Tuesday, August 28, 2012

21st Post!

Thought I'd post some new art...

first up a couple commissions...

Princess Jun from Gatchaman (first time drawing her)
and John Carters' gal Dejah Thoris....
Both were on 11"x17" bristol, using Copic Markers and watercolors.

and here's a preview of my cards for Bad Axe Studios 'Bombshells: Women of War' sketch card set.
Not sure when they'll be out, but I'll post the rest when I can. Enjoy for now :)


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

20th Post!

Here's a Lady Blackhawk (from DC comics) commission.

11"x17" bristol paper, with copic markers and watercolors for the background.

Started with a few sketch ideas...(drawn in photoshop)
We decided to go with B (though it was a tough choice between B and C...which I still may draw someday). Why does she have an MP-40? just because it's a cool looking gun :) and will easily give it that WW2 era feel.

Next up is the tightened up digital pencils...(still in photoshop)
Then it's printed out and traced onto the 11x17 paper...
(and if you've been following my other posts, you know I love my  col-erase pencils.)

From here I decided to ink the skin tones (with a light brown Faber-Castell pen) and inked her uniform with a black Micron pen (01 and 08 thickness)

Then I break out the copics...

and then used watercolors for the loose feel of clouds and sky to help separate the background from the tight rendering on her. (scroll up top to see the finished piece :))

-Joe

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

19th Post!

This is an upcoming cover for Zenescope's Halloween issue. (It's already been shown in Previews for this month so I figured I'd post it here.)

and here's some progress shots...first up, digital layouts (in Photoshop)
as you can see by the final up above, it was decided to go with 'B' (just flipped Alice to the pose she had in 'A')
Then I went in and did a cleaned up sketch in photoshop...still all digital at this point)
Then (and if you've followed my other posts, you know what's next...) I printed it out and traced the art onto 11x17 bristol paper. Drawn with my favorite col-erase pencils (blue, red and purple).
After this point it's scanned and I start coloring in Photoshop and Painter. And if you're wondering why I use col-erase pencils (I may have mentioned this in earlier posts...I use the pencil colors with my digital coloring...I'll blend the reds in the pencils with the colors I choose for the skin tones, blue in the blacks, etc. plus I like the original art to have some color to it, rather than just gray graphite.)

Here's a few progress shots of the digital coloring...

At this point I'm still in photoshop just blocking in some colors here and there and... 'rounding out' other areas (so to speak :))
and by this point I've got their cleavage all set! So I'm pretty much done at this point, right? (Don't judge me, I work on my favorite parts first ;))
moving along...and now going back and forth between Photoshop and Painter.
All of the colors are pretty much set now, it's just time for fine tuning everything.
As you can see, there's not much difference between this image and the final up top. just some minor adjustments here and there. (plus adding the much needed highlights to their chests ;))

And there we have it...Happy (early) Halloween or as I like to call this cover 'Trick or Teat'. Hope you enjoyed seeing the process.

Friday, August 10, 2012

18th Post!

Here's my contribution to Bad Axe Studios upcoming sketch card set called Bombshells. This is my art for one of the base cards.

first up is the quick digital rough sketch (photoshop)...had the basic idea in my head of a 60's type theme mixed with modern looking military costumes.

I then let it sit for a couple weeks and when I came back to it I refined a bit more...(still in photoshop)

Next step was something I don't always do. Some rough colors in photoshop. Since I knew I wanted to color it with markers, thought I'd put down some colors just to give myself a guide.

Then printed out the rough and using a lightbox transferred the pencils to 11x17 bristol (using col-erase pencils.)
The final colors were done with Copic Markers and just a touch of photoshop cleaning up, here and there.


Monday, August 6, 2012

17th Post!

I've had this sketch sitting on my hard drive for a little while, so I decided to finish it up today.

Started my usual way, digital sketch in photoshop...
which was then printed out and using my lightbox, traced onto 9x12 bristol paper with col-erase pencils...
Then colored with copic markers....