Thursday, April 22, 2010

Power Girl commission piece over Arthur Adams

Another commission I worked on.  Power Girl piece drawn in blue pencil by Arthur Adams.  Here's how the piece looked when I got it.
The First thing I did was added a panel boarder around the page in ink.  I've seen some of the commission pieces that Arthur finishes himself and I notice how he would sometimes draw the same panel boarder.  So I did the same.  After that, I used a thick and medium sized micron pen to ink in the areas you see below.  No brushes or quills for this, only Microns.  I know Arthur inks his own work with microns so I went the same route.   Some lines, I would go back and make them a bit thicker.
Next up, I used a medium sized micron and started inking the rest of the pencils.  I have five different tip sized microns as my disposal, so usually, I'll start with the thickest tip and work my way down to the finest.  While inking, I would add details such as the sections of the rope holding up her cape.
Next, I ink up the rest of the lines that were drawn in blue pencil.  At this point, I've pretty much inked everything that was pencilled.  I start adding more details.  An extra line around the designs of her outfit making it a double line.  Breaking up some of the lines while doing that.  I didn't do this randomly, but I was referencing other work Arthur has done and that lead me to follow suit.
Next step, I started adding more minor details.  The little bit of blacks on her belt and on the cape behind her back.  Cross hatching underneath her neck and breast.   An extra line for the top of her cleavage.  Hatch lines around her areola.  Another oval on the disc holding the rope with shadow underneath.  Extra outfit design lines on her butt.  Extra hair lines, hatch lines, tapered lines, and more details that I think Arthur would add if he inked himself.  Again, all of the details I added, wasn't me randomly adding them for the sake of adding.  I actually referenced a lot of other work Arthur has done to get as close to his own inks.  So finally at this point,  I've added as much as I can to Power Girl and she's all done.  I could have called it a day and be done with it.  BUT...
...I decided to add a background.  Some of the Arthur's commission pieces that I've seen has this cross hatch texture in the background.  I've also seen him use only a micron to draw them.  Knowing that, I decided to give the background the same feel.  Which took a very long time.  More time than it took to ink Power Girl.  I kept cross hatching and decided to cross hatch less around her face horizontally outwards.  Sorta working it around how Power Girl is looking at something.  A few more hours later, and here's the results.
Finally, I chicken scratched my name right underneath Arthur's name and date.  Which only took me about four seconds.  

12 comments:

  1. Yikes! Talk about eye strain; this is why I decided NOT to become an inker. Hats off to you, Walden!

    Lud Hughes

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  2. from a colouring POV I'd actually prefer the one without the background so as to be able to do something on my own for this pic...

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  3. Wow....that background is in....sane....

    Second, I am really surprised at the approach you did on this piece. I figured you would have focused on the face or one particular section of the page and worked your way out or did the outside and worked in. You did do that with the holding lines, etc. I mean, I would have guessed you would have done the face almost completely and then flaired out but well, it is Art, that can impact a ton. :)

    Incredible!

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  4. Thanks, guys!

    Patrick, Interesting you mentioned that. I usually approach different pencillers differently. When I was inking Justiniano, I almost always do the backgrounds first before I move on to the characters. When I was inking Mark Brooks, I completely inked all the faces on the page before moving onto anything else. With Arthur Adams, I've inked it in the order I have pictured. I've never thought about why I inked differently for different pencillers. Then I realized after your question, it was for convenience. I approach the pencils based on what tools I'm using. With the case of the this Art Adams Power Girl piece, I was using Microns with different tip size, so I went from the thickest tip moving down to the thinnest tip. For convenience where I'm not constantly switching pens. With Mark Brooks, I used the thinnest micron pen and a magnifying glass to work on the faces. After that, it was all brush and quill which I can control the thickness of the lines. Over with Justiniano, I used Rapid-o-graph technical pens on the backgrounds first before moving onto the characters which is all brush and quill.

    So in short, my brain already sees how a page is inked. It's just thinking about what tools to use first which leads me to approach what to ink first.

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  5. Hey Walden!

    Been a while...This piece is really amazing man! You can see the care that you tool to really capture an authentic look, and the result is really spectacular considering what you started with.

    Love your work man!

    Jon Sommariva.

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  6. Thanks Jon! Great to hear from ya. It's been a while. How's things? I've been following your work. One of these days, we gotta do something together. Love your stuff!

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  7. your work is very similar to that of Magnus (Roberto Raviola) in his last period. You know him?
    Great!!

    Genesio

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  8. Thanks, Genesio. I've not familiar with Roberto Raviola's work. I just did a check online and he's a good artist. Very nice!

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  9. Wow! That's a crazy amount of work you put into such sparse beginnings, man. And that crosshatch is insane! Thanks for sharing this on Instagram!
    Winchester Meatcleaver (That MarvelCrossoverGuide Dude)

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