Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Firestorm cover

This is a Brightest Day cover.  It went through a few steps, and I took scans as I went, so I figured I'd post them here. 

This is my underdrawing.  I don't bother putting much detail into them anymore.  I found I have to do all the work again with paint, so why do it twice? 
 Then I did a tonal wash with burnt sienna, and started blocking in colors.  I had no idea where I was going with the picture, but I don't really have time to be doing prelims, or color roughs or whatever.  I had to go pick up the kids from school, so this is where it stopped for now. 
 I had planned on scanning after each session so I could do a step by step, but this is the end of the next session.  I was done.  It really didn't take very long.  It's a single figure, and I'm getting more comfortable with my color mixing, so I'm not losing as much time with the unpredictability of the paint.  I've been greying all my colors with their compliments, but I've found lately that using black and white is a more effective solution in some situations.  Red dulls to brown the same way with green or black.  No difference for me, except for a more predictable result.  And blue can darken to a bit of a purple, or a bit of an orange, or straight black, all with a different, but useable effect.  So anyway, point being...I'm finding that using compliments gets great results, and I can really make use of the warm to cool effects of mixing that way, but in some cases (like greying yellow) I need to be creative.  Black and yellow make green, but so does it's compliment.  If I want to grey it, I need to step from yellow, to ochre, to raw sienna, and then I can introduce black.  Unless I want the green.....

 There was a mixup, and I forgot that this cover had to be done with a white background for Icon cover month, so I had to resort to photoshop, and select out the background, blur the edges, and throw in an orange halo for effect, and to reduce the look of the edges.  It ended up being much more designy than I had intended, but I kind of like it this way. 

12 comments:

Flavio Silva said...

Incrível trabalhos ! As cores estão ótimas!

Unknown said...

that painted piece should become a litho or giclee print! i think you are at your best when you paint. i honestly like the fact that your paints don't get muddy (as compared to the other "new" painters in comics)

spinkick said...

wow your paintings just keep getting better and better! Dave - can you please tell me which book you did that featured a page where wolverine was smashing his claws through the windshield of a van? Can't remember where I saw that, but I need to buy that book! Thanks for sharing.

Amit said...

Even though i dont fiddle with colors thanks for the post especially for putting in the under drawing. I have been having troubles regarding rendering clothes especially the folds and loose drapery. I have been trying to render the entire thing out of one single line and seeing the way you drew the folds on the left elbow with loose lines emphasizing only the wrinkles rather than concentrating on the silhouette as a whole.....I find is a lot easier and less time consuming approach(at least for me).
Thanks

Shaun said...

I haven' checked this blog in long time, since I thought you were done with it. I'm really glad your posting once again! I've really been enjoying all your painted covers. I wish more traditional mediums like this would come back in demand. Keep up the great work.

Ryan Compton said...

IS this one all acrylic? What type of surface did you paint on?

Luis Guaragna said...

Man, really enjoy that you are comebak. Your work is amazing, always great. Thanks for take time in post this great works!

IADW said...

Hot! Plus it is great to see you posting again!

Not only is it awesome seeing your work 'fresh' but the thought process behind it is really great insightful stuff.

I like the white frame around the face as well. That is a great addition to help draw the eye in.

WorldWarHulk said...

I must say that I really liked the full color piece, but putting it on a white background & doing the little bit with photo shop that you did, really made Firestorm pop.

There's this glow all the way around his edges now, and that looks really cool on the white background. And I really like the white being added behind/through his energy rings. Very cool looking.

It's nice to be able to see both versions, but now I don't know which I like more.

Eder Messiah said...

Amazzzzzzziiiiiinngggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bhudz said...

Always have been a big fan of your work, but I'm really loving your painted covers!

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