Tuesday, March 8, 2011

New Print:For conventions this year (see list below). The print is a convention exclusive and will not be offered through email orders. I'm sorry to the folks that can't make it out to conventions, but I do advise that to avoid ebay scalpers crazy price hikes, find a fellow fan online who is attending a con and is willing to ship it to you. I have a few fans who do this already for UK fans who can't make it to US shows.

Process:
Last summer we encountered some turkey vultures on a family vacation. They stuck in my mind and I drew one recently as part of some Black Axe lore for an upcoming issue. As a poster, I could have more fun with the imagery and treat it more like a Legends cover (this very well may end up being used in Legends vol2). I looked at several photos of buzzards and vultures for reference while I sketched out my bird. I drew the mouse away from the buzzard knowing I would want to adjust his size and rotation.

I scanned that sketchpage and layed the image out in the proper size for the final artwork (8.25" x 16.25"). Because I had not drawn the full bird, I copied and mirrored his wing, yet the buzzards body wasn't full enough. I like manipulating sketches in photoshop for layout for this very reason. I can make adjustments without needing to redraw or erase my sketch. I tinted the various elements to help me see what lines belonged to what element (mouse, sword, bird, or bones).

The color tinted sketch was printed out and I layed bristol board on top of it on my light box. This way, I was able to use the sketch as a guide for my final inks on the bristol. I adjusted the left side of the buzzard as I went. The mirrored wing gave me a good sense of the scale I wanted for it, but was the wrong shape. For this piece I also inked using only Copic Multiliners (mainly the .05 & .08). I really like the lines they give me and I will be switching to them for my final artwork now.

Last step was to scan my inked artwork and color the piece in photoshop. Because I didn't draw much in the background, I went with a more painted sky than I normally do. I added a color hold to the bones to make them retreat a bit into the background. And I tried to get the mouse-rider's garb to mimic his carrion-eating mount.


2011 Appearances
C2E2: March 18-20
Phoenix Comic Con: May 26-29
Cherry Capital Con: June 25-26
San Diego Comic Con: July 20-24
Baltimore Comic Con: Aug. 20-21
New York Comic Con: Oct. 14-16

7 comments:

Denver Brubaker said...

Awesome, David! Love the "behind-the-scenes" process info!

Bo said...

Very cool. I have 2009 & 2010 posters mounted together. This would be a great addition. Doesn't look like you'll be in Chicago this year, so we'll see what I can do.

Bo said...

Strike that. Looks like you'll be in Chicago very soon. I'll try to be out.

Max West said...

That's one brave mouse - riding on such an ugly and huge bird.

Gus said...

Great picture. My niggling detail is that you should be able to see through to the other side with the nostril. Here is Franklin the Turkey Vulture:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gusgrosch/5151113296/
He is quite the bright bird (he was given our jack-o-lantern for a play toy.

AlphaWolf said...

WOW David that is BEAST!! I hope it gets into Legends 2. To bad you can't take email requests for the poster I would buy one, depends on how much it cost! haha! :D Keep it up!! :)

Anonymous said...

Wow. I love this piece. And just about all of your pieces. You have brought so much life to mouse guard.

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