We Belong Dead...

I found this while digging through some of my older sketches- this is about 3 or 4 years old, I think. I'd had it in my head to tell a story with the Universal Monsters (imagine that), and thought it'd be fun to mess with their looks a little (and imagine that).

I learned that there's not a lot to be done with Frankenstein's Monster without veering wildly away from Jack Pierce's original design (at least, not at my level of talent; that and I think it's one of the most perfect monster designs ever), So I threw in a scarf. 'Cause, you know, it's cold when you're dead.

The Bride, on the other hand, was pretty easy to mess with. Or, in the vernacular, I sexed her up some. Hey, you don't know what's under that big white burial shroud-type gown of hers? And we all know sex sells... The one thing I liked about her 'redesign' was taking the lightning-inspired bouffant and turning it into a mass of dreadlocks. Nothing revolutionary, to be sure, but I think it makes for a more dynamic and interesting look. Also, sexier than a bouffant.

There you go. The coloring was done pretty much with only two brush settings in Photoshop. Since the picture was so rough, I thought it would be fun to 'paint' the colors in a pretty sloppy fashion. And, I'm lazy tonight. Still, I like the look to both characters, and wouldn't mind revisiting these particular ideas, not to mention the fast and loose (sloppy) coloring. It's fun to use a device made for absolute precision in such an imprecise fashion.

Music: "Frank and Ava" - Suzanne Vega

Hope, Revisited

So, this is one of the projects I've been working on. You might recognize the picture from this post, though obviously it's now more colorful.

I've been learning more about Photoshop in what feels like leaps and bounds- it seems like every day I spend working with it, I learn a tremendous amount about how to make it work. So, since I've been getting more comfortable with using it, and my understanding of it has gone beyond using the paint bucket, I thought it might be fun (and educational, kids!) to revisit some of my older posts with the intent of coloring them, or otherwise applying my small amount of new knowledge to making them look even better.

Yes, I know- this means I'm not drawing as much. It's a little crazy for me, but I'm really starting to appreciate the idea of Photoshop-created art being just as valid as regular penciled drawings. Crazy! But I find my brain does a better job of telling Photoshop what to do versus telling the pencil what to do.

The picture- um, that's probably about 6-8 hours' work. There are 10 or 12 layers there as well, and God only knows how many colors. I think, were I to repeat this, I could do it in half the time. As usual, I do a lot of thinking on the fly, and a fair number of attempts didn't work out. But, I'm really pleased with it. Still not 100%, but a damn sight better than how I first colored the pictures. (One other thing- if some parts of the picture seem a bit flat, or blocky, or the coloring off, the original Photoshop file of this is about 40Mb in size; this jpeg is about 750kb. Not denying it might be me, but I'm just sayin' :)

Cheers!

Music- "Save Me" - Shinedown

Test Your Mettle

Today I'm rounding out this week's theme of "guys in armor" with the best-known armored comic book character, Iron Man. I've always been a big fan of Iron Man... or at least his armor. This picture came about mostly because I was looking for a chance to draw Iron Man, and I finally had a pose come into my head that worked for him. The armor is no particular era (Iron Man changes his design pretty darn frequently), but is probably most like his "Mark IV" armor (if anyone cares) which is the one most people who've seen the '60's cartoon would recognize. I'm pleased with how smoothly the picture came out, especially since this was the first time I'd drawn any kind of comic book character in some time. It's always a challenge to draw their over-defined musculature without making them ridiculous (setting aside the argument over the inherent ridiculousness of superheroes). They're always fun to draw, regardless of how muscular they are. The other goal of the picture was to get a sense of motion in the figure- I'm working to avoid making my figures look stiff and unnatural. Making them look like they're 'alive' is the hardest part of any drawing.

And here's me fooling around with Photoshop. I thought I'd give a go at coloring this one first- mainly because the lines were pretty solid on him, which made it easier to use the "paint bucket" feature to fill in large areas. The whole color job took about 5 minutes. Again, much to learn.

Nothing more to report here... have a good weekend, and I'll see you back on Monday.

Next week: Revisiting (very) Old Haunts, and the Return of the Art Department!

Music: "Flathead" - The Fratellis