Saturday, January 23, 2021

Batman-uary: Rainbow Batman

Batman-uary
Rainbow Batman

That's right, I'm still trying a bit too hard to make a dumb portmanteau of "Batman" and "January" into "Batman-uary" a thing.

Anyways, so many Silver Age Batman costumes to choose from... How 'bout Rainbow Batman?   No, really--Batman had to wear a rainbow version of his costume to... Oh, never mind.  You wouldn't believe me if I told you.  It involves wearing the various colorful costumes to draw attention away from Robin and toward himself while hunting down mobsters.  I'll leave it at that.

It's Rainbow Batman in action from "Detective Comics #241" (1957) and the cover to "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #2"

So, another mash-up with a "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" cover--this time Issue #2.  Speaking of #2, is it just me or in this cover does Batman look like he is just really, really constipated?  (Yeah, I put the "assy" in "Classy"...)  The mash-up between the Dark and Gritty Batman and Rainbow Batman costume amused me.  Once again proving it really doesn't take much to amuse me at all.

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STEP ONE:  I created a 3,000px x 4,500px @ 600dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint and here are the digital pencils on a Blue-Line Layer.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the inks and grayscale shadows...

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STEP THREE:  The colors overtop in a series of layers.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Saturday, January 16, 2021

Batman-uary: Bat-Baby

Batman-uary
Bat-Baby

Ah, the Silver-Age of comics... back when Batman could be turned into a baby (well, in this case, a child about four-years old) and still go out and fight crime in the dark streets of Gotham.  Sure, why not?  It's Batman #147 (1962), wherein one of the stories, 'Batman Becomes Bat-Baby", features a sci-fi ray which de-ages Batman into the titular Bat-Baby.  It's exactly the kind of story you would expect it to be.

The original covers to Batman #147 (1962) and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns #1 (1986)

Yes, this is an actual panel from Batman #147

It's Bat-Baby, complete with short-pants and suspenders--this time as a parody of the iconic "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" first issue cover.  Again, sure, why not?  It amuses me... and Lord knows it doesn't take much to amuse me.

There are so, so many different Batman costumes and transformations from which to choose--some of which I shall highlight in January.  It's another dumb thing I'm starting that I'm sure will become another yearly tradition on my even dumberer Blog--like the Unwanted Valentines, March M.O.D.O.K. Madness, 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween, Sithmas, and so forth.  Ugh, I think I'm trying too hard.

For all those people who complain about whether something is canon or not... it's a Fool's Game.  Just enjoy the parts you like, ignore the parts you don't; both will be changed in the future, for better or worse.

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STEP ONE: I created a 3,000px x 4,500px canvas at 600dpi in Clip Studio Paint and did the digital pencils in a light blue layer color.  The composition seems so weird to me, without the sky and lightning in the background.

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STEP TWO:  Here are the inks.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the colors, including the iconic lightning background.  I could have gone with the silhouette, but that would sort of obscure the fact it is supposed to be Bat-Baby, which is kind of the purpose of this mad exercise...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.
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Saturday, January 9, 2021

MF Doom

MF Doom

OK, show of hands: who likes audio clips of the 1960's "Fantastic Four" cartoons with their Hip-Hop?  Or skits using sound clips from "Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero" and "Scooby Doo, Where Are You"?  When it comes to music, my tastes are pretty wide-ranging.  I like to say I listen to everything from Abba to Zappa, and things which would either bore you to death and scare the life out of you.  (Humble Brag: I even have a friend who is making some of the music to scare the life out of you... but more on that at a later date--Shout out to Joel.  ;-)

Quite a while ago, I stumbled across MF Doom--at the time he was one of the few singers/songwriters that reveled in his comic book kitsch and nerdiness on his albums and it drew me in.  I mean, he had Doctor Doom with a mic on his first MF Doom release; c'mon, how could I resist?  His albums are smooth and flowing, off kilter rhyme schemes, and the way they fit together all kept me listening.  And those audio clips from "Fantastic Four" and "Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero"... chef's kiss!  To me, they are the special sauce in the albums.

