Wednesday August 29th 2012, 3:38 pm
Here is the cover to Batwoman 14 in various stages. A Western flavored issue…
First up is the rough sketch of the idea for editorial approval.
Then here is the black and white version. I stuck to the sketch composition pretty accurately. I purposefully left the backgrounds without detail as I knew I wanted to have that be completely reliant on color tones and paint textures. Drawing in details there probably would have made it more confusing or cumbersome for that sunset western desert effect I wanted.
Color version by me. This is where the western effect comes into full play. The palette combined with textures in the digital paint were exactly what this piece needed to feel finalized as an idea. Having the only cool tones on the central figure does two things here, one- it puts the focus on him even though he is facing away, second- sells the idea of decay and death as well. And then having the ghostly Medusa figure within his form be the only white creates a secondary pull-in focus. With Batwoman and Wonder Woman being to either side of this and more affected by the palette of the setting allows for there to be a sense of layering, this layering effect is topped off with the design graphics.
Logo version.
Monday August 20th 2012, 11:06 am
At this fun link below, DC has posted on their site a very flattering brief article about my work, very nice of them…
DC Article
But what I find most interesting is in the comments section this debate that was immediately raised, that Batwoman and some of my other projects being difficult to read as digital downloads for an eReader device. So here is my two cents about comics for these types of devices. I find comics that are for this format to be perfectly fine, but I also feel I shouldn’t have to alter what I do specifically to accommodate this relatively new technology format, especially because its evolution most likely is far from done. My approach to storytelling is specifically something I’m interested in as an artist exploring how to visually tell a story. I prefer to experiment with it all, and right now eReaders are designed for conformity for the most part, for the basic traditional page, which is usually fine. But there are plenty of other comics creators besides myself that defy this traditional expectation. As artists we should not be expected to conform something we’ve been long doing well before eReaders ever existed. Comics are more than doing things in expected ways, thats part of the beauty of our medium, in my opinion, and it may be considered a bit stale, but I really don’t care, is that eReader technology needs to catch up to us, to the creators, who like myself have been experimenting with comics for well over a decade.
Well there ya have it. Yes, my view may be considered out of date, but honestly, if an artist can’t fully express themselves as they wish to because of tech formats, then its technology that really should adapt, and ya know, most likely it will. The eReader experience is wanting to duplicate the “real” reading experience as much as possible, so I believe we will see a time not far down the road where we’ll have devices that can accommodate a more wide range of our medium’s perspectives.