Day 02: Nosferatu (1922) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020:
Nosferatu (1922)

It's day two--so far, so good!  I can't do a "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" and NOT include the 1922 "Nosferatu", Directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok/Nosferatu.  Nosferatu is absolutely one of the creepiest depictions of a Vampire.

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STEP ONE:  Here is the quick sketch done with ballpoint pen on 11" x 17" gray cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  And here is the halfway point done with ink washes using watercolor brush.

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STEP THREE:  And this is the finished ink wash painting, with highlights done with white Gouache (opaque watercolor).  Some of the warping and buckling on the bottom half of the painting scanned in as lighter gray, almost looking like a slight fog effect.  I'll pretend I did something intentional for that effect.

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Done with Traditional Media of Ink Wash on toned Cardstock

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Day 01: John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2020:
John Carpenter's The Thing (1982)

Hey, it's time again once again for "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween"!  Because I'm not all that bright and a glutton for punishment, I thought I'd try again.  And this time, because I knew October was coming up, I intended to actually get a head start--y'know, get a half-dozen drawings and paintings chambered and start from there, rather than doing what I did last year and just start the day before October 1, 2019, and hit the ground running.  Well, that was my intent, anyways.  Funny story, it didn't actually work out that way.  So, here I am, day of October 1, 2020, and just finished my first post.

So, once again, for those of you ghoulish enough to watch and see if I can actually pull this off again (it was close a few times last year, lemme tell ya), or if I can once more pull 31 Halloween-based drawings/paintings from my... hat.  If you see me post a blank panel with "Behold, the Invisible Man!", or a tall stick man labelled "Slender Man", you'll know I done screwed up.

Pre-excuses aside, onward to this post!  First, it's an obvious joke (and you may have even seen it once or twice before, I'm sure), but I thought of it a long, long time ago and by gum I'm gonna use it!  And, as "John Carpenter's The Thing" is probably one of my favorite horror movies, I gotta include it.  There will be a few more of my fav's repeating themselves this year, too.

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31 DAYS OF HELL-O-WEEN:
The Take-Home Game!

 Here are some logos/stamps to use for those of you who want to play along at home!  What's that, I'm just shamelessly trying to start some hokey trend ala Inktober or some similar play-along art game?  Well, I'm definitely not NOT guilty of that, lemme tell you!  Of course, the other part of that equation involves something of mine becoming popular--which I am pretty sure is strictly forbidden under the laws of the current universe as we understand them.  So, we'll just have to settle for the "South Park" Underpants Gnomes version of economics here: "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" => something ??? something => PROFIT!

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STEP ONE:  Here are the quick, digital scribbles done on a 1,500px x 1,000px @300dpi canvas in Clip Studio Paint.  The reference layer is set to blue so all inks show up as an ad hoc blue-pencil.  I'm old fashioned that way.  And I'm old enough to have used actual blue pencils for under-drawings, so have a nostalgia for them.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks, done mostly with a 10 to 15pt digital map pen, which I modified in Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the colors. 

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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In Memoriam: Chadwick Boseman / Black Panther

Chadwick Boseman/
Black Panther

Just because 2020 has to be a continual knee to the groin, I was shocked at the death of Chadwick Boseman.  Apparently, he spent a lot of time visiting children in cancer wards (of course, I didn't realize how personal that was to him, as he had been battling colon cancer for four years).  Being a nerd, of course I figured I should do a digital painting of him as Black Panther.

I decided to use Procreate, an App I really haven't used all that often.  But, I watched some videos of people using it to good effect, so figured I'd give it a shot.  I mean, I bought it when I first got the iPad Pro, but only used a couple times.  I think I still generally prefer using Clip Studio Paint and Art Studio.  But, this turned out pretty well, so maybe I'll switch it up a bit more.

And, hey, here's a video of the process.  It turns out Procreate does a video of each brush stroke and I figured "What the heck, it may be fun for people to watch over my shoulder (metaphorically)..."  In this case, I exported it as a 30 second video so it would be small enough to properly upload.

