Barda

For this post, I'm still trying to get back in the drawing groove of things. This one's of Big Barda. She's definitely one of my favorites from Kirby's creations while he was at DC. I'm a big Kirby fan much like a lot of people on the planet, but with this sketch, I stumbled onto something firsthand that everybody pretty much already knows: Kirby was a really great designer.

While I was coloring in my Barda pin-up, I realized she looked just fine with just flat colors (last drawing above). Kirby's use of solid blacks and pattern are so well controlled they act like a form of 'shading' that makes his characters so strong even with just simple flat colors applied to them. So the scales in her uniform act as a gray and her gloves stand out because they're the brightest 'shade' even though they're really just the same color.

Personally, I kinda liked the flat colors that were used on Kirby's characters back inna day more than today's gradients/'modern' colors. I guess I kinda understand why now! I think a lot of his DC work has the flat color process more in mind than his Marvel ones. Or possibly his later designs just leaned more towards that style (like his eternals designs)? Or maybe I'm just reading into it too much?

Anyway, my Barda Pin-up isn't the best. It's kinda wonky in parts, but I think for the amount of time I spent and the fun I had in doing it, I'm satisfied. Pretty much the opposite of my last post; that Superman Pin-up was kinda depressing! Well that's it, until next time good night and God Bless!

Superman

Strangely enough, for a guy whose favorite character is Superman, and whose blog is even named after one of his memorable intro lines... I don't have any drawings of Superman. So, just to kinda get me slowly back into the groove of drawing again and finishing my book, I set off trying to draw him up.

Look out, here comes a rant.

You know I really do like the Man of Steel. I'm a fan of Batman, and I LOVE Batman year one, and sure I was into Wolverine too, but I think the older I get, I realize I get really sick of all the dark and brooding heroes nowadays.

The comic book industry set off to make comic books so mature back inna day, that in my opinion it alienated newer generations to enjoy them. Comic books are mainly geared for older comic book nerds like me. Not really for kids, and not really bringing new readers in.

Plus, I think where I am now, with what I'm trying to do with my comic book, I want to reach out to younger comic book readers. Not to say Superman is just for kids (Geoff Johns and Grant Morrisson's recent takes on him have been great super hero reading), but his appeal is just more bright, universal. He's a hero's hero. Anyway, that's me ranting... let's get back to drawing...

As I was drawing I came to realize three things.

One: I can't draw Superman.

Two: My anatomy is horrible.

Three: I can't draw.

Here's the proof:

Yeah, pretty sad huh (shudder)? It was a lot of starts and stops, and a lot of disappointment because I couldn't get what is in my head out onto paper. On top of that, I saw Superman only as how he was drawn by other artists. Joe Shuster, Neal Adams, Kurt Swan, Jose Luis Garcia Lopez, Jerry Ordway, John Byrne... great stuff right? But what was mine? With a lot of struggling I got a rough sketch done:

And with still a lot of messing around and sloppy trial and error, I brought it to finish:

To be honest I still don't know what MY Superman looks like. The drawing that I ended up with was kind of what I settled with and deemed passable. I guess it'll have to do as my representation for now, I'll have to work on the Big red 'S' a little bit more...

Okay until next time! Up, Up and AWAY!

Super Delicious Space Cowboys

Well, let's see... where to start? A lot of things have happened since my last post!

I'm happily married now, I quit my old job and have a brand-spanking new one, and Wondercon is right around the corner and my 2nd book is not even close to being finished! Okay, that should get us all caught up.

I'm trying to get back into the groove of things and get back to the comic. Planning a wedding and Honeymoon and all that can be quite a schedule changer! For the meanwhile, I'm going to throw up some freelance work I did a couple years back. This work was for a facebook app called Super Delicious Space Cowboys done by Ohai. I was hired to do some character designs and assets for the game.

It's interesting to dig up these because they really do show the process of designing. From my initial concepts all the way to the final product, you can see all the back and forth that goes on between me and the client. I thought it might be a kick to share that here.

Though... I have to admit there are QUITE few drawings in there that make me cringe looking at them! Warts and all on this blog right? Anyway...

This first guy was a monk character. It was kinda hard to pin down what the client had wanted for this character so you can see the look and the attitude for him is always changing. I'm not too keen on the final pose or design of the character I ended up with, but as long as the client is happy, then so am I!

This next one, was for a hacker-type character. I liked the second pose I drew and brought that through to the final. As far as design goes I think I'm more biased toward the third green sketch I did with the hood.

This guy was the first one I designed from the bunch and I think this nailed the look and attitude for the client. We got rid of the mecha arm and kept it closer to a real cowboy design.

I remember this last character was a tough one as well; a diplomatic like character I believe was the description. The initial direction was to make her regal, like Cate Blanchett-y type (we can all see that I cannot draw likenesses too well from that second sketch, huh?). But we took her to a different direction later, owing a lot more to Inara of Firefly for inspiration.

Anyway, I need to go to sleep! Check out Super Delicious Space Cowboys on Facebook here if you want to see the final product. Good night and God Bless!