March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 7

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Great Googly-Moogly!  How many more of these March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog submission am I gonna do?  The answer is at least one more.  Possibly two.

Oh, no, it looks like M.O.D.O.K. has too much MANGA-nese in his diet!  Ugh, I'll show myself out after that one...  This time I thought I would switch up styles yet again for M.O.D.O.K. and do it up in a Manga-style comic book page.  And, it seemed appropriate, given I used Clip Studio Paint (formerly Manga Studio) to draw this piece.

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STEP ONE:  Here is the initial, scribbled doodle on a scrap piece of cardstock I had on hand that inspired this piece, if one could call it "inspired".  It was just a thought of "Oh, yeah, I should do something Manga-based.  I haven't done M.O.D.O.K. in that style, yet."  From there, I thought I should do it as a Manga comic page, rather than just an illustration aping the style.

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STEP TWO:  And these are the hastily scribbled digital pencils on a 1,500px x 2,250px @ 600dpi (overkill, I know).  I was looking around for some inspiration by thumbing through some random Manga I have on my shelf and saw a panel with a back lit character and knew how the second panel had to look, aesthetically.  I do sorta like the thick line quality of the bottom panel, almost better than the finished one.  Too bad I wasn't quite able to capture that style as much as I wanted.  Ah, well...

Now it was just a matter of figuring out the first panel and what the story would be.  Well, as you can see, the "story" is just M.O.D.O.K. giving saying his name--a narrative twist no one saw coming!  Sigh...

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STEP THREE:  Here is the finished page.  I used an inordinate number of layers and special rulers to achieve the line effects.  Clip Studio Paint has a fantastic brush engine, as well as perspective rulers.  I also decided to digitally hand-letter the page... which demonstrates my semi-crappy hand writing and why I hate lettering.  But, it seemed to fit the style of the page for some reason.  Also, I left it as black-and-white 'cuz, y'know... Manga.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 6

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Hey, it's another March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog submission!

This time, I was goofing off with a new app (to me), Art Set 4, on the ol' iPad.  It's a light-weight art app, and has a few tricks it does well--I like a few of the ink brushes and the watercolor and oil paint brushes blend in an interesting manner.  But, the interface can use some work and it just doesn't quite have the heft of some other apps I prefer, such as Clip Studio Paint, ArtStudio Pro, or Procreate.

So, this was just a random doodle of sorts.  I didn't even bother giving M.O.D.O.K. arms or legs in this one--just a floating, rocket head.  I'm hoping to get at least a couple more entrees done before the end of the month.  Fingers crossed.

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STEP ONE:  I created a new canvas in Art Set 4 with one of the default, gray backgrounds and decided to use one of the more interesting, textured ink brushes called Koi.  For the white areas, I used their default Oil Brush

A brief aside to any Art App developers out there: I've really become enamored with Clip Studio Paint allowing Transparent as a brush color option.  Rather than using the eraser, it is more interesting to use the same brush to wipe out all colors and lines, instead.  It's a more natural eraser, IMHO.  Particularly when using a heavily textured brush.  

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STEP TWO:  The inked image was colored with a series of Multiply and Normal Layers.  I didn't do any fancy layer or brush effects, as it was sort of intended to be more like a Sumi-brush effect.  Sort of...  So, I kept it simple.

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Done digitally with Art Set 4 on an iPad Pro.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 5

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Well, it's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!

I hope everyone is doing well (which, in these times, has a slightly different urgency than usual).  This submission was actually inspired by Pedro from the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog replying to an e-mail saying he hoped I was "doing well during these strange days".  Sure, it's just a simple acknowledgement of good wishes (and much appreciated, of course), but I flashed to M.O.D.O.K. trying to wash his hands as suggested by the CDC, et. al.  The rest of this submission was built upon that.

Yeah, one may say I have problems with priorities in my thought processes... But, we'll leave that for another day and to someone with a higher pay grade to figure out.  Also, my sense of humor tends to run a bit on the dark side, as well as seemingly irreverent--especially when things are serious.