Watch me sketch it out, realize this part here is out of proportion, redraw this section over here, and then color here and there!  Watch to see if there's any sort of method to my madness (Spoilers: There isn't).  Lots of back-and-forth.  Sure, there's a full six-minute video I could export, but I can't imaging too many people interested in that.  So, here's the 6 hour or so process (give-or-take) compressed down to 22 seconds.  (If you're interested, click on the Full Screen button on the bottom right to get a better view... the thumbnail is kinda small...)

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STEP ONE:  The canvas was 8.5" x 11" @ 300dpi / 2,550px x 3,300px @ 300dpi, and the digital pencils were done using the standard HB Pencil brush.

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STEP TWO:  I don't have any progress pictures between the pencils and here, but there's a video above, so that's different.  I kept everything on just a few layers.  There was one layer for the background colors, a layer for the head, and one for the body, and a couple copies of the pencils, which I moved to the top.  I blocked in the head and Alpha-Locked it, and did the say for the body.  I did some rough coloration beneath the pencils, then merged the pencils down to more fully integrate the line work into the painting.  Mostly it was painted with a combination of the various default Charcoal Brushes and Pencil Brushes in Procreate, with an assist with the blending brush.

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Done digitally with Procreate on an iPad Pro.

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Fantomah

 Fantomah

Another bizarre Fletcher Hanks creation I've been meaning to do something with for a long, long time (and may do something again in the future).  Fantomah was first published in "Jungle Comics #2" in 1940, which beat out Wonder Woman as one of the first female, um, superheroes (?).  Mostly, like his other creation, Stardust the Super Wizard, Fantomah would discover evil-doers, show up, and dispense a vaguely ironic and/or monstrous sense of justice.  The End.

I've always meant to do an updated repanel of her transformation sequence, and probably will one of these days...

There is something so bizarre about the stories and characters he wrote and drew, you almost can't look away.  It is a strange amalgamation of competence and ineptitude that I find oddly compelling.  The comic book equivalent of Ed Wood, I suppose.  

A beautiful lady who turns into a blue-skinned, skull-faced woman with long, blonde hair wearing a one-piece, black bathing suit with a transparent short dress?  What's not interesting about that?  Then again, there's no accounting for taste.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 2,250px @ 300dpi canvas. 

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STEP TWO:  I then used a white, 15pt brush to go over top the pencils as a sort of digital scratchboard.  I always liked scratchboard--both the traditional art method, as well as the digital version.

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STEP THREE:  A Multiply Layer was created, over which the colors were painted.  From some reason, the reduced size of the rather large thumbnail here has made the colors shift a bit darker on the screen.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint

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Stardust the Super Wizard

 Stardust the Super Wizard

Quite a while back, I read the book "I Shall Destroy All Civilized Planets!", which was a biography and collection of some of Fletcher Hanks' comic book creations, the most famous (infamous?) of which are Stardust and Fantomah.  There is a certain goofy, Ed Wood-esque charm to both the stories and the art.  I always intended to do something with the character--a panel or page recreation for "Repaneled" back when that was a Blog I contributed to on the regular before it lamentably closed, or something along those lines.

Stardust the Super Wizard would discover bad guys, show up, and mete out some sort of vaguely ironic and appropriately horrifying justice, end of story.  Sort of like DC Comics did in the mid-1970's with "The Spectre" by Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo, where Spectre would show up, turn crooks into wood, and then run them through a table saw, etc. 

And another example of Fletcher Hanks' art style and Stardust's version of "Justice"...

I find something compelling about his work.  His art is strangely competent, but there is an underlying weirdness and crude simplicity.  If you'll forgive the anachronism, it reminds me of a strange cross between modern(ish) comic book artists Kevin O'Neil ("Marshal Law" and "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and Frank Quitely ("We3" and "All-Star Superman").  I am a fan of both O'Neil and Quitely, but Fletcher Hanks style is a weird mixture.  I mean, I like hot dogs and I like ice cream, but a hot dog sundae... I dunno. 

