My Comic Book: Issue 4 Page 2: Thumbnails, sketch and final Inks

 The second page of issue #4 has been inked! I wrestled with the set up of this page and it was a little complicated before, but fortunately I was able to simplify it and actually tell a lot more story but with less panels. If you want to see more behind the scenes stuff, check out the youtube episode for the process video and me giving some love to Jack “The King” Kirby. Just in time for his birthday too! Happy Birthday to the king!

My Comic Book: Coloring Issue #4, Page 1

    Here are the final colors for the first page of issue 4. And just like that, I feel like the fourth issue is already well under way. As long as I play mind games on myself to keep moving one 'foot' in front of the other, I am hoping to keep up a steady output of pages until I'm done.

     The page is all in monochrome; so the main thing I do is make the focus have the lightest shade. Sometimes, the lightest shade is all around the panels, but for the most part it seems to be working. So panels 1 and 2 is on the dollar sign. 3 and 4 go to some of the dollar sign, but also the face and the hands holding the bag and gun. Panel 5 is mostly on the gunshots. And lastly, panel 6 is mainly on the 'radio signal' coming from the walkie-talkie.

    I like blocking out large amounts of blacks in my work to direct the eye and to make my compositions, especially in the inking stage. I don't think I primarily think in color when I'm making my art (at least not nowadays). So I make sure that everything looks good and is working at the black and white stage. By the time I'm coloring, it can still kinda work without too much color or rendering going on.

    For the Bomb Squad comics, the colors are very simple, but I to use it to direct the reader's eye to what I want them to focus on. Because it's simpler, I'm also able to move a little faster in finishing off pages. Sometimes I have to remind myself not to noodle the page too much. Because adding more colors might actually work against the simple style that's already been set.

    If you want to see more details on a part of the process, here's the Comix Rant YouTube episode:

    That's it for this post. Page 1 is in the bag!   

My Comic Book: Inking Issue #4, Page 1

I finished up the inking on the first page of The Bomb Squad #4! Feels nice to get this done, now I just have to ride the momentum until it's all finished! Check out the episode here for a bit more of my thoughts on the process.

Here's a better look at the stages that I usually take from thumbnails to tighter sketch then finally to finished inks.

Thumbnails

Rough sketch

Final inks

It’s strange because when I started my comic, it was somewhat a gut reaction to September 11th. And now as I post this, it seems it’s looking rather relevant to issues we face today in the United States. 

And it’s totally a coincidence! This has been brewing in my head for years, but it’s only now I got to sit down and do it. My comic is just a simple adventure of a bomb squad doing their best to thwart evil terrorists from destroying the city. I’m not even trying to make a social statement, but with the climate of the US nowadays even my simple bank robbing heist page seems to take on some deeper, serious meaning!

Don’t worry, it’s not, it’s just your usual comic book bank robbery! BUT... if I can pull this story off right, it might take on a more hopeful tone!

Onto the colors!

Gunman Animated!

And that clip I've been working on as a promo for my Inktober comic is done! Gunman! Is! Here! It was very fun working on this in Procreate, but now, I really should be working on actual comics!

Youtube Channel

So I've been doing a few process videos lately, and posting them up onto Youtube. Here's the link if you guys are interested in hearing me talk about it more that reading it like this blog does.

Comix Rant

Comment, Like and Subscribe as they all say in the YouTubes! I will try to see if I can post some process drawings on here as well. It's one thing to see the video, but I personally like looking at images of people's roughs as well.

The Neverending battle is reborn!

Well I'm back for a post! After a long hiatus, and constant posting in other forms of social media, I'm back to the ol' blog. And the first thing I'm doing is to re-christen it!

Instead of informally calling it "The Neverending Battle". I've changed it back to mirror it's URL name: "Comix Rant"! I'm setting up a youTube channel that will deal with more process stuff, but I also wanted to link that up to this blog and brign this back to life.

As much as I like the ease of posting up my art on almost every social media outlet there is (watch out TikTok, you might be next!), I miss blogging. Doubtful anybody actually read the blog, but it was easier to decompress on these pages and go into more detail on what went on rather than say an Instagram post.

