Spidermen

Hey, you remember this sketch of Skinny Spidey, right?

 Well, I've been working on a few different versions over the last week...

Steller Sierra

Ok this is my last hero! Steller Sierra, the space traveler!

No more heroes. Tomorrow I'll be doing something completely different.

Elisia!

Woah! Look at those blatant photoshop effects! Today's hero is Elisia! Based on my friend Elise! She's a powerful witch with mystical powers, and she's a good or bad depending on how she's feeling that day. I'm hoping the tilted head came out ok, I need to do more practice with that. Here's the original:


Also, I've been taking pictures of random people and drawing them for practice. Take a look:
I should start inking them too.

Phasing Laura and Clarence Stone

I told you I'd have another hero up tonight! YOU didn't believe me! I don't care if it is 2 in the morning I'm posting! So there!

Tonight I have another duo, of my friends Laura and Clarence! Their powers are linked; they can both change density and size, but the more Clarence gets denser or bigger, the lighter or smaller Laura gets! Isn't that cool? I think it is.

I'm fairly happy with this one, especially with the fact that it has a friggin' background! Look at that beautiful wall! I'm also happy with the effects on the heroes and the titles, but the hands and feet need work.

And here's the original ink and some sketches:


Have a super weekend!

Bonnie Burnspot

Hey I did another post today! And I'm actually pretty happy with this one! And there's no real shading to speak of! I have to thank the great Doug Tennapel because his amazing cartoony and simplistic style has inspired me over the years. And his books are all really funny.

Today's hero is of my friend Bonnie! I'm guessing she has fire powers? Fire powers are cool. In fact, I like all elemental based powers solely for the fact they make it easier to do monochromatic coloring. Of course I'm sure there's a huge list of fire-based superheroes' costumes I've inadvertently ripped off taken homage from solely because I'm using the colors red, orange and blue.

Here's a version I started out with without the monochromatic look:
And here are some sketches:
I was originally going to give her fire and ice powers, but I just really liked the idea of her hair bun being a fireball. I'm sure someone will have fire and ice powers, because that would be cool. And hot.

If you haven't noticed already, I've changed the look of my blog. I'm still playing with it, but I think I like this style better. I'll probably do a cool background image and title image soon as well. Also, if you look to the left, I made a page of all the heroes and villains I've done!

Oh man, I'm going to have 5 posts this week! When's the last time that happened?

The Punk

Ok, I'll admit this is a copout, since this is based on my friend Andy, and she already dresses exactly like this, but I calls 'em like I see 'em. She's got super stregnth, an indestructible guitar scythe, and a sonic boom mike. I like the pose, but I'm not too sure about the colors and the shading. That's what happens when I don't warm up before I draw.

Also, sketches:
Oh and I just realized I have 10 followers on my blog! Go me! Hi followers! When I get 50 we can go out and conquer other blogs! BWAHAHAHAHA!

This was supposed to be for yesterday, so there will probably be another one up later today. Probably.

Joe the Evil Hipster Cowboy Lumberjack

Aka: Confused Joe. My friend Joe ( who has a webcomic and a blog you should totally check out, also he's where I got the idea for the month of heroes) specifically requested to be an evil hipster cowboy lumberjack, so I hope that explains it. Probably not though. He has two chainsaw six-shooters. And I think that's a breast cancer awareness wristband? I used a texture on the shirt and jeans, but you can hardly tell the jeans.

Here's the original inks:

LaserMurph

Today is Laser Murph. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the colors. He is supposed to be a bright flashy character but I might change them later. I don't know, I was under duress at the time.

Laser Murph has the ability to shoot lasers from anywhere. Eye lasers, finger lasers, lasers out the ass, he's become somewhat of a celebrity superhero for his powers and it's gone to his head.

EDIT: also, if you wanted to take a look at the original ink version, here it is, I'm kinda proud of the inking:

Also, I'm doing a major image overhaul, redoing my website and business cards(pronounced bus-e-ness) and everything. Today I created a new avatar which you can see here. I plan on putting the blank version on my business card and doodling on whatever facial hair I'm wearing at the time. Or something silly. Depends how I feel I guess. Here's a shaded version:

Spider-Shelly and Nicki Widow

So first off, here are today's heroes(cause I felt like doing a pair for some reason)! These took waaaay longer than expected. Mostly because I wanted to do them in flash but then I hated it but I also hated this but I hated this less and so I finished.

Anyways, these are based off my friends Shelly and Nicki who are always attached at the hip. Spider-Shelly is stronger and can jump higher, while Nicki Widow is more agile and can throw venomous spikes. Both can cling to walls and change the color of their costumes so they blend in with the bad guys. Here's some more sketches:
I think from now on I'll ink them and color in photoshop since I need to work on my inking anyways(look at that shaky line work!!!)

Also, I've been trying to get back into modeling, so I've started speed modeling(trying to get a model done in an hour) again. So I set out to model this:



And in an hour and a half I got this:



So tomorrow I should have a new hero up, and I think I'll do a guy this time since I've already done three girls.

RPD reserves month begins: The Mad Hatress

So a fellow comic maker Joe Hunter started doing a month of megaman bosses, so I decided instead of doing comics this month(and possibly for a week after), I'm going to put one of my friends in the RPD reserves and turn them into a hero(or villain)! There will be less panels, but better quality sos I can hone my figure drawing, creative, photoshop and flash skills.

My first one is sort of an experiment(I reserve the right to redo it in flash at a later date). My friend Noelle(who has a lovely but very NSFW blog here) distinctly said she wanted to be a villain, so I made her into The Mad Hatress! A crazy femme fatale who thinks The Mad Hatter
is a real person and is obsessed with finding him. She likes hammers, knives and scalding tea! Think Joker and Harley Quin wrapped into one crazy burrito.

