Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

 Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

Hey, hey!  It's been a while.  I figured I'd sum it up the movie Deadpool and Wolverine (2024) as a parody of "The Dark Knight Returns" #2 cover.  To be honest, it is less a movie and more a string of vignettes, nostalgic Member Berries, and so many fun cameos and Easter Eggs that I had a blast watching it.  I'm always a sucker for meta-humor, alternate dimensions, and fourth-wall breaks, so the entire Deadpool franchise was right up my alley.  (Deadpool's start in the comics, though, never really clicked too much with me, aside from a few of his later runs when he fully became what he is thought of today.)

It was great seeing Cassandra Nova on screen, and Emma Corrin was fun to see in that role.  I won't spoil any of the cameos--but most of them were fun and amusing in their own right, along with a few that I was genuinely surprise seeing (I avoided most of the Spoilers I could).

It was definitely strange hearing so many "F" bombs in a Marvel/Disney movie.  Not that it bothers me, generally, but the cognitive dissonance was a bit of an adjustment.  All that said, it is a movie to turn off your brain and let the nerd nostalgia and comic book deep cuts wash over you.

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STEP ONE:  Alas, I don't have any digital pencils, per se, as I got a little delete happy with some extraneous Layers and accidentally deleted the Pencils.  So, here are the digital inks, instead, done on a 1,5000px x 2,000px canvas @300dpi.

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STEP TWO:  I exported a .png of the inks from Clip Studio Paint into Rebelle 7.  Clip Studio Paint has an excellent Brush Engine, while the Paint Engine in Rebelle is great, and to paraphrase Jack Sprat: between them both they keep the digital platters clean... or at least can be used together to make a digital comic page of sorts.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint and Rebelle 7

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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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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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Unwanted Valentines: The Joker from "The Dark Knight" (2008)

Unwanted Valentines: 

The Joker from "The Dark Knight" (2008)

This time around, it is an Unwanted Valentine from "The Dark Knight" (2008).

I will admit I really wasn't sure what to think of the first production stills that were released showing Heath Ledger's version of the Joker.  I was a little apprehensive at first, but when I saw it in the theaters, it was a great performance.  (And, no, I don't buy all the nonsense about how Heath Ledger got in too deep with the darkness of the character and that's why he died.  Nah, that sounds like bubblegum, pop-psych B.S.)

Anyway, his version of the Joker really blew the other versions out of the water.  I thought the high-watermark was Jack Nicholson's version, but he seemed goofy and cartoonish next to Ledger's version.  Normally, I find dark, angsty comics/movies rather boring (I got my fill of those in the 90's, after all).  But, in this case, it really worked, firing on all cylinders--A scary, nihilistic terrorist who has absolutely nothing to lose and wants to watch the world burn.

"Let's put a smile on that face!"  Yikes!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done on a 1,500px x 2,100px at 300dpi.  I used a blue-line layer in Clip Studio Paint to quickly scribble the image.

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STEP TWO:  The digital inks were also done in Clip Studio Paint over top the digital pencils.

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STEP THREE:  I finally got around to figuring out how to do the same lettering effects in Clip Studio Paint as I do in Photoshop, with the wide stroke/outline around the red letters.  I also used various brushes to color the image.  Then the canvas was re-sized to 200dpi (which dropped the size down to 1,000px x 1,400px) and saved each layer as a separate .jpg. 

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint

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On the Easel - September 12, 2014 - Dark Knight and Batman

On the Easel

Dark Knight #4 Page Recreation 
& Batman #251 Cover Replica

I realized it has been a while since I posted an "On the Easel".  I always like to see what people are in the middle of working on, so I figured I'd inflict some of that on y'all as well.  Also, it breaks up some of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Redux Edition posts.  :-)

And this one's a two-fer, showing two different projects I am working on at the moment...

Click to Embiggen

First, I am currently painting a page recreation of the Batman Vs. Superman finale from "The Dark Knight Returns" #4 for a friend of mine for his birthday/Christmas present.  It is being painted with Casein (sort of like acrylic with a milk-protein based binder) on a 15" x 22" piece of Strathmore illustration board, with the image area being 12" x 16".  The under-painting is about 85% done and I'm hoping to have it finished in the next couple-a-few weeks.

Partially hidden behind the Dark Knight page, is a Cover Replica I'm working on for my pal (and probably Superman's, too), Jim, from Jimmy Jams Comics and Games, here in Winona, MN.  The replica is another Neal Adams cover, this time for "Batman #251".  It is being painted with acrylic on Stonehenge paper, which is mounted on a 20" x 30" piece of hard board.  I just started on that a couple days ago, but as it is something I generally work on during something I laughably call "spare time", it may be a month or more before you see the finished result posted.

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