Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Loki

Loki 

Here is the original entry for Loki in 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.  

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop with a toned background and used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing. 

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STEP THREE:  I erased around the figure to remove the gray background and created a MULTIPLY Layer, then began to colorize the figure.  Once again, I decided to use the MULTIPLY Layer as the mid-tones and darks and the New Layer mostly for lights and highlights.

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Harley Quinn (Colorized)

Harley Quinn

And here's the Colorized version.

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The first box just shows the flat colors done with a MULTIPLY Layer.  The next step shows some of the variation in the lights and darks on the same layer; I also put some texture and lettering on the hammer.  And in the last step pictured, I pushed the final highlights on a NEW Layer; I dropped the opacity of the lettering to 45% and went in with the Eraser Tool to make it seem like the lettering was a bit faded from over-use.  Finally, I thought it needed a little more focus, so I used a large air brush tool to darken the background around Harley Quinn as seen in the final picture above.

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Here is something a little bit different: an animated .gif of each step in the process from beginning to end.  It's sort of a larger file (1.4MB), so it may take a bit longer to load depending on your internet connection.

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This was done with charcoal on 11" x 14" toned Strathmore drawing paper, then imported into PhotoShop.

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Harley Quinn (Black and White)

Harley Quinn

I noticed my Blog was quickly becoming nothing but art for my posts to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Redux Blog.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course--it's a great Blog and lots of fun to work on.  But, I think I've been getting a bit lazy and decided I need to change things up a bit.  And, with that, I thought it would be fun to do some character studies.  In this case, it's a drawing of Harley Quinn.  I will probably do up a colorized version in the next day or two.

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STEP ONE:  I used soft, vine charcoal to loosely sketch the pose on a sheet of 11" x 14" Strathmore toned paper.  I like working on a toned surface as it gives three values for the price of two (the mid-toned paper, plus black charcoal and white chalk), as opposed to just the two values of black charcoal on white paper.

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STEP TWO:  I smear the charcoal to soften the lines and push it into general shaded areas.

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STEP THREE:  I used charcoal and carbon pencils to build up shading and a kneaded eraser to carve back out some highlights.

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STEP FOUR:  Here is the finished charcoal drawing.  I also didn't care for the angle of the right-foot in the original drawing and changed it.

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STEP FIVE:  I went in an added some highlights with a white charcoal pencil.  I then took this picture and opened it in PhotoShop to clean it up a bit and use it as a framework to continue the drawing/painting digitally.

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STEP SIX:  In PhotoShop, I darkened and smoothed out the shading, bumped up the highlights more, and also changed the expression on her face, as well as corrected a few other odd-and-ends.  I thought I'd leave this one as black-and-white for now, and do a colorized version in a couple days.  :-)

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This was done with charcoal on 11" x 14" toned Strathmore drawing paper, then imported into PhotoShop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: White Queen / Emma Frost

White Queen / Emma Frost

Here is the original entry for the White Queen / Emma Frost in 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.  

White Queen/Emma Frost has changed quite a bit since her entry in the Handbook of the Marvel Universe, with her going from a member of the Hellfire Club to helping to lead the X-Men and becoming romantically connected to Scott/Cyclops and all.  So, with this entry, I tried to blend between the old and the new.  I also changed the pose a little bit to make her seem a bit more haughty, aloof, and in control.

Visually, the White Queen has always been interesting (hey, not just for the obvious reasons--and I'll explain those reasons just as soon as I think of 'em!), and part of the challenge is to try and find the right balance drawing a woman with sex appeal without it tipping into juvenile, puerile fantasy.

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop with a toned background and used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing. 

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STEP THREE:  I erased around the figure to remove the gray background and created a MULTIPLY Layer, then began to colorize the figure.  For this one, I did a lot more digital painting on a New Layer for the fur cape and blending some of the lights and highlights.  On the left is the black-and-white drawing after it is colorized over the Multiply Layer, with the highlights and additional digital painting on top of it and finished on the right.  Usually, the difference between the two isn't quite so pronounced, but white colors and highlights tend to be a bit darker and muddy on a Multiply Layer.  Because of that, I decided to use the Multiply Layer as the mid-tones and darks and the New Layer for lights and highlights.

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Gramosians

Gramosians

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Gramosians 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.  I did a quick search and found a picture of their first appearance in Thor #208 and modified their costuming a little bit.

Below, a brief step-by-step for those who are interested... :-)

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels in PhotoShop with a toned background and used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing. 

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STEP THREE:  I erased around the figure to remove the gray background.  Lastly, I created a MULTIPLY Layer and began to colorize the figure, and did some final highlights on a New Layer.  

