My Phone Did This Automatically!

For your Viewing Pleasure, and animated gif of how I drew Nightwing!

Progression

I was browsing around and came across a link for How To Draw Superman.  I clicked and looked and while I do think it’s a very recognizable Superman, it’s not all that great either though.  Some might come here and say the same about my execution.  They are welcome to do so really, I’m just trying to help out a bit.

Always start with a wireframe, figure out a pose.  I think my main problem with that Superman link is that it’s such a static pose.  Superheroes are action type folks, so try to come up with something dynamic.

I tend to start building the drawing from the head, if the head is a certain size you can gauge how big the body should be in proportion.

Another rule of thumb I tend to stick to is that legs should be just a touch longer then the upper half of the body. So I’ll stick my thumb on the foot of an out stretched leg and a finger on the waistline, and then slide up so my thumb is where my finger used to be on the waist.  If my finger is only hitting the neck area then the torso is too short (or the legs too long).

Be sure to include some sort of foreshortening in your dynamic pose, otherwise it turns out really flat.  See how the one leg is tucked under itself, and the arm on the back the shoulder overlaps the upper arm which overlaps the forearm which overlaps the hand a bit? Foreshortening.  Sometimes I am not great at it, but I know what it is at least!

All that is left once you have the shape of the body put in is to fill in all the details.  I still find hair to be tricky, especially black hair.  Noses can take a lot of practice to get looking right too.  I have pages of noses in sketch books!

Start filling in the details.  My favourite Nightwing has got to be Brett Booths rendition, even though he only did three books and a couple more covers than that.

I should have done more shading here but I knew I wanted to try to use my markers to get the suit looking right.  I find the back suit hard to do if I want details to still show up. 

I’ve inked it now, the key, which I am still learning how to do, is to use different line weights (thicknesses) to make the inking pop.  If all your lines are the same thickness for say the outline and the little details, the overall just won’t look as good as it could.

I’ve erased the pencil and coloured the drawing here.  I’ve picked a light source that it sort of in the upper right corner, just out from the plane of the paper. So the shadows fall on the backside of things and the highlights right in the front middle.  It’s not a drawing that will end up in a professional comic book, but it’s got weight and depth to it at least and it’s a dynamic action pose.

And that’s how I draw Nightwing!

Wonder Woman

I drew this a week or two ago and finally inked it last week and then added the background in photoshop.  I’m pretty pleased with this one actually.  The background helps it pop a bit I think.

I’m also really glad I scanned each of the progressions, pencils, inks and then coloured.  It’s one of the few pieces that I am happy with at each stage!

Technorati Tags: Wonder Woman,Justice League,DC Comics

Life Drawing

My friend Matt suggested that I try out doing some life drawing.  He, being far more artistic than I am, knows what he’s talking about, so I took his advice.

I found a life drawing website. http://artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/ and did a couple of the 1/2 hour practice things they have.  It starts you off doing quick gesture drawings – which I don’t really think  I was doing the way I was supposed to since I barely finished any of the 30 second poses.  Some of the poses where I had a few minutes to work on the pictures I did pretty well on though.

So, here’s the result.

In Action

Superman fighting off some paradeamons.  I actually kinda get stuck on who to draw Superman battling.  I’ve read quite a few Superman comics and watched the animated series, but not very often does someone jump to mind.

Scenery

A little something I drew back in the summer on a lunch break, the yard at daycare in pen!  Very outside my norm!

Batman in Detail

I listen to Fatman on Batman quite often and I recently heard one where the cast of Comic Book Men sort of discuss a few different questions that Kevin Smith poses to them and a few from the audience.  I know that I am not as famous as those folks but that it would be fun to answer those same questions here.  Why here and not my other blog?  Well, there are a lot of drawings of Batman here already and I imagine that my audience here would be a bit more inclined to actually read about this topic.

What is your earliest memory of Batman?

This question is really easy to answer, it’s the 1960’s Batman show with Adam West.  I was seeing it for the first times when I was about 6 or 7.  It was on CKVR I believe at either 4:30 or 5 after school.  I know that my dad would be home because we watched it together.  I thought at the time that it was the height of action and dramatic television.  The death traps felt so intense and when they would leave that cliff hanger for the next day with the voice over going like “Will Batman and the Boy Wonder get out of this dastardly device of death?!” I’m sure my dad was chuckling to himself as we watched as he knew how ridiculous the show was.  That was it though, my first encounter with The Batman.

