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Here are the finished pencils.  There are quite a few ways to get your final image onto your board.  In my case my final image was around 20 x 30 inches.  I don’t have a set process exactly to get my image on the paper.  Sometime I freehand draw the entire thing from the composite reference image I put together.  Sometime I use a grid method to transfer it.  This time I used a projector.  But you have to be careful.  There are a huge number of pitfalls in tracing your reference.  First, you can’t just trace it.  The image will come out very stiff, proportions will be off, etc.  I very quickly and loosing trace in the major outlines of the figures and a few key marks such as indicated facial feature or large blocks of shadows.  This only takes 5 or 10 minutes and the next 5-6 hours will be spent doing the real drawing and fixing the inherent mistakes from the transfer process. Here is how the final came out.

I drew the image on a 20×30 sheet of 140 lb. drawing paper.  I take the paper and mount it onto a wooden panel using water and Mat Medium.  When everything is dry I’ve got a great surface to begin my oil painting.  I first heard about the mounting process from Donato Giancola HERE.  He explains the process much much better than I can.

Next: Oil Painting

Last post we saw my finished thumbnails and rough.  Now it’s time to gather my reference.  I begin by surfing the internet and going through my reference files for images that will be helpful in the illustration.  Pictures of bats, bat’s wings, fur, the Walther P-38, etc.  You want to make sure you especially reference anything that is any type of name brand.  Ravenwood uses a Walther P-38 so I couldn’t just draw in a generic gun.  These details are important and believe me, fans will pick up on this stuff in a heart beat.

After I’ve filled a folder full of images it’s time to gather some props (or build your own), find some models and schedule a photo shoot.  In this case, the props were very minimal.  The gun and the sword.  For the gun I used my son’s Nerf dart gun.  I mostly needed the way a hand would hold the gun at a certain angle.  For the models my gracious brother and his wife agreed to be my subjects.  Along with my props, camera and lights I went to their house for the photo shot.  In this instance it didn’t matter the location since the background was completely dark.

My camera is a Nikon D80.  A great camera.  I make sure to not just take overall shots of my models posing.  I take close-ups of anything I’ll want details for in the drawing and painting stage.  I always get close-up of faces and hands.  You can mess up the entire rest of an image but as long as the face and hands look good you’ll be OK.  At least that’s what I was told by Dan Dos Santos.

After I’ve got all my photography shot and my references, I take it all into photoshop and digitally produce a comp that’s arranged as close as I can get to my final image.  The it’s time to transfer my image to my paper.

Next: Transferring the image!

I was recently commissioned to do the cover to the book “Ravenwood: Step Son of Mystery” set to come out from Airship27  Productions next month.  Special thanks to Producer and Publisher Ron and Art Director Rob over at Airship27 for making it a fun and easy project to work on.  Go HERE for all the details.

I began this project with a brief from Ron who had a few selections from the book that another artist had done interior pen and ink drawings for.  I got to choose from those scenes in the story for the cover.  The one I liked best was of our Hero discovering a human like Bat creature.   I began doing thumbnails right away.  Initially, my thumbnails are really, really loose.  I was looking for a nice composition first and foremost.  So I just start arranging shapes and letting whatever comes happen.  It important at this stage not to get to tied in to something.  At left is one page of many from my sketchbook of some thumbnails for this project.

After I’ve got dozens of thumbnails and I’ve explored the idea pretty well I select a few to work up to a more finished stage to send my client.  I try to pick slightly different ways I could approach the cover.  Some of more narrative while other may have more of a pinup or movie poster feel.

I pencil the roughs and then scan them into Photoshop to add some gray tones.  Ron and Rob both loved the 3rd image and approved it with some minor changes involving facial expressions and where the characters were looking.  Armed with my approved rough it was time to take some reference and pencil my final image.

Next up:  Ravenwood Reference.

This is a piece I did for my portfolio.  There are many times I’ll take a sketch from my sketchbook and turn it into a mock cover for a comic, novel or trading card.  In this instance I decided to do a comic cover.  My idea was to mix narrative abstract elements (the arrows and sky) with a realistic figure.  I also wanted it to be really have a lot of impact so I choose a very saturated palette and really pushed the red. I also like doing images that don’t fit on the cover.  What I mean is that I like to indicate and suggest the story and action but not show all of it.  Here the Viking is hacking something (or someone) but it’s left up to the viewer to fill in the rest of the story.

Here are a few progress shots from my refined drawing in Photoshop to the finished digital piece.  It’s all Photoshop.

I’m working on doing a drawing of the creatures that have been after me.  Keep that on the down low.

I’m working on a painting for the Hook Horror contest over at Artorder.com.  I’ve already gotten it up on my easel and painting has begun!  Actual painting is around 8″ x 22″ on gessoed hardboard.

Here is the final for the Muse contest over at Artorder.com.  Be sure to head on over and check out all the great entries.  For details on this contest check out this previous post.