World's Finest

[Eddy]

Sam Loeb was seventeen years old when he passed away from a three-year battle with cancer last June, but he had already touched and inspired the lives of so many in such a short time. I've never had the pleasure of meeting him personally, but have heard so much about him that I feel like I already have.

And come this Thursday, many more will too when SUPERMAN/BATMAN #26 reaches stores featuring a story by Sam with a little help from his friends. 26 of them in fact, including Arthur Adams, John Cassaday, Joe Madureira and Jim Lee, just to name a few.

Each artist drew at least one page of this bittersweet issue and posted above, is Jim's pencil rough featuring the young World's Finest team flying high above the city. Check back throughout the rest of this week for more work-in-progress scans of this double-page spread too.

For more on "Sam's Story," including how to make a donation, click:

Jeph Loeb on "Sam's Story"
Superman/Batman #26 Creators tell their "Sam Story"
Jeph Loeb on Superboy & "Sam's Story"

hello

hello Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry Rich)

sorry I dropped off the face of the earth there for a sec...deadlines and all.

Where's the new art?.....here's the first one.

(I was a little short on time for my original post and had to keep the message brief. I thought I would come back and add some more to the post) We've all be really busy at work lately. For me I know inking two books is a real knuckle buster. The other folks are doing their double duty work as well. In my down time I have been drawing as much as possible. I can usually get in an extra 5 to 7 hours per night to work on my penciling. I have really been getting into poster artist Drew Struzan lately...since I can't paint I have been getting braver and braver with my pen and ink stuff trying to mimic different things I see. I have now moved into more tonal pencil drawings and at some future point I'll add some of that art up as well. This piece is basically a montage' (collage?) I can never remember which is a more accurate description.

Rich (again.)
BIG SCAN CLICK HERE

SNIKT!

[Eddy]

Hi, Eddy Choi here and I'll be keeping the keyboards warm, while the other guys are busy doing what they do best: drawing comics and taking names!

I've been at Wildstorm for almost a year now as Jim's assistant, but that's a post for another day. Today, it's about this killer Wolverine sketch from six years ago.

Back then, I was at my first San Diego Comic-Con and I was overwhelmed with just how big it really was. I'd been to the Chicago Comic-Con for years, but San Diego's a whole new ballgame.

Like everyone else, I wanted to get a sketch from Jim, but his signing was almost over by the time I got there. I waited around anyways just to watch him do a few quick sketches and that's when I saw him do this Wolverine sketch for a girl. Before this, he was only doing quick head sketches for fans, but this was a full-blown piece with a background. And ink! And GOLD!

What a GREAT con sketch! How in the world did she get it? And more importantly, how could I get one too?

I took out my camera and asked if I could take a quick picture of it and soon found out she worked at the booth. (Ah, an inside job.) Just one of the perks of being in the industry, I guess.

Cut to six years later and I'm sitting in her office meeting her for the first time. Or so I thought. She asked if we'd ever met before, but I couldn't remember anything. More recently, I was looking through her sketchbook and there it was on the first page. The same sketch I took a photo of six years ago. Wow, small world, huh?

MF Doom - Color

[J. J. Kirby aka Fresh]

I'm really happy to see so many doom heads out there.

I had to Vodka this one with colors, so my peoples can have a shot of "Absolute Kirby" to get it krunk up in here.

Sip it until the next post.

peace

"Fresh Alias for President"

MF Doom

[J. J. Kirby, the alias is Fresh]

I'm all about the Doomster and to you folks not up on him yet, you should definitely check for Metal Fingers - aka- MF Doom. He makes his own beats and stays clever mixing samples of old school Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and Gatchaman sounds with his own rhyme schemes.

Don't sleep King Kirby strikes again.

... before the pain

... before the pain
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry: Carlitos)

Somehow I managed to forget that Sandra is a bit of a 'masochist' and LOVES a challenge, so when I asked her if she wanted to join me for the 'Rosarito/Ensendada 100 Kilometer ride' (down in Mexico) she said "yeah", but I wasn't sure if she'd REALLY commit to doing it (not all people seemingly consider being on a bike for four or five hours, going up 'endless' hills 'FUN') ... well, next thing I know, she's getting all the equipment necessary, and after a couple weeks of training, she's showing ME some good 'training hills' .... heheheh, and here I thought I was gonna have to go easy on her (^_^)

.... So, a good group of us went down there for the ride (most of us have been biking for a good while now), and some of my friends (along with me) were warning Sandra about how hard some of the uphills could get, to 'pace' herself blah, blah, blah ... specially 'cause most of us have been lazy bastards lately, AND haven't done a whole lot of biking, BUT anyway, to make a long story short, with only a couple months of training, Sandra kicked ALL of our 'seasoned biker' a$$es!!!