I also really loved the giant POWs and BAFFs that would pop on the screen every time when they were fighting.  I thought it was amazing and from then on Batman was my favourite hero.

What is your favourite version of Batman?

For me it’s the black and grey version from season four of the animated series, and simply the animated series version overall.  This series came to me just as I was getting into high school actually and I was still always sure to run from the bus stop to the house to be sure I was in the door and ready to watch when it came on.  By this time I did have a very few Batman comics and this take on Batman was so great.  He was darker and moodier, there were plots that would make you think and have feelings for some of the characters.  In that series Batman had that perfect balance of action, adventure and mystery.  Not to mention the inclusion of Robin and Batgirl mid way through the early version, and then Nightwing, and Time Drake – Robin in the fourth season.

 

Best or Funniest Batman Memory?

I don’t know really how funny it is, but in the summer of 1990 my family was in the middle of building a house.  We had moved from near Orillia, to near Buckhorn and while we were building the house we lived in a trailer on the lot.  It was this summer that we got a VCR. 

The only movie we owned for that VCR was the ‘89 Batman.  Being only nine years old, and spending hours and hours of each day outside when I got the chance to watch something I would watch that movie.  Basically because it was either watch Batman or watch one other channel, so usually Batman was the better choice.  To be fair usually the movie would just be on and I would draw or whatever during it and just watch the exciting parts!

I watched that tape so many times that it actually snapped before that summer was over and I had to take it apart and use scotch tape to hold it back together to be useable!

What about Bat-Fleck?

I figure these guys got asked this question more because Kevin Smith was there and has done movies with Ben Affleck, but I’ll throw in my two cents anyways.

I think he’s be as good as the script is honestly.  I’m not a huge Affleck fan, but I’ve seen movies, like Good Will Hunting, where he plays his part very well.  Some people say he ruined Dare Devil, but really it was a bad script that ruined Dare Devil.

I just really hope he takes his voice cues from Kevin Conroy and not from Christian Bale!

What is your Favourite Villain Origin?

For sure it is Mr. Freeze from the animated series.  It’s so tragic and he’s really not the typical ‘villain’.  In the show he’s just a guy that wants to avenge his wife, and ultimately revive her, by whatever means necessary and if Batman gets in the way, then that will be a problem.  He’s not out to ransom the city or something just to make a spectacle of himself.

The origin tale from the animated series for Mr. Freeze was so good in fact that it transferred over into the comics, a rare thing to be sure.

Favourite (non-Dark Knight Returns) Story?

All the time when people get asked what their favourite Batman story is the asker feels the need to include the ‘it can’t be The Dark Knight Returns’ bit.  I know that it does not put me among the majority, but I don’t need that caveat. The Dark Knight Returns is a great story, yes, but the art ruins it for me.  Not popular I know, but while I do like Frank Miller’s story telling, his art is not that great.  The animated adaption of TDKR though is amazing!

All that said, I think my favourite Batman story is Batman: Hush written my Jeff Loeb and drawn by Jim Lee.  If you have not read it, don’t read this next bit until you do, because I’m about to spoil it for you.

It has so many characters in it for starters, I like the involvement of so many different facets of Batman’s world.  The kiss between Catwoman and Batman just seems to be placed to well in the story and then of course Batman’s inability to trust anyone ends that before it even gets going.  It’s the first time I saw that kind of interaction for Batman, but I’m not sure if it is the first instance.  I really liked the new villain, Hush, and his tie in with Bruce’s past and the back story there too.

The fight with Superman is cool too.  I always like it when those two have a bit of a clash, I know that is a big reason why so many people like The Dark Knight Returns as well.

It’s just such an epic story that without the frame of the comics you can never tell.  If they were to try to do it as a movie you’d have to have so many individual set up movies ahead of time, or a TV series that people watched first, because without all that so many people would be lost.  Who’s Harley, Huntress, Nightwing. 

Anyways, great book!

Over To You!

I had learned that getting comments in the world of blogging is not all that easy, especially when you have just a few followers.  But I would LOVE to hear your responses to some or all of these questions.  Please comment below, or just put a link to your blog!