If you'd like me to make you into a hero, message me! There might not be another post tomorrow as I'll be gone for the weekend to the New York Comic Con. Or maybe there will. Who knows!

The Meow Knight!

Wow, finally finished this bad boy and it only took me several hours. Ugh, not sure if I'm happy with the shading. I might even do a version in flash, or perhaps I'm just tired of it.

When I first started, I was just going to do one, but I had multiple sketches. Luckily for a hero with multiple personalities this is not a problem! I think this was the last MRVLCAT I'll do, unless someone didn't already do Venom, which I find hard to believe.

Also, technically today is 24 hour comic day, which is something I'd love to participate in, but I'm really too busy for it. I guess i could just do it tomorrow, but that wouldn't be in the spirit. Oh well, there's always next year...

Dumgens & Draggins 7:Brand New Mask

Seriously, there are just some items I don't understand. Why would a mask that hides 90% of your face give you more charisma? Wouldn't that just make you less trustworthy? Unless you were really really ugly I guess.

Other pick-up lines:
Girl:You look like you're about to rob a bank.
Guy: Yeah, the bank of your heart!

Girl: You look like a bank robber.
Guy: A sexy bank robber!

I went completely photoshop on this one not because I think it looks better, I just got tired of using flash. And also, I figured out it's a lot eaiser to do shading if I create a layer over the color layer, switch it to multiply, and use a medium gray. Also, flash is best when I have a clear perfect line map fo what I'm doing, photoshop is better for Bsing.

And why was I so tired of using flash you might ask? Because I was busy doing this!
It's the full RPD group! I'm still playing around with color schemes for the costumes and I haven't shaded it or added any fancy background graphics, but I still think it's cool as balls.

Quentin Tarantino and Gadget Greg!

This one I'm not too proud of. The joke is meh and I actually liked the anti-climacticness of that part. But I only did it in 20 minutes and I was drawing all day and the sun was in my eye yada yada yada. I swear tomorrow will be the last one.

But I'm pretty proud of this random sketch of a friend I did!


Also, I started to get back into illustrator and I wanted to do a test to see which program would take the least amount of time while having the best quality between illustrator, flash and photoshop. I used one of my characters from my upcoming RPD heroes comic, Gadget Greg! Here's the starter sketch:


Here's the illustrator version:
Time taken: 8+ hours
Maybe it's that I'm out of practice, but compared to flash I just think the layer and pen system is clunky and takes waaay too long. But these are just my views, I know many people who use illustrator like a second language.
Pros: good for handling big files, interesting style techniques
Cons: takes a long time, don't like the layers system, hard to create lines, brush techniques don't look that great

Flash:
Total time taken: 2 hours.
I really feel like this is my magic comfort zone program. The outline took me an hour and then the fill and shading too just under an hour.
Pros: fast, can get a smooth outline fairly quickly, easy to select, delete, copy and change assets, good for figuring out multiple color schemes
Cons: can't handle large files sometimes, brush tool not as good as photoshop brush tool, using the M key to zoom, sometimes outlines look too curvy

And also here's a version with no line. I thought it looked interesting.



Photoshop:
Time taken: 2 hours 15 minutes
It takes just a little bit longer than flash, and it gives that sketchy style (if that's what's you're looking for) but it's murder on the hand and I really prefer the smooth line.
Pros: can handle relatively large files but slows down when painting, better for blending, patterns, and stylish techniques, shading good for detail and a natural look
Cons: needs a waccom tablet and can be murder on the wrist, sometimes harder to do curves and straight lines

This one I took the flash version and shaded it in Photoshop:
I somewhat like the shading in photoshop because it can look more realistic and more easily get those tiny shading details and highlights.

This one is similar to the last, but I used some patterns for the clothing. It's kind of cool, but it's not really needed.

So, I've proven without a shadow of a doubt that Flash is awesome and there is no reason I should use any other program. EVER. Except maybe Maya.

Dumgens & Draggins 1: Hit or Miss

Here it is! Dumgens&Draggins #1! Holy balls man, a comic should not take that long. Or have that many photoshop layers. I'm hoping this will get easier in the future. HOPING.

Anyways, I love playing DDO, but this is one of the minor annoyances. When an enemy is harder, he doesn't get more HP, he just get's harder to hit, which doesn't really make sense from what I can see in the animation, I mean it LOOKS like my sword and sickle are going through him numerous times, but obviously my character only rolled a 5 or something. And kobolds are jerks. Hope you enjoyed it!

Dumgens & Draggins©

So or the past two days I've been trying to do a comic in photoshop, and for some reason I always think it's gonna be easy, until I look at my linework. Anyways, I've decided to try a new approach: 4 smaller pen comics mon-fri with one big photoshop comic at the end of the week! Until I can up my photoshop skills and churn them out faster (or practice more flash and illustrator), I think this will work out. Plus I'm half way done with it, so it seems like it's working out well so far.

Also, I might try a thing next month where I do a model from concept to nice render in a month because I definitely haven't been modeling enough.

Also also, with these new photoshop monstrosities, I'm introducing a new mini-series, Dumgens & Draggins© (thanks to Shannon for the name). I have a good handful of comics about my adventures in Dungeons and Dragons Online. I play a thief with a mohawk and a pirate beard (cartoonized above) and if you don't believe me, here's a screenshot:

And here's my character pretending to play Assassin's Creed:


Hey, maybe these will get so good I'll transition them to RocketPoweredDragon when it's done! Wouldn't that be awesome?

Something about Flash

Happy Friday.