I Thor-t it was you

Well, 'Thunor', apparently is the Norse God of storms and thunder. Aka 'Thor', methinks. Anyway, same project as last time, this! Again, a pretty quick illo (say about 15 to 20 mins all told?), and a nice layout that I'm really happy with!

Doing these illos really took me back to drawing and sketching in a comic book style, which is pretty much all I did illustration-wise whilst I was in high school - 'How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way' was my bible back then! Though to give credit where it's due, this style of drawing, as well as being a dynamic 'Marvel-esque' pose, really owes a lot to a book called 'Action! Cartooning' by Ben Caldwell. It's improved my anatomy (my drawn anatomy, that is) and styling no end. Well worth adding to your shelf. Check it out!

Ye Gods!

A recent project had me 'illustrating the days of the week', most of which are derived from the names of various Norse Gods. Anyway, above is 'Woden', and, though it's quite a simple drawing, I really like the composition of it. It came pretty quickly, as a lot of satisfying illos often do!

Done in Flash 8 with a Wacom tablet.

(No prizes for guessing the day named after this guy.)

Painter Styles

There wasn't a lot of time to do 10 illustrations for this particular project, so before going in I had a rougher finish in mind using coloured paper (so I could add colour to what needed it and leave the rest without it looking unfinished).

I chose a tan colour as most of the action was going to take place in the desert. I also had to convey quite a lot of text with one image (not quite a thousand words, but close enough!) and found myself choosing quite cinematic angles. (A handy reference was 'Wally Wood's 22 panels That Always Work!!', which can be found here:

http://joeljohnson.com/archives/2006/08/wally_woods_22.html

These illos were done using the 2B pencil and Digital Watercolor brushes. Thinking about it I wish I'd given the paper some funky rough texture. Next time!