Wonder in Progress

Here's a look at a Bombshells Wonder Woman image I'm working on - inks by Rachel Dodson...

Coloring in Photoshop CS3 with a Wacom Cintiq 22HD.

Cover for Bombshells United #1 - out in September!

TD

Songes Tome 2 Célia Cover Step by Step Part 2 Revised Line Art

The final art for the Songes T2 Cover. And here's a look at how I made the line art for it!

So, after rejecting the first version of the cover as discussed in PART ONE, I decided to make some changes and corrections to the line art.

The first thing I did was to firm up the characters in the reflection.

Next, I redrew the boy.

Then I redrew Coraline's face/hair and corrected bits of the drawing overall.

Most importantly, making sure she caught YOUR eye!

The art was then scanned and cleaned in Photoshop.

So, now I reassembled it all in Photoshop and added in the background digitally - just to give myself something to work off of.

And upside down without all the lilies and background.

The art is converted from Grayscale to Bitmap  (I discuss how I scan and prepare my art for Photoshop ...)

HERE

Next time in Part 3, 

COLORS!

PART 1

FALSE START

TD

Songes Tome 2 Célia Cover Step by Step Part 1 False Start

So, this is the final art for the Songes T2 Cover. And here's a look at the cover that wasn't.

So, sometimes you draw a cover and know all along it isn't right - here's a look at how that happened!

Here's my initial rough pencils for the Songes T2 cover - I tested the art in the cover template to see how we were doing...

Next, I nailed down the reflection....

Line Art

The lily pads were drawn on a separate piece of paper and dropped in digitally.

Artwork was drawn on 13" x 19" bristol board with HB Lead pencil.

Flats

Coloring is done in Photoshop CS3 using an Intous Tablet.

Something is nagging at me about this piece at this point...

Initial colors

One note, this was needed really quickly for solicitation and I think at this point I realized I was going to need a HECK of a lot more time to do this properly.

That nagging is getting stronger and stronger...

Final colors

At this point, I find the nagging problem -   the main figure is NOT looking at the camera... and what I drew is not necessarily wrong but it's just not pulling the viewer in.

Oh, well, the commercial world waits and I will have to fix this problem down the road, as in Bande Dessinée world, it takes a LONGTEMPS before the books ship.

C'est la vie!

Next time, a look at how I made the ACTUAL cover...

Part Two

LINE ART

TD

New Career Retrospective Interview (with Chris Thompson of Pop Culture Hound Podcast)

Here's the promotional details -

On this week's podcast I chat with TerryDodson about his amazing career, including X-Men, Red One and Harley Quinn:

http://www.multiversitycomics.com/podcasts/pop-culture-hound-247/

In addition to looking back at past work, Terry Dodson and I look to his future with Matt Fraction on Adventureman!

Ok, I'm back, go take a listen, we cover everything from Mantra to Adventureman! - whooooo! It clocks in at a hour and a half!

Good luck!

TD

Star Wars Day Part 1 Darth Maul #1 Variant Cover

Happy Star Wars Day!

Here's a look at the cover we created for Darth Maul #1 for Marvel Comics.

Cover Sketch

Pencils

Rachel Dodson's Inks

Colors

May the Fourth be with you!

TD

When I left you I was just the learner...

Now, I am the master!

Work in progress pencils of Darth Vader...

Tools

Col Erase Light Blue

Staedtler HB Lead Pencil

Strathmore 500 Series 2 Ply Vellum Bristol Board

Kneaded Eraser

TD

Watercolor Weekend

WATERCOLOR WEEKEND

The sun returned all weekend to Oregon so I was able to get some outdoor painting time in. 

Saturday's Painting

Tools

Col Erase Carmine Red

Blackwing Pencil

Escoda Prado Travel Brush #10

Kremer Pigmente Travel Set Watercolors

Bee Paper Super Deluxe 9" x 9"Sketchbook (93lb paper)

Portable Easel

I painted outside but used a photo from the previous weekend...

Sunday's Painting

Here's a painting I did of the Inker Dodson.

This was executed extremely quickly - less than 20 minutes from sketch to final color as the light was changing quickly (and of course, my sitter's patience)!

So, this was all the information I needed to start painting.

First paint strokes....

Shadows and light...

Here's my brush, Kremer paints, and water... 

Exactly the same as Saturday's set up.

Final painting.

The paper is 9 x 9 inches so pretty small, but it allows my to concentrate on getting something done and not get caught up in details.

TD