Catwoman 26 Cover

Here's a look of how the cover to Catwoman 26 came together.

My cover sketches I sent to DC Comics for approval.

My  pencils, drawn in Light Blue and HB lead on 12 x 18 Bristol Board.

Rachel Dodson's inks  - using a Windsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable #2 Brush and Higgins Black Magic ink, plus a little tech pen and croquille for the straight lines.

The art is then scanned and cleaned in Photoshop.

I use Photoshop CS3 with a Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet to color the art.

The cover is out in stores starting today!

You can find this comic at your local comic book retailer

http://www.comicshoplocator.com/Home/1/1/57/575

And digitally at Comixology 

http://www.comixology.com/Catwoman-2011-26/digital-comic/60138

Happy New Year!

TD

X-Men #7 Page 12 - Script to Line Art

A look behind the making of  Marvel Comics X-Men #7 Page 12 (out in stores now).

Here's Brian Wood's script for page 12 from X-Men #7. I print this out on 8.5 x 11 paper. I drew the page layout right on the script - loose but I knew exactly what I was going to do. 

This was a decent way into the issue so I already had a good idea of what the page would look based on the scene I was drawing so no need for a real tight layout. This entire issue was drawn at about an 8 page a week pace as opposed to my more comfortable 4-5 pages a week so I was really flying - optimizing shortcuts over details. So, I really try to prioritize storytelling and solid drafting over everything else in this situation.

This page was drawn on 12 x 17 Marvel stock bristol board, using a Col Erase Light Blue and Staedtler HB Lead pencil.

 I started with the "easiest" to draw elements first, to give myself a mental lift of having a page "almost" completed at the beginning :-).

Storytelling wise, the 5th had the most to convey "acting" wise so felt I really needed to nail that next.

Finishing that panel.

The storytelling and rough in did all the work for me, I'm just putting lead to page at this point to get the page drawn.

Detail of the 3rd panel.

And voila, the last of the details down, I ink the cars myself with Copic Multi Liner pens.

Rachel inking directly on my pencils, using a Windsor Newton Series 7 #2 Sable Brush, Higgins Black Magic Ink plus a croquille and tech pen for some details.

A close up look at Rachel's inking.

The artwork is then scanned and cleaned in Photoshop - I adjust the panels so they all fit and have proper borders. Then I put it on the Marvel Server for the colorist.

TD

X-Men #7 Page 10 - Script to Line Art

I haven't done one of these in a long time - a look behind the making of a page of comics. This is for Marvel Comics X-Men #7 Page 10 (out in stores now).

Here's Brian Wood's script for page 10 from X-Men #7. I print this out on 8.5 x 11 paper. On the right side you see my little sketches for the panel layouts.

This was a decent way into the issue so I already had a good idea of what the page would look based on the scene I was drawing so no need for a real tight layout. This entire issue was drawn at about an 8 page a week pace as opposed to my more comfortable 4-5 pages a week so I was really flying - optimizing shortcuts over details. So, I really try to prioritize storytelling and solid drafting over everything else in this situation.

This page was drawn on 12 x 17 Marvel stock bristol board, using a Col Erase Light Blue and Staedtler HB Lead pencil.

 I always get the figures drawn first so as not to waste time fussing with background details - I will do this last as time allows - however the backgrounds and perspectives are are roughed in lightly.

Tightening in on the characters.

In the 3rd panel, I need more space to get Karima all drawn in correctly so the drawing goes outside the border - but as a happy accident,  I think I will leave it to enhance the storytelling.

A close up look at my pencils.

                                                    

Here's the final pencils. I ink the vehicles myself as Rachel Dodson hates inking cars and I know exactly how I want them to look.

Rachel inking directly on my pencils, using a Windsor Newton Series 7 #2 Sable Brush, Higgins Black Magic Ink plus a croquille and tech pen for some details.

A close up look at Rachel's inking  - that's all brush!

