RELAUNCHED - Watchmen Too: The Squid

Watchmen Too - The Squid

With the new Watchmen sequels/prequels being launched by DC (I'll give 'em a shot and see what happens), the great Relaunched site is doing their own versions of Watchmen Too.  Being such a big fan of Watchmen, I thought I'd play along. 

If you ask me, one of coolest characters from "Watchmen", after Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach, was The Squid--which is why I was so disappointed it didn't get a chance to be seen in the movie... well, aside from the acronym S.Q.U.I.D., but that really doesn't count, IMHO. 

Here's the text portion of my story submission:

Engineered from the cloned brain of a telepath, The Squid is the centerpiece in Adrian Veidt’s plan to save the world from itself.

Within the tank, The Squid grows, reaching self-awareness and begins to develop its burgeoning psychic powers.  The Squid learns Veidt is planning to teleport it into the heart of New York City, killing millions, with the hope of preventing World War III and saving billions.  The Squid is to be the savior of mankind, a role it gradually accepts.

Using its growing psychic abilities, The Squid begins to direct Veidt's geneticists how to build a better monster and correcting any errors they make.  It also telepathically suggests to Veidt how best to carry out his plans, as well as people who may stand in his way--and how he may have to deal with those people.

The Squid was created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

But, you may be asking yourself, how did The Squid "influence" Veidt before he was created?  Just to tie everything up in a nice, little bow: part of ending to the story would involve The Squid using the time-traveling particles, Tachyons, to send a telepathic message to Veidt back in time, giving him the idea to build the Squid in the first place. The Squid also suggests that The Comedian will have to be killed when he finds out about it, which starts "The Watchmen" storyline going in the first place.

Well, on the the steps used to create this monstrosity...  :-)

* * * * *

STEP ONE:  I used a 7-1/2" x 10" piece of 102 Crescent Illustration Board, primed with a mixture of size (glue) and gesso.  I then did the painting from black and white acrylic paint.  Once finished, I through it on my scanner and imported it into PhotoShop.

* * * * *

STEP TWO:  In PhotoShop, I created a new layer set to "Multiply" and laid down the flat colors.

* * * * *

STEP THREE:  On the "Multiply" layer, I added highlights and shadows (Save often, kids!).  On a new layer, I also added the highlighted reflections on The Squids eye.  I also used the "Blur" filter to the sides around the eye to shift focus to the eye, itself.

* * * * *

STEP FOUR:  I cropped the cover a little on the sides and added the logo and side panel to bring it in line with the "Watchmen" prequels/sequels and called it "Done!"

* * * * *

Acrylic paint on 7-1/2" x 10" Crescent illustration board digitally colored in PhotoShop.

.

The Breakfast Club (Count Chocula)

Count Chocula 

Next up for the Monster Cereal characters, here's Count Chocula.  I had re-watched the 1922 classic, "Nosferatu", this past Halloween (IMHO, one of the creepiest versions of a vampire yet put on screen), so it was obvious for Count Chocula to be modeled after him, of course.  As the movie was relatively fresh in my mind, I didn't bother with any photo references this time around, either.

For those interested in the process, well, you know the drill... :-)

* * * * * 

STEP ONE:  I used a mixture of gesso and size (glue) on a 5" x 7-1/2" piece of Crescent 102 illustration board.  I then drew out the image with vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, and carbon pencil, using a kneaded eraser to lift out any highlights, or to lighten an area (although, many times, I use the kneaded eraser to draw almost as much as my pencils/charcoal).  Once finished, I imported it into PhotoShop.

* * * * *

STEP TWO:  In PhotoShop, I created a new layer set to "Multiply" and did a linear gradient from a lighter brown on the bottom to a darker brown on the top.

* * * * *

STEP THREE:  To keep everything monochromatic, on the gradient layer I did highlights with light browns and white, and shadows with darker browns.  I really tried to push the darks and lights, to give it more of a sense of forced drama--trying to give it a little bit of the movie "Nosferatu" feel to it.

* * * * *

This was done with charcoal and carbon pencil on a 5" x 7-1/2" Crescent 102 illustration board, then colored digitally in PhotoShop.

.

The Breakfast Club (Booberry)

BooBerry

Continuing on with the re-imagining of the Monster Cereal characters, here's BooBerry.  I pictured him as more of an undead zombie/ghost in a rumpled fedora and bow tie.  Again, no real photo references and, again, it probably shows.

Here's the process for those who are interested... And, if you aren't, why are you still reading this?  :-)

* * * * *

STEP ONE:  Once more, I used a mixture of gesso and size (glue) on a 5" x 7-1/2" piece of Crescent 102 illustration board (I have a bunch of 10" x 15" pieces that I cut into quarters).  I then used vine charcoal and carbon pencil to draw out BooBerry.  To give it more of a ghostly/ethereal look to it, I left a few more lost and softened edges, and also left many areas in low contrast.  Once it was done, I scanned it into my computer and imported it into PhotoShop. 

* * * * *

STEP TWO:  In PhotoShop, I created a new layer set to "Multiply" and did a linear gradient from a lighter blue on the bottom to a darker blue on the top. 

* * * * *

STEP THREE:  Next, I did some highlights with white and light blue on the gradient layer, along with some darker blue shadows.  Finally, I created a new layer on top set to "Normal" and used white to push some highlights on his face.

* * * * *

This was done with charcoal and carbon pencil on a 5" x 7-1/2" Crescent 102 illustration board, then colored digitally in PhotoShop.

.

The Breakfast Club (Frankenberry)

Frankenberry

One of the ways I'm hoping to do more posts on this blog is to do little things between the bigger projects I'm currently working on.  While doodling, I thought it would be amusing to do a re-imagining of the Monster Cereal characters; in this case Frankenberry as a literal (literary?) Frankenstein's Monster.  

I didn't bother with a reference picture in this case (and it may show), but I think it has an almost Fritz Lang sort of feel to it.  

Here's the process for those who are interested....

* * * * *

STEP ONE:  I used a mixture of gesso and size (glue) on a 5" x 7-1/2" piece of Crescent 102 illustration board.  Then I drew Frankenberry with charcoal and carbon pencil.  The gesso/glue mixture had a good tooth to it so the charcoal worked well.  Also, you could really lift off the charcoal if needed and erase almost back to the white underneath.  In this case, it was small enough to throw on my scanner and import it into PhotoShop.

* * * * *

STEP TWO:  In PhotoShop, I created a new layer set to "Multiply", which will save the line work and shading while overlaying color over top.  I did a simple linear gradient from a light magenta on the bottom, to a darker magenta on the top to match the lighting from below.

* * * * *

STEP THREE:  Next, I did some highlights with white and light magenta on the gradient layer, pushed a few shadows with a dark magenta on a separate "Multiply" layer, and a few little touch-ups and final highlights on the top layer set to "Normal".  I figured it was good enough and here it is.

* * * * *

This was done with charcoal and carbon pencil on a 5" x 7-1/2" Crescent 102 illustration board, then colored digitally in PhotoShop.

.