Happy New Year - Supergirl-uary

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Supergirl-uary

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

What's this, a Happy New Year Post on the actual New Year's Day?  Who'da thunk it?

Just to carry on with last year's New Year's post, this time it's Supergirl instead of Superman.  I will admit, being a huge fan of "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow" (a book I've gifted to my daughters), I am looking forward to the movie set to be released later this year.  I'm also hardly the first to point out that it is a super-hero version of "True Grit", and the Charles Portis book and Coen Bros. movie in 2010 are also both great.  And, yeah, Supergirl-uary is a deliberately, comically a terrible name.

I want to give a sincere "Thank You" to all of you who have stopped by to gawk and rubberneck at my modest Blog.  As I mentioned in my previous End of Year post, there has been a 10x to 20x increase in traffic to this Blog (although, it may just be bots and AI scrapers trying to steal art and whatnot.  Again, suck it Tech-Overlords and Oligarch Dickheads trying to force AI Slop on everyone and everything).  The Blog also crossed a half-million Views, so that's something, I guess.  A mind blowing, humbling statistic to me.

Last year I was hoping to do some larger projects for the Blog.  Well, it was a resolution that sorta was half-done.  I did have several larger projects in 2025, but they fell outside the scope of this Blog, alas, although I did do the most posts on this Blog last year (69 posts--Nice!).

This year, aside from a trying to break last year's number of posts, I have a few comic-based projects specifically that I am hoping to do for my own amusement.  We'll see how that goes with this New Year's Delusions... er, I mean New Year's Resolutions!  So, stay tuned and check back often!  Well, not too often, of course, we don't wanna be weird about it...  Y'know, casual often.

The next post should be back to our regularly scheduled silliness, Batman-uary style!

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Done digitally in Rebelle 8, with as assist in Photoshop for the lettering.

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Happy New Year - Superman-uary

Happy New Year!
Superman-uary

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

It's a New(ish) Year, 2025.  Sure, it's week-and-a-half old, but it still has that New Year's smell.  Mostly.

Just a real quick note to thank everybody who stops by to look at my meager Blog site (probably more akin to rubber-necking at a 20 car pile-up on the I-90, but I'll still take it!), and a special shout out to the people who have graciously been following my work.  It's mind-boggling to me that over the past 13 years I've been doing this, one-third-of-a-million people have stopped on by and taken a gander (it's 91 people shy of 333,333 as I write this, so it should be over that number by the morning).  It's all very humbling and a heartfelt thank you to all: Past, Present, and Future!

With the New Year, I'm kinda hoping to do a few larger projects here on this Blog, along with some of the usual shenanigans.  So, stay tuned and check back often.  Not too often, of course, we don't wanna be weird about it...  Y'know, casual often.

I know I'm a little late to this party (hey, I've been busy with other projects), but I must have watched the James Gunn "Superman" Teaser Trailer at least 50 times so far (no exaggeration, alas).  It is probably my most anticipated movie of the year, to be honest.  In spite of it showing Supes just getting wrecked every time he's on screen, it did give me something missing from the more recent incarnations of Superman on the screen: Hope.

Speaking of, here's to hoping things go well for everyone this year.  As I mentioned, I have a few big things I wanna try, so you know I've got the New Year's Delusions of Grandeur, which I'm keeping right next to my Delusions of Resolutions!

Also: Superman-uary?  Don't worry, I won't try to make that a thing; this was just a one-off.  The next post will be back to our regularly scheduled silliness, Batman-uary style!   

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Because I was goofing around with a few Apps I hadn't opened in a while, and I did this all on a single layer, I wasn't paying attention and didn't save a "Work in Progress".  Given all the programs it passed through, that would have been a mess to save and show.  I mean a mess worse than usual to save and show.

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Done digitally in Procreate and Art Studio Pro, with as assist in Photoshop for the lettering.

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Happy New Year! 2024 - Batman-uary! - Knightfall

 HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Batman-uary - Knightfall

HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR!

