Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Siris

Siris

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Siris to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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

This is two of four entries on the OHOTMU page.  Two down, two to go!  :-)

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Here are the pencils, done with blue pencil lead on 8-1/2" x 11" paper.

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Here are the inks, done with PITT brush-nib pen.

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After it was scanned into Photoshop, I used a MULTIPLY LAYER to colorize it.

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Done with Pen-and-Ink on 8-1/2" x 11" paper, colored digitally.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Sirians

Sirians

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Sirians to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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

It is one of four on the page, so the rest of 'em should be coming in over the next few days if all goes as planned (which it never seems to do, of course).  :-)  

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Here are the pencils, done with blue pencil lead on 8-1/2" x 11" paper.  For some reason, pencils always seem to look better than inks to me.  Granted, I'm not the best inker in the world, but I think there is usually more potential in the pencils before the inking "locks" the linework down.  Then again, that may be a high-faulting way to say "My inking really needs work..."  :-)

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Here are the inks, done with PITT brush-nib pen.

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After it was scanned into Photoshop, I used a MULTIPLY LAYER to colorize it.

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Done with Pen-and-Ink on 8-1/2" x 11" paper, colored digitally.

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Big in Japan...

 I was watching some old Gamera movies and this seemed rather obvious... :-)

Click to Embiggen

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For those interested, here's the original pen-and-ink drawing:

This was done with brush-and-ink on 11" x 14" cardstock and scanned into Photoshop.  I colored it digitally--primarily with a chalk brush--over several MULTIPLY Layers.

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Wizard World Chicago Comic Con 2013 (Part 2)

Chicago Comic Con 2013

(Part 2)

Here are some other, random pics from the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con for 2013, Saturday, August 10, 2013.  (Click to embiggen!)

It's-ah Mario, Luigi, and the Princess.

From the Borderlands in the Lobby/Entrance...

Gar-Boys and Gargoyles...
(Ugh!  That pun was TERRIBLE!  But I still used it, of course... :-)

Part of the line for Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon from "Walking Dead").
(He's the one waaayyyy in the back wearing the baseball hat by his name banner.)

My daughter being interviewed for ManCow TV
(She didn't make it onto the final cut, alas.  Better luck next time, Kiddo!  :-)

Zombie Heath Ledger fighting off Zombie Wonder Woman?
(Too soon?)

Zombie Wonder Woman

Lard Lad from "The Simpsons" gets my vote for favorite costume.

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Laaawwwwwwwww....

Firefox!  (Don't tell her I use Chrome Browser by default...)

I prefer to think of this as a Mime with a Blowhorn.
It's funnier that way...  :-)

A bit of some Ultra-Violence from Alex and the gang.

Hammer-Time!

I dunno, but I think that guy on the right may be a little afraid of ghosts, after all...

Mrs. Darth Maul gets an interview...

Hangers on at the 501st Legion Booth. 

Darth Maul, also hanging out at the 501st Booth

Tusken Raiders hide their numbers by...
well, in this case there is only one of them.

Um, sir, your fly is open... Or: XYZ-PDQ!

Aren't you a little short to be a Stormtrooper?

Sif and Friend...

HOLY BATMOBILE, Batman!  Nananananna...

A parting shot on our way out the door.

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Wizard World Chicago Comic Con 2013 (Part 1)

Chicago Comic Con 2013

(Part 1)

Let's all go to the lobby...  Here's where we came in.

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Living in the Mid-West, I've gone to the Chicago Comic Con on-and-off for the past 15 years or so, give-or-take.  The BIG one in San Diego is just too far away, too big, and sold out too quickly.  But, Chicago is a nice-sized show--big enough to draw some known names, but not so big as to be over-whelming.

That said, this year was surprisingly busy.  We went on Saturday, August 10th, 2103, and got there about 11:30am to let the line at the door die down a bit.  However, the joke was on us, as it was almost impossible to find parking in the area and the line still went on for about 75 yards at the door.  Sigh...  Good thing the line moved relatively quickly, so it wasn't too bad--only about 15-20 minutes to get in and through the lines.