In anycase! I will try at the very least to update this, when I update my youTube channel. The first episode isn't up yet, so stay tuned for further posts!

"Comix Rant" is back!

It's been a long time... Inktober 2016!

I haven't been posting anythign on this blog for a long time... almost 2 years already! Most of my posts have ended up on instagram or tumblr and even Vero, but I've really neglected this thing. I still really like the format of blogger, but I don't think a lot of people see my stuff here. Which is kind of a good thing! I can kinda let some thoughts out here a lot more easily than say Twitter's character limit, and people in instagram aren't in there to read random thoughts on things!

Anyhow, let me catch up to two years worth of posts! I'll be finishing up my inktober 2016 posts in this one. And oh boy has a lot happened this past two years if you're a DC fan! Anyhow, onto inktober 2016!

SEGA v DC: Shinobi and The Dark Knight Mashup

Nintendo v DC: Rhythm Heaven and Superman Mashup

SEGA v DC: Nightshade and Bekka mashup (JL Gods and Monsters)

SEGA v DC: Bonanza Bros and Captain Cold and Heatwave mashup

SEGA v DC: Goro Majima and the Joker Mashup

SEGA v DC: Dr. Luthornik!
Lex Luthor and Dr. Robotnik mashup

I can see a few issues w this drawing, but I still like
the idea of this and some inkwork that I did for it

SEGA v DC: Altered Beast Boy!
Beast boy and Altered Beast Mashup

SEGA v DC: Blaze Canary!
Streets of Rage and Black Canary mashup!

SEGA v DC: Strange Harrier!
Adam Strange and Space Harrier Mashup!

SEGA v DC: Amy Quinn!
Amy Rose and Harley Quinn mashup!

SEGA v DC: Dark Astro!
Astroboy: Omega Factor and Darkseid mashup!

SEGA v DC: Ulana!
Space Channel 5 and Lana Lang mashup!

SEGA v DC: G-Swat!
E-SWAT and Comissioner Gordon mashup!

SEGA v DC: Rezborg!
Rez and Cyborg mashup!

SEGA v DC: Rubber Dux!
Dynamite Dux and Rubber Duck mashup!

SEGA v DC: Atomic Pulseman!
Pulseman and the Atom mashup!

SEGA v DC: Zayonetta!
Bayonetta and Zatanna mashup!

SEGA v DC: Jet Set League of America!
Jet Set Radio Future and Justice League mashup!

SEGA v DC: The Phantom Walker!
Moonwalker and Phantom Stranger mashup!

 And that's it! It's a crazy giant post, but it's nice to see all these in one post. It's making me tired just thinking of all the hours I spent doing a drawing a day during inktober, but it was very worth it. Just to see the body of work I did in a month when I pushed is a good mental push. Here's hoping I can do it again this year!

Inktober 2016: Day 2 - The Get Down

I had no idea what kind of show "The Get Down" was supposed to be when I started watching it on Netflix. I kinda put it off since it just seemed like some kind of disco period piece. Turns out it was that and much, much more! It's a combo of period piece, social commentary, love story and fantasy. Oh and it's a musical too!

I hadn't realized Baz Luhrmann was attached to this project, but I do like his movies. This show was such a home run to me, that I was actually surprised it didn't blow up on my social feeds in the same vein that everybody went gaga over "Stranger Things". Man, all the fan art that flooded my social media feeds for that show was ridiculous. And while I liked "Stranger Things" as well, I think "The Get Down" was just spectacular and in a class of it's own.

Hence the fan art! Inktober Day 2 is done, and now onto day 3. I'll be posting better scans here on my blog as well as giving a little more background to them. It seems more appropriate for me to get gabby on my blog than a twitter post. But anyhow... go watch the show if you haven't yet!

Inktober 2016: Day 1

Let's see how many of these I can do this year! I still watch Batman v Superman and Man of Steel on blu ray every so often! What better way to lead off this year's inktober than with a Superman drawing, right? He's a longer faced and pointier nosed man of steel than I would usually draw, but for some reason that's okay with me. I'm looking forward to how he's depicted in the second season of Supergirl. The short trailers they've shown so far look great!

