I put my comic book work on hold for a little bit and worked on a birthday card for my wife. I didn't quite have an idea what it would be about, but it would still be in the same 'universe' that my wedding proposal for her is in.
My wife and I would have quick conversations about how our life has changed so much since we've had children. We'd see old photos of ourselves and reminisce about the days that it was just her and I and how 'mobile' we were. We would think about all the places we went to and the places we'd like to be.
Don't get us wrong though, we love our kids, but it seems like that was a different lifetime ago, and the people in the photos seem so different from who we are now. So that's where the brain storm started for the birthday card.
With around a week to go before the big day, I didn't bother tightening up the sketches, or even the layouts, and just went straight to digital inks. All my character design work was already done, so I felt confident I could just bust this one out.
Coloring pass wasn't too tough. I used to use Photoshop to handle the coloring, but since my older version of Photoshop works 'alright' on my Surface 3, I just kept coloring in Manga Studio. It wasn't too bad actually.
So there we go. Hopefully, it feels like a celebration of the new things that we have now (and who we've become), and less of the "I miss the "good" ol' days"... That's it for my art shenanigans for November! Time to go back to blocking in some colors for my comic!
My wife and I would have quick conversations about how our life has changed so much since we've had children. We'd see old photos of ourselves and reminisce about the days that it was just her and I and how 'mobile' we were. We would think about all the places we went to and the places we'd like to be.
Don't get us wrong though, we love our kids, but it seems like that was a different lifetime ago, and the people in the photos seem so different from who we are now. So that's where the brain storm started for the birthday card.
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| My sketches worked backwards. I knew what message I wanted to say at the end, so I started off with 'designs' for the interior image first. |
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| Boiling down my idea along with basic poses for the characters on the card. |
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| I'm paying homage to that classic "Spider-Man, No more" issue for the card's front. But eventually I thought a horizontal, hotdog-style opening card would make the card more special than a regular one. |
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| It started out that I was going to draw the background of the 'cover' just like Amazing Spider-Man #50. But because of time as well as aesthetics, it seemed really appropriate to leave the background blank. It would be a good contrast to the super colorful interior (once I was done with it). |
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| I drew the images incorrectly at first. It was on an 8.5 x 11 canvas, but I didn't take into account that it should've been half that height, since I was folding the paper in half. Nothing scaling and a little digital re-positioning couldn't handle though! |
Coloring pass wasn't too tough. I used to use Photoshop to handle the coloring, but since my older version of Photoshop works 'alright' on my Surface 3, I just kept coloring in Manga Studio. It wasn't too bad actually.
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| Final colors, and a slightly altered layout from the Black and Whites. |
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| I think I over did the stars, but it's kind of a nice contrast to the starkness of the cover. Kinda like a punch in the face after opening the birthday card... maybe not the best analogy... |
So there we go. Hopefully, it feels like a celebration of the new things that we have now (and who we've become), and less of the "I miss the "good" ol' days"... That's it for my art shenanigans for November! Time to go back to blocking in some colors for my comic!
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