The REAL Silver Age of Superheroes

Click the Title to see some old tyme superheroes!!

Maybe we can all draw an old version superhero of ourselves and post?? C'mon people!!

Rough done over a Gray layer

I prefer to sketch over a gray color vs the white. Less of a strain on the eyes.

Lighten Rough- Bring up White Layer

Change the opacity of the rough to onionskin it.

Ink Over Rough

Clean Inks

Used the cintiq. Hard brush set to shape dynamics for thick and thin.
Used the pen tool for the glass outline. Then I use stroke with the simulate pressure checked.

Invert

Use the invert layer to do the inking. Click the alpha window to make sure it's the active work area.

Make a group

Grouping could have occured at any time. I group them for ease of turning it on and off. Duplicating for a quick start for new drawing. Dragging into new doc. The groups are scalable.

Make an Alpha Channel for a selection tool

Go to channels with just the ink layer and white layer showing. Duplicate the blue channel, then invert it as the alpha channel. This is used to allow an quick method of selecting the line art info.

Drag Inverted Alpha Channel to Selection Icon

This process gives you a nice clean selection of the original line art. Nice to keep this alpha channel around for rebuilding the line integrity, changing the line color, whatever.

Switch back to Layers to edit Line selection

This process gives you a nice clean selection of the original line art. Nice to keep this alpha channel around for rebuilding the line integrity, changing the line color, whatever.

More Inks-Title links to Blog for my steps

My set up is to have the bottom layer be white.

then i create my drawing inking group.

Into the group goes gray on bottom, so i don't have to draw on white, blank layer for the rough, blank layer for the inks. Then an adjustment layer that is set to invert.

I do the big black areas with the adjustment layer after I get some halfway clean inks.

I'll do a screen grab of it tomorrow to clarify.

I've posted the screen grabs of my inking set up. Click the header to go to my other Blog

Slow Day

It's a slow day here at SOE. Everyone's off at Fan Faire in Las Vegas. The parking lot is deserted. Cubicle City is a ghost town. Please, someone post something amusing to break the monotony...

Picture Day

I ran across this while looking through our assembled ref on our game. It made me laugh so I'm sharing it.

Trying to Ink Cleanly

I've got a cool approach to inking with photoshop that I'll share on my blog this weekend

Cork 33

Eeek. It's been a looooong weekend staying up until 3, 4, sometimes 7 am at work to get the Cork book ready to send to the printers for a Tuesday deadline. But in about an hour I'll have everything done! I won't be able to end at the point I wanted to (about two strips away from that) but I finished up a bunch of little drawings for the interior as well as Cork 'in progress' pages and some sketches from the early beginnings of the strip. I'm gonna print out 100 of them for the Con. Order yours today! Only $879.00!

Oh, here's the next Cork I managed to squeeze in at the last minute.

Coping with Creative Block

I haven't felt much like drawing lately. For a while I was on a roll, but then I hit a wall. The enthusiasm for what I was working on just sort of left. I thought about forcing myself to go on, but I decided against it. So I gave up on it for now. Instead I thought I'd see if I could break free with some self-administered art therapy. If you ever feel like this, raise your hand; or post a drawing of a raised hand. The desire to create goes away, but not the desire for the desire. Maybe there's a pill you can take for this, like a Viagra for creative block. The inventor of such a thing would make hundreds of dollars. Hundreds!

TAG at the Kirby Castle circa 1992

A Blast from the past. I've posted it over at

The fans of Shel Dorf Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=93720774140

Dig those hair styles. Check the TAG Facebook page too for a few other images from days gone by.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=22571727687&ref=mf

We could never shake that Scott Benefiel guy. He's been dug in like an Alabama tick for years.

CHILDHOOD FEARS

Click on the title at your own risk. Viewing this photographer's work will only produce nightmares. (looking at Jim)

My fear is that Scott actually gets his Cork book printed and is picked up by Hollywood- types and optioned for a movie deal.

Cork 32

Amazing Beat Box Girl

Ordinarily I hate this kind of thing, but this girl is really talented. Especially how she sings and hums at the same time as she makes the beat box sounds. Click on the title or go here: http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1911132

I think Buncake would make a better Hal Jordan

Team Meeting Sketches

Usually involves a caricature here or there. These are just mind idling goofs.

I've discovered how to make myself photogenic

Make sure I'm third in depth of field .

Pictured left to right Me, Todd, Gary @ E3

David Fenderson is ALIVE!!!!

So I actually talked with long lost David Fenderson today. He's doing well in Texas. He says he hates you all especially Ellis and Scott. Someday he will come to the blog. Someday.

Now all we need to do is find Ron Thompson and we will be complete. Oh and Dave Decoto too.

Ultramonsters DANCE!!!

Ellis here. Kali posted her illustrated take of the Monster Dance on her blog and I thought it was worth double posting it.

KZ here. I added the 45 rpm of the song.

Cork 31

Here's the latest. I did some layout planning and I think I've got enough extra filler to make the minimum required 48 pages for Lulu, but I need to create some more single drawings as well as add some 'in progress' shots and photos and bios and stuff like that. I'm running out of time though! Anyone know how long it takes Lulu to print and ship 100 copies?

One of my Earliest TV Memories

Great limited animation with silhouettes. It freaked me out for some reason. I don't remember a single plot to Suspense Theater but I remember this opening.

I misremember one part. I could have sworn it ended with the silhouette guy trying to keep two cliff walls from crushing him. It is similar to the space that opens around him as the foreground figures separate and reveal the silhouette man.

Cork printing help!

Howdy kids!

I need to nail down an inexpensive but good printer if I'm going to get a Cork collection out by the Con! Ellis, I checked out Lulu but for what I need I don't think they can help. I wanted a square 8.5 by 8.5 book to accomodate 7.5 by 7.5 artwork, but when I typed in those specifications they automatically charged me the 'color' fee instead of the b&w fee drastically increasing the cost! I don't get it. Also it appears that I have to have a MINIMUM of 48 pages PER BOOK to get an order made! WTF?

So, I have feelers out for a better printing house and was wondering if anyone can help steer me! Also, they'd have to be able to do at least a two week turnaround or better because this may come down to the wire for me.

Help your challenged brother! Thanks!

Ultra Zoned up and running

My portfolio blog is up and running. Drop by and take a look.
You can comment about it here on this post. (Click on the title)