NYCC 2011 Commissions — Daredevil (Yellow)

Daredevil. 2012. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

Hope you all liked Daredevil #10. I had a lot of fun drawing the Mole Man, and I think it was one of my Dad's favorite arcs to ink. While we're already hard at work on our next issue, the 1st of 4, we won't be on the stands for a little while. Sorry, I'm the slow one! We'll still have some covers, thankfully, including an explosive Spider-Man cover in July.

Daredevil #10, Page 7, Panels 5-6. 2012.
Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on Marvel board, 11 × 17.25″.

If you would like to own a page of original artwork from the last issue, they are now available at Splash Page Comic Art. Also, the blind auction (no pun intended) for the Daredevil #14 cover ends this Sunday. As for me, I've got a birthday party and a baby shower to attend this weekend, neither of them mine.

Next week marks the premiere of Ultimate Spider-Man, Marvel's first self-produced animated series. I was honored to be a part of the creative process, and will be posting my contributions to the show for the next 2 weeks.

And in case you missed it on Twitter yesterday, I put in my 3 cents for casting the next Daredevil movie. I hope Hollywood is listening.

Wacky Reference Wednesday, No. 168

Daredevil #10. 2011. Ink on bristol board, 11 × 17″.

Daredevil #10 hits shelves today (and is available digitally as well). And while this cover has been around since last year, I thought I'd feature some of the reference that went into it.

I've posted these Sculptris maquettes previously, but for this cover, I tried using them in concert with another great (and free!) 3D program: Blender. I don't think it will become part of my typical work flow—it has almost too many features—but it made sense for this particular image (and besides, I wanted an excuse to experiment and learn the basics).

It was fairly simple to stage this scene by importing my maquettes and arranging them about a single light source. As you can see, the busts provided enough information to extrapolate shadows and render the full figures. This can actually be done in Photoshop CS5 Extended as well, but I find the interface a bit slow; its 3D capabilities are an added feature, not the main focus.

1. Digital Composite  2. Pencils (non-photo blue)  3. Inks

This faux-engraving style required such precision that I decided to ink it myself. My Dad could easily have inked it, but we'd essentially be doing everything twice, which would defeat the purpose of our assembly line process. Knowing that ahead of time, I penciled it completely in blue, which saved me from erasing anything prior to scanning. Total time was about 70 hours, some of which was recorded with the help of Mike Furth and The Comic Archive.

Daredevil #14 Cover Auction

Daredevil #14 Cover. 2012. Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on Marvel board, 11 × 17.25″.

The Daredevil covers have been proving pretty popular, so we've decided to offer #14 through a blind auction. The price includes both inks and pencils. Full details can be found at the site. Thanks for all the interest!

All the pages from Daredevil #9 are up on the site as well... and it looks like some have already sold. In general, if there is ever a piece featured here that you're interested in, please contact Mark Hay at Splash Page Comic Art so you can be informed if and when it's available. Thanks!

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Green Goblin

Green Goblin. 2011. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

This is one of the few head shots I actually finished during the convention (I'm still not through the entire list, but the end is nigh). This Wednesday will see Daredevil #10 hit shelves, along with my cover to The Twelve #11, the penultimate issue.

Daredevil #7, Page 5, Panel 1. 2011.

Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on Marvel board, 11 × 17.25″.

Original art from Daredevil #7 is now available through Splash Page Comic Art. Daredevil #9 should be up shortly as well—I'll post links when the time comes. And finally, if you'd like to not be Daredevil, there's a shirt specially made just for you.

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Iron Man

Iron Man. 2011. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

You can't see it here, but this version of Tony has a straight-up mustache, Don Heck style. I promise. In other news, a preview for Daredevil #10—out next week—has been posted. I'll feature some art from the issue next week, as well as some "wacky reference" for the cover. Have a great weekend!

Wacky Reference Wednesday, No. 167

Daredevil #9, Page 10, Panel 1. 2012.
Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on Marvel board, 11 × 17.25″.

Sploosh! Daredevil nails a perfect landing, much to the dismay of an airborne moloid. This panel required some hand reference (as well as a quick look into long-jumping techniques). I've been taking more and more pics with Photobooth, which flips the image as if it were a mirror. This shows the actual scene, as evidenced by my awesome clothing.

Thanks to Daredevil, what used to be my Fantastic Four t-shirt is now my Omega Drive t-shirt. The mugshots above are from my trusty DD Sculptris bust, which makes its way into the digital composite at the bottom of the post. When pasting into the document, I find these 2 lighting situations—an inverted pair—to be the most useful since the lines I need to draw are most often the instances where the planes of a form turn sharply away from the viewer.

Inks and Pencils

I'm a big fan of doing layouts on the Cintiq since their are no limits to my canvas. Each panel resides in a separate layer so they can be resized and repositioned with ease. I toned the background to a different color so I can keep all the layers straight. Sometimes I'll even color-code the panels if things get too crazy. The first thing I always do now is copy and paste the text. This gives me a true sense of how the page will read, as well as how much real estate it's squatting.

