Handbook of the Marvel Universe: White Queen / Emma Frost

White Queen / Emma Frost

Here is the original entry for the White Queen / Emma Frost in the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

* * *

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

White Queen/Emma Frost has changed quite a bit since her entry in the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, with her going from a member of the Hellfire Club to helping to lead the X-Men and becoming romantically connected to Scott/Cyclops and all.  So, with this entry, I tried to blend between the old and the new.  I also changed the pose a little bit to make her seem a bit more haughty, aloof, and in control.

Visually, the White Queen has always been interesting (hey, not just for the obvious reasons--and I'll explain those reasons just as soon as I think of 'em!), and part of the challenge is to try and find the right balance drawing a woman with sex appeal without it tipping into juvenile, puerile fantasy.

* * *

STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop with a toned background and used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

* * *

STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing. 

* * *

STEP THREE:  I erased around the figure to remove the gray background and created a MULTIPLY Layer, then began to colorize the figure.  For this one, I did a lot more digital painting on a New Layer for the fur cape and blending some of the lights and highlights.  On the left is the black-and-white drawing after it is colorized over the Multiply Layer, with the highlights and additional digital painting on top of it and finished on the right.  Usually, the difference between the two isn't quite so pronounced, but white colors and highlights tend to be a bit darker and muddy on a Multiply Layer.  Because of that, I decided to use the Multiply Layer as the mid-tones and darks and the New Layer for lights and highlights.

* * *

Created digitally in PhotoShop.

.