MODOK - March MODOK Madness 2014 (Part 2)!

M.O.D.O.K.

(MENTAL ORGANISM DESIGNED ONLY for KILLING)

Hey, everyone, it's a second submission to the March MODOK Madness Blog!  This was going to be color, but, alas, I ran out of time before the final buzzer is set to go off later this evening.  I'll just have to colorize it at a later date, I'm sure.

Anyhoo, here is the process for those who are mildly interested...

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STEP ONE:  I did a quick sketch of the layout I was going to use: a forced perspective of his arm on the joystick of his chair.  I did the sketch using a blue pencil on a scrap piece of copy paper.  As usual, I think there is a certain energy to the quick sketch which I almost prefer to the finished picture.  Oh, well.

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STEP TWO:  I used a chalk brush in PhotoShop and began to lay out the lights and darks, as well as form for M.O.D.O.K.

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STEP THREE:  More of the same.  Here it is a little further along.  :-)

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STEP FOUR:  Here it is a little further along.  I decided to crop it a little bit to get tighter on M.O.D.O.K.'s face.  I also painted over the three stripes on the side of his metallic body armor, intending to paint it back in when I was finished with the lighting on his body.  However, in the rush to get this finished, it looks like I forgot to add them back in again (Sigh...).  I also added some Kirby Krackle.

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STEP FIVE:  This is the finished picture of M.O.D.O.K.  I cropped in even tighter on his face, which seemed to increase the dramatic feel for the picture.  I also finished up the work on his hand and some of the metallic shine for his body armor, as well as some other bits and pieces.  As the window of time was closing fast (today is the last day), I called it good enough and sent out the submission.

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This was done digitally in PhotoShop.
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MODOK - March MODOK Madness 2014!

M.O.D.O.K.

(MENTAL ORGANISM DESIGNED ONLY for KILLING)

Greetings!  Here's a submission for the March MODOK Madness Blog.  Every year they open up their Blog to all manner of drawings of M.O.D.O.K.  It's great fun and I encourage everyone to take a look (or, better yet, submit something for yourself).  :-)

For those of you interested, here's the Step-by-step...

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STEP ONE:  I did up a quick sketch of what I wanted to do with a charcoal pencil and some India ink on a piece of newsprint.  I figured an extreme close-up of M.O.D.O.K. would be cool.

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STEP TWO:  Here's a midpoint black-and-white digital under-painting.  I mostly just use a chalk brush in PhotoShop, as it has a good texture and gives more of a natural feel to the digital painting.

I did make one significant change to the planned layout in that I included a bit more of his face, deciding it included a little more expression.  I'm still going back-and-forth on deciding if I like it with more of his face showing, or if I should have just cropped it off as I originally intended.  Decisions, decisions... 

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STEP THREE:  Here's the finished black-and-white painting.

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STEP FOUR:  I used a MULTIPLY Layer to do most of the colorizing of the black-and-white painting.  For additional highlights, as well as some of the glowing light effects, I used a NORMAL Layer overtop in addition to the Blur Filter.  I then sent a copy off to the March MODOK Madness Blog.  I'm hoping to get one more submission done for March M.O.D.O.K. Madness (fingers crossed).  :-)

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This was done digitally in PhotoShop.
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Unwanted Valentines: Blaine the Mono

Unwanted Valentines:

Blaine the Mono

This Unwanted Valentine is a mash-up of Stephen King and "The Simpsons".  Blaine the Mono is the (dare I say it?) crazy train from King's "Dark Tower" series--a twisted, self-aware monorail that loves riddles and is on a suicide run hoping to take Roland and his Ka-Tet with him.  

From "The Simpsons", it's the awesome card Ralph Wiggum gets from Lisa Simpson for Valentine's Day after she takes pity on him.  Ralph takes the card as an invitation to be Lisa's boyfriend.  A very sweet episode, all around.  And it contains one of my Top 20 favorite lines from "The Simpsons": 

RALPH: "The doctors said I wouldn't have so many nose bleeds if I kept my finger outta there."

Here is a screen capture of the famous card that Lisa Simpson gave to Ralph Wiggum.

Now, of course one cannot have a mash-up of Blaine the Mono and "The Simpsons" without invoking the much beloved song from "Marge vs. The Monorail".  (The song begins about one minute into the video.)