And, hey, I even decided to put in links for people to get actual information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [https://www.cdc.gov/] and World Health Organization [https://www.who.int/].

Be safe, everyone.

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STEP ONE:  Here is the original idea thumbnail drawing, which was done on the iPad in Procreate as a 2,048px x 2,048px @ 133dpi canvas.  While it started with the idea of M.O.D.O.K. trying to wash his hands, it sort of built up from there.

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STEP TWO:  These are the actual digital pencils, which were done in Clip Studio Paint as a 1,500px x 2,150px @ 600dpi canvas.  I did use parts of the original sketch idea as an overlay for the pencils.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the digital inks and lettering.  

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STEP FOUR:  Finally, over a series of Layers, here is the finished colors.  When it was finished, I reduced the size to 1,000px x 1,433px and called it DONE!  Again, be safe and be well, everyone!

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 4

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's yet another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!  This time it's a change from the previous wood block cut and on to something more in line with what I usually do--for better or worse.  I'm hoping to get another two to four M.O.D.O.K. pics done before the end of the month.  So, we'll see...

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STEP ONE:  Here is the black-and-white under painting on the iPad using the ArtStudio Pro app.  The canvas was 1,500px x 2,000px at 300dpi.  Unfortunately, I just started and kept going and didn't bother with Work in Progress at the time (ie. I didn't think ahead enough to take screenshots and such).  

This was actually drawn with M.O.D.O.K. facing the opposite direction, but when I flipped it to see if any mistakes were glaringly obvious, I realized I too often have characters facing right-to-left, so just left it flipped horizontally and continued to work on it that way.

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STEP TWO:  And this is the basic color with the Overlay layer done over top the black-and-white under painting.  Some of the Layer Effects were either too dark or too colorful for the mood I was vaguely trying to establish.

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STEP THREE:  Over top on a Normal Layer, I added a few highlights and other colors, as well as the lighting effect with a digital airbrush.  I exported it as a .jpg at 1,000px by 1,333px and called it good 'nuff.

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Done digitally in ArtStudio Pro on the iPad.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 3

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

Hey, it's another submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!  Every once in a while, I like to do different art styles for M.O.D.O.K., just to keep things interesting.  This time, it's something a bit more primitive in style--a sort of digital wood cut print.

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PART ONE:  In Procreate, I created a new document 2,048px x 2,732 at 132dpi, and used the "Inka" Inking Brush, which has a bit of a rough, dry line.  Using just the black and the white lines, I went with a more rough hewn style--looking to emulate a sort of wood block print aesthetic.  When I was finished, I imported it into Photoshop and changed the size to 1,200px x 1,601px at 200dpi.  I didn't bother with any digital pencils, or use the symmetry tools, just to keep it looking more primitive. 

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PART TWO:  The colors were done over top with a Multiply Layer, also with the "Inka" Inking Brush.  I didn't bother doing any fancy airbrush or lighting effects, as the style would have clashed with the heavy line look, methinks.

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Done digitally in Procreate on an iPad Pro.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 2

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's time for another bit of spam... er, submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog!  This time (pun mostly unintentional), it's a dumb calendar joke.  "March Fourth" is the one day of the year that is a command.  And, what better way to celebrate March 4th than to have our favorite Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing leading a charge to... (pause for dramatic effect) TAKE OVER THE WORLD!

Onward to the next submission!

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PART ONE:  These are the digital pencils to give a rough layout on a 1750px x 1300px canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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PART TWO:  The digital inks were done mostly using a 7pt to 10pt brush in Clip Studio Paint.  For the army of A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics) fighters, I copied and pasted them, and dropped the opacity of the layer down to 80% to push them into the background a little more.

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PART THREE:  And here are the colors, done in a series of layers.  

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020 - Part 1

March M.O.D.O.K. Madness 2020

(Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing)

It's time again for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness for 2020--A celebration of everyone's favorite hyper-cephalic Marvel villain designed only for killing!

