Cpt. Wayne Fan Art Process

I tried a little experiment with my fan art exchange this week over at Untold Tales of Bigfoot. First, out of the blue, Wouter Goedkoop generously sent me some Bigfoot fan art that incorporated the characters from his comic, Cpt. Wayne & The Unexplained Dimension. And then, in response, I decided to "reverse the camera" on the whole scene and do a flipped version of the same moment in time. It was fun. I posted some of the steps below.

The pencils. Wouter's characters are very futuristic -- polar opposites to my earthy Bigfoot and Scout. So it was nice to step outside my comfort zone and sketch something streamlined and high-tech.

Once the pencils are scanned into Photoshop, I ink them. Wouter doesn't employ the traditional black outline/filled-with-color that many comic artists use. His is a more painterly style. I could've played around with that, but I really wanted to see Wouter's characters done in a classic comic book style.

In Photoshop, I drop flat colors behind the inks. Again, Wouter's characters stand apart from my own comic in that he uses very bright, very saturated colors that explode off the screen. I wanted to honor that so I didn't dull down his palette too much when I colored his figures. It makes for a nice contrast with the organic background. After this step, I just add highlights and shadows (image up top).

If Captain Wayne and Gina intrigue you, head over to Cpt. Wayne & The Unexplained Dimension to check out the work of Wouter Goedkoop. -v

Mighty Monocle Fan Art Process

This week's fan art exchange over at my award-nominated (never get tired of saying that) webcomic, Untold Tales of Bigfoot was with D.M. Rolfe, a cartoonist who resides in the U.K. Rolfe is the creator behind The Mighty Monocle, a comic about a humorous superhero who protects Great Britain. Rolfe did this awesome Bigfoot gag for me. In response, I created this fan art tribute to Rolfe's character, made to look like an old, worn comic magazine from the '70s. To see how I put it together, you can scroll through the steps below.  

The pencils. Rolfe's comic is done in the classic 3 panel format. But I wanted to take his heroes and re-envision them as caped crusaders of the silver age. So there they are, leaping before they look, in a classic superhero pose. 

Once the pencils are scanned into Photoshop, I ink them. Since I want this to look like the splash page from a comic book, I use some traditional comic book fonts to create a masthead and title blurb. Rolfe's comic is mostly a black-and-white affair, and I wanted to continue that tradition with my fan art. So, next step, toning.  

Here I used just a few greyscale values to give a sense of depth, and also drop in a few subtle textures to dress it up. One more thing I did was to run a halftone filter over the whole thing to make it look like it was run off on a traditional press. Beyond that, in order to age it, I ended up tinting the whole thing with a stale yellow and, finally, overlaying a photo texture of an old comic book binding (image up top). And that's that! It looks so vintage you can almost smell it!

After you're done smelling your computer screen, point your noses over to Rolfe's webcomic, The Mighty Monocle, and enjoy his classic cartooning and silly sense of humor. -v

Scaredemy Fan Art Process

Another fan art exchange over at my award-nominated (what? yes!) webcomic, Untold Tales of Bigfoot. This time, I exchanged mash-ups with Jack Slade, the creator of Scaredemy, a funk family-friendly webcomic about a school for monsters. To see Jack's impression of how my Bigfoot character would look in a Scaredemy school uniform, check this out. And if you'd like to see the process behind the above image (Scaredemy's Wolfric howling at the moon with Untold Tales of Bigfoot's Scout) then just keep reading. 

The pencils. The concept behind this wasn't hard to come up with. Scaredemy's Wolfric character is a young werewolf. So having him howl at the moon seemed natural. And tossing in my lost, little dog Scout was the next logical step. 

 Once the pencils are scanned into Photoshop, I ink them.  

The flat colors are also dropped in with Photoshop. I normally don't use gradients or blurs in my own webcomic, but the moon needed a glow and since this was a mash-up I figured, meh, why not? Gradient with a blur for that eerie moonlight effect.

I use some custom brushes to create the grass/leaves and also paint in the highlights and shadows. This is the next to the last step. After this I used a chalk brush to create the rings of moonlight, and threw a bit of texture down on top of the whole thing to complete it (top image). 

Wolfric's a great character and fun to draw. But there's a whole cast of great characters in Jack Slade's Scaredemy. So check it out when you get a chance. And don't forget to stop in and visit Untold Tales of Bigfoot on your way. -v

Gem of Atlantis Fan Art Process

The fan art exchanges continue over at Untold Tales of Bigfoot. This time, in exchange for some Bigfoot art, I tried my hand at Michael Dambold's Peter the Pterodactyl, a pivotal character in his cosmic time/space sage, Gem of Atlantis. This is the finished piece, but I posted some steps in my process below for those that are interested. 

The pencils. My illustrations normally lean toward kid-friendly, but I'm pretty sure actual pterodactyls were just this cute during adolescence. 

