boba Fett

Thursday, December 17, 2009

sketches



So you know how all art books you have ever read, always tell you to do sketches from life and you read it...think its a good idea, but still never do it? YOU SHOULD. Get over the fear that a person at Starbucks might freak out when you are drawing them..they never do. Often times they'll even ask to see what you drew!

In the last few months I've really ramped up the daily sketching and its helped a ton. It felt a bit like work at the beginning, but now its one of the highlights of my day. It REALLY helps to 'loosen up' your art.

The only frustrating part is that folks never stay still for very long!! Occasionally you'll get a great sketch going, then they move and its finished...its part of the territory! In order to help combat this, or when you can't make it out, just pop in a DVD and sketch out what you see. You can always hit the pause button to help work it out.

My last word of advice on this topic is to go for the GESTURE when life drawing, not the anatomy! I find if I start thinking anatomy, its over...you just dont have the time when you are dealing with seconds per pose. The gesture is really what you should capture here.


Now, when working from a live posing model, I've found....wait, that's a post for another day!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Futurequake cover -line art



Just a quick update today. Have recently finished the lineart for the cover of an upcoming Futurequake (issue #15)

The Extinction Hunter story is set to run in this book. The cover is off the colorist, I'll be sure to post up the color scan early in the new year, closer to the actual publishing date.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Creating art from scratch..my process in detail.




OK, so I have to admit I love, LOVE reading ‘how I do it’ type web entries for the artists I follow, (Frank Quitely, Eric Canete, Art Adams, Gary Erskine etc) and I thought that it’s about time I share how I draw up what I do. Art geeks of the world…get ready!

I start with my sketch book and I focus on getting a good line of action. I’m working very loose, very, VERY small, and generally just mucking about for ideas and inspiration. In this case my idea was to try a Wolverine Vs. Venom type battle. I made about 10 very small sketches and the one pictured was the most successful Wolverine one…. It felt like he had energy, and life. Basically, it spoke to me! ;-) To give an idea of how small I work I scanned it with a penny for reference. The other nine sketches get thrown out cuz they were ugly and just not working.



Now I grab a piece of cheap blank printer paper. My focus here is to keep the life and energy from the sketch, make it bigger, figure out a few details, and to make sure that everything will fit on the page. I’d hate to have it ¾ drawn and then have an arm or leg cut off or cropped badly. ( I learned this one the hard way! ) I’m staying very aware of ‘squash and stretch’ at this point in the process. I also decided that I’d need some heavier blacks in the lower left corner to help balance the Venom’s heavy black that I’d be using on the right. In my best teacher type voice: ‘Gotta keep that page looking balanced!’ Somewhere here, I also realized that I’d draw Venom’s head WAY to big, and wrote a note in blue pencil to shrink it and push it forward for more energy. No worries about mistakes though, that’s why this stage is here. The hard part for me is to NOT DRAW THE COOL STUFF, like faces muscles etc. I’m just getting a ‘template’ built that I’m gonna act on in the next (and final) pencil stage.



Ahh…the actual drawing! This is my favorite stage. The most bang for the buck! I use the template from the last stage and blow it up to about another 40% larger, so it now fits on an 11x17 sheet . I take a nice piece of Strathmore 500 Bristol and light box in my work from the last step. I’m using non-repro blue pencils here. Then once it’s all down, the rap music gets cranked, and away I go with my trusty mechanical 2H pencil! I’m pretty happy with it at this point. This is where I’d love to have a pro inker to hand this bad boy to…but since I don’t , its up to me to ink it.





Inks are a bit funny for me. I enjoy it, but it just seems to take WAY longer than I think it will. I’ve learned lately to slow down and just enjoy it. Here I’m trying to use and create different textures. The jury is out on how successful I am at this! For most of the figures I’m using India ink and my trusty 102 nib, that’s old and worked in the way I like it. I also use some Microns for minor corrections after my erasing.




Now it’s off to the colorist for the magic to continue.

I hope you liked this post and/or found it helpful. Feel free to LMK. I may do another post like this again sometime!

Cheers,
Gibson

Friday, November 13, 2009

COLOR is good!!



