Flash 2.0

The Flash editor gave me a call to inform me that she intends to use my cover in the near future, but I got the eye color wrong (the current Flash, Bart Allen, has brown/gold eyes, not blue). I opened up the file to make the quick adjustment, but couldn't resist playing around a bit.

For whatever reason, it never occurred to me to include some "speed lightning" when I first drew the image, but looking at it again, it seemed like it could use some. So, a simple tweak to the eyes turned into what you see here. The overall mood changed as well, with the richer palette and darker tonality making this one feel more ominous, at least to me.

What do you folks think? I sent it in to get my editors' opinions, but the final decision won't be made until next week. Scroll down to my previous Flash post to compare with the original, and let me know which version speaks to you.

Thanks for the help!

J

Green Arrow

Here is Green Arrow, my latest cover for DC.

Drawn in ink on bristol, color in Photoshop.

Many more to come.

J

WizardWorld Los Angeles this weekend!

Great news! I narrowly escaped serving on the jury for a 3-week long murder trial by making a last minute plea to the judge. Thankfully, he dismissed me from that trial and threw my name back into the big pool, but I made it out before my name was drawn again for another trial. I am now safe for at least another year.

As a result of fulfilling my duty in one, long-ass day, I will be at the big show all weekend, including Friday. I will be set up in Artist Alley at table 1905 A&B. The guest list looks rather solid, so please come out and see some art.

Hope to see you there!

J

Wonder Woman

Here she is. Although I intended to draw something graphic, flat, and line-heavy for my first Wonder Woman cover, I ended up with some fairly heavy rendering; there just wasn't much to the line art, so I worked up a lot in the color.

There weren't any prelims for this one, so what you see is what you get. Drawn in pencil, Photoshop for color (and cloud painting).

Green Arrow is on my desk now. He is actually looking very graphic, flat, and line heavy at the moment, but I wonder where he'll end up. I'll try to finish him off for next week.

J

Flash

Here is The Flash. Along with the finished color and line art process pictures, I have posted a bunch of the doodles I suffered through in trying to figure out an interesting shot of a guy running (and again, without any specific story elements, as these are "inventory" covers).

After I sent in some color roughs I had worked up from a couple of my favorite doodles (which I would have posted but seem to have discarded), my esteemed editor, Mark Chiarello, decided that he favored one with a back-lit image of Flash running right at us (based on the doodle in the lower right-hand corner). I then reworked it into the blue pencil sketch. That was further refined by drawing in black pencil over my blue layout, and finally, that same line art was cleaned-up in Photoshop. I also used Painter for about 3 minutes to brush in some flesh tones on his face.

Wonder Woman is up next.

J

Batman

I got the green light from DC to share some of the new covers I have been working on, so first up is the Batman. Along with the finished image, I have posted the line art (drawn in pencil) before I took it into Photoshop for color, and the initial sketch. As you can see, I completed the background completely in Photoshop, where I also drew the rope of Batman's grappling hook (Bathook?).

When I started coloring, I planned for the usual Batman night shot and went so far as to make an entire night-time city scape for the background. I had spotlights flying around, with a huge beam back-lighting Batman. However, even after many hours of noodling, I was really dissatisfied with what I was getting and decided to scrap almost everything (I did save the BG for possible later use). So, I started over, and instead built a new city (primarily with the line tool and transformations) based on a great old image of art deco buildings and inspiration I drew from the Batman animated series backgrounds. After a lot of experimentation, I eventually wound up with what could be seen as an early morning shot. I figure Batman has been out all night doing his thing. It was a background gradient that really inspired me to pop the sun out, and I hope it works. He has to be out in daylight sometimes, right?

More to come.

J

Convention schedule update- HeroesCon!

I'm back from Wondercon in San Francisco, which I really enjoyed. Thanks to everyone who helped make it such a nice show. I appreciate all of the kind words and support I enjoyed at the show. I'm looking forward to returning next year.

In other convention news, I will no longer be attending WizardWorld Philly as I am now happily a guest of HeroesCon in North Carolina. I wasn't aware until recently that Wizard had scheduled their Philly convention in direct competition with the long-running HeroesCon (this year is the 25th anniversary) but given the choice, HeroesCon is the place to be, despite my love for Pennsylvania. I'll just find another excuse to return home some other time.

So, once again, I will be in Charlotte, NC for HeroesCon on June 15-17. More info can be found at the HeroesCon website.

J