Posts tagged: Color

Title Pages: The Batman Strikes #2 & #4

Time for a look at more hand-drawn logos from title pages, this time looking at two more issues of The Batman Strikes!

The Batman Strikes #02 - Title Logo

The Batman Strikes #02 - Title Logo

This one was simple enough – with a short title and a leaping Batman figure, I thought I’d try to work the title into the highlighting on Batman’s cape. I assumed, therefore, that the logo would appear in blue. Also, I tried to create the letters in swooping, curving shapes as to compliment the flowing cape.

Strikes #02 - Title Page pencils

Strikes #02 - Title Page pencils

Strikes #02 - Title Page color

Strikes #02 - Title Page color


Huh, yellow. Who’d-a thunk it? Still, I think the logo and the page work well.

Strikes #04 - Title Logo

Strikes #04 - Title Logo

This one had a pretty straight-forward logo: Hand-rendered letters based on a typeface called Whoopass. Because I wasn’t leaving this for the letterer to typeset, I could position everything as to make sure that the ears of the Batman figure beneath the logo crossed the letters so as to not be lost against the black background.

Strikes #04 - Title Page pencils

Strikes #04 - Title Page pencils

Strikes #04 - Title Page color

Strikes #04 - Title Page color


Here’s the full page. I wish there had been a little more contrast between the colors used on Batman’s cape and the palate of that first inset panel, or that a darker background color had been used in that third panel, but I’m still very fond of this page. I love framing panels artistically like this, even though this kind of thing usually has to be saved for introductory pages like this one or special sequences like flashbacks or montages.

Click on any of the images to visit my gallery where you can find more title pages and see the pages in higher resolution.

More to come, stay tuned!

Title Pages: Batman Strikes 18 & 33

Whenever possible, I always preferred hand-drawing my own sound effects and story titles during my run on The Batman Strikes! I especially liked incorporating the logo into the background art in some way, probably because of all those great Will Eisner titles for The Spirit. But I always had to work with what I was given. Sometimes I didn’t have a lot of room. Sometimes the story title didn’t lend itself as well to graphic treatment. But it almost always was more pleaseing to my eye than having it left to be typeset by the letterer.

Let’s kick this off with a pair of logos from Poison Ivy stories (boy we had a lot of Poison Ivy stories on The Batman Strikes!).

First up, from Batman Strikes #18:

Batman Strikes #18 - Title Logo

Batman Strikes #18 - Title Logo

Here’s an example of a title that lent itself to graphic treatment nicely, but as part of a 4-panel page there wasn’t much room to work it into the background art. Still, I was able to give the title something of a flowery flourish, and that was fun.

Strikes #18 Title Page pencils

Strikes #18 Title Page pencils

Strikes #18 Title Page color

Strikes #18 Title Page color

Here’s a view of the full page, so you can see how the logo works in context. Inks are by Terry Beatty and colors are by Heroic Age. Which I guess you could read for yourself in the credits if you click on the image to see it full-size!

Strikes #33 - logo

Strikes #33 - logo

In The Batman Strikes #33 we had the reverse scenario: A big splashy full page shot, but kind of a simple title. I opted to just create really organic character shapes and try to make it look as though it were wrapped around the side of this giant vine structure.

Strikes #33 Title Page pencils

Strikes #33 Title Page pencils

Strikes #33 Title Page color

Strikes #33 Title Page color

I was quite happy with this page overall. BTW – those are plant simulacrums of Poison Ivy that Batman, Robin and Batgirl are fighting. I like the dizzying quality to this shot, and the way the vine wraps through the image. The credits were colored a bit darkly, but I suppose no-one really cared except for the seven people who’s names are listed there!

More to come, stay tuned!

Riddle me this… PINHEAD!

Never give the Riddler one of those puzzle boxes from Hellraiser. There’s just nothing good that’s going to come of that.

Batman Strikes #50 pg 07

Batman Strikes #50 pg 07

This is another page from The Batman Strikes #50, the final issue of the series. I was really happy with how this page turned out – nicely moody and transcending the cartooniness of the animation designs. Pencils by me, inks by Terry Beatty, color by Heroic Age Studios.

Happy Halloween… from Gotham City

Batman Strikes #50 page 1

Batman Strikes #50 page 1

This is Halloween-appropriate page comes from the final issue of The Batman Strikes.

Pencil art by me, inks by Terry Beatty, colors by the Heroic Age studio.

This page is LOADED with self-indulgent in-jokes.

• CONvergence fans should note the Trick-or-Treater in the lower left corner dressed as Connie.

• Another Trick-or-Treater is dressed as Two-Face, on of my very favorite Batman villains who I never got to draw in my 44-issue run on The Batman Strikes, thanks to an embargo on the use of Two-Face, the Scarecrow, and Ra’s al Ghul in this animated incarnation of Batman.

• The first panel sees Batman perched upon Aparo Tower, named for one of my favorite Batman artists, Jim Aparo.

• And finally, the 433 Bar is named as a reference to the internet handle of my friend Jeremy Stomberg.

 

Creating a Cover: The Batman Strikes #13

Here’s another breakdown of the cover creation process, this time diving further into the past and looking back at one of my covers for The Batman Strikes, specifically issue #13. It’s an interesting case study as a lot of things went wrong with this one.