This time, even with an extra Leap Day in February, I got off to a bit of a late start for some reason.  Usually, I have a submission to the March M.O.D.O.K. Madness Blog chambered and ready to go shortly after midnight leading into March 1st.  This time, March just sorta sneaked up on me when I wasn't looking.

Anyhoo, here is the first of what I hope to be about a half-dozen submissions for the month of March.  Keep on Mindblasting!

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PART ONE:  Here are the digital pencils--quickly scribbled with the assistance of the symmetry tool to give a rough layout on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas in Clip Studio Paint.

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PART TWO:  The digital inks were done mostly using the Symmetry Tool and a 7pt to 10pt brush in Clip Studio Paint.  I also used the Line and Curve tools for the bell jar.

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PART THREE:  And here are the colors, done in a series of overlapping layers.  Nothing fancy, just getting those colors down and a layer for the glass bell jar over top.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Unwanted Valentines: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Unwanted Valentines:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

This is an Unwanted Valentine's Day card based on the 1978 movie, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".  Not only did I watch the movie growing up, I even read the book back in the day when I was on a bit of a kick reading classic sci-fi novels and short stories which was turned into movies.

As a youngster, stories involving Body Snatching/Body Replacement/Body Swapping filled me with an existential dread (and still do on a residual level, I guess).

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the digital pencils--quickly scribbled on the Blue-Pencil Layer I setup in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px by 2,100px canvas at 300dpi.  Alas, these pencils look more like Gene Wilder in "Young Frankenstein"--so, it was off to a less than ostentatious start.

I also left the lettering in on the pencilled step, along with the hand-lettered/scribbled "AHHHHHHHHH!!", with a Clip Studio Paint layer effect that puts a black line around everything drawn on the layer.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, done mostly with a 7pt brush.

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STEP THREE: Coloring was done over top the digital inks on a Multiply Layer.  The resolution was dropped to 200dpi, so the canvas re-sized to 1,000px by 1,400px.

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Done digitally with Clip Studio Paint on the iPad.

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Unwanted Valentines: V for Vendetta

Unwanted Valentines:

V for Vendetta

It's time again for "Unwanted Valentines"!  Y'know, those super-nerdy/horrifying Valentine's Day cards "normal" people would be uninterested and/or repulsed to get and have no wish to receive.  If you give it to a fellow Nerd, you may actually get a smirk or mild chuckle.  So, good luck with that...

This one is obviously from "V for Vendetta".  I read the comic series as it came out in America in the later 80's, published by DC Comics (yeah, I know it was published in "Warrior" magazine, but I didn't really have access to the series at that time).  It was one of my favorite comic series at the time, and is still in my personal Top 10-to-20 comics of all time.  The movie was generally enjoyable, but the comic book series had more to it, methinks (although, there were a few bits of coolness in the movie, which was a generally solid adaptation).

Also, I do get a chuckle out of seeing Guy Fawkes masks from "V for Vendetta" used in protest movements: Another case of fiction intruding into reality.  Theoretically, I generally support that.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils--quickly scribbled on the Blue-Pencil Layer I setup in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px by 2,100px canvas at 300dpi.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, done mostly with a 10pt brush and the Symmetry Tool.

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STEP THREE:  Coloring was done over top the digital inks on a Multiply Layer, as well as a Lighten Layer overtop.  After it was finished, I dropped the resolution down to 200dpi, so the canvas re-sized to 1,000px by 1,400px.

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Done digitally with Clip Studio Paint.

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Cover Replica: Batman - Harley Quinn #1

Harley Quinn #1

Here's the original "Batman - Harley Quinn #1" cover by Alex Ross.

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And here is here's the cover replica for my pal (and Superman's), Jim, from Jimmy Jams Comics and Games in Winona, MN and La Crosse, WI.

It's been a while since I did one of these replicas... or, is it more accurate to call it a forgery?  Well, I guess I can kinda-sorta justify it as one of those "Master Reproductions", except with Alex Ross cover painting in this case rather than a Da Vinci or Michelangelo.  I also cheated a little bit and enlarged the figures of the painting and left off the logo (I still **HATE** lettering).