Once the pencils are scanned into Photoshop, I ink it. There are no background elements inked in because I wanted to experiment with some different methods for the backdrop.

The pterodactyl will progress as my normal comic art does -- with flat colors first. But I wanted to do something more "spacey" and "cosmic" for the background. I did a quick search on the internet and found a few tutorials that fit the bill. Basically, create a star field with some "planets" made of sampled textures.

As Peter gets his highlights and shadows (all in Photoshop with a soft brush) so the planets get their shadows. A few of the space tutorials I found used texture overlays to emulate nebulae in the background, so I gave that a shot and it didn't look half bad. 

The next step on the pterodactyl is to intensify his highlights and shadows, building them up slowly with transparent brushes, and painting in some mottled textures on the wings. As for deep space, that's all about glow effects to give the appearance of an atmospheric bubble around each planet. Another great trick I learned was the use of a lens flare to simulate the sun coming over the horizon. After that (as you can see in the top image) it was just a matter of blasting every single thing in the image with varying degrees of glow to give it that cosmic effect. 

It was weird not actually drawing those space elements, but I think this method served the piece better, and that's the whole point. And don't forget, if you like Peter the Pterodactyl, don't forget to give Michael Dambold's Gem of Atlantis a try. -v

My Sometime After fan-art process

I did another fan art exchange with yet another webcomic creator this past week. This time it was Ryan Fisher, creator of Sometime After, an ongoing comic that explores what happens to storybook/fairy tale characters after they've outlived their relevance. Ryan sent me some Untold Tales of Bigfoot fan art (posted under this week's comic) and here I've posted the process steps for the fan art I sent him.

Ryan's characters are distinctly his own design, so for fun I decided I'd try to draw them in my style rather than ape Ryan's.  These are the pencils. I ran them by Ryan before I continued and he loved them, so I moved on to the next step.

I inked the pencils in Photoshop. Ryan's comic takes place in a woodland, so it was comfortable using some of the same visual shorthand I use with Untold Tales of Bigfoot.

Ryan's comic is done in brushed inks and tones of grey. I wanted to honor that, so I used a few different custom brushes in Photoshop to build up some soft, layered brushstrokes. I was aiming for a gentle, ink-wash feel. After that, I toned the piece with a little yellow (see top image) to match the old-timey feel of the Sometime After homepage. 

Ryan posted my fan art on his site and said some very nice things about it. Thanks, Ryan. If you like my take on Twitch, Rupert and Wesley, then you might enjoy the comic that inspired it. So take some time to stop by Ryan Fisher's Sometime After. -v

My PC Weenies fan-art process

Every so often, at my webcomic site, Untold Tales of Bigfoot, I do a fan-art swap with another cartoonist. Partly, it's to introduce different webcomics to different readers, but mostly it's for fun. This week, I exchanged fan art with Krishna Sadasivam, creator of the long-running, tech-based gag strip, PC Weenies. Krishna sent me some awesome Untold Tales of Bigfoot Fan Art (posted under this week's comic) and here I've posted the process steps for the fan art I sent him.

These are the pencils for Krishna's main characters, Bob and Pamela. Bob's a tech-freak and Pam is his long-suffering wife. How did Bob land such a statuesque redhead? Ask Krishna.

These are the inks. After penciling the characters, I scan in the drawing and ink it in Photoshop.

Krishna's comic has a very sharp, digital feel to it (perfect for a comic about technology) so I decided to create the background in Illustrator to give it that "techy" feel. Then I flatted in the figures in Photoshop.

Almost done. Here I painted in some shadows and highlights. Instead of continuing with the sharp, tech-look, I thought it might be fun to play with contrasts. So I used soft brushstrokes in Photoshop, trying to emulate the feel of watercolors. Up top, in the final image, you can see I added some watercolor texture to complete the effect. 

If you like this image, you might enjoy the comic that inspired it. So please take the time to check out Krishna Sadasivam's PC Weenies where he also blogs about technology and art. And tell Krishna I said hi. -v 

My Fan Art for Pat Lewis' Muscles Diablo!

Hey, I realized I never posted my process steps for this piece! This is fan art for the thrilling, gangsters vs. monsters webcomic Muscles Diablo in : Where Terror Lurks by talented illustrator, Pat Lewis. He's just finished chapter 7 of the online comic, and you can read the whole thing so far if you click this link ri 'chere!  Down below are my steps.

Pencils. Self-explanatory, really. I took a pencil and drew this. I chose a scene from Muscles Diablo where he gets in a bar fight with a Bigfoot. You'll note Pat Lewis' Bigfoots are a lot scarier than my Bigfoot. On to the next step!

Inks. Digital inks, to be exact. Done, I believe, in Photoshop. Ok, move to the next step!

Flat colors. Basically just filling the shapes with flat color in Photoshop. Done. Go!