I just realized that my blog is looking a little drab, as I haven’t posted up any color scans in a while.
I must admit that I’m not a strong colorist, nor have I spent the time yet to become one. My philosophy on this is… I’d rather become REALLY good at straight penciling and B&W work, instead of so-so and B&W and so-so at coloring by doing both at the same time. So, I’m focusing quite hard on my penciling right now. I have the luxury to do so as I’ve been blessed with great colorists!! I’m talking about folks like Jamie Grant over my work in WASTED, and Keiren Smith for everything else- including this Spidey. She does a great job, and can be reached at ktsssssmith@gmail.com for all those editors and folks that want to hire her!

Big thanks to all those folks who came by to say at the Speakeasy Gallery night last week. It was WAAYYY busier than I thought it was gonna be, and it was nice to see all sorts of comic-art interested folks.

Cheers!

GQ

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Extinction Hunter -Futurequake 6 pager

Time is flying by!!I figure a blog update is overdue, so here you go.

I'm currently inking up a 6 page story 'Extinction Hunter' written by my pal Greg Dunford ( of Hardrive fame http://cyberpunkcomics.com/ ) Extinction Hunter is a great little story that will be in the next issue o Futurequake. I will also be drawing her for the cover of that issue, but I've not come up with a cover design I'm happy with yet. Once I do have it done and colored, I'll be sure to post it up. I'm really happy with how this story turned out -even with the new rather shocking and graphic ending. Here is th first page to give you a feel for the look I'm going for.



Those that know me, know I'm happy to work with good inkers, and I've been blessed with a few good ones. *cough, Gary Erskine, Cough!* However, this time it's 100% me on the pens and brushes. It's not that I dislike inking, I just find that it takes me a LONG time to do it. Couple that with the fact that it can seem like I'm just drawing the same image for a 2nd time, and I'd normally rather just stick to pencilling. This time though, I'm inking more freely and so far, I'm quite happy with it.

BTW, before I forget, For those in the Toronto Area, I'll be at the SpeakEasy comic show Thursday November 5th, 8pm-Midnight at The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St.West. Come on out and say hi!

Cheers,
GQ

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Non -repro BLUE ?!?

“How does that non repro blue thing work?”

This is question I get a lot when I mention that I use ‘non repro’ blue pencils to layout pages and do large chunks of the under drawing with it. Since it’s a topic of discussion over at the 2000ad boards, I’m posting up some big images to help folks have a look at what I’m talking about.

I’ve scanned this panel in COLOR, so you can see what it looks like to me on my drawing board.


Now here it is again, scanned in Grayscale, to be sent along to the inker ( who is not me in this case) See how the blue vanishes? Cool, eh?



Please note that NOT ALL BLUE WORKS! You need to be sure to get ‘Non-Photo blue’, also called ‘non-repro blue’ in some art stores. The ones I use are Staedtler Non Photo blue drawing pencils.

Hope this helps those who were wondering... I’m talking to you Emperor!

Cheers,
GQ

Monday, September 28, 2009

Dredd and Mrs Gunderson


Just a quick post to show the entry for this month's art competiton over at the 2000ad forum.


I didn't think I'd have time to squeeze in an entry, but this one jumped out of my pencils very, very quickly.


Mrs. Gunderson must be my muse... ;-)

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

PROOF from the con...


Hey Kids,


Sorry it's been a while since I checked in...been busy working on stuff that I can't show just yet. However, I can show you a nifty 'PROOF' pin up for a future issue of Alex Grecian and Riley Rossmo's PROOF from Image comics.


I had the pleasure of meeting Alex and Riley at the last con, where I learned about Proof. I've since tracked down the trades that they sold out of...and this is a GREAT BOOK! You would do well to check it out. In a nutshell, it's about Bigfoot as a monster hunter, and its a great read. Crazy Kelly Tindall does some great little Archie Snow back up stories as well.


I'll be sure to let you know when the issue that features this pin up is out, and you can see for yourself what a solid book this is!


Cheers!

GQ

Monday, August 24, 2009

James Bong...licence to chill

Hey everyone! Here's the latest update. I'm currently working on a 'James Bong' story for GMP, the first page of which can be seen below. I'm also gonna throw in a panel from page 2 just cuz it cracks me up everytime I look at it!



I'm a bit worried that its starting to look like I'm channelling J. Scott Campbell, but that seems to be what happens when I go for a more 'cartoony' type of look. Regardless, I'm having a blast drawing it, and I hope it shows.


REMINDER! I'll be at the fan Expo here in Toronto this weekend, so please do drop by if you can and say hello. I'm in artist alley, just not sure where exactly yet. There's your challenge...try and track me down!!