OK, it's a two-fer--both my first post to celebrate the New Year (sure, the first month is over half over, but let's not bring up the past), and something Batman-uary related.  It's based on the Knightfall series cover, "Batman" #497 by Kelly Jones.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!  Out with the old and in with the new!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quick pencils.  I did them quickly using the Symmetry Tool in Clip Studio Paint (as much as I like Rebelle 7, it doesn't have a Symmetry Tool as of yet), exported it as a .png with a clear background, and imported it into Rebelle as a rough guide.

At first I was gonna just leave it as Bane breaking 2024, but decided to add in the Penny and T-Rex from the cover and make it a more close parody of the cover.  Also, I originally was going to follow Jone's way over-the-top back to Bane, but it starting looking weird as I painted it, so I tried to make it... well, "Realistic" isn't quite the right word when describing Bane.

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STEP TWO:  After a lot of back-and-forth here's the finished digital painting.  I did each element on their own layer (Background, Penny, T-Rex, Bane, 2024, and one extra for Bane's hands on a top layer).  Because I was not paying attention and accidentally deleted the layer, I only have the pencils and finished picture rather than something at a halfway point.  One of these days, I'll learn...

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint and Rebelle 7

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Happy New Year! 2023 - Everything Everywhere All At Once

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
 Everything Everywhere All at Once

Hey, hey!  It's the first post of a New Year!  HAPPY 2023!

In this case, it's for one of the best movies of 2022, "Everything Everywhere All at Once".  As I've mentioned many a time in this Blog, I'm a sucker for stories involving a Multiverse and alternate timelines--and this movie has them in spades (and clubs, diamonds, and hearts, as well).  How did this movie do a better job of showing alternate universes than "Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness", directed by Sam Rami, no less?  

It is ferociously silly and absurd, has fun action, and more heart than one would believe possible in a movie featuring a nihilistic "Everything Bagel", hotdog fingers, butt plugs, and so many googly-eyes.

Side story: Googly-eyes are amusing to me--they make just about everything funny.  When the kids were much younger, I found one in a drawer and did an ol' lick-and-stick and put in on my forehead as a mystical third eye.  It was a mildly amusing family joke and for my birthday later that year they glued about 100 googly-eyes on a T-Shirt.  (It was funny, but if you wore it all the eyes rattled as the pupils bounced as you walked so it was a bit too noisy to actually wear.  I do keep it on a shelf with other keepsakes the kids have given me throughout the years.)

So, when Michelle Yeoh placed the googly-eye on her forehead it was a moment of pure joy, like a scene the universe created just for me.  And the great Michelle Yeow fight while wearing the googly-eye... well, perhaps "fight" is the wrong word.  You have to see it to know what I'm talking about.

"Please, be kind.  Especially when we don't know what's going on."

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STEP ONE: Here are the digital pencils, done on a 2,000px x 2,000px canvas in Rebelle 6. 

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first couple passes with various brushes.  Mostly, I was just trying to get a feel for what the new brushes would do.  To be honest, even though I've had Rebelle for a couple years and liked a lot of the effects, I never used it as much as I should.  I should probably do something to change that...

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished digital painting, done with numerous brushes at various opacities and blending.  Overall, it turned out mostly OK (the face is a bit off and I have to stop myself from going back in again to keep incrementally fixing it). 

I do like a lot of the ways Rebelle mixes color and mimics a lot of the same look and feel of traditional media for the most part.  Of course, there is a slight Uncanny Valley, where it is so close to traditional media at times that it is all the more frustrating when it doesn't quite behave as perfectly as I would want.  But, I guess I have to keep trying to see if I can overcome that with more practice.

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Done digitally in Rebelle 6.

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Happy (Belated) New Year / Batman-uary - Part 1

 HAPPY (Belated) NEW YEAR/
BATMAN-UARY

Sure, January is nearly half-over, but what better way to ring in 2022 (Belatedly) than with Two-Face?  In this case, it is Two-Face from "Batman #50" (1948), so he's purple rather than the usual green-hue.

