Cover #8 process

It has been a while since I have gotten around to one of these cover process posts. I am kind of a process guy, I tend to feel that my work generally gets better the more opportunities I have to refine it. This has created a fun challenge for me as lately I have been trying to be more spontaneous in drawing pages and not spend so much time on layouts and other drawings that don't actually end up being the final drawing. How do I get everything necessary into the final page while still at or above what I feel is good quality work? I am not sure yet, but the one thing I like about just drawing a page without doing much in the way of pre-drawing the page is that it is more fun. When I drew stuff as a little kid, I never did thumbnails, I never drew a rough layout there were no lightboxes or computers, I just drew what I envisioned right on the paper. When I finished it was done and I moved on. Some where along the way I got concerned about composition, design, anatomy (sort of), perspective and all the other things that go into a "good" drawing. The idea of start to finish drawing the finished drawing on the same piece of paper became lost to me. So for now I am working to recapture some of that lost art. I do miss some of the opportunities to edit the drawing that other working methods provide, but I am hoping that taking this direction will force me to make better choices and learn some things along the way.

Now to totally contradict what I said above about trying not to doing multiple layouts and extensive pre-drawing. The idea for this cover came from a conversation with the writer. My first sketch came very quick and I kinda liked it so I dropped in some color to help me think about the design a little. I wanted some good contrast and energy so I went with a complimentary color scheme (2 colors opposite each other on the color wheel for you non-art school kids). After discussing this with Robert, we felt that it might work better to show more of Wolf-Man and a little more background.

I didn't like that one much as it is DULL and BORING. I tried to keep the same idea but punch it up a bit with this version.
I felt this one was working but the figure behind Wolf-Man was getting lost. Just showing 2 little eyes did not seem like it would be enough to suggest a menacing figure behind poor Wolf-Man. Also Wolf-Man looked a little too freaked out. He is supposed to be cool you know. I tried to address these with the next layout.
I felt this one was almost there. As you can see I dropped the logo in on the sketch to see how everything fits together. I didn't like the way that the elements fit in with the arc on the bottom of the logo. Flipping the image worked better, I also redrew Wolf-Mans pose and expression to look less angry and a little more startled.

With the design and most of the drawing figured out I dropped some color into the layout in order to get a feel for how the final design would work. I tried to stay with the complimentary scheme from my very first idea, but I pushed to green a bit to teal/blue side to get away from the Christmas colors that most people think of when they see red and green used together.
I then enlarged my layout, and lightboxed it onto the final board where I inked it.
And then the final colors in which I lost the red in favor of a simpler more subdued color scheme (analogous ?). This allowed me to be a little more representational with Wolf-Mans costume colors and create nice night time mood. I added some trees in the background at this stage, I felt they really helped add some depth.

So there it is. A long post this time, and a little bit of the crazyness that can go into a cover. By the way, this issue should be out sometime soon, it has been done for a little while. Once I know the exact date I will post it here.

Invincible vrs Wolf-Man

Here is the cover for Wolf-Man #11, which will be an Invincible crossover issue. Poor Wolf-Man is getting beat up... :(To balance things out, here is a rough cover sketch that shows the fight swinging a little more in Wolf-Mans favor. For some reason Robert didn't want to use this one...
Also, I think that the Monster Pile-Up book that I mentioned in a previous post is supposed to be in stores today. It has an original 4 page Wolf-Man story that picks up right after Wolf-Man #7.

Also, also the big San Diego Con starts this week. But not for me. I am staying home to work. At the time I made the decision it sounded like the responsible thing to do, but now I kinda wish I was going. Oh well.

Behind the 7

Well, I am back. This time I thought I would show some of the behind the scenes stuff for the recently released issue 7. Before that however, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who is buying the book. Issue 7 seems to be pretty well received. I think it wraps up the first arc well and sets a cool direction for the series. If you haven't be buying the book the first trade collecting 1-7 should be out sometime soon, a great place to get started. Or tell your friends to get started:)

Anyway. With issue 7 I started skipping the small size layouts and penciling the pages right on the board. Overall I am happy with this change. It seems to be less steps in the process for me and allow me to finish pages faster. So here are a couple pencil pages. Once I get the OK on these I starting inking. In some areas where it is really loose I will tighten them up a bit before I ink them.

Monsters - Seven

This is the cover for Image's Monster Pile-Up book. What is "Monster Pile -Up" you ask? Well, that is a fine question. The book has original short stories from some of the monster themed books that Image is doing right now. Including The Astounding Wolf-Man. Yay! Our story picks up right after the groundbreaking events of issue #7 and leads right into issue #8. Check it out homes.