As usual, we start with sketches inspired by the story for the issue. I knew that the story involved Catwoman and Batman working together against a common enemy, so I thought it would be fun to treat Batman and Catwoman as a Dynamic Duo, especially since Robin and Batgirl had yet to be introduced into this animated TV show continuity.

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch a

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch a

Batman #9 (1942)

Batman #9 (1942)

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch b

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch b

Sketch A was the most literal expression of this “Dynamic Duo” idea, deliberately evoking the classic cover to Batman #9 from 1942 (seen above). Sketch B was a more original design, with a leaping Batman and Catwoman with some nice underlighting and casting shadows on Batman’s cape. These sketches were drawn in marker and then I added the logo and some gray tones in Photoshop to better indicate what the finished cover would look like. As usual, I’m also trying to allow space for the UPC Code box and the cover text blurb I know will be added. You’ll notice that the masthead says #9 – that’s simply the issue I scanned to grab those cover elements for my layouts.

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch c

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch c

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch d

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch d

Sketch C had Catwoman essentially taking over the book, not only appearing solo on the cover, but with her name plastered over Batman’s in the book’s logo. I didn’t think it was likely this one was gonna fly, but I love covers that play with the logo in some way, so I thought it was worth suggesting. Finally (or so I thought), Sketch D features Batman and Catwoman framed by the shadow of the monsterous true villain of the story.

Usually four cover ideas are plenty – either one of those is chosen as is, or often an editor will want to modify an idea or combine elements from two of them, leading to the final design. Not this time. The editor informed me that they wanted to have Catwoman and Batman in a confrontational posture, so none of the ideas I’d submitted were going to work at all. I thought it made more sense to play up the unique dynamic from the story rather than a more generic situation that could be applied to any other Catwoman appearance, but that’s the nature of commercial art – you’re hired for your ideas and your skills but the decisions are up to the client. So I got to do a whole second wave of sketches!

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch e

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch e

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch f

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch f

At this point I was wanting to deliver sketch ideas that were conceptually pretty generic but still visually interesting. Sketch E has Batman and Catwoman facing off on a ledge while surrounded by cats. I thought this design had some nice depth and the cats added some interest. Sketch F featured a leaping Batman and Catwoman, but surrounded by Batman’s curling cape.

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch g

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch g

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch h

Batman Strikes #13 - cover sketch h

Sketch G had an angry Catwoman and an army of cats facing off against Batman, and Sketch H had Batman and Catwoman simply on a rooftop, using the curling shape of Catwoman’s whip and still more cats to add visual interest again.

After all that, Sketch G was chosen, so it was time to draw some cats!

Batman Strikes #13 - cover pencils

Batman Strikes #13 - cover pencils

Batman Strikes #13 - cover inks

Batman Strikes #13 - cover inks

I changed Batman’s pose slightly from the sketch to have him holding his cape up in a protective gesture, and added shadows behind Catwoman and the cats to create a bit of a sense of depth, as the drawing was looking a little flat prior to their addition. Looking back I’m not entirely happy with the Batman figure here. The art style from The Batman animated TV series that I was emulating here was stylized in ways that ever felt natural to me. There were a lot of stylizations around Batman’s cape and how it should drape and move. I always found it challenging to balance the look of the animation design from that series with my more naturalistic instincts for animation, the draping of fabric, and so on. Early on I tried hard on The Batman Strikes to stick to the rules the TV show had for how Batman’s cape should drape and move, but over time I took greater and greater liberties with it as I realized I was trying to make the cape look its best in the static images of comics, rather than in the moving medium of animation. But I digress…

I drew Catwoman to be snarling in a threatening manner. It’s always hard to keep women’s faces from looking unattractive with expressions like this, especially in a small drawing. It was further complicated here by the fact that Catwoman’s mask design included goggles that concealed her eyes, so you only have the mouth to convey expression. The expression was a little rough in the pencils, and I think was a little harsher after being inked (inks by Terry Beatty as usual for The Batman Strikes).

Batman Strikes #13 - cover colors

Batman Strikes #13 - cover colors

I was rarely happy with the color on The Batman Strikes. Batman was never colored on-model for the animation design, which used a deep, rich blue for the highlights on the black parts of Batman’s costume. For some reason in the comic based on the art for that show, Batman was always colored in grays, with little contrast between the highlighting on the black parts and the tones used for the gray bodysuit. I always thought the result was drab and tended to flatten out the figure.

The colorist chose to interpret the lighting scheme of the line art by coloring the cats in different flat colors, and then overlay a glowing lighting effect over everying behind the Batman figure in the foreground. I find the effect rather washed out and flat, and it looks like the cats are fading away like ghosts.

Most interestingly, Catwoman’s mouth has been redrawn, without input from Terry Beatty or myself. The snarl has been replaced with a smile, which I imagine was consedered “prettier”, but I consider the redrawn mouth to look a bit crude and I’d have liked to have been consulted on the change.

Batman Strikes #13 - cover w logos

Batman Strikes #13 - cover w logos

Finally, here’s the published cover with the typical masthead, UPC Code and cover blurb. The colors appear a bit darker – some of which might be the result of scanning – but I suspect the brightness and contrast have been tweaked since the previous “clean” image which was used for the solicitation of the issue to retailers.

Well there you have it! Another cover breakdown. I’ll be doing more of these as well as some interior art analysis in the weeks to come! Until then, you can check out more of my cover art for The Batman Strikes – concept sketches, pencils, and finished covers – here!