Final colors. Here I added in all the shadows, highlights and cooled down the bar a bit to give it a dark, grimy look. The piece is basically done here, but if you look at the image at the top of this post, you'll see I ran a halftone filter over it and yellowed it up a bit to make it look worn. That's all. Now if you haven't already done it, go check out Pat Lewis' awesome webcomic Muscles Diablo in: Where Terror Lurks! -v

Untold Tales of Bigfoot: Page 12 (again with more fan art!)

This week, in his quest for food, Scout employs his Olympic diving skills. See how things shake out at Untold Tales of Bigfoot. 

And, to celebrate Halloween, I have a giant sack of fan art for you to see. 

First, I had fun doing a Bigfoot/Checkered Man mash-up for Denver Brubaker's Trick-or-Treat Fan-Art series over at The Checkered Man webcomic. Denver had a bunch of webcomic artists dress their characters up as his Checkered Man character.

Then, I exchanged fan-art with Jeff Crowther, creator of Yeti 4 Hire. My Yeti fan-art is displayed proudly over at his site. While his amazing Bigfoot fan-art is just a short scroll down below the latest page at Untold Tales of Bigfoot.

Quick! Go look at all of that then come back and tell me how cool it is. -v

Here's my Bigfoot/Checkered Man mash-up at this link.

And you can see my Yeti 4 Hire fan art at this link. 

My Fan Art for Tom Dell'Aringa's Marooned

This is some fan art I did for fellow webcomic writer/illustrator, Tom Dell'Aringa. Tom's got a long-running webcomic called Marooned about a space captain and his robot co-pilot stranded on Mars. You should check it out. Maybe you've seen the Untold Tales of Bigfoot fan art Tom sent me. This was my response and it was a blast to do. Here's a quick process breakdown. 

This is the original pencil sketch and the basic inks. The inks were done in Photoshop. The lettering in Illustrator. 

Here are the inks with the starry sky, then the flat colors done in Photoshop. After the flats were in, I painted in simple highlights and shadows, then aged the piece with some yellow to give it a classic, sci-fi feel (image up top).-v

Kolchak:The Night Stalker / Kermit the Frog / Muppet News Flash Mash-Up

If you've never seen the '70s supernatural/sci-fi series Kolchak:The Night Stalker (and you only know Darren McGavin as "the old man" in A Christmas Story) you're missing out on some classic stuff. In Kolchak, McGavin stars as an intrepid reporter who investigates so many strange cases of the paranormal that you'd have to assume he lives in a city full of monsters.

You know what other intrepid reporter lives in a city full of monsters? That's right. Muppet News Flash's own Kermit The Frog. Kolchak and Kermit have been linked in my head for a while, so I thought I'd sketch up the concept for fun.

Here's the rough I sketched out in pencil (with some quick, Photoshop lettering) and then the finished pencils.

 This is the piece after I inked Kermit over my pencils, then the finished inks.

Here are the flat colors done in Photoshop, then some modeling with shadows and highlights. At this point the illustration is done, but I decided to go with the text after all, mimicking the typeface from some old Kolchak images. I also aged the piece a bit with yellow overlays to give it that "been around since the '70s" look (image at top of post).

And if this got any of you interested in Kolchak, good. Halloween's around the corner and there's nothing wrong with a good, old-fashioned scare. Here are some links you might find useful -v

Kolchak: The Night Stalker Wikipedia page

Kolchak: The Night Stalker IMDb page

Kolchak: The Night Stalker opening intro (YouTube)

Kolchak: The Night Stalker box set at Amazon

Darren McGavin IMDb page

Untold Tales of Bigfoot: Page 9 (again with the fan art!)

This week, Bigfoot stumbles upon some young sweethearts pitching woo by the light of the silvery moon. How nice for everyone involved. See how it turns out at Untold Tales of Bigfoot.

And while you're there, check out the wonderful Bigfoot fan art the Marooned creator, Tom Dell'Aringa sent me, free for nuthin'! Tom has a long-running space comedy/adventure webcomic you should check out. It's all-ages, packed with robots and aliens, and lots of fun.-v 

Find Tom Dell'Aringa's Untold Tales of Bigfoot fan art at this link.

And see my version of Captain John and Asimov at this link.

Untold Tales of Bigfoot: Page 8 (plus fan art!)

Bigfoot grabs a snack this week. See how that thrilling tale unfolds over at Untold Tales of Bigfoot, my all-ages webcomic.

And while you're there, check out the amazing Bigfoot and Scout fan art that Pittsburgh Illustrator Pat Lewis drew for me. It's awesome! Pat is the author/illustrator of a number of comics for print and the web, and you can read his current project from the beginning at Muscles Diablo in: Where Terror Lurks! 

But, you know...maybe you should check out this week's Bigfoot before you go do that. Heh heh. -v

Find Pat Lewis' Untold Tales of Bigfoot fan art at this link.

And see my version of Muscles Diablo at this link.