MORE OF THE LADY

EYE THERE

Just a little note to let you folks know I haven't forgotten the blog. I'll be back with some news and some new images soon. Thanks!

Scarlet Witch

Here is one more red sketch I neglected to post earlier- Scarlet Witch. It was done at the same time as the Poison Ivy and Red Sonja, and just like those two it is color pencil and marker.

I don't know anything about Scarlet Witch, but I had a lot of red markers and she was the only other red character I could think of at the moment. I probably should have stuck with a faerie or something. That'll be next.

Poison Ivy

Here's a scan of another one of these color sketches, this time of Poison Ivy. Well, it really could be any red-haired nature girl, but the foliage is poison ivy, so I figure that's enough. Ivy was actually the first one I did, followed by a Scarlet Witch, and then the Red Sonja. Apparently, I like red.

Also posted is a scan of the Red Sonja, as requested in the comments. I couldn't quite capture the subtleties of the original with my scanner, which I now realize is not great at color images. I'll have to upgrade if I keep working in color. Damn.

Now that I am getting a little more comfortable with my materials, I plan on tackling some more involved subjects and more refined drawings. We'll see what happens.

I'll post the Scarlet Witch once I get a good scan.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Red Sonja

Meeting cover

This is the cover for the forthcoming young adult fantasy novel MEETING by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, the sequel to THRESHOLDS, from Viking Press. I finished this several months ago, but had to wait to show it until the book was announced.

More soon!

Supergirl 50

Here is my cover for Supergirl 50. I started this one by coloring an extremely rough pencil sketch for editorial approval, thinking I would redraw the line art for a cleaner foundation to color later, but kept working on the original color sketch so much that it wound up being the final cover.

Supergirl is imprisoned in amber, which was quite difficult to render and have look right without obscuring too much of the figure or her colors. I didn't do much with the background either since it is largely covered by the logo and other type. I'm still not sure if I quite pulled it off, but I ran out of time and had to call the cover done.

I used both Photoshop and Painter for this one; Painter primarily for hair and washes of color on the figure, and Photoshop for everything else. I probably could have done it all in Photoshop with the same end result, but I do enjoy coloring looser drawings in Painter.

That's all for now.

Joshua

Supergirl 49

Here is the cover for Supergirl 49. I am too busy at the moment to provide much commentary, but I will try to post some process shots and info when I have some more time.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Joshua

Sämmtliche Gedichte

Here is a cover I did a while back for Sämmtliche Gedichte, a German-language novel written by Dietmar Dath.

From the beginning, the author knew that he wanted a fairly straightforward shot of the Amelia Earhart-type character, so my thumbnails were basic compositional variations of this image. It was ultimately decided that I go for the most direct version.

When drawing an image like this, where there is one central figure with little movement and few background elements, the smallest details can significantly change the feel of the image. In this case, I recall a debate about how to direct the eyes- originally, I had her looking straight at the viewer, which can be engaging or even intimidating depending on the expression, but we decided it would be more in her character to direct the gaze slightly away from the viewer, creating a little distance.

The image was sketched in pencil, then inked with a brush and pen, and colored in Photoshop and Painter. I established the basic color design during the thumbnail stage, which is always very helpful since it can save a lot of time screwing around with colors in Photoshop when the deadline is creeping up. It is sometimes good to have a plan.*

Thanks for stopping by.

Joshua

*even if you choose to completely ignore it at least half of the time. Sometimes it seems my favorite plan is coming up with a new plan.

Supergirl 48

Here is yet another Supergirl cover, issue 48, along with some process shots.




As you can see from the above thumbnail, the final image stayed pretty close to my initial concept. In fact, when I was adding some color to the thumbnail in Photoshop to submit for editorial approval, I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to reproduce the "scream ring" effect on the final- I was just screwing around when I came up with it and couldn't remember exactly how I did it, but I liked it. My goal was to get the final cover pretty close to the thumbnail.




I agonized over how to draw the actual cover; I knew that it would technically be much easier to draw Silver Banshee and Supergirl on two different pieces of paper so that I could work with them separately in PS, but I would be sacrificing a nicer looking piece of finished art. In the end, practicality won, and I have yet another cover drawn in pieces. It was the right choice, however, because having Supergirl on her own layer floating over Silver Banshee allowed me to add all of the effects without having to make selections or deal with weird edges around Supergirl. I was also able to adjust Supergirl's size and position with ease since there was a complete background behind her, which is pictured above before making any adjustments. I drew Silver Banshee in blue pencil, then inked her with a brush and india ink.




Above is Supergirl as she was drawn on a vellum overlay. Vellum is like a heavy tracing paper, so the transparency allowed me to draw her basically where I wanted her over the background. Supergirl was first drawn with blue pencil on a sheet of vellum, then I laid another sheet on top of that and drew the final lines in ink with a pen. I could have just inked directly over the blue pencils, but I was really struggling with some parts of the drawing (including the skirt, as usual) and wound up with a lot of smeared pencil. Vellum is easily erasable, so pencils can smear, and sometimes ink doesn't want to stick. A fresh sheet took care of the problem.

The color was done in Photoshop, and I tried to keep it fairly simple. The most important part was getting the balance right between Supergirl and the black and white background so that the contrast is striking, yet reads well. I had to lighten the background a touch and added a little bit of a soft halo of white around Supergirl to help pop her off the background. After staring at it for a while and nearly getting dizzy, I decided it was done.

Thanks as always for stopping by.

Joshua

Supergirl 46 and 47

I am very sorry for the long wait between posts. I'm still quite busy, but I hope to get back to more frequent posts soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of Supergirl covers. You already saw the Hamlet-themed one when I posted it a little too early for DC's taste and had to take it down a couple of months ago. Now that it is finally on the schedule as issue 47, you can see it again.

More soon.

Joshua

Thresholds

Here is the cover for Thresholds, an upcoming book from Viking Press.

I worked out the basic concept and color palette with a digital sketch in Photoshop, then drew the cover in pencil, scanned it, and colored it using the initial sketch as a foundation. I worked primarily in Photoshop, with a little bit of Painter here and there.

That's all for now.

Joshua

Supergirl 45

Here is the cover for Supergirl 45. I will try to post some process shots in a future post. For now, enjoy the final image!

Joshua