Birds of Prey - Page 6

I worked on this page this weekend. I would have liked to have finished it last night, but sometimes it's nice to take your time. I tried to keep this page a little cleaner and more presentable than the last few.

The story continues with the Black Canary receiving the news to bust up the meeting. Huntress and Canary talk about their strategy to take out the henchmen. The Huntress resorts to starting a massive rumble pitting all the gangs against each other. Hopefully this doesn't sound too much like gibberish. Enjoy!

Birds of Prey - Page 4

Here is the next penciled page for my portfolio. Halfway through the page I decided to buy a decent eraser, notice the difference? I can clean it up with Photoshop.

The story continues where the last page left off with our two super heroes in disguise (see previous post.) On this page the Huntress (Riddler looking lady) tries to bribe the security guard with her sexiness. It doesn't work so she knocks him out. Next they meet another guard (it's in the script and it's kinda redundant) and they have to leave their weapons. They then enter the main area of the warehouse where Gotham City Goons are rallying to gain union rights.

I had a weird time with this page, just because of some of the things called for in the script. For example the fact that they have to meet a second guard and the challenge of making it look like they are not outside talking to the last guy. Obviously the most fun with the last panel. The script calls on the artist to draw various Gotham city thugs.

Birds of Prey - Page 3

I'm back to work after a delicious Thanksgiving break. I spent some time over the break and realized that I need to update my comic book page portfolio so that I can submit my work to publishers. Sequential art examples are most important, maybe even the only thing that publishers look at if you are trying to break into the comic book industry. Because of this is it always important to have a good representation of your current skill level.

With that being said, this week I will be hitting the pages hard and trying to create as many as I can. This means that I will not be doing my usual character drawings this week. My goal is to send in portfolio packets to publishers in a week or two.

The first page I have created is from Birds of Prey Issue #74 (a previously published comic). In the story the Black Canary and the Huntress disguise themselves as Gotham goons in order to bust a Henchmen Union meeting. The Black Canary is wearing a Penguin henchman outfit and the Huntress is wearing a Riddler Goon suit, I know it's confusing. I kept smudging my eraser...

Learning to ink

Today I spent the majority of the day practicing inking (That and fixing my scanner). I just finished reading The Art of Comic Book Inking by Gary Martin. It was extremely helpful! I wasn't realyl paying attention to line weights or even brush technique. In fact I wasn't even using a brush in most cases. Here a the three drawings I inked today, all with a sable brush. If they look familiar it is because they are old drawings. New inks though.

 I started out with Spider-man. I used my Sable #3 for the thick outlines and #1 for the thin. I was about to grab my quill pen to draw his suit webbing but I really wanted to challenge my brush skills.

 Next I inked one of my old Superman drawings. I used the same brushes but decided to experiment with some watercolors. I think that this would have been a great image to try feathering technique.

Last, I worked on Batman. I tried to focus a little more at the start so that I could make more fluid lines. The real fun started when I began to fill in the large black areas. I had the most fun with this drawing. Then my scanner started malfunctioning...