THE SIMPSONS NEWS

I got my Act 4 roughs approved faster than usual.  The last of the act was changed, which makes for a much better ending.  I got to draw it all from scratch and it was fun.  I hope I have more of that sort of thing on my next assignment.

Now all I have to do is have the board cleaned up by the end of the day or perhaps tomorrow morning and I’m done.

ART

Okay, so I finally got the final painting for my wife’s cover done.  I thought I’d show you the process since I had the time to scan it all in as I did it.

First thing I did was draw the picture:

I made sure to take my time and to work our some of the planes and rhythms in this stage so I knew it was as good a foundation as I could make for myself. I left all the areas I was going to blacken in with no detail so I get a good impression of what the finished product would look like.

Next, I went in and added the black:

This was fun and I probably could have left it this way without going into it any further. But I did.

I added all the dark and light greys next:

This took a bit of time.

Finally, I added color:

I scanned in the painting and imported it into Photoshop.  I then put some red underneath the painting, added some glows to the eyes, added color to the fire and put some alchemical symbols for a tertiary read of the painting. Done

What do I think of the final painting?  I’m okay with it but I’m not really proud of it.  I see it’s flaws and it didn’t quite come up to the level of my ambition.  BUT I’m done, and I’m not going to mess with it.

So, now all I have to do is put the painting into a cover with the title and all for the Kindle and iTunes and I can get back to my “Illustrated Film”.

VIDEO

Marcelo Vignali is one of my favorite artists. It doesn’t hurt that he’s also a really nice guy (I should know since I’ve met him and even had lunch with him).  The video below is a great one hour interview with him by Bobby Chiu. I watched it quite a few times since I discovered it, a few years ago and it doesn’t get old. Give it a try:

For more comic and stories written by me, CLICK HERE.

If you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.

Comments are appreciated as well.

I also have a store. Click Here and check it out.

If you would like to have a text ad on my site, click on the red BUY LINKS button under the Archives list.

And while you’re at it, please Digg me too.

Writing this blog is almost a part time job for me. Tips are most welcome.