I was also pleased to notice that there seemed to be a larger contingent of women at the Comic Con.  There are aspects of Comic Geekdom/Nerdom which can come off a bit "No Girls Allowed!", except as objectified beings with a thong bikini and a beach-worth of silicone.  And, IMHO, the only way for that to change is to have a wider involvement of the female of the species, if you will.  So, I was pleasantly surprised to see that happening.

So, we wandered about for hours, stared at some famous people, checked out Artist Alley (which was expanded this year--something else I was pleasantly surprised at), checked out some of the cool Cosplay going on (and there was LOTS of that this year, too), and just generally gawked at all manner of cool stuff.  

Robert Rodriguez was there with a touring version of Frank Frazetta paintings for a live-action version of "Fire and Ice" he is trying to make, so I got to see 18 of his original paintings.  HOLY CRAP those were cool!

Another view of where we came in...

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A few years back, my kids expressed interest in going to the Chicago Comic Con with me.  My eldest daughter wanted to get autographs from wrestlers, while my youngest was just getting into comics and pop-nerd culture.  And now the kids kinda sorta hide their shame of being seen with me and public and almost look forward to going with me to Comic Con.  Whodathunkit?  :-)

Each year we've gone to Chicago Comic Con, my youngest daughter has made a costume of some sort.  This year, she went as a Wampa (while we didn't get much sleep the night before, that's brown eye-shadow under her eyes ;-)

Wizard World Chicago Comic Con 2013: Wampa -- NOT A TAUNTAUN!  :-D

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In 2011, she went as a low-rent version of Bat Girl.  The most disturbing comment: As we were walking back to the car at the end of the day, a wife leaned over to her husband and said "Hey, you have the same underwear she's wearing!"  Um...

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In 2010, a Warrior Princess.  And again with the heavy eye-shadow...  :-P

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And, just so she doesn't feel left out... ;-)

Here's my eldest daughter at Chicago Comic Con in 2013.

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And here she is with her FAVORITE wrestler, Kevin Nash, in 2010.  :-D

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At the end of the show, my legs were sore from all the walking and I left with my usual mixture of "That was COOL!" elation and "Crap!  I really need to work harder and up my game!" depression.  Sigh...

Random pics from the Comic-Con tomorrow!

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Off to Chicago Comic Con!

Chicago Comic Con 2013!

It's Lou Ferrigno taking a picture of Nichelle Nichols for a fan.  I took this pic at Wizard World Chicago Comic Con about 10 years ago and it makes me smile every time I see it.  :-)

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D'oh!  Because I'm a moron, I thought I had this set to automatically publish last week but, alas, I still had it as a "Draft" posting.  Sigh...

Anyhoo, sorry for the lack of posts this month.  I was out of state on vacation and taking my Nerdlings off to Chicago Comic Con 2013 this past Saturday, August 10th.  I'm currently going through the pictures and will post some of them Thursday night/Friday morning.

Suck it, Roland Emmerich!  It's GOJIRA!  :-D
A costume from 2010 Wizard World Chicago Comic Con that was really great.

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The Man Who Laughs: The Joker (Colorized)

The Man Who Laughs:

The Joker (Colorized)

Here's a version last week's painting, Conrad Veidt's "The Man Who Laughs", as The Joker -- Now with color!

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Not much in the way of process this time around...

I put a MULTIPLY LAYER over the gouache painting in PhotoShop, laying in flat colors.  Then starting building up shadows and highlights in the MULTIPLY LAYER, as well as some extra highlights on new layers.

This was done with black and white gouache on 6" x 9" Arches Hot Press paper which was glued to Medium Density Fiberboard with Acrylic Matte Medium.  I then scanned it into PhotoShop and colorized it.

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I would also be remiss if I didn't point out the unintended visual progression of drawing from Venom to Venom-Joker, to Joker-Venom, to the Joker.

 

I didn't do it on purpose, but I found it mildly amusing when I noticed it.  :-D

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