Cheers,
GQ

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Judge Dredd for Zarjaz...


Hi gang, just a quick sneak peak at a page for the next 'Zarjaz' issue (#8) .


This is probably for me, one of the best and funniest Dredd stories I've read in a long time. Paul Glasswell wrote it, and he knocked it out of the park. I think that it would have been in 2000ad were it not for the content of the story...*hint* it involves Dredd's bodily (baby making) fluids!


Its due to be out in about a month or so. More details can be found over here http://thequaequamblog.blogspot.com/


Cheers!

Monday, July 20, 2009

The best part of working in Comics.


I'm back from my vacation, now another year older and raring to go!!

One of the best aspects of comics (IMHO) is that you get to work with many other talented folks -writers,editors and artists. I often find with some of my favorite creators, the resulting combinations makes the overall product better. ( Think Byrne/Austin and Morrison/Quitely) case in point for me is Gary Erskine. Gary's a very nice pro inker and artist who has inked over me in the past and has recently done it again. I can't show you the whole pages or the folks at 'Wasted' magazine http://www.badpressltd.com/index.php would probably kill me, but check out a panel of my pencils and then again with Gary's inks on it.









Pretty cool eh? To the untrained eye they probably look exactly the same, but they are not. Gary does neat little things to her hair, making it look more 'hair like' . Also her arm band has a texture of worn leather instead of looking just like her boots for example. Small stuff, but it helps to make what I intended look better to the reader and gives the person reading the book a better bang for their buck- even if they don't realise it.


Cheers to Gary! I love working with pro inkers.. ;-)


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Wasted #2 -Great review!

This made my day...Wasted #2 gets a TERRIFIC review at http://www.comicbitsonline.com/ ...its rates a 10/10! 'War on Drugs' gets noted as 'wonderful work' Check it out....I'm looking forward to reading more reviews as the issue gets out there...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Wasted update and Zarjaz review!


Looks like things are screaming ahead now for Johnny K and the 'War on Drugs' art that I have done. ( and am doing at the moment actually!)


Please go have a look at this link:



Also... in a first for me, I have just listened to my first 'audio' review! While I wasn't mentioned by name, the overall review for Zarjaz #7 was positive ,and they loved the 'tidal wave of werewolves' page which can be seen in the Slaine post down below.


The review is here:


and Zarjaz is in the first few minutes.


Cheers,

GQ

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Great day!!



Lots of good news to report. The fine folks over at Wasted http://www.wastedcomic.com/ are now going through Diamond distrobution, and issue 2 is to be out this summer. A panel from that can be seen here. Issue #2 also has a panel that is being used for the 'War on Drugs' T-shirt. Pretty cool...be sure to look for it!


Also, today I got a email from MICK MCMAHON! He saw the Dredd print below and was kind enough to comment on it. That's like meeting a rock star for me! I really hope to get a chance to meet him in person one day.


Cheers for now!


Gibson

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Judge Dredd print


So I'm happy to report that the Wolverine prints flew off my table. I was really very happy with the response, and support. I even had a few people tell me I should be charging MORE for them as they were buying them from me! LOL. I didn't though, that would be cruel. ;-)


So, it DID pump me up to try a nice DREDD print, as he's a favorite of mine from way back, and I'm gonna do at least one U.K. con next year, and he's loved over there.


Here's what I came up with.





I decided to get away from B & W and see how colored prints sell, as I noticed that most folks at the con here were selling color prints. Lucky for me I know a terrifc colorist, -KTS. She laid down all the color on this one, and did a GREAT job. I'm hoping this is the first of many more collaborations. We've worked together before in the hard to find Ed the sock #3 comic.


But I digress.


Enjoy the print and look for the latest issue of Zarjaz ( #7) for the published version of the Slaine work below.


Cheers,

GQ

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Wolverine Print for the cons!


OK, so everyone is telling me that selling prints at cons is a good way to go. I'm not a hundred % sure, but I'm gonna try it and see how it goes. I know I LOVE buying art and prints off my favortite comic artists when I see THEM at cons, so I guess it should get with the program!!


I plan to print and number 40 prints of this Wolverine.


Come by and grab one next time you see me!





Cheers,

GQ

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Saturday, April 4, 2009




First art post....

Hi folks

If you have found this blog, then you've found Gibson Quarter art!

I'll post up some of my more recent pages for you to see and enjoy.

Cheers,
GQ