TRUE COLORS PART TWO- INKS

Back in 2006, Len Strazewski contacted myself, Andrew Pepoy, Scott Beaderstadt, and others to draw stories for an anthology of stories that he wrote. I ended up drawing 2 stories, which have become 3 with at least one more on it's way.

The first story I drew was called True Colors and told the tale of a modern day psychic and business man who had stopped world domination when they were children. They come together again because the threat they thought they had stopped as kids has resurfaced.

The following are the inks I did for this project:

INflUENCES PART 13

Jerry Salinas is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the finest artists who I have ever been associated with.

Jerry has been working with me for the past seven years at Steven Edsey & Sons. He is someone who I like working with because not only because of his artwork, but also because he is able to remain professional while being laid back at the same time. 

As great as his storyboard work is, he is an artist who is always changing and always experimenting. Recently he has been using a realistic digital technique:

Another thing that's so inspirational about Jerry is that he is always trying to better himself by doing figure drawing and oil painting. This keeps him from getting locked into one style and allows him to explore different mediums, which he later brings into all of his work.

Out of all the different creative people who I've met Jerry Salinas really stands out. He may not be the best illustrator I've ever met, but I'd have to say he's one of the best artists.

Jerry's artwork can be found HERE and HERE

THE CREATIVE PROCESS PART 12- USING A LIGHTBOX

In earlier posts I've talked about my process of doing rough pencils before going to final. When I do go to final pencils, I use the roughs as an underlay and use a lightbox in order to draw onto bristol board. A lightbox  allows things to be seen through paper by shining a light  through it.

 I tape a copy of the rough pencils to the lightbox and then place the bristol board over it.

Because I can see the image underneath I draw over it onto the board. I'm also able to make final changes to the pages at this stage. I usually go slower with this stage to make sure that I'm doing it correctly.

Once the drawing is on the board and I have finished with the lightbox, I add small details - like strands of hair- and the blacks.

This final stage can take some time but is usually the quickest part of the process.

LIFE DRAWING PART 9

An essential and easy part of life drawing is doing self portraits. They can be done using any medium and all you need is a mirror. Here are some of myself that I have done over the years:

This is the first one I ever did from my drawing class @ Loyola, waaaay back in 1991.

Conte Crayon

This was just a study of my facial expressions, circa. 1994

pencil

From my first life drawing class at American Academy Of Art, 1999

charcoal

Another American Academy drawing, from 2000

colored charcoal

For my final art project at AAA, a painted comic book story of my life, 2004

gouache

Also from 2004

gouache

TRUE COLORS PART ONE -PENCILS

Back in 2006, Len Strazewski contacted myself, Andrew Pepoy, Scott Beaderstadt, and others to draw stories for an anthology of stories that he wrote. I ended up drawing 2 stories, which have become 3 with at least one more on it's way.

The first story I drew was called True Colors and told the tale of a modern day psychic and business man who had stopped world domination when they were children. They come together again because the threat they thought they had stopped as kids has resurfaced.

The following are the pencils I did for this project:

After the pencils, I inked and colored the story, the art of which which will be seen in future posts.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS PART 11- FROM FINISHED PENCILS TO INKS

When it comes to my artwork, I can be very selfish. I am unwilling to ink over my finished pencils because I want to keep the original artwork as it is. So how do I ink it?

My first step is to finish the art in the pencil stage, putting as much detail in it as I possibly can.

This is the first page from Len Stazewski's Milos saga, 

which will be printed in an upcoming anthology.

Once the pencils are finished, I scan them into the computer. If they are being inked by someone else. I send them to the editor and wash my hands of them, eagerly awaiting the final printed comic. If I'm inking them myself, I convert the art digitally to non-photo blue and print it out on bristol board.

I then ink over that, so I end up with both a finished pencil copy as well as an inked copy. 

The inked page with letters by the great Willie Schubert

I do this mostly because I don't consider myself an inker, so if I mess up the page, I'll still have the original. Although I end up using more paper, the process works well for me.

INflUENCES PART 12

Today is Jeff Austin's birthday.

Jeff is the inker for the work I do for AC Comics and has worked on all but one of the stories that I've drawn for them. Jeff's work is very unique because he adds a lot of detail and brush strokes to the art.

This is a page from the one of the stories I did for AC Comics.

Here's the page with Jeff's inks.

When I saw how much Jeff was improving my artwork, I realized that I had to up my game. I started adding more detail and tried to imagine how he would approach a particular page. The end result has been better artwork on my end.

In addition to working for AC, Jeff has a blog that can be found HERE

FEMFORCE 151 ( November 2009)

The following are pencils I did for AC Comics' Femforce #151. The story was 7 pages of conversation  so it's not the most exciting thing I've ever drawn. The plot deals with the repercussions of Femforce #150 ( which I was unable to work on due to my redrawing of the King Kong trade paperback). The return of the once deceased Stardust and the blinding of Captain Paragon.

 RECOVERY is the lead story of the issue.

This issue had a feature that was very important to me. The flip side of the book featured my painted cover for Gargantarama #14 - the first painted cover I've done:

See my process for creating the cover HERE

Femforce #151 was published in January 2010, and can still be found online HERE