She's a Killer: finale

"Killer Queen"

It's been a while since I've posted anything so I thought that I should at least show the end result of the Killer Queen piece that I started. I'll be posting some more of the posters that I've been working on shortly.

She's a Killer: part 3

Stage 4

My computer was down for a few days, which practically stopped all progress. So I haven't made much progress on this at all. This is the stage of the illustration where I have absolutely no idea what will happen. It could go horribly wrong but that's why we have command Z.

She's a Killer: Part 2

Stage 2 & 3

So this is stage two and three of the Queen poster. Years ago when the digital craze had just begun I found myself to be very frustrated that I couldn't execute paintings in the same fashion as a traditional painting. Part of this was that the technology was not advanced as it is now but the other part (and more importantly) I didn't have the same sensibility as an artist at that time. Now that both I and technology have made great advancements I feel far more comfortable working on pieces like this one.

Locked & Loaded

Many, many moons ago when I was a student, one of my professors gave me a project that nearly killed the class. He gave us dimensions and a due date but then told us that we could create whatever we wanted. We had become so accustomed to taking orders and solving other peoples problems that most of us (including myself) didn't have a voice of our own. I had to quickly discover what kind of things interested me. While I'm a big fan of comics, music plays a much bigger role in my life.


The piece above is from Aerosmith's "Janey's Got a Gun." I'm not completely finished with it but I wanted to lay it out in Illustrator before taking it into Photoshop. I strayed away from the sketch and now it seems to have lost some of the impact that the sketch has but it's still the same basic composition. You'll also see that I corrected the spelling of the song from the thumbnail sketch. Now I'll just make notes on what to correct and get back to it.

King of the Sea

For the most part this is the final. I still have a lot of details that I'd like to zoom in and take care of at a later time. As an update from the last post, I've added a map to the background so that it's not just canvas. The map is part of the coast of Ireland. I also included a collar and more definition to his chest. On to the next piece.

Making Progress

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Here's a brief update on Aquaman. View number one is the progress that I've made from the last Aquaman post. Since then I've added more detail to the face along with more contrast. In addition to working on the face I've the shoulders and a background color to help him stand out.

After taking a step back to really look at it I knew that the green in view number one was too bold so I lowered the opacity to let some of the canvas texture show through. Next, I painted a scale and cloned it. This made life a whole lot easier than painted each scale. Again I lowered the opacity on the scales to let the texture of the canvas and the base color of the outfit dictate the color. Just a little bit further to go.

Deep Sea Painting

This is the updated version of Aquaman. After deciding on what sketch to render I added a toned canvas, that I scanned in earlier, over the first layer of the sketch. I lowered the opacity of the tone canvas layer in order to see my sketch. Even when I paint traditionally I use a toned canvas. It really helps to unify the colors as you're painting and it's better than working against white.
When I paint digitally I like to paint with brushes that have brush like tips. I'm ol school so it's easier for me to work as if I'm working on a traditional painting.

I had a lot of fun painting his face. I'm not sure as to just how many colors I used but since the layer was semi transparent I was able to achieve colors and effects that I couldn't if the layer was opaque. I thought that it would be appropriate to make the skin pigment a little brighter and more intense than normal since he is a superhero. On to the next step.

Submerged In Progress

This is the initial sketch of my Aquaman portrait. Why Aquaman? Well, one of my favorite cartoons and superhero groups was the Justice League. Aquaman was part of the original cartoon but I always felt that he didn't get nearly the attention or fan fair that Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman received. In addition, I rarely come by Aquaman artwork. This is more for my own leisure than anything.

I'm going to work on top of the sketch in Photoshop for now. I don't foresee any problems with getting the effect that I want but I may take it into Painter as well. I'll add a map and a canvas texture for the background and to give the piece a more artsy feel instead of graphic. Let's see where this goes.