Covered: Action Comics #256

Action Comics #256

Here is the original cover by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye.

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And here is my version of the cover I submitted to Robert at the Covered Blog.  I was VERY tempted to create this as a watercolor/gouache or acrylic painting in a pulp magazine style, but I just didn't have the time at the moment.  Besides, doing some of the colorized pen-and-ink posts for the Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Reduxe Edition reminded me how fun it is doing stuff "Old-School".  Well, as "Old School" as scanning in an inked drawing and colorizing it in PhotoShop can be, anyways.  ;-)

I have a great fondness for the Silver-Age covers and stories.  They have great creativity with their premise mixed in with an underlying, "goofy" charm which borders on amazing pop-surrealism.

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled and inked the drawing on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.  Then scanned it in and cleaned it up.

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STEP TWO:  I imported it into PhotoShop, created a MULTIPLY Layer over the pen-and-ink image, and then applied the flat color layers.

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STEP THREE:  For this step I did a little bit more than I usually do.  I created a new MULTIPLY Layer and did a gradient from white in the center to purple at the edge for a radial focus on the picture.  I erased the gradient over top of Lois, so she would stand out a bit more from the background.  I used the BURN Tool in PhotoShop to darken the edge of the glass bell jar Superman is standing in.  I lightened the two striped on either side of Superman and added a NORMAL Layer to build up a glass-looking highlight with white and light blue.  I then went back to the original color flat layer and started adding lights and shadows.

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STEP FOUR:  I added the lettering and called it "DONE!"

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock and colored digitally

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A mildly amusing afterward: I was listening to Kevin Smith's Podcast (SModcast: Episode #221 - Orlando Calrissian--definitely NSFW) while working on coloring this drawing.  He played his Q and A from the Star Wars Celebration IV in Orlando, FL, and mentioned in an offhand way how great it was to be able to direct both Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"

After Kevin Smith said that, I looked at my drawing and, seeing the giant fist on Superman's right-hand, realized that I had just drawn Superman as the Cock-Knocker -- the super-villain in the movie played by Mark Hamill who, well, the name sort of says it all...

POW!  Right in the nads... :-X

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Covered: Dectective Comics #31

DETECTIVE COMICS #31

A somewhat mildly amusing story about this one...  I wasn't too sure if I was going to submit this to Robert's greatly entertaining Covered Blog or not.  On the one hand, it seems like a good fit for his blog in that it was a re-interpreted cover, but for some reason I was (and still am) mostly ambivalent about this painting.  Maybe I just stared at it too long on my easel, but something about this painting just left me a bit cold so I was still sort of going back-and-forth if I wanted to submit it to Covered.

Anyway, Robert was kind enough to post a comment asking if he could post it on his blog.  Well, that settled that.  I told him I would throw logo on it and send it to him the next day or day after.  Of course, the very day he asked about this painting, he also got another submission of Detective Comics #31.  What are the odds?  We just sort of shrugged our shoulders and decided to publish mine a little bit later since Andy's submission was technically in first. 

For those of you interested in the process, HERE is the link to my previous post on the subject.

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This was done with Watercolor/Gouache on 12" x 16" Arches Cold Press 

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Birthday Card

Well, to pad my blog a little bit (it was either this or a "On the Easel" posting ;-), I thought I'd post this.  I try to do personalized birthday cards for friends (time permitting).  In this case, I had what I thought was a pretty amusing visual.  The copy... well, I'm not completely happy with it, but thought it was passable.  Oh, well.

I ruled out the panels with a .5mm pen and then used brush-and-ink for the drawing.  I colored it with watercolor over top.  

Click on the pic to embiggen.

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This was done with pen/brush and ink and watercolor on 8-1/2" x 11" Strathmore 300 Bristol Board.

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Wertham (W3RTH@M!)

W3RTH@M!

I came across this while cleaning out a drawer of random stuff and thought I'd post it.  

This was supposed to be an entry for a comic book-related contest a few years back (I think it was something iFanboy was doing just before they relaunched their site, if I remember right).  I found out about the contest the day before it was due, so I whipped this up quick. 

It was supposed to be something about creating a super hero or super villain--something like that.  What better comic book villain than the reanimated, robot corpse of Fredrick Wertham, who almost single-handedly destroyed the comic book industry and authored the poorly-reasoned "Seduction of the Innocent"?  So, I did a leet/1337/133t spelling of his name (y'know, cuz I'm clever like that), gave him a robot body with an undead head, and had him burning a copy of "Action Comics #1.  Comic book evil all the way, baby!

I thought I had it done in plenty of time, however I failed to take the time zone of the contest into consideration and actually missed the deadline by a few hours--it was practically done by the time I found it.  Ah, well. I may yet put W3RTH@M! to use some time in the future.

Speaking of the future, I'm working on a BUNCH of stuff at the moment.  I hope to be posting quite a bit in a couple weeks.  We shall see how that pans out... :-)

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This was done with watercolor on 7" x 10" Stonehenge paper.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Supreme Intelligence

Supreme Intelligence 

Here is the original entry in the "The Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe".

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Here is my version of the Supreme Intelligence to the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION blog. The Supreme Intelligence, a sort of Kree Hive-Mind of their best-and-brightest, has always captured my imagination.  A hyper-intelligent, giant, floating, tentacled head... I mean, what's NOT to find cool about that?

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

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STEP ONE:  On a 12" x 18" piece of 70# Dick Blick sulphite paper, I roughed out the Supreme Intelligence in soft, vine charcoal.

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STEP TWO:  I finished the charcoal drawing (with an assist from some carbon pencil), pushing the shadows and erasing out highlights.

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STEP THREE:  I took a picture with my camera and imported the drawing into PhotoShop.  I adjusted the levels, cropped the drawing, and added a MULTIPLY Layer in PhotoShop.  I then colored over the Supreme Intelligence in a flat, mid-tone green.  For the background, I put in a circular gradient from blue to a red-violet/magenta color. 

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STEP FOUR:  I started going back in to the flat color, adding in highlights and shadows to the mid-toned green until I was vaguely satisfied.  I also added some Kirby Crackle to an OVERLAY Layer.  I decided to call it good and sent if off to Jon's Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION blog.

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This was done with charcoal and carbon pencil on 12" x 18" Dick Blick (70#) Sulphite drawing paper, colored in PhotoShop.

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