RSC Arts

Excalibur Drawing I did in 1989

Every so often I like to dig into my collection of old drawings. The ones I did as a kid. Luckily I’ve kept all my childhood drawings. I’m kind of a pack rat when it comes to things from when I was a kid. When I was 11, I put all my toys in plastic bags and put them in storage boxes. Somewhere at my mom’s house are boxes of He-Man, GoBots, Wheeled Warriors, and Star Wars toys. I really enjoy going back and looking at the artwork I did as a kid. It helps to inspire me and my current artwork to see what I use to like to draw.

Here is a drawing I did way back in 1989 of Excalibur. The original image comes from the back cover of Excalibur Issue #8. I remember thinking t was the coolest poster/pinup I’d seen. At this time I was just starting to read X-Men comics, and I really like Excalibur. This was the first time I had read anything with Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, and Rachael Summers. I knew I just had to draw it. I didn’t start with a pencil or a sketch. I just jumped into drawing with a regular Bic ballpoint pen.

Here’s the original image from the back cover of Excalibur #8 drawn by Comic Artist Ron Lim. In the late 80s, he was one of my favorite artists. Drawing Excalibur, Silver Surfer, and the Infinity Gauntlet.

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.

Captain Marvel Sketch Card by Chris Foreman

Here is the super cool sketch card of Captain Marvel by Chris Foreman. My girlfriend bought me this commission sketch card. Foreman created it on the spot.

It was really awesome to see him create this piece. He started with a quick sketch, then inked it, then colored it, added some shadows and highlights, then inked it again. I was totally blown away!

Thanks to my super cool girlfriend for this super awesome gift.

– SHAZAM!

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.

Comic Page Inking! The Dark X-Men

Comic Page Inking – The Dark X-Men

Here’s another comic page inked by me. It’s from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #514, originally drawn by super-talented comic book artist Terry Dodson. I found the high-resolution pencils on his DeviantArt page. It features the Dark X-Men, Namor, Emma Frost, Dark Wolverine (Daken), Cloak, and Dagger fighting robots!

Dodson’s original pencils were drawn on a 13″x19″ 2 Ply Strathmore Bristol Board with Light Blue and HB Lead. From the high-resolution image found on his DeviantArt page, I took the pencils and turned them into very light blue lines, and printed them on a sheet 11″x17″ Bristol Board. I inked it with a nib 102 pen and a size 4 sable brush. I had fun inking these pencils. I’m still at the beginning stages of sharpening my inking skill, but I feel this piece came out well.

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.

Captain Marvel illustration by artist Jon Hughes

Captain Marvel illustration by artist Jon Hughes

Check out this illustration of Captain Marvel I got by comic book artist Jon Hughes. This fantastic piece is full color, marker, and ink on an 11″x14″ Bristol board. -SHAZAM!

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2010 – Ralph Contreras

24-Hour Comics Day 2010

This October (The 2nd & 3rd) I participated for the 3rd time in 24-Hour Comics Day! The idea is to come up with a 24-page comic with no preconceived ideas when coming to the table! Since I’ve completed the challenge before, I had a good idea of how tough it could be. Ka-Blam! I was able to finish again minutes before the deadline of 24 hours. It was a fun struggle and I have a great feeling of accomplishment for finishing it.

Here’s my comic entitled “Survival”. The whole comic was penciled, inked, and lettered by me in 23 hours and 45 minutes. Toward the end, I did a few double pages and my art isn’t as tight as it was in the beginning. But I think I did pretty well. I even have two stories going on from two different characters intertwined together.

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.

Comic Page Inking! Thor vs. Taskmaster

Comic Page Inking – Thor vs. Taskmaster

I’ve recently started to enjoy inking with pen and ink. In the past, I’ve focused on inking digitally using either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. But I decided to tackle inking in the physical world. I have found inking with pen and bush to be more satisfying to me personally. I still believe that digital inking is a great technique. But for the time being, I will try to sharpen my skills in more traditional ways. My tools of choice have been a 102 nib pen and a size 4 sable brush.

I’ve been inking my own work, and that has been a great experience. I’ve decided to try inking other comic artists’ work too. My hope is that this will help me learn new creative approaches to comic art. I looked all over for a penciled piece I’d like to ink, then I found this super awesome piece of Thor vs. Taskmaster by comic book artist Mahmud Asrar. It comes from Avengers: The Initiative #32 Page 4. I found this on Mahmud’s DeviantArt page. I had fun inking these pencils. I will definitely be inking more comic pages in the future. – Shazam!

This blog post was originally published on my former website, Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Artist Blog.