The cover itself was an interesting process. I did a really rough layout for it...
Based on that each artist penciled their own character. Scans of the pencils went to Riley (Proof) Rossmo who composited them and drew in the background. That was all sent to Craig (Perhapanauts) Rousseau who inked the whole thing and then it was back to me to do the colors. Crazy.

Also, Wolf-Man #7 is scheduled to come out tomorrow. Here is the cover. If you have been following the series so far, this will be a good one. I mean they are all good, of course, but this one will be even more better. :)

Post Heros

For the past few years I have been hearing good things about Heros Con in Charlotte, NC. I can now say that they are all true. What a cool convention. I had a blast. If you haven't been, you should make plans to go. Make them now. Right now. Go.

I did a bunch of sketches, and many people came up to talk about the book. So thanks to all. Here are a couple of the sketches I did.


At the show I hung out with art wizard Ryan (Invincible) Ottley. We got to talking about doing something fun and awesome together. After the show he did a sketch, check it out-
http://wya.deviantart.com/art/Sea-Bear-and-Grizzly-Shark-89780951

Cover 10, Heros and the Pig-icorn

I gots some art for you. But not too much, I have to spread these posts out a bit you know.

The first is the cover to Wolf-Man #10. If its not obvious I was going for a Batman feel with this one. I also inked this with a "real" brush. A Scharff #3, if you care. It was way fun. It has been at least 3 years since I have inked anything with a real brush. Typically these days I use brush markers and pens as I hate having to spend the time cleaning the ink out of a brush. With a marker kind you just pop the cap on and done. But I realized how much I missed making lines with a good brush. I also had a small unlabeled bottle of ink that had been sitting in a drawer forever and the consistency was perfect, very black. I liked using the brush so much that I used it on a couple pages, until my ink ran out. Bad news, because I haven't been able to find ink that is nearly as opaque as what was in my mystery jar. Any suggestions on good ink brands...?


This is a Pig-icorn. Does he really need anymore explanation than that?

Also, if you are going to be at Hero's Con in Charlotte this coming weekend, stop by and say hi. I will be sitting somewhere. Presumably in the vicinity of Robert Kirkman. So just look for the line of people with Walking Dead trades.

Sketchy

I'm back! I thought you might like to see some of the rough layouts for issue #6. I know that I do. I usually draw the layouts small, about 4 X 6, and then enlarge them and lightbox onto the art board. In the lightboxing step I add all the details and get it as tight as I think it needs to be to ink. Although recently I have been skipping the layouts and penciling right on the board. Sometimes I really like the result, and it seems to be a bit quicker, but for more involved shots I still seem to get better results working small first to figure out the design. Maybe one day I will have it all figured out.




Here are a couple older things just for kicks. I did these around the time that the second and third Matrix movies came out. Probably just before, because I was still inspired enough by them to want to draw something.. :)

This one was my idea of what I would look like in the Matrix world.
And this one was done for no particular reason. Both of these were created in Adobe Illustrator, for those who care about such things.

Six.

Hope you all had a great Memorial day. I spent a portion of my weekend sitting on a beach in northern Michigan reading a book (one without pictures). Super relaxing. But now its back to drawing board.

Issue #6 should be coming out this week. Look for it. Here is the cover. A while ago I had a post showing some of the process for creating it. Check it out if you missed it.

News and Nine

Well, the official announcement came from Image this week, Wolf-Man is going to a monthly schedule! Here is the press release for more details-
http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=156054
I am excited about this, as a reader I am not a big fan of waiting so long between issues of a comic on a bi-monthly schedule. We have wanted to do this from the start, but both Robert and my schedules needed some time to clear up a bit. Of course this means a little more work for me, but so far things are right on track.

And for another super sneak peak. Here is the cover for issue #9.

Appearances and Cover #7

Hey all. I realized that the previous post has the cover for issue #8 but I don't think I have posted issue #7 cover here yet. Maybe I have posted it, I cant remember. Hmmm, well, if I have then here it is again. If I haven't then here it is for the first time!

I also thought I should mention that I have some upcoming appearances, so stop by yo. I plan to have color prints of some Wolf-Man covers for sale as well as those dandy sketch books that everyone loves so much. I will also smile at you (if you buy something first).