.... so here's a photo at the 'goal line', while Sandra was just kicking back and waiting for the rest of us slowpokes to get there ... damn her and her little runner legs!!! (^_^)

... how 'bout them apples?!?

p.s. thanks to this race and my forgetful a$$ (I forgot to put on sun-blocker), I have the 'sexiest' farmer's tan I've ever had!!! :)

simple shapes

simple shapes Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry Rich)

I can't stress enough the importance of learning to see simple shapes in everything. Once you can see these cubes, rectangles, wedges, circles, ellipses, etc. The quicker you'll be able to draw these things you probably thought were way beyond your comprehension. Trust me they are not.

This stuff is not as complex as it might seem if presented the right way. It might take your eyes and mind a little while to catch on...but they will, if you keep looking and keep studying.

I am going to keep the rest of this thread on this post. You'll see over the next week more and more links appear. I have 2 images for tonight. One is more of the freehand sketches which you should be pounding through, and the other is some dissections of different objects from that spaceship cockpit.

Let me know you're out there by some replies or suggestions on this...and I'll see you in a day or two with some more breakdowns on this first 'case study'.

Richard Friend
freehand sketching 1

simple shapes, variations

disecting the cockpit 1

center line and vanishing points new (5/15,2006)

sketching it out

sketching it out Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry Rich)

For people into this little breakdown great, it's going to be very straightforward and cut to the heart of drawing different stuff. I am not going to justify my opinions and I am not saying that this is the best, or even a good way to learn. I'll show you what I know and you can see if you think it's worth your while.

Simple shapes. Here's a bunch of quick doodles. If you can't look at a piece like that Star Wars room and see that it's a fairly simple thing to draw (or at least copy).....then really pay attention. I sat down and in about 10 minutes just roughed out different RANDOM shapes I saw to show people here what exists in that room. I added a few just to show little variations on things. These are not drawn to be neat or a pretty picture. These are sketches.....you should be sketching a lot too. Sketch everything. It teaches your mind to work like a computer that eats information and can spit it out.....stuff you didn't even know you knew how to draw, you'll be able to draw (trust me)

The floor of the ship is essentially an arrow. There's a gap down the middle that's a rectangle. On each side of the rectangle there another rectangle.(meaning three rectangles side by side) as they reach the front of the cockpit there's an arc of a pointed half circle or ellipse. The elipse is like a moon cresent that is also in perspective.

For right now....just think basic shapes. A rectangle or cube shape (like the chair), and then some of the arcing shapes or half moons. I drew a "U" shape in a cube also. Get used to doing that at every angle it will come in handy (also drawing circles in cubes, and elipses in rectangles). I also added a few other little random things...some pipes and a few other little gear doodles.

I did this fast and loose on purpose to not over beautify this stuff. I want you to be fearless with your practice work. I am showing you really quickly you can get the basics out and do it freehand to give examples of the "big picture."

This isn't really the lesson(yet). This first lesson is SKETCH THINGS OUT. Sketch everything. Try a 10 mintue study of the room and just draw different things you see...maybe try things with that information and do little freestyle doodles too. If you want...post a link to your results for other people to peep.

Freehand as much as possible. I originally threw down 2 guidelines with a ruler and quickly realized that it's not really the time for that. First we are taking in the image (looking into it) and seeing what the understructure or design is. We don't need to worry about straight lines yet or "how" we are going to draw it. One thing at a time.

Rich.

Breaking things down to study

Breaking things down to study Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

entry ricH

I thought an interesting column I could do here is showing how to deconstruct things to then memorize the simple parts (and feel perspective and volume)and be able to pull that same information out of you later for your own drawings... Perspective I think is misunderstood and I think a lot of people only think of buildings and cars (maybe guns too)...Everything you see is in some sort of perspective, takes up a certain amount of space in an environment(volume), and is lit to some degree(shading; which also creates the illusion of depth).

First I will show how to take apart things to be able to start to see the "understructure" and then you can use that to your own will to really draw anything you want. I don't know how simple or confusing this might be for different people. I think it's pretty simple but just takes some effort. One key is knowing how to set up your vanishing point(s) which I think comes from memory of things that worked in the past.

The first example I am going to use is this Star Wars cockpit drawing.(by Doug Chiang) It's got a great arc to it...some simple straightforward stuff and probably some cones and cylinders too that are all part of the environment (going by memory) check back this evening and I'll start dissecting this drawing and you can see how something like this is created. If it goes well I can show other examples of how to take stuff apart to study it in simple forms....and then like I said. You can pull this stuff out at will and use it really anyway you want/. I draw cars and just about anything from memory as long as I know the details. You will be able to also once you can deconstruct objects into simple forms.

check back tonight and I will show the big simple shapes that makes this thing up...and then I will go further and further into building it back up. We can try all kinds of different things together(city scapes, cars, tanks, humans, creatures, whatever) and I hope people benefit from these little exercises and can try some on their own. If you can't afford art school or don't have the free time to go like myself...then you do it on your own. I'll show you how.

