Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie Painting (In Progress)

Today has been a working Saturday. But then, what other kind is there. I got a priority project last night for DC that is due Monday. Knocked out 85% of that today and will finish it up tomorrow morning. And I lettered part of a story I am working on with writer J. C. Vaughn.

Then I took out another sample board that Canson sent me a while back. The person at Canson had seen my Canson Cuties and sent me several boards to try. One of them is a mat board. I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But the texture is not unlike the rough side of the Canson Mi-Teintes paper I use so it got me thinking. A very dangerous pass time, I know.

I thought I would try painting on it using Golden Fluid Acrylics. The board should be able to handle more than the paper can, I thought. The subject matter would be the Shrinking Violet idea that wasn't selected for a commission. It's not finished but I thought I would show the progress, if not the process. I really wish I had thought to take pictures when I started. Sometimes I get in the flow of painting, everything else is forgotten.

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

The board is Steel Gray and is 16" x 20". I measured out an 11" x 17" area in the center for the painting. After setting that up I did a finished drawing right on the board. I don't do that on the Canson Cuties because the paper is a bit to delicate. But this board is rigid, the tooth seemed solid, and the color didn't change when I erased a test area. So I starting with my rough idea and did the finished drawing. Then I inked it with a Copic Multiliner 0.3 black pen. I didn't want the graphite in the painting and I knew I would paint over the black line so I didn't do any thick and thin lines. Then it was time for painting.

Normally I trim the board to 11" x 17", but in this case I didn't. I liked having the space along the edges to test the paint on instead of having a scrap piece of the board on my table. Lighting would be different for both, and so the color could look different.

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

The top picture shows the progress I made this afternoon. The bottom is just a detail. I will have the finished piece tomorrow and I will talk a bit about my thoughts on painting and drawing on this board.

This is Post #1045

Mary Marvel

I just couldn't help myself. After doing the Captain Marvel piece yesterday, I had to do a Mary Marvel companion. And yes they do fit together. :)

 Mary Marvel © DC Comics

Below is the line art I scanned and messed with in Photoshop. The line art was done on a sheet of 9" x 12" Canson Comic & Manga Drawing Paper.

Mary Marvel © DC Comics

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1044

Captain Marvel

I have an early post today. I am working on comic pages today and tomorrow and I felt the need to "stretch" those drawing muscles before digging in. Of course I got carried away and what was a 45 minute inked piece on the new 9" x 12" 150 lb Canson Comic & Manga paper, turned into a 90 minute color piece in Photoshop.

For this piece I wanted to make every color subdued with the exception of Captain Marvel. Maybe even a bit drab. But the good Captain? I wanted his colors bright. He is magic based and I thought the idea that even in the dirtiest, darkest battle, he is a bright beacon of good and to a degree, innocence. I did play around with the saturation of his colors. Dropping it down so he is not quite a bright and more balanced with the surroundings, but I didn't think it had as much of an impact.

Captain Marvel © DC Comics

Below is the original line art. The only Photoshop work done on it was adjusting the levels to get a nice solid and balanced black. This is normal procedure after scanning and cleaning up. I was right about the Canson paper I used for this and the piece yesterday in that a regular graphite pencil would work better than using a Col-Erase pencil. And the graphite erased cleanly. I didn't realize that the paper is a smooth finish and I usually use a vellum finish. The vellum having more tooth, or texture. Still the ink flowed nicely. No bleeding or fuzzy edges. Nice quality paper.

Captain Marvel © DC Comics

This is Post #1043

Mister Freeze

Mister Freeze © DC Comics

Today I got a FedEx package of goodies from Canson Paper. I received a pad of Comic Book Art Boards, a Comic and Manga Drawing Pad, six bottles of Talens drawing ink in various colors and three large bottles of Talens liquid watercolor.

I did the above artwork using the blue Talens drawing ink on a piece of 9" x 12" 150lb Canson Comic and Manga paper. I haven't worked in colored ink before but I just treated is as if it were black. After doing my initial sketch using a Blue Col-Erase pencil, I applied the ink with a Rosemary & Company Kolinsky Sable #3 brush. I like the paper but I think Col-Erase pencils are not the best choice to use on it. There was a bit of smearing when erasing. I had to put a bit more effort into erasing to get it all, but if I had drawn a bit more heavy handed, it might have been a mess. The ink laid down pretty nice though. I will be doing more with the paper in the weeks ahead.

One big positive about the Canson line of paper for comic book work is that they have changed a part of their brand that I never liked. While they still have the FANBOY brand on their boards, they have dropped the nerdy fanboy face in the name and the tagline "Get out of the basement." Though I'm sure it wasn't intentional, both came off as disrespectful to me but now it seems like they are branding the paper for professional use. That's good because I like the product and I'm sure others will too. As a matter of fact I am currently penciling and inking two projects on the paper that I purchased myself.

This is Post #1042

Marvel Girl! - Canson Cutie

Marvel Girl © Marvel Entertainment

I finished this Marvel Girl Canson Cutie today. I did this one for fun, it's not a commission. I chose to use the rough texture side of the paper when I noticed that the color pencil and the texture almost made the type of dot pattern that you would find in the printing of old comics.

This was done on Canson Mi-Teintes paper in mixed media.

This is Post #1041

Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

Here is the finished Shrinking Violet Canson Cutie. Thanks again to Travis for his commission request. This was done on green Canson paper in mixed media.

This is Post #1040

Marvel Girl! - Canson Cutie rough

Marvel Girl © Marvel Entertainment

After working on Crystal, I thought for fun I would do another Marvel girl. But who to do? Oh yeah, Marvel Girl. This is a digital sketch I worked up today. I originally had all blue areas black but then I looked at Jack Kirby's art from the earliest X-Men issues and noticed the costumes were mostly blue with black. A quick digital change and I think it is ready to go. :)

I also finished the pencils for the Shrinking Violet Canson Cutie commission and was ready to light table the line art. But it is just too darn sunny in my studio, even with the blinds closed, to try and light table the art on a piece of green Canson paper. So I will wait for the evening. :)

This is Post #1039