Here's the original cover, by the way.

We'll call it a Two-Fer--New Years well wishing and the first entry for this year's Batman-uary!  Harvey Dent, himself, would be proud of that one... Marginally.  OK, Two-Face would have approved if it was the second post of the year.  Oh, well...  Personally, I always thought it would be fun to explain most of Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face as psychosomatic, rather than the result of any sort of acid attack.  It just made more sense to be that way, to me, anyways.

So, anyhoo, it's BATMAN-UARY, where I do up some Batman-related posts for fun  (I admit it, I'm far more of a Superman guy than a Batman guy, but some of those way-out 50's designs and covers just scream out for something to be done with 'em).  I even went through the trouble of doing up a dumb logo for BATMAN-UARY and everything.  Yeah, my love of puns, portmanteaus, and grammar-based humor gets me in trouble yet again...

Here's to hoping the New Year is better than the previous two years combined (a low bar, I know)!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the really basic pencils, scribbled out on a canvas in Rebelle 5 on a 2,250px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi.  I did cheat a little bit and copy/flip the hands so they matched--a mirror effect for Two-Face.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass with Rebelle 5.  While I like the way it works generally, I'm still getting used to it and the way it blends, etc.  The watercolor engine in Rebelle and some of the blending is pretty amazing... Now I just gotta start applying some of those effects to some of my posts in the future.

* * *

STEP THREE:  I admit it, I got a little impatient and just imported it into Clip Studio Paint to finish it up, as I know exactly what most of the brushes I use do to get desired effects.  Well, that and I wanted to use the iPad, rather than sitting in front of the computer desk all day (they have Clip Studio Paint for iPad, but no Rebelle for iPad, alas).  It still looks a little "cutout" and "digital" for my general tastes, but I think with this one it may have been a little difficult to avoid.  Onward, to the next one!

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Done digitally in Rebelle 5 and Clip Studio Paint.

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Happy (Belated) New Year 2021...

Happy New Year 2021!

My first post of the New Year... It still has that New Year smell and everything!  Better late than never, I guess.  Anyhoo, here's to hoping a New Year sweeps clean!

I want to take a few moments to thank everyone who has stopped by and gawked at my modest Blog.  Any attention is greatly appreciated!  (Wait, did that sound half of desperate as it seemed as I wrote it out?  Nah, couldn't be...)  Thank you, all!

I hope everyone stays safe and well this year!

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STEP ONE:  Here's the original rough idea, scribbled in Clip Studio Paint on the iPad.  I used a 1,500px x 2,250px document @ 600dpi.  It was going to be a far more of a straight up parody cover of "Fantastic Four #49", with various notes to myself.  This is definitely an early version when I was still kicking ideas around, so it's more of a peek behind the curtain.  Also, you get to see some of the lame jokes you missed!  Bullet dodged!

The way it played out in my head was to have Galactus as the stand in for 2021 destroying the previous, cursed year of 2020.  Hence the 2-0-2-0 on the chests of each of the Fantastic Four.

* * *

STEP TWO:  After a lot of other noodling about (including entertaining other well-known comic covers to parody), I decided just focus on the more iconic part of the cover, with Galactus towering over the New Year.  Also, the "2-0-2-1" seemed to not show up very well, so I went with replacing the Fantastic Four with the actual numbers to spell out the year, but still left them with their arms and legs.  So, here's the digitally inked page.

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STEP THREE:  And, many color layers later, here's the finished pic.  I even remembered to write 2021... which I usually don't remember to write the New Year until mid-June, most of the time.  (Sadly, not kidding as much as I would like.  Sigh...)  ;-)

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint on an iPad Pro.

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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!

* * *

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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This! Is! 2019! - Happy New Year - 2019!

Happy New Year!

It's another year already?  What the heck happened to the previous one?  Gone too soon, gone too soon...  Anyhoo, Happy New Year!