Digital Composite and Layouts

The last panel was originally scripted as 3, but I wanted to simultaneously convey a sense of the cavernous space, so I designed an animation of sorts. The monster's eyes needed to track Daredevil as he passed, so I gave him 3, each looking at our hero at a different stage.

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Nova

Nova. 2012. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Daredevil

Daredevil. 2012. Acrylic on card stock, 7 × 10.5″.

Morning, folks! Today I'm 31 years old. Yippee! When I started working for Marvel, I was just barely old enough to have drinks at a bar with my editors. Nearly 10 years later, I'm still drawing dudes in tights (tight tights!). Still taking Wacky Reference. Still wearing the same glasses, as you'll see below.

The head shot above was commissioned at last year's New York Comic Con (and finished at home), but here's an interview from last week's Toronto Comic Con. Have a great weekend! Have a drink for me (responsibly, of course).

Wacky Reference Wednesday, No. 166

Poor Peter Parker...

One Moment in Time required several sequences that not only referenced earlier issues of Amazing Spider-Man, but overlapped them, almost line for line. The effect we had hoped for—a clean and clear transition between old and new art—wasn't completely successful. My art was not enough of a contrast with Paul Ryan's pencils and Vince Colletta's inks, especially with updated coloring.

On this page, we took the story in a different direction in the final panel, which required an original composition, not to mention a new shot of the Brooklyn Bridge. As I often do, I leaned on Google's 3D warehouse to find an appropriate model.

Layout. Pencil on paper, 4 × 6″ 

Digital composite, including panels from ASM Annual #21

Pencils

Inks

Amazing Spider-Man #638, Page 31. 2010. 

Ink on Marvel board (with digital color), 11 × 17.25″.
Original Art

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Ditko Spidey

Spider-Man. 2012. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

It feels odd thanking a city, but here goes: thank you, Toronto! I had a fantastic weekend filled with fans and friends, food and fun. For a 2-day show, I felt like we were able to accomplish a lot, thanks in no small part to my girlfriend who "manned" the table with me.

The only bad part was learning of Jean Giraud's passing (during my sketch duel with Yanick Paquette, no less (I also lost the duel)). It's difficult to overemphasize the abilities of the man known as Moebius. He was a world creator. His work was profound and I hope his influence will be apparent in my future "later work."

NYCC 2011 Commissions — Captain America

Captain America. 2011. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

I'm heading to Toronto today! I'm not sure what table I'll be at, but I should be easy to find. Saturday, from 3-4, I'll be sketch-dueling with Yanick Paquette. The rest of the time, I'll be sketching and signing at my artist alley table. You can read my commissions policy here. Have a great weekend!

Wacky Reference Wednesday, No. 165

Amazing Spider-Man #577, Page 30. 2008. Ink on Marvel board, 11 × 17.25″.
Original Art.

As promised, here's a time-lapse recording of my digital sculpting process using Sculptris. I save a lot of time by starting with previously modelled heads — The Punisher, in this case (he was the best candidate for a transformation into The Hulk). I don't have enough time to do a complete demo, but I also don't think it's necessary (I picked up the basics in under 30 minutes). Furthermore, there are plenty of YouTube demos and user forums already out there, so I don't think I could add much to the conversation.

What I do hope to share is my thought process when constructing faces. Although this is a 3D file in virtual space, the exact same thing is going on in my brain as I draw lines on a 2D surface. If I were running a superhero comic book school (a bizarre prospect, I know), sculpting would be mandatory.

I used to make these reference maquettes with Super Sculpey, and while I still love that process, the digital options, such as duplication and symmetry, speed things up to a point I could not have imagined 5 years ago. At this point, I'm slowly building a personal library of characters that serves as reference for everything I draw.

Lastly, I should note that the traditional media examples shown here were completed without the help of maquettes, but I've I've found that sculpting has only improved my understanding of the forms I'm trying to render.

Mythos: Hulk Studies. 2006. Acryla Gouache and gouache on bristol board, 8 × 10″. 

NYCC 2010 Commissions — Queen of the Night

Queen of the Night. 2011. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

Although I took on this commission at the 2010 New York Comic Con, I didn't complete it until the following year. I posted it previously on Twitter, but here it is again in case you didn't catch it. The head shot is based on Diana Damrau's Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute. It's not a great likeness, but I also didn't want to copy verbatim an existing photo.

I've also got a new interview up at Panels on Pages.

2012 Con Schedule

Spider-Man. 2010. Watercolor on paper, 9 × 12″.

Here's a Spidey commission from way back in 2010. I can't believe it's March of 2012 already. I suppose I might as well announce my con schedule for this year, seeing as how the first is just a week away, and 2013 will be here soon enough (assuming the Mayans were wrong).

March 10-11 — Toronto ComiCon
April 21-22 — Boston Comic Con (including a signing at Hub Comics)
November 17-18 — Thought Bubble, Leeds
October 11-14 —New York Comic Con (not official yet, but I'm planning on it)

I've been trying to finish up a bunch of commissions before I delve into another issue of Daredevil next week. I'll be off the stands for a little while after #10, but I'll be back for 3 consecutive issues when I "return."

Have a great weekend!