For the past few years I’ve noticed a lot of comic artist creating sketch cards. You can find them on their personal website and Deviant Art. I think it’s a really great trend. You can both create and collect awesome art. I’ve been wanting to draw some sketch cards for a while now. I looked fall over the web for some blank cards. I found them at a comic art supply shop, and spend a little more then I wanted. But I was happy to have them. The next day I went to my local art store and found some for 90% cheaper. So I decided to create a free sheet for people print on their own.

I’ve created a Sketch Card sheet with 8 cards. I would suggest printing these on card stock paper. Card stock is very close to Bristol board and is great to draw on. I’ve put crop marks so it’s easy to cut the cards out with a ruler and an x-acto knife. I’ve also added a dotted line if you’d like to cut them out with scissors you can too. Each card measures 2 1/2″ by 3 1/2″, regular sized for collectible cards.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun creating some Sketch Cards. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.
- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
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Research is very important when working on a comic book. If I’m going to draw a car, horse or gun then I need to know what it looks like. The same can be said about the characters in the comic too. Back in the 90’s Marvel Comics published  “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition” I believe this was one of the greatest references created for us aspiring comic book artists.  Per page in shows a character in a 180 degree view. We see the front, side and back view. This was a great way to know what their characters would look like from different angles.

What I’ve done is created is a Character Design sheet that helps in creating a 180 degree view of your character. This way you can have a solid idea of what they look like from the front, side and back. This is a more technical way to design a character, but I believe it is an invaluable one.

If you’ve picked up any how to draw comics book, then you’ll know that they explain that comic book heroes are usually 8 1/2 heads tall. I’ve incorporated this into this Character Design sheet. The left shows the head sizes, this will help in keeping all views of the character unified.

Here is an example of how this Character Design: 180 degree view sheet can work. I’ve taken Wolverine’s 180 degree view from “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition” and superimposed it over the Character Design sheet I created. As you can see Wolverine is 7 1/2 heads tall.  We also see the design elements that make up his costume from all angles.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun designing your characters front, side and back views. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.
- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

One of the most important things when drawing a comic book is the background. You can have the most stylized or realistic characters, but if the background is weak then the whole comic can suffer. Things on your paper will just not look right. If the story takes place in a bar, a mall or even an apartment it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of what the backgrounds will look like.

I’ve created a Scene Design Page that can help define where the story is taking place. It’s a grid with a section for notes on the side. This grid is very similar to what architects and interior designers might use to make blueprints for their projects. As a comic artists we are both the directors and set designers. Using the scene design page can help you see the different angles you might want to draw.

I’ve included a sample of how I use the scene design page. On the bottom right I came up with a simple blueprint of what I wanted the scene to look like. It’s a Hall/Assembly room. On the upper left I’ve drawn the Hall/Assembly room as I would in a comic. I used 1-point perspective to get the general idea of what I want the scene to look like. Using the grid helped to keep the lines and spacing unified when designing the scene.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun coming up with great scenes to tell your comic book stories. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

Thumbnails are very important when your drawing sequential stories. To help with this you can use Comic Book Layout Pages to sketch down your ideas. It’s a great way to play with different angles and vintage points. You get a good practice before you decide on what your final pencils will look like.

I’ve created my own Layout Page Sheet, much like the ones you can find at online art supply stores. The difference between the one I created and the ones from these shops is mine have two pages per sheet instead of four. I did this because it allows me to draw a little bigger and not have my layouts to tight. I like to print these out on regular paper, I find it much cheaper than buying sheets online.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun coming up with some comic stories. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.

- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

When drawing your character designs it’s fun to do it on specialized paper. Ofcoure you don’t need a Concept Sketch Page to draw. You can use any type of paper, but it’s cool to have an organized looking paper system.

What I’ve done is created a Character Design Sheet, much like the ones you can find at comic art supply stores. What I like to do is print this on card stock paper. It’s a nice alternative to expensive sheets found elsewhere and it has a very similar feel to Bristol paper.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun creating some new characters. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources in the future too, so check back regularly.
- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

I’ve received several requested to show the steps I used to create my digital inking of the Fantastic Four pin up I did of artist Ariel Padilla’s pencils.  I was looking for some art to ink and found the pencils on his DeviantArt page. This was a practice exercise I gave myself in the inking process of comic book art using Adobe Illustrator. I’ve been a graphic designer for over 9 years but this was the first time I used my design knowledge for comic book inking.