The artwork is then scanned and cleaned in Photoshop and put on the Marvel Server for the colorist-

And here's the final colors by Andrew Crossley.

Et voila - comic book page!

TD

X-Men #8 Cover Step by Step

Here's a look behind how the cover of X-Men #8 was created (out in stores this week from Marvel Comics - written by Brian Wood with art by me, Rachel Dodson, Jason Keith and Barry Kitson).

The first step is to send in cover sketches to X-Men Editor Jeanine Schaeffer. The idea was to introduce Monet to the book.

Jeanine liked the idea of showing Monet's strength which I show in "C" but she suggested having her crush the "X-Men" logo - great idea.

My initial rough in of the pencils, drawn in Light Blue and HB lead on 12 x 18 Bristol Board.

It was decided to skip the other "X" characters as we we're really up against the deadline on this one.

I worked out the broken "X-Men" logo on tracing paper.

The final pencils which I gave to ….

Rachel Dodson to ink. Rachel's inks with  a Windsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable #2 Brush and Higgins Black Magic ink, plus a little tech pen and croquille for the straight lines.

The art is then scanned and cleaned in Photoshop and then we go to color...

The first stage of coloring is to have the art "flatted".

Flatting allows the colorist to choose an area to color at any point throughout the coloring process.

Initial roughing in of color - I use Photoshop CS3 with a Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet.

Added the "explosive" background in.

Have the character more accurately reflect the environment. I also began turning areas of the line art into color lines.

Cleaning up the background.

Adding shadows and highlights to the X-MEN logo and cast shadows and highlights on to Monet from the logo.

You can find this comic at your local comic book retailer

http://www.comicshoplocator.com/Home/1/1/57/575

And digitally at 

http://www.comixology.com/X-Men-Vol-4-8/digital-comic/58398

TD

Periscope Studio Kickstarter

My studio, Periscope Studio, has a Kickstarter Campaign going on right now.

It's a series of artbooks from the members of Periscope Studio.

This project will fund the printing of six limited-edition full-color art books, each representing the work of a member of Periscope Studio: Ron Randall (Trekker), Paul Guinan (Boilerplate), David Hahn (Erfworld), Natalie Nourigat (Home Is Where the Internet Is), Erika Moen (Oh Joy, Sex Toy), and Benjamin Dewey (The Tragedy Series).

It's down to the final 5 days - check out the campaign and REWARDS here-

http://kck.st/HXC8bq 

TD

Catwoman 25 Step by Step

Here's how the cover for DC Comics Catwoman 25, out in stores now, was created by Rachel and I.

These are the sketches I sent in to Catwoman Editor Rachel Gluckstern at DC Comics for approval. The theme was Catwoman Zero Year - Catwoman before she was Catwoman. These cover sketches were all well received but the story was very cat-centric so I was asked to include more cats on the cover and so...

A was picked so on to the pencils….

My initial rough in of the pencils, drawn in Light Blue and HB lead on 12 x 18 Bristol Board.

Here's my initial pencils still wrapping up details.

Almost final pencils - I had to go to Comic Con, so I needed Rachel to start inking so….

She inked a little and then I finished up the cat details - including the foreground cat - based on our cat "Chubs"

"Chubs"

Since Rachel was inking this at home while I was in San Diego she was asking questions

Questions

Rachel's inks done with Windsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable #2 Brush and Higgins Black Magic ink, plus a little tech pen and croquille for the straight lines.

The final inks.

Scanned and cleaned in Photoshop by Rachel.

The FLAT stage

My initial rough in of the colors, done in Photoshop CS3 with a Wacom Intuos Graphics Tablet.

Polishing the colors.

Turning the lineart into color lines.

The final version of the colors - note the cat in from the of the mystery figure has it's tail now "docked", to make it look like one of our cats, so all the kitties in this piece are based on cats we have had.

Ok, that all folks!

TD