(Heh, while looking for a couple images of Stardust for the Blog post, it looks like Kevin O'Neil had done a couple drawings of Stardust in the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".  After I saw the images, I vaguely remembered the panels in question... "Oh, yeah!" (I have all issues/books of "LoEG".)  However, I think the reason I was reminded of Kevin O'Neil's art has more to do with some of O'Neil's grotesque anatomical distortions, rather than these particular panels.)

Hey, Kids, Kevin O'Neill's version of Stardust the Super Wizard!

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Image Comics also did a "Next Issue Project" in 2008, which picked up where "Fantastic Comics" left off back in in the 40's.  I was intrigued and got the issue when it came out, which had a Stardust story written by Joe Keatinge with art by Mike Allred.  So, that was a fun surprise for me.

From everything I've read, Fletcher Hanks was a rather terrible human being: an abusive alcoholic who's wife and kids all disowned him and were glad when he left the family behind.  He died frozen on a Manhattan park bench and was basically homeless  Given all the abuse he had apparently heaped on his family, I'm not sure if that would be a Stardust type of justice or not.  (Hmmm, this got darker than I intended.)

While looking into Stardust again after a long while, it looks like the character may be in the Public Domain?  I noticed a few people doing projects with the character.  Hmmm, makes me think it may be fun to do something with the character, too, if he actually is in the Public Domain, that is...

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STEP ONE:  I created a document in Painter 2020 and did the digital pencils.  Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention and it was a 1,000px x 1,400px @ 300dpi.  I should have created it a bit larger, methinks, and then shrunk it down for the Blog.  Oh, well.  

Also, I choose the costume from the first appearance, rather than later ones which had a square-shaped collar.  Speaking of the costume, it always reminded me of Marvelman/Miracle Man.  So, that's cool.  

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STEP TWO:  I mostly digitally painted this in Painter 2020, but then saved it as a .PSD and then imported it into Clip Studio Paint.  I'm just too used to using certain brushes within Clip Studio Paint.

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished image.  I threw on some digital airbrushing to give more of a glow.  I mean, he's named "Stardust the Super Wizard", after all.  Oh, and some shadow, as well.

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Done digitally in Painter 2020 and Clip Studio Paint.

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Star Wars Sketchbook - Star Destroyer Chasing Tantive IV

Star Destroyer Chase

Hey, it's another two-page spread acrylic painting in the Star Wars Sketchbook I started a month-and-a-half ago or so.  This time, it's just after the opening crawl, with the introduction of the Tantive IV being chased by the Star Destroyer.  When I first saw this scene in the theaters (yes, I'm so old I actually saw it in the theaters in 1977 when I was a kid).

The palette was basically the same as the last post: Titanium White, Carbon Black, Payne's Grey, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, King's Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Anthraquinone Blue, with just a dash of Naphthol Red Light.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils, done with a Indigo Blue Colored Pencil on casein and blue-acrylic paint as the under-painting.

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STEP TWO:  Here's the first pass in acrylic paint, just to lay down something for the rest of the painting to stick to, as well as model some of the light and dark masses.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished painting.  The Tantive IV was a little too big in the previous Step, so I shrank it down.  And stars... painting lots and lots of stars.

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 8-1/2" x 11" Stillman & Brin Mixed Media (140#) paper.

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Star Wars Sketchbook - Stormtroopers: "Look, Sir, Droids!"

Stormtroopers:

"Look, Sir, Droids!"

OK, I'm probably a moron (oh, I just **NOW** realized that?) for starting down this path, but here are pages 1-2 of the newly designated "Star Wars Sketchbook".  I always liked the "Look, sir, droids!" scene, so figured I'd do that one, next.  It probably has to do with the background Dewbacks--well, also foreground Dewbacks in the New Edition(s).  I found them cool when I was a kid (and still do), and always really liked the Star Wars card with a Stormtrooper on a Dewback.  I guess I should have just done a painting of that Star Wars card, I guess?  Oh, well, maybe next time.  I still have 25 Double-Pages/50 Single-Pages left to make that painting, if I so choose.