Points & Paths: Example 1

For this self assignment I decided to use Adobe Illustrator for inking the pin-up. I had used photoshop for a previous piece earlier I did of Batman 2.0, a character redesign. I had fun with that illustration but this time I wanted to do this digital inking in vector format. Why choose vector verse bitmap? Well in a vector image it is made up of anchor point that are connected by paths (lines) that connect them. A vector image can be re-sized without loss of quality to the illustration. So basically you can re-size the image as small or as large as you’d like without pixelation, it will keep it’s sharpness no mater the size.  Which is really neat.

Points & Paths: Example 2

For this illustration I choose to use my anchor points to create only straight paths (lines). I didn’t use any curved lines. The cool thing about using anchor points and paths is that you can make curved paths, resulting in less points This is shown in Points & Paths: Example 2. So why didn’t I use curve paths? Well honestly it was a self exercise to see if I could do it. I wanted to create the curved lines through straight lines. I found it to be a fun challenge.

Points & Paths: Example 3

I did not create lines or outlines of the original pencils. What I did was look at each line as a shape. I could have easy used the brush tool in Illustrator, but I found I actually had more control of what I wanted to achieve by using the pen tool.

With the technique I like to use of anchor points and paths I am able to get a type of jagged smooth shape. The strength of anchor points is you can use as many or as little points as you’d like to create your lines or shapes. I’ve illustrated this in Points & Paths: Example 3.

Points & Paths: Example 4

After I created the shape from the pencils, I colored it in with black. I’ve shown this in Points & Paths: Example 4. As you can see it’s a piece of a puzzle that makes up the inking. These shapes help to create the feel I was looking for when digitally inking this drawing. This technique really works well when inking the Thing’s rocky skin.

I have included more example of the anchor points and paths technique I use in inking these pencils. In Points & Paths: Example 5, we see how the wavy fire on Human Torch can be created without using curved lines. Every anchor point in the flames helps to create the illusion of line weight, depth, and movement.

In Points & Paths: Example 6, I’ve shown how I created what looks to be a line on the Invisible Woman’s arm. It is actually a curved shape created with paths. It is a shape that includes the bottom line of her arm and the shadows around her neck. You can see her hands and the background are already colored in.

Although this technique might not seem to be the most efficient, it allows for a lot of control. Looking at each line as a shape helped me to create a type of line work I would not have achieved otherwise.

Points & Paths: Example 5

Points & Paths: Example 6

This was my first comic book digital inking using Adobe Illustrator with the anchor points and paths technique. I have done a few more since this one. Although I have used curved line in those illustrations. This was a fun self exercise in learning to digitally ink the work of some else. I am very happy with the way this illustration came out, and I’ll continue to use Adobe Illustrator to digitally ink comic book pencils.

A few months ago I decided to draw Vader’s Fist, the 501st Legion. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and wanted to draw something cool. I usually draw comic book characters but I think it was a fun change to draw some sci-fi stuff. The 501st Legion are cool because they are in the prequels, the original trilogy and the extended universe. They are the highest most elite Stormtroopers in the Empire. First starting off as the best clone troopers then as Darth Vader’s personal squad. Check out this article at Wookipedia to learn more about them.

This is my final digital inking of my original 11″x17″ drawing. I used my graphic design skills in adobe illustrator to ink the 501.  The original drawing was done with an HB woodless pencil. I  posted it in an earlier blogpost, Vader’s Fist – The 501st Legion – Pencil Drawing. Check it out if you’d like. What’s really cool is if you do a Google image search for “Vader’s Fist” the original pencils show up on page one.

For this digital inking I decided to use Adobe Illustrator. I’ve done inking in Adobe Photoshop before, but I find that I really like the way my digital inks look in illustrator. In illustrator your inking are in vector, this allows you to enlarge the image with not pixilation. So if I really wanted to I could make a print the size of a building and it would look awesome and sharp.

The tool I like to use in illustrator is the pen tool. I do have a wacom table, but I feel I have more control with the mouse and pen tool. It lets me create a smooth/jagged line in my piece. I work with anchor points to create curved lines, straight lines and solid shapes. There was some line work were I did use the brush tool with my wacom tablet, but most of this digital inking was done with the pen tool.

