Peeks In The Window

Monday, March 25, 2013

Lara Croft/Hawkgirl Commission Finished

Hey All---

Here are the final pencils for the Lara Croft/Hawkgirl commission.  Hope you'll all enjoy it!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Lara Croft & Hawkgirl Part 6

  Hey All---

  Hope you're having a nice weekend.  I've been away for a couple of days watching my daughter while her daycare was on holiday.  I got a little done on thursday evening, and last night was a birthday party for my friend and studiomate, Chris Moreno.  I took the evening off to trek down to the Bigfoot Lodge and wish him a very happy birthday.
  I did get a good bit of work done today, though, so here's my current progress on the Lara Croft/Hawkgirl commission.  I hope you'll enjoy it.  I'm trying to get some more done this evening, but I may retire for the evening soon.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Lara Croft/ Hawkgirl Part 5

  Here's where I'm at as of 11pm----I think I'm gonna call it a night.  Lara Croft's all done and the mummy hand is drawn in.  I'll start and hopefully finish Hawkgirl tomorrow.
  Heading out---Have a great night everyone.

Lara Croft/ Hawkgirl Part 4

  Nearing completion on the Lara Croft figure.  If anyone is wondering, I've been referencing the promo images of the new Lara Croft model, Alison Carrol (May have spelled that wrong) in a more recent Tomb Raider outfit than the old sleeveless shirt, shorts and sunglasses version.  I'm not going for Carrol's likeness or anything, just kind of following that same direction.  I'm having a lot more fun drawing her here than when I drew her in Tomb Raider: Journeys. 
  I'll be coming back to the studio to work more tonight, so I'll be posting more progress this evening.

Lara Croft/ Hawkgirl Commission part 3

  Hi All---
  Here's new work on the Lara Croft figure---Getting closer to finishing her up.  More soon!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Lara Croft and Hawkgirl part 2

  Hey All---

  Here's a quick look at current progress on the Lara Croft figure.  Sloppy photography by my iphone.  Probably won't post again tonight---It's my and my wife's seventh wedding anniversary, so I'll be taking off in about an hour and won't be back to work 'til tomorrow.
  See ya then!

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Wonder Woman and Hippolyta Final

Greetings, all. Presented for you approval is the final inks for Wonder Woman and Hippolyta. This was a very entertaining piece to work with, Drew provided a drawing containing many textures and levels. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I could work on art like this every day of my life and be happy. On with the show...



And now off to begin Monty's 'Gentleman Prefer Crazies' piece. If you love Harley, check out Rich's link on Bleeding Cool for 'Dance Like Nobody's Cosplaying'. Too cute for words!

Best,
Ray

Friday, March 15, 2013

Lara Croft & Hawkgirl Commission Part 1

Hey All---

Blogging from Garage Art Studios today---Started work last night on the new commission.  Tomb Raider's Lara Croft and The Silver Age Hawkgirl.  This is a really fun piece.  I'll be combining the adventurous aspects of both characters as they explore a lost temple and are about to be set upon by mummies.
This shot from my iphone cam shows you the really early stage in the commission's development.  I'm still roughing through the Croft figure, and there are still a couple of spots where I'm still working out some issues. 
 Last night, my studiomate, Chris Moreno pointed out that my Hawkgirl figure is a little stiff here---He sat down and sketched out an alternate idea that really makes the piece work nicely, so I'm going with it.  Hats off to Mr Moreno for his awesomeness.  In fact, I'm gonna post his sketch here, to show what Chris showed me. 

Hope you're all doing great, and that you'll enjoy this stuff.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Shin Commission Finish

  Here's the final pencils for the Warrior Elf Shin commission.  I've been working in a new studio lately,  Garage Art Studios (www.garageartstudios.net), and have had my nose firmly affixed to the grindstone, keeping later hours than I have in a while.  Seems the results involve faster work on my commissions...So that's cool:)  I forgot to photograph my progress on this one today, though, so I do apologize for the lack of process views .  I'm starting work on my next commission tonight, and will make an effort to be more efficient in my documentation. 
  I had a lot of fun on this one---It was a nice time-out from super heroes.  I hope the client and all of you will enjoy it!
  On to Lara Croft and The Silver Age Hawkgirl next!
  Hope you're all doing great!

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Shin Commission Part 1

  Hey All---

  Here's first work on the new commission, an original character of the client's called Shin, an elf warrior.  This is a photo off the iphone, so it's not a great scan, but it'll give you an idea of where this piece is at.  I'm drawing this one on comic board from DC Digital, so that's why there's a gutter in the middle of the paper.  It's good paper---I enjoyed working on it when I was drawing Masters of The Universe #8.  It's smooth board and it takes the pencil well.
  More soon!

