Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Crusader

Crusader

Here is the original entry for Crusader 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. 

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STEP ONE:  I created a new 900px x 1400px document and used a charcoal brush to roughly layout the pose.

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STEP TWO:  A little further into the grayscale modelling the figure.

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STEP THREE:  Over a MULTIPLY Layer, I put in some flat colors.  I went with a slightly different palette than the original... for some reason, the original colors looked a little strange when I did it originally.  And I think the red/white/blue motif worked a little better. 

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STEP FOUR:  Over several New Layers, I added colors over top for highlights and shadows.  When it was done, I erased the white background and put in a light-yellow color and sent it along to the OHotMU: Redux Blog.

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This was done digitally in Photoshop

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Ultraman / Eiji Tsuburaya

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Eiji Tsuburaya

Well, I'm a little late, but since Google did a Doodle for the birthday of one of the main creators of Ultraman last week, I figured I should do another something Ultraman-related, myself.  (Here's a link to the previous Ultraman painting I did.)

I've had something like this kicking around in my head for a while and it seemed the perfect time to finally get it done.  When I was much younger, I always loved watching anything involving robots, monsters, and aliens... Y'know, general B-Movies from the 50's, 60's, and 70's.  It's a subject I will be coming back to again and again on this Blog.  :-)

I won't pretend that I am the biggest super-fan, nor can I say I am a fount of trivia or deep knowledge for Tsuburaya's works, but there is a definite, abiding fondness I have for them and the characters he created/worked on.  They make my inner-child smile.

For those interested, here are the progressions for the picture...

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils.  Originally, I was going to do a watercolor/gouache (opaque watercolors) painting.  I penciled everything out on a piece of 12" x 16" cheap illustration board I had laying around and scanned it in to record each step of progression.  I debated if I should seal the pencils with Matte Medium or not, but figured the board was thick enough to take the watercolor/gouache without trouble; after all, I've done LOTS of watercolor paintings on cardstock just fine with no problem--this was much, MUCH thicker than cardstock, so it should work just fine, right?  

Of course, within 10 minutes of starting the painting, the board started to blister badly and peel up.  Sigh...  When will I learn, and why is the answer to that questions always "NEVER!"?

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STEP TWO:  Well, at least I had the pencils scanned in.  So, I just decided to do everything digitally for the picture, instead.  When life gives you lemons, just hope you have enough sugar on hand to take the edge off the bitterness of that disappointment.  In this case, I used a large charcoal brush in Photoshop to do some very general color layouts and rough shapes. 

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STEP THREE:  More of the same, just building up colors and beginning to work on the figures on different Layers.

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STEP FOUR:  Even more of the same as before.

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STEP FIVE:  And finally...  I did want some more destruction around, so did the building as destroyed by the battle.  

It turned out quite a bit different than I had planned, but it isn't as bad as I feared it would become.  There are parts which are still a little "too digital" for my tastes... originally, I was planning it as a watercolor painting, and then doing a little "sweetening" of the picture in Photoshop as needed, rather than a start-to-finish digital painting.  Oh, well.

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Done digitally in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Sidri

Sidri

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

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

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STEP ONE:  Once again, I used a blue-lead pencil to sketch out the entry for the Sidri.

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STEP TWO:  The pencils were inked digitally with a 5pt. hard brush in Photoshop.  As before, I decided to keep the drawing simple and would let the color do the shading, rather than the line work.

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STEP THREE:  I created a MULTIPLY Layer and laid in flat colors, then choose lighter/darker versions of that color for simplified highlights/shading.

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This was done with blue-pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and then digitally inked and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Saurids

Saurids

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Saurids 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.  

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STEP ONE:  Once more, I used a blue-lead pencil to sketch out the entry for the Saurids.

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STEP TWO:  Once the pencils were scanned in, I inked them digitally with a 5pt. hard brush in Photoshop.  As before, I decided to keep the drawing simple and would let the color do the shading, rather than the line work.

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STEP THREE:  I created a MULTIPLY Layer and laid in flat colors, then choose lighter/darker versions of that color for highlights/shading.

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This was done with blue-pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and then digitally inked and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Sarks

Sarks

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Sarks 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.  

