Superman process

For anyone interested. I've added an extra stage to my drawing process. Here's how it all goes -
Various sketches. Final pencils, and then inks.....Here's where I've changed my process. I used to ink (on watercolour paper) then scan and add colour and tones on the computer. I convert the linework layer to multiply and colour underneath, adding tones on a separate layer. As I try to maintain a fairly organic look I decided to do more of the tonal work by hand with coloured ink. I think it worked out quite well, even though I still did additional toning on the computer. Hopefully as I practice I'll get better at the hand toning and maybe try more washes to eliminate as much computer toning as possible, making for a more streamlined process for me, something which I've been working towards. The other handy thing about hand tones is I plan to do some masking (solid colour shapes without outlines) and that should make it easier.
And here's that final piece again, if you compare the two, you might notice I wasn't happy with the head, and shrank it down slightly - I try not to do too much altering on the computer, but sometimes you just have to! I might do a few more superhero pics, as I've had an idea for another.

stateboarding

There's a story to go with this picture, based on a childhood memory.
There's a few memories I've considered turning into comics. I don't think they'll be rewarding reads, it's really just for me.
This, never really happened, of course, but it does try and capture a feeling I had about skateboarding, even if the actually skateboarding didn't work out so well.
I'm happy with the colour version, but think the b&w one might be more successful, so I'm posted it too.

Slaine & Judge Dredd

Here's two quick sketches I did to get a feel for how I'd like to draw both characters.Dredd is fairly standard, but I've gone for the skinny menacing look rather than the steroid version that crept in during the late 80s. Not sure about the Eagle, here. My main problem is balancing simplifying parts and keeping the detail of others.Slaine is based on the look of his first year. Despite the skill of the people involved, I don't care for the more heavy metal Slaine.

Revealed!

Seeing as Jason Cobley, my partner in crime, has given me the go ahead, here's the super secret project we've been working on. Tom is based on a character from folklore, and Jason's script pushed so many buttons for me I tried to raise my game with the artwork.

Dennis the Menace

Seeing as you all, well, Shane, asked for more, here's a sketch I stuck up on twitter a couple of days ago. It's a very quick scribble I did of Dennis the Menace, totally off model (although inspired by Davy Law's original version), that I found myself liking. Sometimes the scribbles are just more fun and capture something a 'proper' bit of drawing can't.

Basil Gogos

A bunch of books turned up on my doormat yesterday and today. Reckon I'll have to knock it on the head for this (paid) month, most of what I've bought has been 2nd hand, but not all.
Anyway, got some nice stuff to read. 'Thrill-Power Overload' is the history of 2000ad and full of interesting behind the scenes info.... zarjaz! Cassanova by Matt Fraction and Gabrial Ba is a lot of fun, stylish artwork that reminds me of a cross between Eduardo Risso and Paul Grist and a story that's Jerry Cornelius by any other name, but with some other interesting concepts thrown in so it feels fresh not derivative.
Coolest of the bunch is 'The Art of Basil Gogos', I've only seen a little of his work, the odd cover of 'Famous Monsters of Filmland' viewed from the other side of the counter of a 2nd hand book stall in Hartlepool when I was a wee un. Gogos produced some perfect portraits of horror icons, in fact did his bit to make them icons, certainly in America, this quote from Roger Corman sums it up perfectly, "Basil's art was an amazing gift for me as a filmmaker. Fans were scared once they had seen one of his portraits. They knew the picture would terrify them by the time they got to the theatre." And if that's not good enough, here's link to his site and the cover to his book.