* * *

STEP ONE:  I cut a 20" x 30" piece of hardboard, and then glued a 22" x 30" sheet of Stonehenge (#140) paper using acrylic medium, and trimmed the excess paper after it dried.  I then used a mixture of gesso and acrylic medium to paint over top of the Stonehenge paper to prep it for painting.  When that was prepped, I drew a 1" x 1" grid and set to penciling the cover image.  For the pencils, I used a blue lead .07 mechanical pencil to keep the lead from smearing too much.

* * *

STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass with the acrylic paints.  I decided to go more with slightly more colorful version of Harley Quinn, rather than just black/gray and red.

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STEP THREE:  And here is the finished piece--after another 2-to-50 more passes.  I will admit it is a little bit weird and tricky trying to mimic a watercolor/gouache painting with acrylics.  As usual, my camera didn't do the best job; since the painting is so large it is a bit difficult to get the lighting to be uniform from top-to-bottom without sacrificing detailed shading.  In this case, I did the best to split the difference.  Oh, well...

* * *

This was done with acrylic paint on 20" x 30" gessoed Stonehenge paper glued to hardboard.

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Shameless Self-Promotion: They Live Tattoo

"They Live" Tattoo

And here is the original image...

As a joking shout-out to a friend, Joel, I did up a caricature of of him as an alien from "They Live".  Then Joel no doubt had some sort of break with reality and decided it would be a good idea to have that image tattooed on his leg.  It was the end of 2019 when he did it, so who can blame him, I guess?  And, believe it or don't, it isn't the first time I've had someone put my art on their body as a tattoo.

I am always conflicted when it comes to something like this...  On the one hand (or leg, in this case), it **IS** really cool to have one's art represented as part of a "Permanent Collection", if you will.  On the other hand (er, leg), it is a mostly permanent part of someone's body, so having my art be a part of that seems like a terrible idea--bordering on irresponsible!  Then again, Joel has said he is a fan of my work, so his decision-making ability is already sketchy at best, so what did we all expect?  Tsk, tsk!

Seriously, it is an honor to have someone consider my art as a tattoo.  I will also admit it is somewhat strange and baffling (as well as a boost to the ol' ego) that someone would like my art enough to get it permanently placed on their own body.  So, that's kinda weird and surreal to think about, too.

In closing, if anyone else has a tattoo, or has used my art someplace, lemme know.  I'm enough of an egomaniac to want to see it--and maybe even show it off on my meager Blog!  :-)

THANKS for the pic, Joel!

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Happy New Year 2020!

Happy New Year!

Hey, my first posting of the new year!  And it's on New Year's Day and everything!

OK, this is probably cliche at this point.  But, I figured what better, nerdier way to ring in the New Year (and new decade for that matter) than having Old Man Time and Baby New Year replaced with old man Yoda and, well, Baby Yoda?

Of course, it is also tempting to just have Yoda's eyes bugged even more than usual on the "Maury Povich" show next to Yaddle, with the exclamation "You **ARE** the father!"  But, I'm sure that's also been done a million times already.

I just want to take a few moments to say THANK YOU to everyone who has stopped by to gawk at my meager drawings and dabblings, and a few brave souls who even chosen to follow my Blog, and/or even comment on some postings.  It is so greatly appreciated!

Here's to hoping the year 2020 doesn't just look good in hindsight!  After all, they say hindsight is 20/20, so who knows?  Best wishes to all!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 1,800px canvas at 300dpi.  For both of these, when finished, I Single-Layer Export as a .jpg and reduced it to 1,000px x 1,200px.and 200dpi.

