Sketches o'the Day...DC Comics random happiness

Ah, gaming night, or as I'd prefer to call it, drawing night constantly interrupted by game  LOL! 

Thought it would be fun to just keep filling up a page in the old sketchbook until I couldn't reasonably fit much more on it. Supes was already on the page from the other day. I tightened him up a bit, then started the Red Lantern Guy Gardner, Flash and Nightwing. All in all, I sketched these out on and off over the course of 2-3 hours. 

Sketch o'the Day...Superman

I was watching the first few episodes of Bruce Timm's Superman the Animated Series, and what can I say...I found myself inspired. =)

250 pageviews!

Hey all. Just noticed that I passed a whopping 250 pageviews as of today! Thanks a million for reading. =D

Sketch o'the Day...Drink n' Draw edition, part deux

OK, had some time this evening to throw about another hour into my unfinished Batman sketch from the Jet City Drink n Draw last Thursday. Did the final touches with a multiliner, white paint pen & Copic cool grey markers.

Pencils vs Inks!

Hey folks. I don't know about you guys, but I always get a kick out of seeing other artists' process. I've been wanting to show comparisons of my friend's pencils to my inks for a while now, and finally dragged ass to Photoshop to put together some composites. These are a couple of the critters that we did for Carmine.

I know this isn't as broken down as others showing their process, but it is what it is. LOL In the future I may start taking multiple scans of WIP stuff to get a better breakdown. Let me know what you think!

Pencils by Tai Beckham
Inks by yours truly

Sketch o'the Day...Drink n' Draw edition

Went to the Jet City Comic Show Drink n' Draw tonight @ the Pillagers Pub in Seattle, and it was really awesome. Got to hang out with some friends, and meet some new ones! A good time was had by all and I'll definitely be going to the next one! I gotta say though that if tonight showed me anything, it's that I'm slow as hell and need to speed up! I was sitting with Jason Metcalf, and he knocked out like 5 pieces, while I was dicking around with a pretty crappy Wolverine sketch for way too long. At least I was able to get one decent one out tonight. It's totally WIP with the beginning of some inks, so be kind. LOL ;)

Sketch o'the Day...Iron Man finished in Photoshop

Took me about an hour or so to clean up edges & tweak with hues/saturations in Photoshop to colorize my grey tones from the Copics. 

Sketch o'the Day...Iron Man toned with copics

Got about another 2-3 hours into this today. Laid down tones with my Copic markers and then dropped in some highlights with an opaque paint pen. Next step will be to colorize in Photoshop. I swear, every time I use these damn things, I love them more and more! =)

X-Men: First Class sets the curve

I finally had my opportunity to see X-Men: First Class, and in my humble opinion, this is the best of the bunch. While there were some questionable choices, including some of the characters they chose to include, all in all, this was a great effort and a very entertaining watch. The time period was used well, and never got really cheesy, as is such a danger with anything set in the 60's. Special effects & makeup were solid, and the pacing was spot on.

The casting for the main 2 characters was dead on, and after this, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Michael Fassbender fast tracked to play James Bond. Admittedly his Irish lilt popped out in a few scenes which consequently jolted me out of his portrayal of Magneto, but that's about the only criticism that I could come up with in regards to his performance. James MacAvoy played the role of the dickish yet brilliant Professor X to perfection. January Jones, not so much, as I'm pretty convinced that she couldn't act her way out of a paper sack. Unfortunately emotions are hard, but at least she was nice eye candy, and the effect they used for Emma's diamond form was amazing!

As per usual I don't want to give anything away, but there are some cameos that are nothing but pure awesome. In fact, if I could just have a movie of Professor X & Magneto schmooze with prospective mutant recruits, I'd be completely down.

Anyway, go see this flick, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just don't bother staying past the credits, as there's no sweet extra scene attached to this one. Enjoy!

Sketches o'the Day...Ultraman & Iron Man

Hey there, super limited audience! =)

Here's a couple pieces that I did tonight while hanging out with my friends and playing a rousing game of Arkham Horror LOL.

I finished the inks for Iron Man here first. Started the pencils as a second drawing during my last gaming session with the boys. Wasn't super happy with some of the shapes around the head, so I did a bunch of refining tonight, and finally worked out a design I liked. I always have a really tough time figuring out mechanical stuff. I swear it's my kryptonite. Anyway, decided to take my new Copic Multiliner SP's for a spin and inked away, and I have to say, I'm really happy with the result. About 1.5 hours dicking around with the pencils, and about another hour or so on the inks in between my turns in the game. I plan to hit this with markers next and see how it goes.

I felt like there was another one in me tonight, but couldn't figure out what the hell to draw for the longest time. I kind of just started doodling out out the shadows from a heavily down-lit face, and wound up with a drawing of Ultraman, Superman's evil antimatter universe counterpart, and leader of the Crime Syndicate of Amerika. I really like his facial expression. I just imagine that he'd take great joy with being the last thing that you'd ever see. He's kind of a dick like that LOL. I plan on hitting him with inks and markers next. Got a solid 45 minutes or so into the pencils.

Holding out hope for the First Class. Will my blue ring break?

So, X-Men: First Class opens tonight, and I face it with a mix of excitement and trepidation. After all, X-3 damn near single handedly sunk the franchise, and the Wolverine movie almost put the nails in the coffin. Now with a 60's retro flair, will Matthew Vaughn succeed and bring this venerable franchise back to life or is it going to be dead like disco?

It's a little weird to admit, but this is the first comic book movie that my lovely wife Racheal has been more excited to see than I. CONSIDERABLY more excited. Like freaking out excited. I, on the other hand, have been approaching First Class with caution and guarded optimism. Every little clip that I see instills hope, but on such a tenuous foundation that it could all come crumbling down in an instant. I guess we'll see this weekend, after which I'll post a spoiler free review.

83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes seems to indicate that maybe, JUST MAYBE, they got it right this time. =)