March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #8

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Alas, it's the final submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog for 2022.  I still had about a half-dozen or more ideas for M.O.D.O.K. that I just didn't have time to get to this year--so here's looking to next year.

This time around, it's M.O.D.O.K. as the giant, floating head from the 1974 movie, "Zardoz".  It actively earns it reputation as a strange, oblique, and did I say strange? film.  It's best known for the meme-able picture of Sean Connery wearing what looks like a red diaper with matching bandoliers while holding a pistol.  Another famous bit from the movie is where the giant, stone head floats over the landscape intoning "The gun is good.  The penis is evil." while it vomits up rifles and bullets.  So, it has that going for it.  If you're into weird movies, this is one.

I considered doing Captain America ala Sean Connery's red diaper, but it would have been a little too small at scale.  Well, that and was running out of time.  Although, maybe I have a half-dozen +1 ideas for next year.  Hmmm... 

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STEP ONE:  Here's the original, 30-second quick doodle that became the idea for digital painting which was done in the digital margins of the page I was figuring out the "Marto Saga" (see previous posts... or the next one tomorrow where I combine 'em all together and include the original notes and behind the scenes buffoonery).  Not that the idea was all that grand... it was just "Hey, what if one if that giant head from "Zardoz" (1974) was shaped like M.O.D.O.K.?"  So, I guess I can't claim it's all that deep of an idea.

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STEP TWO:  In ArtStudio Pro, I created a document of 2048px x 2732px @ 300dpi on a tan colored canvas.  Then, I used on of the digital oil painting brushes and just did a quick, general layout with the background on one layer, the head on a separate layer, and the poorly scrawled lettering on another (which was just used as placeholder for the composition until I could do the "real" lettering later on in Clip Studio Paint).  Hmmm, I should do these real quick studies more often--they are really good practice.

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STEP THREE:  This one is the second pass with ye olde digital brushes, where I'm tightening up the painting and working in some details.  Oh, and for the word balloon, I thought having it be 100% white was just too distracting, as the rest of the digital painting was full of grays and generally duller hues, so I went with a 50% opacity.

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STEP FOUR:  And here's the finished digital painting.  I quick-exported the images as .png files for minimal loss of image quality (well, without resorting to a ginormous file size), which I then opened in Clip Studio Paint so I could put in the lettering, which I then exported again--this time as .jpg's.  Yeah, it's a weird process I setup for this one, but it worked, I guess.

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This was done digitally in ArtStudio Pro on the iPad, with an assist in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #7

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Well, it took a little longer than planned, but here it is—the finale of the “Marto Saga” (with the term "Saga" being increasingly misapplied to this story, of course), featuring slaps, Mind Blasts, and exploding heads.  Gross!  And the return of the two rogue A.I.M. Beekeepers who don’t want to be stuck cleaning up the mess (not that I blame them!). 

Stop on by March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog and say "Hi!"

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STEP ONE:  Here is are digital pencils, scribbled on a 2,000px x 3,000px @300dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks.  I thought it would be amusing to include Brendan and Pedro again, the guys that run the "March M.O.D.O.K. Madness" Blog--this time fully suited in the A.I.M. beekeeper suits, with their beards sticking out from the bottom of the helmets.

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STEP THREE:  Here is the finished page and the even more finished storyline for Marto.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #6

 March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's March M.O.D.O.K. Madness: Marto Saga Part III!  In this case, it makes the term "Saga" even more of a stretch with M.O.D.O.K. and Marto having a Mortal Combat-style slap fight.  And, yes, almost all the dialog--if you can call it that--should be read in the manner of the classic Mortal Combat video game voice-over preceding each "FIGHT!"

I also thought it was funny to end each page with "What the #$&@^!"  And, in this case, who better to do that than Brendan and Pedro, who run the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog?

Head on over and give 'em a look!

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STEP ONE:  The digital pencils were originally done on a Post-It Note size scribble.  I then blew up those quick scribbles on a 2,000px x 3,000px @ 300dpi canvas, which I set to a blue pencil layer (I added the last panel with caricatures of Brendan and Pedro as an after-thought on the actual pencil page).

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STEP TWO:  Here are the digital inks.  I did the word "FIGHT!" in Affinity Designer and added it in on a separate layer.  The rest of the lettering was done in Clip Studio Paint, with the *$%#! grawlix hand drawn.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished piece.  Onward to the last page of this (ahem) "Saga"...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint with an assist from Affinity Designer.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #5

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Hey, it's Part II of "The Marto Saga", my next submission for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness.  Although, I think we all know the term "Saga" is a horrible misapplication of the term.

Again, here's a link to the comic book story in question ["The Menace of MARTO" by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; "Blue Bolt" Vol. 1, #6 (1940)] is in the public domain and you can read it here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17624

And here's the link to March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog-- Go give them a visit!