Also, Blaine is a Pain. :-)

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils for Blaine and Mono, done with blue lead on a sheet of card stock.  I also included one of the skull/hearts I was going to insert into the card, as well.  I even accidentally had the foresight to draw only a single rail on the train tracks, just to head off any comments about Blaine being a MONORAIL.  ;-)

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STEP TWO:  I did the inks with a Sharpie bleed-proof pen and scanned it into PhotoShop.

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STEP THREE:  I figured it would be more creepy to do a more realistic skull on the cartoonish train, so I added a layer and did a more painted-looking skull overtop the train's face.

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STEP FOUR:  Here's everything all together.  I colored everything with a MULTIPLY Layer, with some extra highlights on the skull done over top a New Layer.  I also duplicated the skull/hearts and scattered them about to match the "I Choo-Choo-Choose You" card.

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Done with pen-and-ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock and colored digitally.

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Unwanted Valentines: Mars Attacks!

Unwanted Valentines:

Mars Attacks!

Well, Valentine's Day sneaked up on me this year, so I'll only have a couple "Unwanted Valentines" this time around.

This one came about from the obvious joke of "Men are from Mars".  :-D

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STEP ONE:  I pencilled the Mars Attacks! Martian's head as a heart-shape on a piece of cardstock.  I then scanned it into PhotoShop.

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STEP TWO: I move the pencils a a top Layer and set it to MULTIPLY.  I then started to use the chalk brush in PhotoShop to digitally paint the Martian's head.

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STEP THREE:  Here it is about halfway done and without the guide over top of it.  I was far enough along to jettison the guidelines altogether by this point.

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STEP FOUR:  This is the finished Martian's heart-shaped head.  I added the lettering above (OK, as it was just an "I" and a "U", that barely counts as lettering), and used a 25 pixel line around 'em and called the card above "DONE!"

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Done digitally in PhotoShop.
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Celestials: Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial (Part 2)

Celestials: 

Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial

To continue from the previous post, here is the golden armored version of the Dreaming Celestial, formerly Tiamut the Communicator before his "Fall from Grace".  I find the story of the Dreaming Celestial to be something which captures my imagination and would like to work on further.  Aw, heck, I'm just a fan of the Celestials in general and will definitely be doing more with them in the future.

However, for now I will be taking a little break from this series and finish off most of the major Celestials at a later date.

Here is the original version of Tiamut.  I've included both the Kirby version from his original Eternals series in the 1970's (Issue #18) and a more recent version that I used as the primary reference.

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STEP ONE:  I used a blue lead 0.5mm mechanical pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock for the pencils.

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STEP TWO:  The inking was done with a fine point Sharpie Non-Bleed pen and a PITT Brush tip pen to fill in the black areas and add some line variation.

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STEP THREE:  I scanned the image into PhotoShop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer, keeping the color scheme somewhat consistent to the previous Celestials entries I did for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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Celestials: Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial (Part 1)

Celestials: 

Tiamut the Dreaming Celestial

There are essentially two versions of Tiamut: The Dreaming Celestial.  This one is from the mid-80's, where I first encountered the story of The Dreaming Celestial in the pages of the 12-Part Eternals mini-series.  The story involved a Deviant, Ghaur, attempting to tap into the energies of a "Dreaming Celestial" to become a godlike being, crush his enemies, and establish himself as master of all he surveyed.  Y'know, the usual.

There is also a golden armored version who appeared for 2 pages in the original Jack Kirby Eternals series (Issue #18, if you're interested), and then made his appearance again in another Eternals series in the mid-2000's.  And, since there are two versions, I will be doing the golden-armored Tiamut in my next post.

Here's the original pic.  While he was drawn in the mini-series with two circular eyes and some lines across his face plate, I sorta liked the nebulous energy idea and gave his face a Kirby Crackle, instead.

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STEP ONE:  I used a blue lead 0.5mm mechanical pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock for the pencils.

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STEP TWO:  The inking was done with a fine point Sharpie Non-Bleed pen and a PITT Brush tip pen to fill in the black areas and add some line variation.

