Painting Sketch

This is a sketch for a small painting I'm working on. It's nothing special but thought I'd post it since I haven't been able to post in a little while. I'll try to do better...

I've been busy working on a series of posters for Disney/Propaganda Games. I finished about a week ago or so. I hope to be able to show some work from this series in the future.

Anatomy of an Illustration

The above images show the progression from initial sketch to finished illustration (or series of illustrations) for a piece I painted for National Geographic Magazine.  The two-page spread told the true story of Bruce Means, a scientist that was bitten by a rattlesnake while alone in the wild.  He was far away from help and had to fight to stay alive while making the long trek back to civilization and medical help.

1. The first sketch served as a thumbnail sketch for the project.  It's a little more finished than my thumbnails tend to be but there was a lot of information to convey in a fairly small space.  At this point I'm mainly setting up composition and figure placement.
2. The second sketch is a more finished sketch that was produced a little larger and is beginning to show more detail.  It also begins to use Bruce Mean's likeness that was pulled from video screenshots and combined with posing a model in the studio for drawing reference.  The foreground panels are also beginning to take shape and show the process of cell degradation that is happening within Mean's body.  The panel composition also needed to change at this stage to allow for the spine of the magazine.  Otherwise, an important piece of the illustration could get lost in the binding.
3. The third image is a color rough.  If time and budget allow, a color rough can help a client better envision the finished piece and show the color palette the illustrator is planning to incorporate into the piece.  Both this stage and the final illustration were produced in watercolor.
4. The fourth image is the finished illustration.  Notice how a panel has been dropped to open space for a block of text on the right.  Also, notice how the foreground panels' content changes throughout the process.  Working through the sketch and rough process with a client can help them to "nail down" exactly what they want the final illustration to depict.  

all images copyright National Geographic magazine

Random Sketch of the Week

Here's an old Hulk sketch that I did before beginning work on the Hulk series I painted quite awhile ago.  This was a quick ballpoint pen sketch.  Is he laughing?  Is he angry?  Who knows?

Batman and Joker Sketch Cards

I set the Wayback Machine to 1989 for these two cards.  They depict Batman and the Joker as they appeared in the Keaton/Nicholson Batman film.  They are kind of meant to go with the Dark Knight Batman and Joker from a week or go or so (Just for you, Bathunter!).

Anyone else remember how great it was to actually be seeing a "serious" take on Batman when this film came out in '89?  Sure, this first film can seem a bit dated here and there when watched today.  However, it was such a thrill to see these characters "living and breathing" up on the screen in such a way that was dark and not campy.   I can hardly believe that the 20th anniversary of this film is already next year in 2009!  I'm definitely getting old.   It couldn't possibly be nineteen years ago that I was sitting in the theater with my buddy Russell Walks feeling like a kid in a candy store waiting for the movie to begin.  I remember driving home after the film with a Keaton scowl on my face pretending I was driving the batmobile.  What a geek!!

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Random Sketch(es) of the Week

This is a page of sketched panels for one of the pages in DC Comics' Batman: Absolution. When my new website goes "live" later this month, there will be a section on the site about the process of working on a large, sequential project like Absolution. It will outline the process of producing art from the initial thumbnail sketches all the way through to the finished pages. There will be many preliminary sketches and drawings like this one to show the process of creating the finished work.

So, consider this a "teaser" of what's coming on the main site.

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Random Sketch of the Week

Thought I'd throw this up as the random sketch of the week. It's a quick sketch for a small watercolor portrait. I guess I like something about the simplicity of this one.

The Monster

Here's a random sketch for the week from a few years back. This is a fun little self-portrait...er, quick sketch of Frankenstein's monster. Urrgh!

Dark Knight Sketches

Here a couple of sketch cards that I drew for a friend.  They are sketches of Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as the Joker.  These are drawn on my own personal sketch cards and are the types of sketches that I produce for commissions.

On a side note, I loved the new film.  However, I'm still unsure what to think about the new "Batsuit."  I think that the film series' visual designers should be moving the look of Batman more towards the look of the character in the comics instead of further away.  A fabric based suit could look cool (like Spidey's duds in the new films... he doesn't look silly) and still have the implication that the suit is armored underneath.  I found myself constantly checking my mental images of Batman while Bale was onscreen in the new suit and asking myself, "Does this check?  Do I feel like I'm watching the character I've known for so many years?"  I'm not sure.  I think the new suit is too "faceted," for lack of a better term.  There's too much going on, visually, in areas of the suit that should be streamlined and simple.  I have to admit, though, it has grown on me a bit since seeing the first images of the suit many months ago.  

I think when you are watching a film character that has such an established past, you shouldn't have to keep forcing yourself to accept that character design as the character you expect.  Think about Spiderman, for instance, his design is updated but doesn't completely conflict with what you expect to see as the image of Spiderman.  I think that the "powers that be" behind the look of Batman on film would be well served to keep this in mind.

Baby Steps.

I thought I'd check and see how posting an image works. Here goes...

This is a watercolor sketch of our ol' pal Obi-Wan that I painted recently. Hey, Obi-Wan, why so blue? Heh.