Rich.

messing around

messing around Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry Richard Friend)

I have been doing some strange stuff lately. I have been doing different things each night with sort of a broad outline of the end result.(I guess loosely it's a story) A bunch of it is mainly figure studies (from photos.......*oh my god) But then I have been bouncing back and forth with this other imagery. The other images are perspective studies and revolve around a space theme.(solid nod to Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott) I am having so much fun in fact I may continue doing it as a story after I finish my practice run which will go I think 4 more nights. The concept I guess is being lost in space. Originally I liked the idea of a single cosmonaut maybe in a crippled ship and what the human mind might go through knowing it's drifting in an endless abyss and there's no help coming. Ever.

This first whack at it was just a practice run (not planned really....I had an idea for a final image which had NOTHING to do with space) and was meant as a learning tool, but I am having so much fun and I have so many ideas it's really creating itself and I might move forward with this. There is some nudity (please note) but it's figure studies so I wanted to give anyone a heads up who that might not appeal to.

Here's one of the space images.

Rich.

To see the whole thing:artshake

Benjamin's Batman - Final

[Ryan]

Everytime I saw Batman on his rope, he's always twenty miles up in the sky and it made him look like he was swinging from a cloud or something. Here, I wanted to draw him closer to street level where he can accidentally bump into Spider-Man or a bus.

Uno mas!!!

Uno mas!!!
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista.

[ale]

This is all you get! LOL! Make sure to pick up issue 2 on sale May 24th!!!!

-a

Skye Runner #2 (sneak peek)!!!!

Skye Runner #2 (sneak peek)!!!!
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista.

[ale]

As per request here is a sneak at upcoming issue 2! If you guys enjoyed the first, the second delivers with an interesting look at Skye's world, also we get introduced to a new key character towards the end!

I wanna give special props to the colorist, Jim Charalampidis, too. He's doing an amazing job! Either way enjoy...

-a
"don't disturb" PSHOO!PSHOO!

Where's Ale?

Where's Ale?
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

[ale]

Hey guys, whew! Seems like forever, eh? Kinda fell off the Earth for a minute. My book Skye Runner has come out and I gotta say that I'm excited about the end product! I couldn'tve asked for a better team to work with! Everyone pulled out all the stops! If you have any comments please feel free to post them here. If you haven't picked it up please give it a shot :)!!!

So I guess Ale's back yo! Welcome to our new members, JJ, and Ryan, these two guys bring an amazing amount talent to our group! Again, just wanted to pop in and say WOOT! WOOT!

-a
"pshoo like you mean it!" PSHOO! PSHOO!

Picasso

95.2 MIllion Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry ricH)

I thought this was interesting in regards to an amazing final bid/private sale in the fine art world..

A Pablo Picasso painting just sold for a 95.2 million. Is that insane or what?

'Dora Maar au Chat'

ricH.

Modok The Hutt

Modok The Hutt Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry ricH)

I did this commission at the end of last year. The request was a little different from the normal things you might generally get asked to draw. Those unique ideas can be fun to try out depending on the core concept. The collector asked me to draw Modok in a funny situation or with a humorous slant to the image...I don't know if mine turned out all that funny but I thought it was clever when I came up with the idea originally.

Unfortunately because of the size of my scanner I lost a part of the middle and didn't ever realize it until I pasted the two pieces together tonight. Oh well... The piece did, and still does look stiff to me but that looser feel comes with more practice and experience. I had fun drawing it and the new owner really enjoyed it, so that was cool.

I have a full size scan and some of the prelim work I did to complete this piece available to check out here:

artshake

ricH

... my eyes are leaking!!!

... my eyes are leaking!!!
Originally uploaded by Gelatomettista2.

(entry: Carlos)

hey ...waddup y'alls, how's it goin'?

I was at a Seattle show (Emerald Con) some weeks ago, and I really wanted to thank Jim Demonakos and his crew for making it all a damn cool experience, so: "Thanks Jim AND crew" (^_^)

... I would have had a much much better time if I hadn't been sick as a dog the whole friggin' weekend! :( BUT regardless of the damn 'cold bug', the convention was pretty laid back and quite enjoyable (although I didn't see any of my 'Grunge' heroes walking on the streets for MY benefit! That's the way it's supposed to happen right? :) )

....anyway, I did quite a few sketches and commissions while I was there, and this one here was for Chris Burnham, (a pretty cool dude from Demonakos' crew). This was the very first sketch on his sketchbook, and as flattered as I was, it also SUCKS going first!!! :) .... why you ask? well, for the same reasons nobody ever wants to go 'first' on shows like "Fear Factor". You are setting a kind of 'standard' (for better of worse) for the artists to come after you (unless you are a mega-talented bastard like Adam Hughes, who can give you an amazing sketch with both hands tied behind his back and drawing with his left foot!!! (^_^)) ... so that 'first page' on a sketchbook is usually intimidating.

... anyway, I'd been meaning to ask you all a favor, I've been wanting to start 'collecting' scans of pieces I've done in the past two or three years at conventions. Some of those I was pretty happy with and I'd love to have a copy of the image, but since they were done at a convention or at a signing, I have no copy or scans for most of these, so if I've drawn up something for you lately, could you pretty please be a kind soul and send me a scan or contact me though www.ComicArtFans.com?

Thanks y'alls,

Carlitos.