I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has stopped by to briefly glance at my modest site--It is all greatly appreciated, more than you know!

I have plenty of resolutions in the fire, and lots of irons to break.  Oh, wait, reverse that: I have plenty of resolutions in irons and and fires to break!  Um, that isn't right, either.  D'oh!  

Happy New Year to all and I wish you all the best!

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

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STEP TWO:  I got a couple gift cards for the holidays, which I used to get a new art program to play with, Rebelle 3.  It is interesting, and much closer to using actual watercolor digitally, as well as acrylic painting.  The program is a little limited, but has a few tricks it does really well.  I prefer inking in Clip Studio Paint, chalk/charcoal in Painter 2018, watercolor/acrylic in Rebelle 3, and re-sizing in Photoshop.  Sigh, that's too many programs!  :-S

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Done with Clip Studio Paint and Rebelle 3

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Arishem the Celestial: Happy New Year - 2018

Happy New Year!

Hey, it's a New Year!  Happy New Year, everyone!  I just got used to writing out 2017, and now this--another year to add to the stacks?  Anyhoo, what better way to bring in the new year than have the Celestial, Arishem the Judge, with 2018 inscribed on his thumb, rather than the code to destroy the planet (will they be one and the same?  Only time will tell!).

I just want to take a few moments to thank everyone who has stopped by and briefly gawked at my modest site before moving on to other sites, or were searching for something else and accidentally got referred to my site...  Heck, I'd even settle for rubber-necking at the digital car crash which is my Blog on the information super-highway.  So, thank you to all who have visited (some on purpose!), and even provided words of encouragement (names are withheld to protect the guilty)--It means far more than you can know and is greatly appreciated! 

I have plenty of resolutions to break, including posting more this year (don't say I didn't warn you!).  I only had 24 posts in 2017--just under one ever other week.  Rather meager and personally disappointing, IMHO.  This year, I hope to have more posts, a few projects which are more ambitious.  Well, we'll see.

Onward to the preposterous process portion of this post!

* * *

STEP ONE:  Here is a quick, digital thumbnail of the idea I had for the New Year's posting.

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STEP TWO:  Another really quick drawing to layout the figure, etc. on a 1,500px by 2,100px canvas.

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STEP THREE:  And here it is a little bit further along and tightened up.  It's starting to take shape and resemble (loosely) Arishem the Judge.

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STEP FOUR:  This was the finished picture, done with multiple new layers, using the blend and smudge tools to smooth out some of the brush strokes.  However, after looking at the original quick sketch, I decided I liked the idea of Arishem's hand breaking out of the frame, even though it was due to me doing a poor job of drawing a rectangle, rather than something planned out that way.  That said, if anyone asks, I meant to do that!  So, I went back into the picture and carved out around the hand to make it look like it was popping out of the frame.

* * *

Done digitally in Photoshop.

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Happy New Year...

Happy New Year!

While hoping for the best, I'm pretty sure this infamous quote from the "Batman (1966)" movie will be the best way to describe the incoming 2017...

Another year come-and-gone, with the usual two steps forward, one step back, with a few steps sideways... and another half-step forward only to step on a few Legos with bare feet.  Y'know, the usual mix of ups and downs. 

I also want to take a few moments to thank everyone for stopping by to gawk at my meager Blog--with 100,000 views rapidly approaching (Wow!).  It is very much appreciated and I thank you all for it!  Here's to hoping for a Happy New Year for all!  :-)

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STEP ONE:  Here are the scribbled digital pencils and inks on a 1,000px x 1,400px document.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the quick, grayscale under-painting.

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STEP THREE:  A Multiply Layer was used to add the flat colors.

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STEP FOUR:  With a new Layer, I did the highlights, text, and other finishing touches.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  :-)

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This was done digitally with Photoshop.

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A New Year, A New Hope...

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2016!

A New Year, A New Hope...