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STEP THREE:  I scanned the image into PhotoShop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer, keeping the color scheme somewhat consistent to the previous Celestials entries I did for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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Celestials: Scathan the Approver

Celestials: 

Scathan the Approver

Hey, it's my 100th Post, and who better to feature than the Celestial, Scathan the Approver.  Apparently, he is Celestial from an alternate future, first appearing in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" (1994).  Unlike Arishem, he doesn't Judge, per se, but he approves or disapproves of certain, pivotal situations.  Which, to be honest, seems like a minor distinction at best.  :-)

Here is Scathan the Celestial from his appearance in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" (1994).  The image above became a minor meme, used whenever a person would post something which was met with disapproval.  Bless you, Nerds, everywhere!  :-)

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STEP ONE:  I did the pencils with a blue lead .05 Mechanical Pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  The inks were done with a Fine Point, Bleed-Proof Sharpie pen, with a little help from a PITT Brush Pen for some of the heavier blacks.

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STEP THREE:  I scanned it into PhotoShop and colorized it over a MULTIPLY Layer.  Once more, I kept the color scheme very simple to match the previous Celestials entries I did for  the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.  Y'know, just to keep things consistent.

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Hey, Scathan, what do you think of my 100th Post?

Ah, well, a SCATHING review of my Blog from Scathan the Approver.  Better luck next time, I guess...

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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Celestials: Exitar the Exterminator

Celestials:

Exitar the Exterminator

When Arishem the Judge gives the thumbs down to a civilization/world, Exitar shows up to do the deed and destroy (and then remake) the planet.  He stands 20,000 feet tall (the normal Celestials are a mere 2,000 feet tall) and has a star field showing up within the shaded regions of his armor.  That's a pretty cool visual to me.

Here is the original image of Exitar the Exterminator.

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STEP ONE:  Once more, I broke out my blue lead 0.5mm mechanical pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  More inking done with a fine point Sharpie Non-Bleed pen, with an assist from a PITT Brush tip pen to fill in the black areas more quickly.

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STEP THREE:  I scanned the image into PhotoShop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer, keeping the color scheme very simple to match the previous Celestials entries I did for  the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.  I also used a star field image from the NASA Site, adjusting the Color Levels and using the Dodge and Burn tools to darken/lighten areas a little bit, as well.

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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Celestials: Gamiel the Manipulator

Celestials:

Gamiel the Manipulator

Gamiel the Manipulator first appeared with his "brother", Devron the Experimenter, in Eric Powell's Marvel Monsters: Devil Dinosaur #1.  Sure, the zany adventures of Devron and Gamiel aren't exactly canon, but I still felt they should be included with the rest of the Celestials in this series.

Here is the original version. 

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STEP ONE:  I did the pencils with blue pencil lead on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  Inks were done with a Sharpie Fine-Point Non-Bleed marker.  I traced back over some of the lines to build up some line variation and thickness. 

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STEP THREE:  I scanned the drawing into PhotoShop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer.  Once more, I kept the color scheme very simple to match the previous Celestials entries I did for  the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.  

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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Celestials: Devron the Experimenter

Celestials: 
Devron the Experimenter

Well, I've finally started doing more Celestials by popular request (well, as popular as anything gets on my Blog, anyways ;-).  I decided to use the same style as the previous entries which I did for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.  You can click HERE to see previous entries or click the Celestials Label on the sidebar of the Blog.

Here is the original version.

Devron and his "brother", Gamiel the Manipulator (my next post), were both introduced in a comedic story involving the Hulk and Devil Dinosaur.  I've only seen a few panels from Marvel Monsters: Devil Dinosaur #1 by Eric Powell and it somehow missed being on my radar.  Being a fan of both Eric Powell and Devil Dinosaur, I will absolutely be tracking that issue down the next time I get to my comic book shop. :-)

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STEP ONE:  I did the pencils with with a blue-lead pencil on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  The inks were done with an extra-fine pen.  I went back over top and added some line width to get some variation and add a sense of weight to the ink drawing.

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STEP THREE:  I scanned the drawing into PhotoShop and colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer.  I kept the color scheme very simple to match the previous Celestials entries I did for  the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe: REDUX EDITION.  

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This was done with pen-and-ink on 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" cardstock and colored in PhotoShop.

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