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STEP TWO:  And here is the digital painting that was also done in Clip Studio Paint.  This time around, I thought I'd try to keep it digitally painted, rather than just doing the digital pen-and-ink and then coloring it as I normally seem to do.  I dunno.  The results are... mixed.  Try, try again, I guess.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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Bizarro Year in Review: 2019

2019 Year in Review

By Bizarro

OK, who better than Bizarro to explain I have absolutely no idea what to make of 2019.  The year for me has been, well, Bizarre-Oh.  It has whipsawed back and forth between "Hey, that's good!" to be almost as quickly followed by "Oh, that's bad!"...  Like this clip from "The Simpsons", which is good!  It will probably be taken down for a DMCA Violation, which is bad...

There have been the usual retinue of personal triumphs and the high highs; only to be tripped up almost immediately with some personal disaster and low lows.  Some new, close friends I've made along the way, along with close friends I failed to keep in touch with nearly as often as I wished I had (sorry!  I'll do better this coming year, promise!).  To quote "The Simpsons", again: It was the best of times, it was the BLURST OF TIMES?  You stupid monkey!"

It was particularly strange weather-wise.  The winter was very mellow right up to February, when it decided to dump about 3 feet of snow in a month.  That was a LOT of shoveling for yours truly, as it was higher than the maw on the snowblower many days.  All that snow caused some minor flooding (it was just starting to work it's way into our house before I was able to shovel a pathway for the snow and slush and semi-frozen water away from the house...).  Also, with all the crazy snowstorms in Central Wisconsin, for the first time in my life I was snowed in at work.  Since I was there already, I helped out with some of the coordination going on for clean up and such and worked a 32 hour shift.  So, that was interesting, too, just to say I did it.  No, I don't really want to do that again.

Then, in July, there was a massive storm in Central Wisconsin which knocked out power for up to 7 days in some areas (we're talking within city limits, not way out in the middle of nowhere... well, as much of a city limit as Central Wisconsin has, of course).  Amusingly enough, I had just finished my shift at work and drove right through the middle of the storm that knocked over too many trees to count and power for almost a week.  You know it's bad when Wal-Mart had to close for two days.

Then there was an assortment of projects I did of which I was relatively proud, and a ton of other things which I had planned, but never got around to finishing, alas.  I also set a personal record with the number of posts I made this year--most of which were due to my dumb idea about the "31 Days of Hell-O-Ween": a daily posting, done mostly without a net.  Somehow, it worked and I still have no idea how.  But, here's to hoping I post even more next year.  I have plans for a few longer form posts, so we'll see about that and burn that bridge when I get to it.

Here's something strange to me: Whenever there is a video that involves the Celestials from Marvel Comics, my drawings from this Blog have a 50% of showing up in the video.  So, that's kinda cool to see my work show up in strange places.  Too bad they don't know it's from me, but oh, well.  Which reminds me... I will finally have get around to doing some cool drawings and painting involving Celestials.  I was always a fan of Kirby's "Eternals", and with them showing up on the big screen soon, I may have to jump in front of that parade.

Overall, I'm still trying to piece together what the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks this year was about.

Oh, well, here's to hoping 2020 is, well, a perfect vision.

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Done digitally with Clip Studio Paint.

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Merry Sithmas - Emperor Palpatine

Merry Sithmas

Emperor Palpatine

Hey, I managed to sneak in another Sithmas Card!  This time, it's Emperor Sheev Palpatine (yes, his first name is "Sheev".  I Sheev you not...).  Since he kinda went nuts with the Force Lightning in "Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker", this image popped into my head as a possible idea for a Sithmas Card.  And here we are...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint.  It is a 1,000px x 1,400px document at 200dpi.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, also done in Clip Studio Paint.  I left large chunks in plain black, since the Force Lightning would cover most of the area and need more contrast to better stand out.

* * *

STEP THREE:  The color was done with a series of layers in Clip Studio Paint, with two different layers used for the lightning for the animation.  Then it was imported into Photoshop to animate two frames and exported as an animated .gif.

While I was coloring the drawing, I realized a little too late that I hadn't properly done the lighting from where the Force Lightning would be flashing.  I fudged it a little bit, and it MOSTLY works, but is not entirely correct.  Sigh...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop.

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