May 3 (Free Comic Book Day) from about 11-2.
Clem's Collectibles
Lansing, MI
www.clemslansing.com

May 10 & 11
Emerald City Comicon
Seattle, WA
www.emeraldcitycomicon.com

June 20-22
Heros Convention
Charlotte, NC
www.herosonline.com

Sneak Peak!

Hey, hey. For the first place anywhere, here is the cover for issue #8. A little bit of an exclusive for all you good people who pop in here. I hope to have a step by step process post on this before too long.

Sports and Snow!

Just a quick one today (or tonight, or whenever you happen to be reading this).

Here is the finished T-Shirt design from the sketch in my last post. The shirt has to be printed in only 2 colors, so that of course limits aspect of the art. But it is still fun. If you live in Minnesota, some city league team somehwere is going to be wearing some sweet T-Shirts this summer.
I have done some other sports themed drawing lately, but I can't show them off yet. But trust me, it is for some cool projects. I love drawing this kind of stuff, particularly basketball, as I love to play the game. Although sitting around drawing all the time does not contribute positively to me being able to run up and down the court the way I used to. Anyway, to combine basketball and drawing is just super cool.

We got a bunch of snow throughout the month of February. My son (who is 5) asked me to help him make a snow fort, as is customary when a dad gets involved with his son's projects, I sort of took it up a level and worked on it long after he lost interest. But it was a ton of fun making the fort and playing in it with some of the neighborhood kids. Since it ended up being sort of a creative endevor I figured I would share it here.

Five is alive!

So tomorrow (Wednesday, March 12) is the day that issue #5 is supposed to be out. Yay. Finally. The art for this has been done awhile, it must be hockey season in Canda and all the printers would rather watch people hit each other with sticks than print our comics on a timely basis. In case you forgot what to look for here is the cover-


Also, to give you a little of the behind the scenes goodness that makes us all feel special, here are the rough layouts for the pages in my previous post.


And now for something different. Hold it now, hold it now, hit it. Here are a couple T-Shirt designs. This first one is for a baseball team (hopefully that is obvious) its still in progress but this is the approved sketch. I'll be sure to show the final when I finish it.


And finally, to wrap this party up here is a shirt design I did several months ago. A winter shirt for kids. And really, wouldn't our world be better off if more people did stuff for the kids?

Wolf-Man #5 preview

So, it is long past time to get a new post up here. Issue #5 of The Astounding Wolf-Man should be out anytime. Here are a couple pages from it. I dig drawing robot stuff, and this issue has plenty of roboty guys in it, including the newly created "Construct" shown in these pages.

Going old school

Well, because you demanded it, I thought I would empty the files and show some really old stuff. This is a little embarrasing, but I always like seeing other artists old work. It sort of gives some perspective on where they came from and it is interesting to see their early influences. So I thought I would share some of my own with you. Yes you, sitting their wasting time on your computer when you should be working or spending time with your family, I care about you. And this is how I show it, so brace yourself... :)



Yeah, its not hard to see what kind of artists I was into back then. Please don't judge me too strongly, I was young and impressionable.

Cover #6 Process and More!

Before we begin today, a quick Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! Now down to business.

The cover to issue 6 is one of my favorites so far. I really like drawing the Actioneers, the superhero team that Wolf-Man has some issues with, so designing a cover with them all fighting sounded like it could be cool. After a couple scribbly attempts, this was the idea I felt had some promise.
After looking at it more we decided that it might be better to have the other characters in the foreground.
As is my usual process, I enlarged the layout to comic board size and lightboxed it with blue pencil, tightening details and tweaking things a bit as I drew. And I forgot to scan my pencils again, so you can't see those. See the problem is that I don't have a big scanner, so I have to scan this stuff in pieces and put back together in Photoshop. I hate that part, cause nothing ever lines up right. So beacuse I don't like doing it and because I don't need to do it for the pencils (other than to show you guys) I often "forget" to do it. But I'll try to do better. Promise. Anyway, excuses over, here are the inks. Yay!

And now the final colors.



Also, here is a con sketch that I forgot to post sooner. Big thanks to Brian for the reminder.

Issue #4 is coming...

It is supposed to be in stores this coming week. Lots of good stuff this time, trust me, I wouldn't lie to you. I mean really, what good would it do me? Its a good thing I'm coloring this book on the computer, because if I was using traditional media I would have used up all the red paint from every art store in town (for those of you not as quick, that means that there is a whole lot of blood in this issue) :)

The cover is somewhere below in a previous post, but here are a couple pages from the issue and their rough layout.


Also, I should have a cover process post for issue #6 coming soon. Tell your friends.