Well, another year has come and gone with the usual mix of minor accomplishments and regrets.  I have made the usual retinue of resolutions to break for the New Year, and I'm sure y'all have done the same.  Here's to hoping all goes well for everyone!

I also want to take a few moments at the top of the new year to thank everyone for stopping by and gawking at my modest Blog, as well as the words of encouragement from many of you!  You are all much appreciated!  :-)

I have a stack of odd-sized, scrap pieces of hardboard which I gessoed.  From time-to-time, I'll grab one and paint a picture from a magazine that catches my eye, or something of the sort.  Nothing too fancy, just for warm-up or to try and work on some art skills for an hour or two.  Use it or lose it, don't ya know?  

In this case, it was a picture of Luke Skywalker from the original "Star Wars", which seemed like it would work on this Blog--I even thought of a semi-clever title and everything!  The painting was done with casein (it's sort of like acrylic paint, except it uses a milk-based protein as a binder) on a 4" x 5" gessoed hardboard, using a #10 Flat brush and #10 and #12 Round brushes. 

If I were smart (and I've never been accused of being such), I would have taken pictures/scans as I went along to show the progress, since many people like to see the process (I know I like seeing how they got from point "A" to point "B", myself).

If people like 'em enough, I may post more in the future.  We'll see, I guess.  :-)

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Done with casein on 4" x 5" gessoed hardboard.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2015!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2015!!!

Yeah, it's a picture for 2015 done on the last day of 2014.  :-D

I'm a really big fan of Jack Kirby's O.M.A.C. (One Man Army Corps), so I thought I'd do a drawing of him to ring in the new year.

A Happy New Year to All!  :-)

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Here are the pencils, which I scanned in and then colored digitally.

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This was done with pencil on 9" x 12" Strathmore drawing paper and then colored digitally in Photoshop.

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Happy (Belated) New Year!

HAPPY (Belated) NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Well, I'm a little late with this specific New Year's Day themed cover, but I still wanted to finish it up and post it.  For some reason, the New Year's Jim Steranko Hulk I posted last year seemed mildly popular, so I thought I'd continue with this one, as well.  Maybe I should have the Hulk ring in the New Year EVERY year?  :-)

I currently have a lot of irons in the fire, but I am hoping to post a little more often than last year (I averaged about one post ever week-and-a-half).  I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year!

Here's the cover I based this on, The Incredible Hulk #135 by Herb Timpe.  I always liked this cover and really wanted to re-do this for the late, great Covered Blog but, alas, I guess it wasn't meant to be.  So, I just did it as a more "cartoony" post for here.  

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Here is the original inked page after I cleaned it up a little bit in PhotoShop.  It was done with a brush pen on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock--nothing too fancy.  I then imported it into PhotoShop and created a MULTIPLY Layer to colorize the drawing.  I also did the lettering in PhotoShop, too.

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This was done with ink and brush on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock and then digitally colored in PhotoShop.

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Happy (Belated) New Year!

HAPPY (Belated) NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Well, sorry I'm a little late about this, but I wanted to get SOMETHING posted for the New Year.  As far as I'm concerned, 2011 can take a running kick to the groin.  Make it to two or three...  Good riddance!  If the Earth ends in fire this year, as some are predicting, it will STILL be a modest improvement, methinks.  Ah, well...  Here's to the New Year being much better than the old...  :-)

My New Year's Resolution is to post more often on my (mostly) Comic Book Art Blog.  Speaking of which, I am planning on posting my big project next week, which it feels like I've been working on forever... (HINT:  For all those vaguely interested  it's a 20" x 30" cover recreation with the word "Smile!").  :-D

And, of course, for those interested in the process, see below:

  First, I did the pencils in non-photo blue...

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Next: I did the inks with a No. 5 Round Brush and Ink.  I then scanned it into PhotoShop and did some really QUICK coloring and called it "Good!"  Nothing fancy... :-)

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 9" x 12" Strathmore 300 Bristol Board (100#) and colored in PhotoShop.

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