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Glx

Glx

Here is the original entry for the Alien Race: Glx 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.  As it was mentioned in the description that the Glx were Silicon-based, I pictured more of a crystalline structure for their body.

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels with a toned background and used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  I found some  photographic references for crystal structures and pasted them into the drawing.  I did paint over all of them, but it helped me to figure out how to do crystal growths and formations.

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STEP THREE:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing. 

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STEP FOUR:  I erased around the figure to remove the gray background.  Lastly, I created a MULTIPLY Layer and began to colorize the figure, and did some final highlights on a New Layer.  

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Gegku

Gegku

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

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STEP ONE:  I created a New Document 1,000 x 1,500 pixels with a toned background.  I used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing.

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STEP THREE:  Here is a texture of a alligator scales, which I set to a SOFT LIGHT Layer which gave it a slight, scaly texture.

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STEP FOUR:  I erased around the figure, to remove the gray background.  Finally, I created a MULTIPLY Layer and began to colorize the figure, and did some final highlights on a New Layer.  Although, the Gegku I did almost looks like The Fantastic Four's Thing.  :-D

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Galadorians

Galadorians

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

For those in the know, the entry for Aliens: Galadorians in the OHotMU is another opportunity for me to draw ROM: Spaceknight.  :-)

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STEP ONE:  For this series of Aliens in the OHotMU entry, I decided to do them entirely digitally.  I created a New Document 1000 pixels x 1500 pixels with a toned background.  I used a large Oil Pastel Brush to sketch in the pose.

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STEP TWO:  Here is the finished black-and-white under drawing.

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STEP THREE:  I erased around the figure, to remove the gray background.  Finally, I created a MULTIPLY Layer and began to colorize the figure, and did some final highlights on a New Layer.

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Created digitally in PhotoShop.

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Shameless Self-Promotion

I want to give a shout out to Rafael, who is currently stationed in Afghanistan, for having my art grace another T-Shirt overseas.  To pass the time at their base and provide some entertainment, they have created T-Shirts for various days of the week and landed on the idea of a Face-Hugger Friday and asked if they could use my drawing.  Absolutely!

He was kind enough to send me a few T-Shirts, a flag which was from the base, along with a citation for me.  It **ALMOST** makes it worth surely being on some sort of NSA Watch List now that I have received a package from Afghanistan.  :-D

FRONT:  I did not draw the Chest-Burster on the front of the shirt, but it is cool nonetheless!  And, hey, it's a CHEST-BURSTER, so it HAS to be on the Front of the shirt.

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BACK:  My Face-Hugger drawing is on another T-Shirt!  WEIRD!  It is part of my growing pile of swag, and my art finds itself on another shirt overseas.  (See HERE for the tale of the Face-Hugger drawing being used by Buried, a Dutch Death Metal Band.)

Rafael, when you get back stateside, contact me again.  At very least I owe you some sort of original drawing/sketch.  This stuff is COOL!  :-)

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Lumina

Lumina

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

The Lumina (like the Lem) first appeared in the "Shogun Warriors" comic.  The Shogun Warriors were giant Robots/Mechas--almost proto-Transformers from the day, as I think they changed into ships and such, if I remember correctly.  Because of that, I tried to make the Lumina a Mecha-Suit which resembled an updated take on the Shogun Warriors.

I have a nostalgic fondness for the series, of which I have about a half-dozen issues that were among some of the first comics I got as a kid in the late 1970's  (Giant robots?  I'm in!).  I may have to dig through my various long boxes to see if I still have the issues... :-D

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils, done with a .5mm, HB lead on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.

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STEP TWO:  The inks were done with a brush and ink.  Originally, I was going to do up some mecha-style fins that rose from from the back of the Lumina, but decided to leave them off.  It just seemed to add visual noise to the picture and was more of a "What the heck is that?" sort of thing.  So, off it went.

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STEP THREE:  After it was scanned into PhotoShop, I colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer.  Most of the time, I like to use the Chalk Brush in PhotoShop, but this time I mostly used the Airbrush for the mecha suit.

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Done with Pen-and-Ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, colored digitally.

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Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Aliens - Levians

Levians

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

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STEP ONE:  Here are the pencils, done with a .5mm, HB lead on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock.  

* * *

STEP TWO:  The inks were done with a brush and ink.

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STEP THREE:  After it was scanned into PhotoShop, I colorized it with a MULTIPLY Layer.

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Done with Pen-and-Ink on 8-1/2" x 11" cardstock, colored digitally.

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