Now, for the next point in this decision tree...  Should I keep just doing drawings/paintings from "Star Wars: Episode Four: A New Hope", or scenes from other "Star Wars" movies, as well.  Hmmmm...  I'm thinking it will be all from "A New Hope".  Find out next week!  :-D

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STEP ONE:  Here is the double-page spread in the Sketchbook.  It was primed with casein fixative and acrylic paint, then used a blue-violet colored pencil to draw the rough placement of the Stormtroopers.

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STEP TWO:  This was the first pass with acrylic paint.  The background Stormtrooper and Escape Pod were moved up a little bit, as the placement was a bit awkward as compared to the foreground Trooper holding the... whatever the heck that thing is.

The palette was relatively simple: Titanium White, Carbon Black, Payne's Grey, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, King's Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Anthraquinone Blue.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the final painting, done with lots of finagling, going back and forth with different paint colors and values.  

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 8-1/2" x 11" Stillman & Brin Mixed Media (140#) paper.

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Sketchbook Cover - Greedo

Greedo

I happened to get a couple nicer watercolor sketchbooks on clearance and figured I should doodle something on the cover so I know which side to open.  Hey, how 'bout... [very, very, very long pause].  Oh, heck, I can't think of anything--I'll just do one of Greedo.  Why  not?

So, that's the story of how I decided to do an acrylic painting on the cover of the sketchbook.  However, now that has given me a bit of a dilemma.

There are 26 sheets of paper in the sketchbook, which is 52 pages.  Which also just so happens to be the number of weeks in a year.  You may already see where I am thinking of going with this.  Part of me thinks it would be a great idea to do another stupid challenge to myself--hey, Dummy, how 'bout a painting a week for the whole year in the sketchbook?  Hmmm, I dunno about that, it seems like a pretty big commitment.  I already have "31 Days of Hell-O-Ween" in October to think about.  Should I add more to that?  Probably not... but that hasn't ever really stopped me before.

Also, what would I paint on all those pages?  Should I keep going with all "Star Wars" characters?  Or broaden it out just a little bit to all Science Fiction movies in general?  Decisions, decisions...

I guess y'all will find out what I decide shortly after I do.  Or something like that.

Anyhoo, here's the Work in Progress for this painting!

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STEP ONE:  Hey, it's a sketchbook on clearance!

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STEP TWO:  I coated the cover with a mix of Matte Medium and Casein fixative to give the Acrylic paint something to stick to.  I figured, since the cover was a darker blue, to do the painting as a monochrome painting, with the palette consisting of: Titanium White, Carbon Black, and Ultramarine Blue.  Here's the first pass with a large, 1/2" flat brush and a No. 12 Round.

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STEP THREE:  And here's the finished painting.  A lot more modeling and texture added to the face, and just general adding of detail.  I did add my name in Photoshop, 'cuz I realized a little too late I forgot to sign it.  Oh, well.

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STEP FOUR:  And, just to add the symmetry from the Step One, here it is in hand after I just finished spraying it with Krylon UV-Protective Fixative.  Weird how a lot of the blue color was lost on the phone pic; I guess I'll blame the fluorescent lighting.  Now for the difficult part: Trying to figure out what to do next with the sketchbook with all those blank pages!  Hmmmm....

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Done with Acrylic Paint on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cover.

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If H.P. Lovecraft Wrote SHAZAM?

SHAZ-THULU!

