Justice League #1 Cover for Midtown Comics

JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 Cover 

Available next week from Midtown Comics

I will be doing a full Step by Step of  this soon!

TD

From Harley Quinn #1 to Harley Quinn #1

My latest cover had me do an homage to my Harley Quinn #1 cover 

Rachel Dodson inks, Alex Sinclair colors and me pencils.

for the new Harley Quinn #1 cover.

Rachel Dodson inks, colors and pencils by me.

From DC Comics and Midtown Comics!

I will be doing a full step by step for this.

TD

Superman Batman Supergirl Batgirl Midtown Comics Original Art and Cover

We did the art for these two covers and here is the original art framed up with covers themselves AT Midtown Comics Headquarters!

See the complete making of the covers

HERE

TD

Batman Rebirth #1 Step by Step Part 1 Pencils

  Batman Rebirth #1 Variant Cover

Our cover art for Midtown Comics Batman Rebirth #1- a full color and black and version are available here-

LINKY

And here's Part 1 of the Step by Step of how we made the art!

I was given the concept of Batman catching Catwoman stealing Jewels, etc with the emphasis on Catwoman. The Client that I did this for - Midtown Comics - really liked my Amazing Spider-Man #1 Variant I did -

and so B was picked as it mimicked that pretty well.

Roughs were drawn at 2" x 3" in my sketchbook using Warm Grey Copics then colored in Photoshop CS3.

Initial Rough 

Drawn in Light Blue and HB lead on 12" x 18" Bristol Board  with a blue line of the sketch printed out beneath as the composition was right on!

Detail

Changed up Catwoman's lower body

Tightening up upper body

Revised lower body and drawing Batman

Detail

Me detailing face and jewels...

Using the Catwoman statue to nail down the placement of the goggles on Catwoman's forehead!

Scanned in to Photoshop to double-check drawing

Next stage of finishes on Catwoman and roughing in the background

Detail

Finishing background

You can see my blue lines indicating the 3 Point Perspective

Final Pencils

Next time inks with time-lapse video of Rachel inking - be warned it's crazy!

PART TWO INKS

PART THREE COLOR 1

PART FOUR

TD

Out next week, Batman #1 Cover

From Midtown Comics - a full color and black and version-

LINKY

I will be doing a full step by step on this including video for the first time!

STEP BY STEP

TD

Bats vs Supes!

So here's how the Batman and Superman #50 Midtown Variant Covers look together!

The Original Sketch

Rachel Dodson's inks combined into the final Line Art

Coloring in Photoshop

Before the final merging - the clouds and Supes cape...

The final.

And you can connect them yourself!

See the complete making of the cover art

Superman COLOR

Superman Line Art

Batman COLOR

Batman Line Art !

TD

Batman #50 Midtown Variant - also out this week!

Also out this week, Batman #50 Midtown Comics Variant Cover from DC Comics.

And a step by step making of this is coming as well!

TD

Superman #50 Variant Cover Step 2 Color

Here's the 2nd part of how we made the cover to Superman #50 guest starring Batgirl - this time dealing with the colors!

This was done for Midtown Comics and my DC editor was Mark Chiarello!

The book is out in stores now.

Flats

The first stage of color is called flats - flatting allows me to choose an area to color at any point throughout the coloring process.

Generally, I hire someone to do this for me - a "flatter".

At this stage I go and adjust the colors to their medium value or imprimatura - I use this as the starting point for the piece. - the first part of coloring. 

Based off my sketch, I knew almost exactly what I was going to do with one...

Initial color rough in

I colored this on my Cintiq 13 HD using Photoshop CS3 after I scanned the original line art.

Used a big Pencil to rough innate 100% of color then used lower % to work to add lighter and darker values. Used a Custom "Cloud" brush to rough in the background. Plus the Gradient tool to break up some of the flatter areas. 

Detail of same shot

Began Batgirl - keeping her more "cuts" as opposed to rendering. Moved to the next level with Supes and Background...

This cover matches up with a Batman cover  (see Step 1) so I began adding the Blue elements from that cover in on the right side, plus the next level of rendering on Supes.

Converting Lineart to Color.

Adding Reflective color.

General cleanup.

Detail of Lineart colored...

Final colors.

Pushed the contrast on Batgirl.

Cleaned the Background.

The Printed cover.

Next time, the Batman side....

TD

Superman #50 Variant Cover Step 1 Lineart

Here's a look at how we made the cover to Superman #50 guest starring Batgirl!

This was done for Midtown Comics and my DC editor was Mark Chiarello!

This is an interesting assignment as it lines up with the Batman #50 Variant so I had to design them to fit together ...

Roughs were drawn at 2 x 3" in my sketchbook using Warm Grey Copics then colored in Photoshop CS3.

and to work on their own.

Now, I was leaving to go to a SCAD Comics Art Forum for a week so I HAD to finish these pencils so Rachel could ink while I was gone because both this and Batman cover were due the following Wednesday. We were really up against on this one..

Pencils drawn in Light Blue and HB lead on 12 x 18 Bristol Board

I actually drew the bulk of the Batman Cover at the same time so it line up correctly (plus I wouldn't have much left to pencil when I got home...)

And now Rachel's inks ---

Since I was out of town while Rachel was inking - she sent me step by step of the inks!

Rachel started with Batgirl.

Detail

Rachel inks over my pencils with a Windsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable #2 Brush and Higgins Black Magic Ink to ink the covers with.

Moving along...

Boom! Batgirl Done...

Onto Superman

Almost there....

Done until I get home to take a look at it.

I finished up Supes neck, worked on Batgirl's mouth, and moved her left leg back...

Scan into Photoshop - next time-

 Color...

TD