I’ve very happy with the way this digital inking came out. Ever since I moved to Santa Fe last year, I’ve felt a real recharge in my art work. The penciling and inking of Vader’s Fist, the 501st Legion is a great example of this. I had a real blast inking it. Shazam!

Thor - digital inks of my pencils

Here are my digital inks of Thor, the God of Thunder. He’s one of  Marvel Comics main characters. A founding member of the Avengers and actually in the very first comic book I ever read. This is his new costume he’s wearing in his new monthly title.

This was a pencil drawing of Thor I did last week. It was a quick drawing using an HB wood-less Ebony pencil.  I traditionally use an H6 pencil for light tight penciling. For this I actually was able to achieve good detail with the softer lead. It’s good to get out of your comfort zone and try different drawing tools.

I inked this drawing digitally using Adobe Illustrator. I didn’t do it in one sitting. I took my time and did it in small spurts during the week. (Usually watching a Netflix movie on the side). I’ve only just recently started inking my drawings on the computer, which is ironic because being a Graphic Designer for over 10 years you’d think I would have done it years ago.

I like using Adobe Illustrator for inking, I know a lot of people use photoshop which is a great software too. The reason I use illustrator is because I like saving my inks as a vector image. Vector images are great because there’s no worries about pixelation. They are always super high resolution even if it’s reduced or enlarged.

For this inking I only used the pen tool with my mouse or Wacom tablet. It helps to give me the look I want to achieve. I like the sharp edges and thick to thin lines I get with it. There’s an amount of control I feel I have with the pen tool. I think in my next digital inking I will use only the bush tool. Like I said earlier it’s always good to try different tool. I plan on coloring this inks in the near future using Photoshop.

A few days ago my girlfriend was cleaning one of my old portfolio cases. I had told her she could use it for a collections class she is taking this semester.  As she was taking out my old work that was still in the portfolio case she noticed there were some ads I created for my old comic book shop “Modern Age Comics”.  I had created them few years back and I had totally forgot that they were in there. They were actually pretty good and I’m kinda proud of them. So I’ve decided to post them in this blog as a walk down memory lane and to showcase some of my old comic shop work.

This black and white flyer is actually the very first flyer I created for my store. I created it in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. The images are halftone dots. I have always been very fond of using halftone dots. I remember making hundreds of xerox copies of this flyer and plastering them all over town and the university which was across the street from the shop. I had a lot of fun with this flyer. I remember choosing the image of Catwoman for this flyer because she had a great pose and I choose Guko from Dragon Ball Z because he was in a very dynamic shot.

This second flyer is actually the back of a magazine named the “Green Frog”. This is from the very first issue of this NMSU student created magazine. I was approched by the magazine’s editor-in-chief who was also the marketing director. I wanted to make this ad a little more youthful and found a great image of Marvel Girl and Spider-Man in more updated costumes. This was a full color ad and I used a red header that complemented the red in Spider-Man’s costume. I liked the targeting image I choose with the anime chacter too. This was a fun ad to create.

Here is a digitally inked Pinup of an awesome penciled piece of the Fantastic Four by artist Ariel Padilla. I found the pencils on his DeviantArt page and I knew I had to ink it. I used Adobe Illustrator so I could create a vector image. This way it can be reduced or enlarged with no pixelation of the image. This is actually my second piece digitally inked but the first I’ve done in Illustrator. My Batman 2.0 character redesign was my first digitally inked piece but for that I used Photoshop. I have used the Illustrator in the past to create illustrations, logos, advertisements and marketing but this was the first time I incorporated my graphic design skills in to inking.

I have a wacom tablet but for this digital inking I used only my mouse and the pen tool. So basically the piece is all straight vector anchor points. This illustration took about 5 hours, which is longer then I thought it would, but it was fun and a nice practice piece. On my next Illustrator ink I plan on using the wacom table and the brush tool. Right now it is all about having fun and learning to use tools I use in my graphic design work in my comic book art work. My next step will be to create flats for these inks, and maybe color them too.

Fantastic Four Digital Inks

Here are the original pencils by by Ariel Padilla.

Original Pencils by Ariel Padilla

Want to see the steps I took to create the digital inking. Check out my blog post: Comic Book Digital Inking Techniques with Illustrator Vector Anchor Points