Inktober Day 25 - Superman

Today's word was "tired" and boy do I feel it. So I decided to draw something familiar and fun, Superman. Last night I popped in the 1940s Max Fleischer Superman cartoons. I received them a year or two ago as a gift from my Grandmother who is always looking to help inspire my artwork. Well I'd say her gift was a success, because those old Superman cartoons are amazing! I love all of the detail that was put into the animation and world building. It is no wonder that these cartoons inspired the DC animated universe.

Inktober Day 23 - Speed Demons

This illustration depicts one of my favorite episodes from Superman: The Animated Series. The episode is titled "Speed Demons" and is about Superman and The Flash competing in a charity round the world race. This was one of the first episodes that brought in another hero from the DC Comics Universe. In my opinion Superman: The Animated Series is the definitive version of Superman for me and one of my favorite memories from childhood. I have just finished season 2 of CW's The Flash and I was wanting to draw Barry Allen aka The Flash.

I had to bring out my copy of The Human Figure in Motion by Muybridge for this illustration. I get really frustrated when I draw people running and it helps to have some photos to look at. Additionally I am not so sure I am happy with the drawing as a whole, but I am falling behind!

DC Talent Search Portfolio

Wow I cannot believe that I completely forgot to post these! This set of artwork was for the DC Talent Search. They were created back in April in a short time span, but I honestly gave it all I could. The collection includes my most current penciled sequential page work. In the end, I didn't get called on by DC Comics but I am super happy that I pushed myself to complete this project.

The first set of pages are from Outsiders #52.

This next set is from JLA: Sinister Imitation.

Last here is a illustration of Aquaman:

Dc Comics Aliens

Hey there! Long time no see! I've been super busy with alot of artwork over the past months and I am just getting around to sharing. I applied for the DC Comics Talent Search about a month ago. I should have those posted soon!

Here is today's drawing, featuring three of my favorite DC Comics heroes. Superman, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkman; all of which happen to be aliens. I was inspired by the idea of them teaming up. Maybe they were illegal aliens or something and the government is coming down on them. In some ways I feel like Hawkman and the Martian don't get as much attention as other DC heroes. I guess maybe it has something to do with a convoluted story lines. I'm not exactly sure why, but I feel like they have a wealth of story potential and really cool personalities! Anyway here's the art.

I tried to push myself with digital coloring this time around. I'd like to become good enough to color my own work, but I've still got some more work to do. I couldn't decide which version to pick, so I will leave you with three. Enjoy!

Superman - Work in Progress

Lately I haven't been posting daily drawings as often as I would like. You will definitely see them soon, I promise they exist!

Its a bird, it's a plane, it's a Superman drawing! I must admit I am a fan of the blue guy. Some people might not be able to relate to him but I think he's the bee's knees. For me Superman reminds me of everything I loved in comics when I was a kid. I was not a fan of the new film sadly. I'm too tired to give a dissertation on why Superman is awesome and everything that is wrong with the new film. Maybe I will include that when I post the final.

For this drawing I wanted to focus on the technical skills as well as the fantastical elements of Metropolis. The man of tomorrow deserves a city of tomorrow. I wanted it to look like a place that you would want to explore, a place with hints of futuristic technology, a place where you could feel safe from giant sub-woofer terraforming machines of death.  I will tighten the pencil lines and ink later, so be on the look out for the final!

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...