Daniel Dumile (aka MF Doom / Viktor Vaughn / King Geedorah) died on Halloween 2020, but his death wasn't announced until December 31, 2020.  I figured he was nominally connected to my nerdly interests, so I thought I'd do up an In Memoriam for him.  He even got a shout out on "Democracy Now with Amy Goodman" news cast, so that was mildly surprising about his reach.  He worked around the edges of pop culture, but a surprising number of people knew his work.

My personal favs: "Operation: Doomsday" (1999), "Take Me to Your Leader" (as King Geedorah) (2003), "Madvillainy" (with Madlib) (2004), and "Mm.. Food (2004)".

He also sent out Doombots to perform for him sometimes if he didn't want to do a show... which is exactly something Dr. Doom would do.  Sure, if I paid to see him and it was a Doombot instead, I'd be more than a little ticked off, but I also have a part of me that would kinda admire the grift.  He **DID** model his character on a super-villain, after all.  And Doombots are straight out of the "Fantastic Four", so there's that, too.

BTW, I can't be the only one who was surprised (and a little disappointed) that the "MF" in MF Doom was for "Metal Fingers" and "Metal Face", rather than something Samuel Jackson would say on a plane that had some sort of slithering reptiles on board.

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STEP ONE I did a very light blue pencil sketch on 9" x 12" Daler-Rowney The Langton Prestige Watercolor Paper - Hot Press (#140), then went over it with blue ink and crowquill.  

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STEP TWO:  Here is the first coat of watercolor, just to give the next layers something to "stick" to.

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STEP THREE:  I realized I should have the coat and background be green to go more with Doctor Doom visual aesthetic.  Also, in the original picture reference, his left cheek was obscured by faux fur of the collar on the coat and it didn't read right.  So, I'd better draw that in...  Also, that background seemed like it would work better as light, so time to bust out the Titanium White.

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STEP FOUR:  Several coats of paint and a left jawline later, it was mostly done.  There were a few things which I still wanted to adjust, but was out of town.  So, out comes the iPad to fix some of the lines needed to be gone over, minor adjustments to the eyes, a few areas to darken a bit more, and the textured airbrush to focus more attention to the center of the painting.

I was somehow hoping to integrate the blue ink drawing into the painting a bit more, but that was largely... mixed in results.

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Done with watercolor/gouache on 9" x 12" Daler-Rowney The Langton Prestige Watercolor Paper - Hot Press (#140) and minor digital touch-ups in ArtStudio Pro.

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Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Happy (Belated) New Year 2021...

Happy New Year 2021!

My first post of the New Year... It still has that New Year smell and everything!  Better late than never, I guess.  Anyhoo, here's to hoping a New Year sweeps clean!

I want to take a few moments to thank everyone who has stopped by and gawked at my modest Blog.  Any attention is greatly appreciated!  (Wait, did that sound half of desperate as it seemed as I wrote it out?  Nah, couldn't be...)  Thank you, all!

I hope everyone stays safe and well this year!

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STEP ONE:  Here's the original rough idea, scribbled in Clip Studio Paint on the iPad.  I used a 1,500px x 2,250px document @ 600dpi.  It was going to be a far more of a straight up parody cover of "Fantastic Four #49", with various notes to myself.  This is definitely an early version when I was still kicking ideas around, so it's more of a peek behind the curtain.  Also, you get to see some of the lame jokes you missed!  Bullet dodged!

The way it played out in my head was to have Galactus as the stand in for 2021 destroying the previous, cursed year of 2020.  Hence the 2-0-2-0 on the chests of each of the Fantastic Four.

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STEP TWO:  After a lot of other noodling about (including entertaining other well-known comic covers to parody), I decided just focus on the more iconic part of the cover, with Galactus towering over the New Year.  Also, the "2-0-2-1" seemed to not show up very well, so I went with replacing the Fantastic Four with the actual numbers to spell out the year, but still left them with their arms and legs.  So, here's the digitally inked page.

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STEP THREE:  And, many color layers later, here's the finished pic.  I even remembered to write 2021... which I usually don't remember to write the New Year until mid-June, most of the time.  (Sadly, not kidding as much as I would like.  Sigh...)  ;-)

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint on an iPad Pro.

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