OK, this was idea that came to me a while ago, but **FINALLY** got around to working on it.  While looking at some of the origin stories of SHAZAM, I came across the panel talking about Elder Gods, which immediately makes me think of H.P. Lovecraft:

I've always been a fan of H.P. Lovecraft's stories and the idea of a cosmic horror-based mythology (one that was more-or-less Open Source--with other authors adding to it, which delights me even more).  So, it was just a matter of plugging in the Outer/Elder Gods from the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos into the acronym/initialism of S.H.A.Z.A.M.:

S - (Yog) Sothoth, the Key and the Gate
H - Hastur, the Unspeakable
A - Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God
Z - Zhar, One of the Twin Obscenities
A - Abhoth, the Source of Uncleanliness
M - Mordiggian, the Charnel God

Yes, Yog Sothoth is a bit of a cheat for "S", but Yog Sothoth is a far more well-known Outer God and has more cultural cache.  Besides, the other name in contention, Shub-Niggurath, is... problematic.  And a bit too long to fit properly into the scroll, so that bullet was dodged due to lack of space.

As a side note, I was considering doing this as a full 4-6 page pastiche of the original origin story with subtle changes here and there, but I guess they say brevity is the soul of wit.  Or, in my case, half of the wit.  Maybe I'll come back to it.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done on a blue line layer in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas.  It amused me to mix together the cartoony drawings of Billy Batson from the original origin in "Whiz Comics" and a slightly more realistic drawing.

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STEP TWO:  And here are the digital inks.  I thought it would be more of an in-joke to have Cthulhu's symbol as part of the lightning blast to transform Billy Batson into SHAZAM.

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STEP THREE:  And here are the colors, done with a series of Multiply and Normal layers.  When it was finished, it was exported as a .jpg at 1,000px x 1,500px.

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Done digitally in Clip Paint Studio.

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May the Fourth Be With You - 2020

May the Fourth Be With You!

OK, sure, it's really a day late, but I won't tell anyone if you don't!  And, once again--against all common sense--I have decided to hitch my wagon to Jaxxon, the 6' tall green rabbit who is now... semi-canon (he has made appearances recently in various comics within the past couple years, so "Mission Accomplished" on my mad quest to make him canon?).

Anyhoo, 'cuz I am nothing if not a one-trick pony, for the past several years I've used Jaxxon as part of "May the Fourth Be With You"/"Star Wars Day"/"Revenge of the Sixth".  Of course, it is also one of those things where you kinda begin to regret starting something, then feeling like you must keep it going.  So, I guess my one-trick pony died and I will keep flogging it.

That said, I'm not entirely displeased with this cartoon, and will no doubt use use Jaxxon again in the future.  For better or worse, I remember reading about him wayyyyyy back in "Star Wars" #8 (1977/1978), when anything related to "Star Wars" was eagerly consumed by myself.  I remember him fondly enough to keep bringing him up on this Blog at least one a year; I'm not entirely sure what that says about Jaxxon, or myself for the matter. 

In this case, I managed to merge a cartoon of one of the least popular Star Wars characters (Jaxxon) with one of the most popular Star Wars characters (Baby Yoda).  And you assume Jaxxon is just trying to jump on that bandwagon?  YOU'RE the one trying to get popular copying Baby Yoda!  And how dare you suggest he is just projecting?  Tsk!  Have you no shame?

See?  Totally and completely different!  I guess you must feel pretty foolish, now!

Speaking of foolish... Below is the work in progress that absolutely no one has been clamoring for.

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STEP ONE:  Here are the digital pencils, done in Clip Studio Paint on a 1,500px x 2,250px canvas at 600dpi.  Sure, it's complete overkill as far as resolution goes, but better too much than too little, I guess. 

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STEP TWO:  And the digital inks, done mostly with their standard ink brush.  Although, I have begun to play around with their brush creation tools, so that may be fun in the future.

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STEP THREE:  And finally, the coloring, done over a series of layers.  I had the inks on the top layer, then did each color on it's own layer.  So, the backgrounds on one, Jaxxon's skin/fur tone on another, and the robes on their own layer.  Each layer was a color flat, then alpha locked so only the areas in which I colored would be able to be painted.  Basically, I do it as a quick and dirty mask area.  It works for me.

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Done digitally in Clip Studio Paint.

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