W.I.P. Sketches: Kamala, Laura, and Slippers

The X-23/Laura/Wolverine kick continues, but I also had a chance to read the new Ms. Marvel recently as well.  What a great character!  Everything I have read on the Ms. Marvel titles has been cleverly crafted, and pitch perfect for the character.  Laura gets the same care when in her own series', but as a guest hero or team member on other titles, it is really hit or miss.  Some writers seem to forget the mental aspect of the character, and opt for the easy "let's just have her be an angry Logan substitute".

Below is a fun thought I had, if and when they are paired together.  I am unhappy with how Laura's face looks in my attempts, and it seems to get worse with even the slightest tweaks.  I am going to have to scrap her pose and positioning, and start from scratch.

Second attempt to fix X's left side.  I need to redraw the head from scratch,
and then salvage the elements from this version that worked.
Click to Enlarge.

Sketching fails aside, I mean, come on!  Kamala's Wolverine slippers should be the stuff of legend!

WIP: Griff / Jon Connington

I did a bit of digital work on the ASoIaF sketch of Griff (i.e. Jon Connington) I previously posted:

Click to enlarge

W.I.P.: Catwoman Timeline

I have come to terms with the fact that Facebook will soon switch everyone over to Timeline.  So, I supposed I am now using it as an excuse to fool around with possible Cover Photo images.  Below is a piece of one of the possible images - Catwoman, using Anne Hathaway photos as reference.

I am actually surprised so many people use actual photos for their cover photo on Facebook.  I thought it would be the one feature people would fool around and tinker with on their profiles.  I can appreciate the use of a good photo though, and with the easy access to so many high quality digital cameras I understand it as a fast and easy way to make a flashy statement.

W.I.P.: Oberyn Martell

Back in July, I was sorting through old images and posted an image which I wanted to franken-update at some point.  At first I thought it was going to be the hawk that got the royal treatment, but it turned out to be the face from the main image.

My favorite character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series (along with Arya, to be honest) is the Red Viper of Dorne, Oberyn Martell.  I really wanted to do a drawing or a portrait of him at some point, and looking at the image in the old post I felt I had the basis for the image.  The original face had to be reworked a lot, but the general look I was going for was already there.

Here is the initial work in progress:

It is no coincidence that his pose mimics a certain beer commercial character... 

At this point, it looks as if the armor (the flat grey will become scale mail), neck and skin tone are going to be my biggest challenges.  I have been wanting to do this pic since reading Storm of Swords, so hopefully I can do the character justice and crank out the finished version sooner rather than later.

W.I.P.: The Eyes Have It

A bit of work in progress from last week, to distract me from today's chores and obligations.

Lots of options on how to proceed, but the key will be 
to keep the eyes as the focal point!

And yes, I really have no shame when it comes to post titles....

Buried Treasure, Turning Garbage Into Gold...

...or maybe, how to bring an old image back from the dead.  Digital necromancy!

A number of years ago, when I was learning how to paint in Photoshop, I created an image for a contest on the ConceptArt.org forums.  The image was a good step forward for for me at the time, but it was far from perfect as it was riddled with anatomy issues, texture issues, positioning issues and the like.  The odd part was that the background image was the thing that stuck with me the most.  Years later looking at the PSD again I think that, while the process of doing the image was incredibly important for me to do at the time, I may have to rework the background and make that an image in its own right.

Also, to continue with the my personal theme of self-deprecation as a humbling tool, here is the image in question complete with the initial mistakes I later noted!  If you look closely, you can see the hawk floating around in the background at 25% opacity.

In truth, now that I look at it again, I may use the face (corrected and updated) as a basis for another image.  Should I change the title to Dr. Frankenimage instead?