Huntress & Black Canary Commission Final

  Hi All---

  Here are the finished pencils for the Huntress/Black Canary Commission.  I hope my client will enjoy it, and that you'll all get a kick out of it as well.  I love these characters and had a blast working on them.  Next up will be an original fantasy genre character called Shin.  I started work on the figure roughs last night, and am still working through them.  I'll be posting some progress on this piece later  today.
  Hope everyone is doing great, and that you're all enjoying what Ray and I have been posting here.  Please don't forget you can post comments on the blog at any time.  Just hit comment, write your thoughts and where it asks what id you want to post under, just hit anonymous, and you should be good to go.  Please feel free to sign your comments, so we know who to thank, or who to mutter under our breaths about:)
  More soon!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Wonder Woman and Hippolyta IV

Greetings, all! Presented you'll find the next installment of WW and Hippolyta. I've finished the basics of the piece and will move on to fills and background. It's still a very fun piece to work with, although the texture linework will be quite the bitch to work (many apologies to the more sensitive members). I'll post again before the drybrush. On with the show...




Please, anyone, more like this. This piece is the epitome of classic WW art and simplicity. I will do this all day long!

Best, 
Ray

Huntress & Black Canary Part 6

Hey All---

Here's a nicer scan of my works so far on the Huntress/Black Canary commission.  We're getting close to done on this one---Just some light background work and it's all set.  I'll post more when I've wrapped it up this afternoon after my trip to the dentist.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Huntress & Black Canary Part 5

  Here's some more work on the Black Canary Figure----Gonna break for dinner and will post more in a bit.  Again---It's an iphone pic.

Huntress & Black Canary Part 4

  Hi All---

  Here's some new work on the Huntress/Black Canary commission---Pardon the funky scan---I'm working out the house today, and this is shot off my Iphone and punched up a bit on my laptop.  But basically, you can see what's going on.
  Should have more to post tonight!

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Wonder Woman and Hippolyta III

Greetings, all! Here you'll find the backfills on the Wonder Woman figure and a little more work on Hippolyta. I've almost finished the linework for the background, preparing it for masking and dry brush. This is a really entertaining piece to work with, being very statuesque it feels like a propaganda piece for Themiscyra. Or maybe it's just me. On with the show...



Best, Ray

Wonder Woman and Hippolyta II

Greetings, all! Presented for your approval is my first inking attempts at Wonder Woman and Hippolyta, just the linework of Wonder Woman without the backfill. I've made a few changes to the pencils before beginning (with Drew's permission, of course) that stood out on first blush. On with the show...



After the backfill I'll post a close up to better show the progress, as well as Drew's draftsmanship.
Best,
 Ray

Friday, March 8, 2013

Wonder Woman and Hippolyta

Greetings, all! Thanks to Drew for his kind words, Cheetah's Revenge was a wonderful piece of artwork to ink. I think that the same can be said of this next piece, which I'll call Wonder Woman and Hippolyta (for now). I'm sure someone will come up with a much more clever title, but until then we'll use my lazy version. On with the show...



This piece was competed before the start of this Blog for K.T. and I received the original in the same package as 'Cheetah's Revenge'. Although we all missed seeing Drew's step by step, I thought I might as well include this in my postings. I hope you'll enjoy. Drew's been a bit busy and I'll bother him again later about getting M.B.'s 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes' commission to me, so I'll be starting that soon.

 Best,
Ray

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Commission Window Update!

  Hi All---

  Hope you're doing great.  I've been away for a bit, and thought I might post a quick update of what I'm up to.  I got back from Emerald City Con on Monday evening after a really long day of sitting in airports and eventual plane rides.  Since I've been back, I've been working on the new project that I've been writing, and looking after my daughter who's home sick with a bout of nasty stomach flu.  I'll be back to my commission work in the next day or two.  Thanks for being patient with me.
  I'd also like to throw out a big compliment to Ray Snyder for his beautiful work on the Cheetah's Revenge commission.  His inks add so much to my pencils on this piece, and bring such depth, texture and atmosphere to it that they create a truly collaborative effort on this commission.  Seriously, this piece is so much more with Ray's contribution to it.  It's why I love working with Ray so much.  Bravo, Ray. 
 

Monday, March 4, 2013

Cheetah's Revenge Final and Aquaman

Greetings, my friends, I woke up early and finished up two commissions today. The first being the Cheetah's Revenge piece with Drew for Karl, the second being an unresolved commission for a friend of mine. We'll explore the art as follows.




Seeing the reduction of the art, I've made a decision. I'll go back and make adjustments to the star field. I do not like the way the moonglow works against the background. I tried to make the star field work towards the X in the lower shadow pattern, but it's not happening for me (now that I see it reduced).

Anyway, here's a close up post of the figures. For those who are interested, I used the usual masking technique (as I posted earlier) and a Cirrus #110 round Kolinsky Sable Winsor & Newton 0 brush to finish this off. A very useful brush, without being very expensive.




As an aside, I'll add this Aquaman piece that I've finished for a friend. A commission that had been promised for many years, but only finished when he decided to ask me to complete it for him.




Craig Hamilton's pencils and my inks. Very nice work, in my opinion. I hope you enjoy.


Best,
Ray