Legends of Tommorow!

I drew up a scene from one of my favorite shows right now: DC's Legends of Tomorrow. A great fun show with a lot of great characters. I've really enjoyed the chemistry of all the actors and how they've played off of each other even from the very first episode. It's got a great premise for a show that the writers can use to literally take the heroes any place and to any time. Sure, it's got it's flaws like many shows out there, but the pros far, FAR outweigh the cons.

Quick sketch up of the two figures I wanted to draw. I would constantly
adjust and re-adjust the proportions of the canvas constantly until I can figure
out what the composition would be like. It actually just started out as the two
figures, but I thought up of a way to actually add in storytelling to it by
using text and not have to rely on actually drawing a third figure.

Inking stage is where I did most of the work. I had photo reference for the characters, so
that wasn't a big deal to draw their poses. Figuring out their faces was harder, since I'm pretty bad
with resemblances. While these guys don't look like them, I do like how their faces turned out.

I spotted in the blacks and added some feathering and thickened up some lines to emphasize focus.

There's a lot of character oozing from the... characters... of the show. It was fun to see Captain Cold and Heatwave (the two crooks of the team) hang back, have a beer and watch as White Canary gets into a bar room brawl! In the 70's! While a song from the Captain and Tennille is playing!

Good show all around and one that really runs straight into it's crazy comic book concepts and presents a very different super-hero show from what's out there currently. Go try an episode out!

Enjoying the BVS soundtrack and a little heat vision to melt the hate away!

I'm just brushing away some cobwebs from my stylus and started sketching again.

Since I have Batman v Superman on the brain, I drew up one of my favorite action scenes from the movie. I have never seen Superman's heat vision depicted in all it's glory like they did in the last act of BVS and it was pretty spectacular!

I've also been listening to a lot of the BVS soundtrack as I drive to work and aside from the main character tracks (Beautiful Lie, Is She With You or This Is My World), there are some that I have really come to appreciate more like the great Do You Bleed? track. And it's quite awesome to listen to it while I drive too! My commute to and from work has gotten much more epic! 

Very rough sketch. I put this on it's own layer, then work on another layer to tighten it up.

Another rough sketch. The right hand didn't exist in the original sketch. But when
I took it to the inking stage, it just looked odd that he was missing one arm in the
drawing. Glad digital is so forgiving. And layers. Layers are great. 

Shrank his head down after the initial inking pass. Aside from the
muddy silhouette of his cape to the background in the top left. I kinda
like the starkness of the Black and White version.

Final colors. I messed around with using more traditional Superman blues with his uniform and
changing the background from blue to yellow to orange, but I liked how intense the heat vision
was in the movie, so a semi-monochromatic look was the way to go.

There's still an incredible amount of hate floating around for this movie. I suppose it might never really go away, just as the hate for Man of Steel still hangs over it's head. But re-watching MOS after BVS, just made MOS that much better and it actually gave it a much more tender, sweeter quality to it too. It's interesting, I've read a couple reviewers (pretty big names too, Kevin Smith and Harry Knowles) do a follow up review when they watched it a second time and they leaned a little more favorable.

Sadly, the hate train has already left the station. Choo choo. And their initial dislike for the movie is already etched in all the internet bile that's been thrown at this movie. So while I appreciate their second review... well... the damage really cannot be undone. Though to his credit, Harry Knowles' second review sounded very honest. I liked that he acknowledged that he carried so much baggage in with him on that first viewing, he really didn't enjoy what the film was and hated it for what it wasn't.

In any case, nothing like a big blast of Supes' heat vision to blast the hate away! Take that haters! 

I loved Batman v Superman... Next up Suicide Squad!

So I've been roaming the internets lately and have been doing my civic duty liking BVS posts or tweets and at some points rebutting some haters on my FB page, chatrooms and newsites. BVS has got the fans divided! It's very much like the Man of Steel reaction, actually. Crazy sidenote, I had to comment on a site to help them clarify some things they misunderstood about BVS... here's the catch: it was on a site that prided itself to be a lover of all things Zack Snyder! How's that for divided!

