The Amazing Black Cat

8/21/2013
It's finally done! Whoo-hoo! I've put more detail with Cat's hair and dropped the hard outline on both figures. I've soften the dialog balloons with an orange outline and finally added a texture overlay of old paper and used a grudge brush to give a worn look. Special thanks to my friend Sam Kirk who wrote the dialog for this piece. Excessior!

8/18/2013

Well, I'd say one more day should take care of this and my Black Cat cover art will be done. Just need to work on Cat's hair and some details on Spidey and we're done!

8/14/2013

Hi everyone. Well, here's another update on the BC project.

I've blocked in most of the composition and rendered bout 70% what I want Cat to look like. Now to finish Spidey, the buildings, and Cat's hair and I'm calling it done!

8/11/2013

Hi everyone, just updating my progress on the Black Cat project. Below is my "tight sketch" of my thumbnail. I typically print a larger version of my thumbnail and take vellum paper and trace my and refine my thumbnail. I find it (for me) easier to capture the original feeling of my thumbnail, but tracing it than trying re-create it on regular paper. I use vellum as it doesn't wrinkle as much as regular tracing paper.

 

Bellow is a snapshot of my work in progress.

Open a new document. Make sure you know what size you want to work. In this case I am working with the standard comic book dimensions of 6 ⅝" × 10 ¼", plus 1/2" bleed all around. I change the document from CYMK to RGB, which can be done in Adobe Illustrator in File/Document Color Mode and check RGB. I like to work in RGB because it's easier to adjust colors and when I convert from an Illustrator file to Photoshop; a CYMK files for some reason opens up in Photoshop with the wrong colors.

OK, so before I start laying out colors, I have to tone my background. Toning my background will provide a contrast when you lay your colors of your figures. I keep this layer separate and call it "BG" for background.

Next,  I create a new layer and drop in a copy of my tight sketch. It comes in Illustrator as an object. Select your sketch and go to the Transparency panel (if not shown go to Windows/Transparency) and bump down your opacity. I typically have my sketches at 10-20% depending on the darkness of your lines. Name this layer as "Outline" and have it on the top of layer order. Lock it down by clicking next the empty box next to the visibility (eyeball) icon. Now you can see sketch lines when you place in you your shapes.

I often have reference materials on my screen to ensure I capture the essence of the characters, also it's easier for me to sample colors instead of coming up with them myself.  Keep in mind, you still have to adjust the colors to fit the image you are creating. It doesn't help to select Spider-Man's red suited for daytime, if you are planning a night shot. The sampling gets you in the general ballpark, but you still need to make the appropriate adjustment.

Some artists prefer to work on the background first before the figures; I'm the oppose and I usually start with the figures and work towards the background. I try to block in as much as possible, but I like to invest a lot of time on the face first; once the face is establish, I get the feeling if this piece is gonna work or not. 

OK guys. That's it for now. See you next time!

8/5/2013

Hi true believes, it's your friendly online illustrator Dave bringing an another exciting illustration of his childhood heroes. This time, I'm doing an image of one of the hottest femme fatale in the Marvel universe, the Black Cat. This is the thumbnail sketch of what I plan to draw. This is a parody of the cover used in the very first Spider-Man comic.

Here comes the Rocketeer!

7/27/2013

It's done! I've finally finished my Rocketeer illustration! I've made two cover variant; one color and one "black and white".

7/26/2013

Hey guys! Almost done! Just a few more tweeks and our Rocketeer image will be done! I've flushed out the figures a little more and added third search light. Some changes to Bettie's necklace and I've flushed out her dress. For the Rocketeer I've rendered his helmet more, his jet pack, and arms (oops, need to change his right hands glove a bit).

Think  one more day will do it!

7/22/2013

Well, it's been awhile since my last blog, but I've finally manage to upload my newest work; the Rocketeer! Always wanted to do my rendition of this classic and so far I'm pretty happy how it is coming along. It's not done yet; I need to work on the figures just a little more and I'm done!

Below are my thumbnail and "tight sketch:

With my tight sketches, I'm roughly about 85-90% of what I want my illustration should look like. When I start rendering it in illustrator, I intuitively make changes based on composition, color, and feel of the image.

Need a little more work on the figures and I'll says this piece is done!

Go Science Ninja Team Gatchaman!

7/1/13

Done with the final version. I've change Jinpei's design and and some final textures and some line variation. 

Took longer to make these changes, but now it's done!

6/25/13

Added a few more characters and background addition. Add some textures, but still need to tweek the image just little more. One more day should do it!

 6/24/13

 This is a work in progress. Anybody remembers Battle of the Planets? How bout G-Force? Or (apparently) Eagle Riders? These are niffty titles, but doesn't quite stand out as the original name for this series; Gatchaman!

Got most of the figures placed on the image below; just need to add the fifth member of the team and this piece will be very near to completion.

Like any good image, it starts with a thumbnail. Your final pieces, IMO, never quite get the same energy you get from your thumbnail.

Below is a "tight" sketch of the image. I try to get as close to what I want the final image to look like, but of course changes occur during the rendering process.

Go! Sweet Racer!

 This piece was for the Philadelphia Comic Con at the end of May. I've always wanted to do a Speed Racer piece, but wasn't sure how I wanted to illustrate it. Then I came up with a sick idea, what if Mojo Jojo was dressed as Chim Chim? That alone made me wanted to do a Speed Racer/Power Puff parody. The design was to mimic a well known Speed Racer poster so coming up with the composition wasn't too hard. After that it was just about drawing the characters which you can see below.

The toughest character to draw was Ms Bellum as for much of the tv series, no one has ever known what she looked like, except for one episode specialty (apparently).  Completed this piece within 24-hours before the Comic Con. With 2 hours of sleep, an Egg-McMuffin in one hand, and my portfolio in other, I went to artist ally with positive reception with this piece at the booth. Whoo-hoo!

Gran Tiramisu!

Wreck-It Ralph is one of my favorite animation films. Wanted to do a fan artwork for some time now.

Below you can see my process work:

1.) Start with at quick thumbnail

 

 

2.) Then I work up a quick rough outline

3.) Take my outline scan it and create at jpeg. Open Adobe Illustrator and have this as my template. I set my template at a transparency of about 20% then I work under it.

4.) Work from back to front, starting with background first then foreground.

Threadless Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Challenge

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've been really busy with work at Little Airplane Productions as an intern designer. I just finished a piece for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). I had a lot of fun as it was one of my favorite shows back in the 90's. Check it out at Threadless: http://www.threadless.com/TMNT/turtle-boys-dont-cut-em-no-slack/

Vote for it so it can get printed so viewers like you can get yourself this "totally radical" t-shirt!

Thanks in advance.

Character Design Test Piece

1/14/2013

This was a test piece I was asked to do for a character design avatar for a gaming company. The description was a sexy waitress that would be used to brief our hero on his missions: