Some quick coloring over the lines of one of comic books’s living gods: Arthur Adams. He inspired me as a kid and still does today.
#5 in Paint Over Series. J. Scott Campbell’s “Alice in Wonderland”.
7 or 8 hours in Photoshop.
Paint Over #4. In a series of work over great artists and art. Photoshop 5.0. 4 hours.
OK, so after talking to Mark Brooks for a good long while at ECCC, I was inspired by his kind words to do a quick paint over of his work. This then was a springboard into doing a David Finch/Joe Weems classic piece. Why? No idea. But I think it is going not only faster, but BETTER (opinion only). Really enjoyed these.
…it’s time.
A long time ago, I created a comic book property, Call Me SEVEN. It was basically me telling a story ripping off some elements of one of my all time favorite anime series, the original Bubblegum Crisis.
BC was itself a twist on the Bladerunner/cyberpunk visuals of the 1983 Ridley Scott Film. It unabashedly showed it’s love by having the main characters name be Priss, ( Darryl Hannah’s character in the movie) and her rock band even less subtly named, The Replicants.
Set in a near future of high-tech cybernetic creatures and girls in even higher-tech armor running around fighting each other. It was a slick, rock n’ roll ride of a lifetime for a very young creator. And I wanted in.
The first version of Call Me SEVEN was created my senior year in in college and I had just been burned by one of the myriad comic companies during the “glut” of the 90’s. About 44 pages and several thousand dollars lost, I had the brilliant idea it was time to do this myself.
I drew the first issue, had a publisher lined up, and was ready to go. But what did the publisher do? Launch a title eerily similar in plot and genre to my own before I had gotten to the lettering of my first book. I wasn’t happy and combined with some other not so favorable language in my contract, I decided I didn’t wan this company owning my property.
But the contract gave them the option to publish for a few years and I wasn’t going to get into that fight. So I did what any twenty-something creator does. I shelved it and thought “When the time is right, I will get back to it.”
Boy…that was a statement and a half.
Cut to 2013. I am no longer a comic book creator full time. I work as a game artist in Seattle. I have a wife of 15 years, 3 children. I love my life. Everything is going really well and I am in a great place.
So…it’s time.
3
Finally got the OK to post some work from one of the games I have worked on over the past 18 months. I chose this one as I feel I had the most “say” in the direction. I came up with the concept, color rough, and did the vector work for all the characters. Another studio mate did the final colors.
Tools used: Manga Studio 4 EX (layout/sketches), Photoshop (color rough), Illustrator (vector line work)
Getting some sketching done for a work blog. Keeping me on my toes with some different categories.