Anyhow, I loved Batman v Superman. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it surely exceeded what expectations I had of it! I'm eagerly counting the days until the blu-ray comes out!

To be honest, I was quite bummed the rest of the world didn't quite feel as excited about it as I was, but after a few weeks of moping and checking the Box Office performance of BVS (which, I'm glad to say will at the very least break even for WB), I'm back on my feet not caring what other people think! Back to work in combating DC hate with fan art! And what better way to do that than making fan art for the DCEU's next film, Suicide Squad!

The second Suicide Squad trailer just dropped a few days ago and it looks absolutely awesome!

Quick sketch on the first layer. I knock down the transparency on this layer
and keep it loose. It's quite a horrible drawing, but I just push foreward.

Inking phase next. The speedline background is on a separate layer as well
as my shadow pass on her face and hands. Usually if I'm a little apprehensive
about something I work on a different layer so that mentally, I'm not stressing
out about running out of undos! It's quite freeing for myself and
I just keep drawing more and worrying less.

Coloring phase. This was a little trickier than my usual drawings.
Usually I have a color scheme in mind already when I start coloring, but I
really had to find it while doing it on this one. I wussed out on the face shadows
and actually made it a color instead of keeping it that stark black from the inks.
I did more colored line effect this time around so the stark blacks on her
face weren't quite working. I added one of my favorite lines from the
trailer to finish off the drawing. The Ballroom Blitz!

So there you have it. I've noticed a lot of some artists I follow on tumblr or twitter post up a lot of Marvel themed sketches (and they're great!). Rarely do I see some DC love (unless it's Batman). So I'm back to try to tip the scales! DC fan powered sketch! Bring the hate, haters! DC Cinematic Universe is going full-steam ahead!

24 hours from now... I will be watching Batman v Superman!

Twenty Fours hours from now, I get to watch the advanced IMAX 3D screening of Batman v Superman at the metreon! I'm so excited! I got the complimentary ticket because the first teaser trailer got leaked early online. The quality was pretty horrible and the internet hate poured onto the movie. From day one this movie has gotten so much hate it's a little insane. But BvS marketing has been pulling out the stops to make sure this movie at least gets a fair shake...

So then, Zack Snyder and the WB decided to give free advance screening passes to the people that went to the free teaser screening that night as a nice gesture to keep the fans happy. I got some flack from some people I work with about going to watch a teaser trailer on an IMAX screen, but I guess it was all worth it after all, eh? The teaser looked great on the IMAX screen even without the free passes by the way!

Sketch phase - I was going to add a silhouette of Lex at the top, but I couldn't really get it to work.
I've gotten accustomed to just a quick sketch to start with. I do most of the thinking in the digital inking stage.
How to render out Wonder Woman was a mystery to me at this point, but I was kinda crossing my fingers
I'd figure it out later when I get the big two inked up...

Black and White digital inks stage - I just placed the official logo on top to
complete the image. Wonder Woman helps me to be lazy with the two big figures
because I didn't have to draw the rest of them from the waist down!

I kept messing around with the color saturation of the background because I wanted it to have the feel of the palette of the movie, but after way too many hours messing with it, I decided to keep it the same saturation I initially had planned for it. At the end of the day, it's just how I mix colors, and I was more satisfied with the final colors sticking to what I knew...

Final colors - this stage is always a love/hate relationship for me. I can never seem to preserve the stark
contrast of the black and whites when I 'translate' it into color. Usually I find a palette that I can live with
and move on. Otherwise, I end up messing with the Hue/Saturation sliders until the cows come home!

I think I like my initial drawing for BVS more because it was in such an odd  size and the color application was simpler. And I think I was actually able to 'translate' the stark contrast of the black and white images for that one better. For this one though, I think it's dimensions make it easier to see it on a computer monitor and are set up more in a traditional movie poster design.

Anyway, as I type this up, I'm listening to the excellent Batman v Superman soundtrack that got officially released on youTube. My hype levels are astronomical!  I'll be jut a few hours away from witnessing the greatest gladiator match the world has ever known! Batman v Superman is going to be awesome! Signing off for now and I hope I can sleep tonight!