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STEP ONE:  Just like the previous entry, I used a blue-lead pencil to sketch out the entry for Sarks.

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STEP TWO:  Once the pencils were scanned in, I inked them digitally with a 5pt. hard brush in Photoshop.  As before, I decided to keep the drawing simple and would let the color do the shading, rather than the line work.

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STEP THREE:  I created a MULTIPLY Layer and laid in flat colors, then choose lighter/darker versions of that color for highlights/shading.

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This was done with blue-pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and then digitally inked and colored in Photoshop.

Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Sagittarians

Sagittarians

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Sagittarians 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.  

Apparently, the Sagittarians have a mustache.

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STEP ONE:  I used a blue-lead pencil to sketch out the entry for Sagittarians.  For some reason, since they did have a mustache prominently featured, I sort of pictured them as vaguely steampunk big game hunters with a retro glass helmet in lieu of a British pith helmet.  I'm not sure why, but it amused me to some degree.

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STEP TWO:  Once the pencils were scanned in, I inked them digitally with a 5pt. hard brush in Photoshop.  I decided to keep the drawing simple and would let the color do the shading, rather than the line work.

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STEP THREE:  I created a MULTIPLY Layer and laid in flat colors, then choose lighter/darker versions of that color for highlights/shading.

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This was done with blue-pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" paper and then digitally inked and colored in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Nova

Nova

Here is the original entry for Nova to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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

For those bored enough, here is the step-by-step for Nova... :-)

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop, doing some really quick digital pencils/scribbles for the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Over top of that, I did some quick shading and set up the lighting/shadows, as well as some really quick color.

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STEP THREE:  Then, over top of that, I put in some of the breakdowns of where I wanted the fire effects to go.

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STEP FOUR:  I finished up the highlights and fire, then added a starfield for the background.

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Created digitally in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Death

Death

Here is the original entry for Death for the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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

Well, actually, I gave Jon M. from the OHOTMU:Redux the choice between this one and the one with the black background (below).  In some ways, I think the black background is more fitting for the character of Death, while I do sort of like the orange background as it adds a little color and is closer to the original entry.

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Alas, I didn't think ahead enough to save step-by-step progressions.  I created a 1,000 pixel x 1,500 pixel document with a black background.  I then used 3 pixel hard, round brush with white color to create the scratchboard effect.  I also went back over top with a combination of black brushwork and the Eraser tool to carve back some of the lines.

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Here's a detail of some of the scratchboard effect.  I do like working on scratchboard quite a bit, and will definitely have to do some more digital scratchboard in the future.

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Created digitally in Photoshop.

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May the Fourth Be With You!

May the 4th Be With You!

"May the Fourth Be With You" is a pun so bad and obvious, I'm ashamed I didn't come up with it first...

No, it isn't Bucky O'Hare.  It's Jaxxon, the giant, green rabbit which was part of Marvel Comics "Star Wars" series.  

Yes, when I was a kid I actually bought the issues that introduced Jaxxon and, as you can guess, I have a soft spot in my heart (and probably head) for the character. 

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PART ONE:  Here are the digital pencils.  They were originally done on a 1,000 x 1,500 pixel canvas, but I shrunk it down to 900 pixels to keep the file size within reason on the site.

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PART TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  They were done mostly with a 5 pt. Hard Brush, and a patterned brush for the stippled background of the Cantina walls.  

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PART THREE:  Here is the color plate.  I created a New Layer and set it to Multiply to color the page but keep all the linework.  I finished the whole thing off by adding the lettering, above.

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Done digitally in Photoshop

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Andromeda

Andromeda

Here is the original entry for Andromeda to the "Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe".

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

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop and did some really quick digital pencils/scribbles for the pose.

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STEP TWO:  In a New Layer, I did some digital inks over top the digital pencils... er, scribbles.  Rather than do something a bit more painted, I decided to leave it more closely to a pen-and-ink type of drawing.

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STEP THREE:  Creating a new MULTIPLY Layer, I colorized the drawing.  This time, I chose to go with coloration similar to a vector-based style.

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Created digitally in Photoshop.

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