When Will I Learn...

When Will I Learn (and Why is the Answer to That Question Always NEVER)?

I did a previous black-and-white painting of the Joker with gouache (an opaque watercolor) based on Conrad Veidt from "The Man Who Laughed" (whom the Joker's visual look was based on).  I decided to colorize it as a present to a long-time friend of mine.  I had just finished re-painting it in full color with gouache and was actually pleased by how the colorization turned out, except...

There was a section on top of the painting where the dark red paint refracted the light in a weird way, making it look like the painting was faded from some angles.  So, I was hoping that when I used a matte-based fixative on the painting, it would correct the problem by knocking down the shiny spots.

Fixative is generally used to help keep charcoal from smearing, watercolor from running, and to protect the drawing/painting.  However, I had a problem with some fixative on a watercolor painting I had done a long time ago: I sprayed it on the watercolor to protect it, but it essentially erased most of the painting; it was one step away from just spraying it with white spray paint.  As I couldn't remember the brand name of the spray and didn't have something handy to test it on (OK, mostly I was also just impatient to get the thing fixed and in the mail), I had another great idea!

I had just applied some Matte Medium with an extra-soft paint brush to some vine charcoal drawings earlier in the day with the intent of painting over them later.  I expected a mostly smeared mess, but there was surprisingly little movement of the charcoal.  (It wouldn't have mattered if it had smeared all over, it was just for testing purposes.)  Now, I'm sure you can see exactly where this is heading...

So, I said to myself "Hey, that worked great for something which should have become a gray mess all over... surely it will work even better on watercolor/gouache.  I'm sure any running should be minimal."  Here was the result:

As soon as I touched the brush to the watercolor painting, it began to smear.  Rather large areas of paint broke off and ran across the rest of the painting.  And, sadly, once started, I pretty much had no choice but to keep on going and finish it, trying to brush back as much of the damage as I could.

So, I re-painted the entire painting again (third time's a charm, I guess), this time with acrylic paint.  While the acrylic painting generally turned out well, I still think the colorized gouache was better.  (I also thought there was a bit too much lettering in the first previous one, so left off the "Keep on Smiling!")  Oh, well, live and learn!  Well, live, anyways... ;-)

Now, I'm sure most of you are sick of seeing this painting and have begun to wonder if I can really do anything else, so hopefully it will be the last time it will be featured on this blog.  :-D

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This was done with Acrylic Paint on 6" x 9" Arches Hot Press paper which was glued to Medium Density Fiberboard with Acrylic Matte Medium.

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Nosferatu (1922)

Nosferatu (1922)

To round out this Hat Trick of Halloween, here's a drawing of the silent movie classic, Nosferatu (1922).  Max Schreck portrays one of the creepiest and scariest vampires out there IMHO, and the movie is still disturbing.

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Here are the pencils on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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And here are the inks, done with a No. 4 Round Brush and Speedball Super Black India Ink.

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And, finally, I scanned it into Photoshop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer in the same general style as the previous two drawings for "The Invisible Man" and "The Bride of Frankenstein".  I decided to do a third drawing in that style and Monochrome so there was an ersatz RGB Color Scheme of sorts to the series.  (I like to think I'm clever, even when I'm not.  ;-)

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Done with pen-and-ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, colorized in Photoshop.

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The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Sure, Halloween is officially over, but I'm still feeling vaguely inspired by the classic monster movies of yore.  This time, it's "The Bride of Frankenstein" (1935).  Sure, the Bride makes a brief appearance in the book before she is destroyed by Dr. Frankenstein, but here's the movie version of those 1 to 2 pages in the novel!  And, again, I was struck by the amount of slapstick in the movie.  It seemed very strange and jarring to me that I didn't remember it being quite so comedic in its attempt when I was younger.

The again, when I was a 7-year-old, I thought "Plan 9 From Outer Space" was pretty scary, too.  But, I may have said too much... :-D

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Here are the loose pencils on a sheet of 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.  And, once more, I find the pencils to be generally superior to the inks.  Sigh.

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And here are the inks, done with a No. 4 round brush with Speedball Super Black ink.

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And here it is scanned it into Photoshop and colorized it as a monochrome with a MULTIPLY Layer.  I decided to do the coloration in the same manner as "The Invisible Man" (1933) post, below.

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Done with pen-and-ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, colorized in Photoshop.

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The Invisible Man (1933)

The Invisible Man (1933)

I was watching the 1933 Universal Movie "The Invisible Man" with Claude Rains, and was inspired to do a drawing for Halloween.  In the scene, he has just come in out of a blizzard with his trademark bandages, round sunglasses, a wax nose, a fedora, and overcoat.

Visually, I've always thought "The Invisible Man" was interesting, but it is impossible not to think about the Doom Patrol's Larry Trainor/Negative Man/Rebis--particularly during Grant Morrison's run (my personal favorite).  I dunno, in the drawing above he sorta looks like Frank Miller's version of The Spirit after some sort of horrible accident in which he has to be bandaged up... :-D

On a side note, after watching several of the Universal Monster Movies lately, I don't remember them being quite so campy and filled with slapstick when I last saw them on TV as a sullen teenager.  The scene with the police and some bar patrons chasing Griffin/The Invisible Man around a table in a Keystone Cops manner while he strips down, laughing maniacally, and ends with a patron taking an accidental truncheon to the head made me laugh out loud--literally.  As a kid, I remember that scene as a lot more creepy.  Then again, compared to the horrors of raising kids and making mortgage payments, a cackling madman hellbent on ruling the world and running around naked is pretty funny.

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Here are the loose pencils on a 8-1/2" x 11" piece of cardstock.

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Here are the inks, done with an el-cheapo/generic No. 4 Round Brush and Speedball Super-Black India Ink.

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I then scanned it into Photoshop and colorized it as a monochrome with a MULTIPLY Layer.

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Done with pen-and-ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, colorized in Photoshop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Sligs

Sligs

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

Fourth and final entry for the OHOTMU "Aliens: Sirians to Sligs" page!

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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 and cleaned up in 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 - Sirusites

Sirusites

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

Three of four entries on the OHOTMU page.  One more 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 and cleaned up in 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 - 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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