Wednesday, July 13, 2011

SHAZAM! It's the Original Captain Marvel! DC Comics!

Another fun illustration for my own amusement and education!  Here is the long-time fave, Captain Marvel, in a dramatic standing pose! I was inspired by the corner box illo of Marvel Comics' 70s sensation, THE HUMAN FLY, since both characters wear somewhat similar costumes, including that cool half-cape!


Using the FLY pose and cape as an inspiration, I next sketched out the CAPTAIN MARVEL figure in pencil, scanned that, made some notes and changes in PhotoShop, then printed the pencil art to size (below left). Once inked and finished (below right), I re-scanned into PhotoShop to begin the computer coloring!


And, here (below) is the colored version! Altho this does have some modeling and gradated coloring, I tried to keep the hues fairly simple and bright, to reflect the character's attitude! I found a logo, fiddled a bit with it's coloring, and added it as a final touch! Did you notice the minor changes I made to the good Captain's outfit? Maybe it's that FLY influence again! Click all images to enlarge!





Monday, July 4, 2011

Look Out! Here Comes--BATBOY & RUBIN?! MAD-Inspired Art!

Inspired by a recent episode of the fabulous new Batman animated cartoon, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, here is my own take on that parody of the Dynamic Duo, BATBOY & RUBIN! The cartoon producers, of course, based their version on the fabulous and memorable 1950s MAD magazine BATMAN spoof, drawn then by Wally Wood. I tried to not only get a Wood feel to this, but also a sort of "busy and bruised" look, almost along the lines of a "Big Daddy" Ed Roth car-and-cycle-centric cartoon from the 60s! Whew! How many more influences could I have jammed in?! Click to enlarge each image below, as I take you through a step-by-step creation process!

Below: My original starting roughs and sketches, trying to get a proper spoofy feel! I had a devil of a time getting the right look for Batboy's head, tricycle, and expression!






















Below: The final b/w inked illustration of the dysfunctional duo!




Below: I added pencilled gray tones, on a separate overlay, then merged the two layers in Photoshop!


Below: The final, computer-colored image! I added a proper BRAVE AND THE BOLD-styled explosion for the background!