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STEP ONE:  The digital pencils, done on a 2,000px x 3,000px @300dpi on a canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  I also included the shrunken and warped the covers of "Blue Bolt #6" to vaguely fit. 

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STEP THREE:  And here is the finished cartoon, with various bits of color and whatnot added.  On to Part III of the "Marto Saga"...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #4

 March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Here's yet another submission, spamming its way to the  March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!  This time, M.O.D.O.K. learns of MARTO!  That's right, MARTO, Jack Kirby's other gigantic noggin, mechano-cart riding, big-brain creation (with a suspiciously similar name) which he drew about 15 years prior to M.O.D.O.K. will be making an appearance, with this being Part One of a Four Part Saga!  Much silliness will ensue (and it will be silly!).  OK, it will be silly, but the real question is whether it will be any good?  Fair question; I guess we'll all find out together... 

BTW, the comic book story in question ["The Menace of MARTO" by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; "Blue Bolt" Vol. 1, #6 (1940)] is in the public domain and you can read it here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=17624

Time to get started on Part Two!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the original thumbnails I doodled--probably the size of a Post-It Note on a M.O.D.O.K. based sketch pages I setup in Clip Studio Paint.  I blew these up and used them generally as the pencils and inks.  I copied and pasted this into a new 2,000px x 3,000px @300dpi document in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  I made some minor changes to the initial scribbles, and was going to re-draw the comic pages--but, then got the idea to just use the covers/panels directly in the cartoon, just to give a look at Kirby's original version of Marto.  Also, the comic is in the Public Domain, so why not give it a little love by including a small piece of it and possibly stir up some interest?

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STEP THREE:  And the color.  Yeah, the comic book panels in the middle of the page are just my very quick, three minute redos of the panels with bright colors to give an impression of the two pages from the comic.  Those were actually pretty fun to do.  On to Page Two...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #3

 March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Here is the next submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!  This time, it's like a giant bobble head meets Baron Harkonnen from "Dune".  I'm not sure why, the the initial sketch amused me... and now here we are.

Onward to the next one!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the really chunky digital pencils.  It started as a small, digital doodle, which I just copy-and-pasted into Clip Studio Paint and then scaled up.

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks, which I thought I would also keep a little on the chunky side, as well, just to give it slightly cartoonish and whimsical feel to it.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the colors, done with a series of brushes over a few different layers.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #2

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Here's the second post for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022.  In this case, it is a bit of a cheat, in that it is a commission I did earlier in the year [name redacted to protect the guilty] who wanted a mash-up of M.O.D.O.K. and the aliens from "They Live" (1988).  Two great things which go great together--like chocolate and peanut butter!  Or, in this case, two great things which are exactly in my wheelhouse!  

I figured it was be best to sit on this one for a while and post it during March M.O.D.O.K. Madness.  Speaking of, here's the link to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit--or even make a M.O.D.O.K. based submission!

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STEP ONE:  Here's the original sketches for the commission, just to start getting a feel for the mash-up and try to get it balanced.  He decided to go with a more traditional M.O.D.O.K. appearance, with more of a throw back to the original Jack Kirby design, as well as having the alien from "They Live" have hair like the alien politician; I was quite happy to go with both suggestions.

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STEP TWO:  And here's the final digital pencils for the commission.  I then printed it out in blue-line (25% opacity) on a 9" x 12" piece of Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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STEP THREE:  This was the first pass with acrylic paint.  I also decided M.O.D.O.K. needed more signs on his Mechno-Chair with the signature subliminal messages from "The Live".

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STEP FOUR:  And, after a lot of back-and-forth with layers upon layers of paint, here's the finished painting.  Also, it's been a while since I complained about lettering: I don't like it.  If I were smart, I would have just printed it all out and then pasted it down using Matte Medium.  Of course, I'm not very smart, so I traced out the letters and hand-painted them.

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 9" x 12" Canson XL (#140) watercolor paper.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022 #1

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2022
(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Hey, it's March already, which can only mean one thing as far as I'm concerned:
MARCH M.O.D.O.K. MADNESS!

Here's the first of what I hope will be many, many submissions to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog.  Go over and pay them a visit to see some of the other artists who also enjoy the exploits of everyone's favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the very quickly scribbled digital pencils using the Symmetry Tool, and then the rough lettering done over top with a digital ink pen.

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STEP TWO:  And here are digital inks, also just quickly done.  Once I had the loose ink drawing done, I started digital painting his head underneath.  When I got the first pass done, I dropped the ink lines down onto the painting to integrate it into the brushwork to come.

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished digital painting.  After that, I did up the lettering, which is behind.  There was also a white outline around the lettering. 

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STEP FOUR:  And here's the finished painting.  To get the white outline and lose the color of the lettering took an embarrassing amount of trial-and-error.  I think it went through "Rasterize" the layer, then moving the Layer Property to "Screen".  On to the next one!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint

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