP

Hola!  I would like to take a few moments to personally thank fellow blogger, Robert Goodin, from the COVERED Blog.  He has decided to close up shop and move on to pursue other works for the time being and I want to wish him the best of luck.  

I used to go to his blog almost daily and look at all the great submissions (and even managed to get a few of my own posted) and it will be greatly missed.  I have discovered a great many other artists who's work I follow, and fellow travelers that I see on various art blogs out there ("Hail and well met!").  The blog will still be up, but no new posts will be updated.

It is weird for me to think about who all may have seen my work on his blog--there were several professionals who had their work featured and regularly dropped by the blog (Joe Jusko, for example, posted on his RIP post)... so the idea that Joe Jusko--and others who's work I greatly admire--may have actually seen some of my work fills me with both an immense amount of joy, and more than a little bit of terror to be judged by some of the greats out there.  And I could always count on a bump in traffic to my modest ol' blog whenever something of mine was posted.

There are still a LOT of covers that I would like to redo in the future, and it will be too bad that I won't have an opportunity to post them on his blog.  Oh, I'll still post 'em here, but it just won't be the same.  :-)

Queue the sad music as we walk down memory lane, here are my submissions to the COVERED BLOG:

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Miracle Man #1 

I actually did this painting long before I knew there was a Covered Blog.  Once I found out about it, I added the logo so I could submit it.  Here's the LINK to the page on my blog.

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Yummy Fur #18

This was the first one I did specifically for the Covered Blog.  Here's a LINK to the process I used to create the cover.

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Detective Comics #31

This was originally a birthday present to a friend of mine (Hey, Dave! :-).  Robert saw it on my blog and asked if he could post it on Covered.  OF COURSE!  Here is a LINK to the post on my site.

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Action Comics #256

And here's a LINK to the post on my Blog.

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Thanks, again, Robert!  I wish you the very best of luck, and your Blog will be greatly missed!  :-)

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Celestials (Ziran)

CELESTIALS - Ziran the Tester

Here is the entry in the Marvel Handbook.

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Here's my version for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

Well, here it is, the last of the Celestials in the Marvel Handbook.  Sorry for the bit of a document dump, but I finished them all at almost the same time, alas.

 Now that I look at them all, while I think they turned out OK, I now sorta of wish I would have done something more with them.  Pushed things a bit more.  But, with the size constraints for the Celestials (they were only a 1/4 page for each entry), I wasn't sure how much that would have shown up as I wasn't sure if they were going to be displayed the same way when posted to the OHTTMU:RE blog.  So, I kept things a bit more simplified than I usually would.

I will definitely be revisiting the Celestials again in the future.  They are one of those things which captured my imagination when I first read "The Eternals" back as a teenager, when I found them in the Back-Issue Bin for a quarter each.  

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the image on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" piece of cardstock with a .5mm mechanical pencil with 2B lead. 

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STEP TWO:  The inks are done with a .3mm Copic Marker for the outlines, with a brush and ink to add a little more line weight.  I then scanned it into Photoshop and cleaned the line work up a bit.

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STEP THREE:  Once cleaned up in Photoshop, I copied the layer and set it to MULTIPLY to color it.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Celestials (Eson)

CELESTIALS - Eson the Searcher

Here is the entry in the Marvel Handbook.

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Here's my version for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

I really like the visual of Eson the Searcher--the helmet he wears looks like he has six eyes.  I'm not so sure about his color scheme of brick red and lime-green, through.  :-)

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the image on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" piece of cardstock with a .5mm mechanical pencil with 2B lead. 

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STEP TWO:  The inks are done with a .3mm Copic Marker for the outlines, with a brush and ink to add a little more line weight.  I then scanned it into Photoshop and cleaned the line work up a bit.

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STEP THREE:  Once cleaned up in Photoshop, I copied the layer and set it to MULTIPLY to color it.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Celestials (Hargen)

CELESTIALS - Hargen the Measurer

Here is the entry in the Marvel Handbook.

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Here's my version for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

Hargen the Measurer... Um, I'm running out of things to say about each Celestial.  :-)

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the image on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" piece of cardstock with a .5mm mechanical pencil with 2B lead. 

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STEP TWO:  The inks are done with a .3mm Copic Marker for the outlines, with a brush and ink to add a little more line weight.  I then scanned it into Photoshop and cleaned the line work up a bit.

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STEP THREE:  Once cleaned up in Photoshop, I copied the layer and set it to MULTIPLY to color it.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Celestials (Oneg)

CELESTIALS - Oneg the Prober

Here is the entry in the Marvel Handbook.

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Here's my version for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

Oneg the Prober (must not... make joke... about probing...) sort of looked like a sad SCUBA diver to me. 

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the image on a 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" piece of cardstock with a .5mm mechanical pencil with 2B lead. 

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STEP TWO:  The inks are done with a .3mm Copic Marker for the outlines, with a brush and ink to add a little more line weight.  I then scanned it into Photoshop and cleaned the line work up a bit.

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STEP THREE:  Once cleaned up in Photoshop, I copied the layer and set it to MULTIPLY to color it.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in Photoshop.

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