Thursday, October 18, 2007

Cover: Transformers Devastation #5

The cover of Devastation #5 calls for the return of our favorite back-stabber, Starscream. Often times, I would try on new techniques on every cover that I worked on, mainly because I am still searching for the technique that works best for me. I am beginning to think the search will never ends, but I still enjoy experimenting.

I must've went through dozen of sketches, most of them I didn't even save. I ended up going back to my original sketch.



With this cover, I tried to leave out as much lines as possible, I'd like to let the color do most of the talking in this case. Pencil was done entirely in Alias Sketchbook Pro 2, and intentionally leaving the lines somewhat sketchy, and minimum useage of ruler so that the line would feel more organic.



Normally, I would like to color in OpenCanvas4.5, but I've been experiencing weird errors with it. I started color about 2 - 3 different versions in it, and for some unexplained reason, when I tried to save the document, it just quit on me, as if I have just clicked on the "quit" button. Recently, I have been kind of in love with the whole splatting brush effect, and Oc4 has implemented this texture brush function that I really liked, but I can't work with something that would quit on me for no reason. So I ended up turning to good'ol Photoshop for coloring.

Without giving away the plot of the story, the idea is to create some kind of powerful image of returning Starscream. The base lineart of the screaming Screamer is pretty standard, but I try to push the perspective as much as I can with this. Most of the emotion I'd like to convey it through the environment and color scheme.

6 comments:

Mike Moran said...

OMG.

*faints*

Wow. Cant wait. Your stuff continually impresses me. I really really want an IDW TF artists sketch book with all your designs and the other artists!

Unknown said...

wow that is great!
starscream is my favorite character hands down.
you are a legend!

Liko said...

This is pure Rage!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your work. You are, hands-down, my favorite Transformer artist.

What you've done with the new IDW stuff is incredible. For a long time, I'd anticipate each new issue of the "main" series (Infiltration, Escalation, and Devastation) with an almost religious fervor.

As a result, I was really sad when I found you weren't the artist for issues #3 and #4. I don't want to disparage the artists responsible, because they have their own style and did a good job, but really : you're the best fit for this series.

What I think has made Transformers boring lately is how generic some artists have made the robots look. All too often, they seem too much like generic anime mecha. After awhile, the robots and action all just blend together and the result gets boring. Maybe its like what they say about records vs CDs, how CDs all try to be too loud and thus lack the range of acoustic range of records.

I also hate how often comic book artists in general draw characters striking poses.

Their are things you've drawn where I guess the characters are posing, but the difference is it looks convincing - like there'd be a reason for them to be positioned like that.

Your drawings possess a realism that I greatly appreciate. The covers, especially lately, have just been phenomenal.

When I saw the Devastation # 1 cover, what it reminded me of classic science fiction. It was such a simple concept, but conveyed such a sense of depth and looked so beautiful.

When you draw the Transformers, you manage to make them look real somehow. I haven't been able to look at them like that since I was five.

I'm really missing your work. Hope you return soon.

~ IDW Transformer Fan

Unknown said...

Wow thanks guys, I really appreciate that. :D

Anonymous said...

I'm a big Starscream fan and I came to this page today following a link from a friend's LJ.

I just have to say WOW!

Thank you. :)

f. XXXx