This page involved looking into the mirror a lot, but I took at least one webcam pic for the last panel. The cigar club is based on a real one in NYC that I found pics of online. (Those beautiful, blonde waves are based on my own hair.) All but 4 pages of issue #1 were done digitally, using Kyle T. Webster’s Photoshop brushes. You can see the traditional pages at Splashpage Art.
I thought the trade paperback was coming out today (and last week) but it looks like you’ll have to wait until the end of the month. In the meantime, our book was ranked as one of the top Valiant stories of all time by CBR. Awesome!
ARCHIE #2. 2015. Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on bristol board with digital color, 11 × 17″.
Here’s a cover we did earlier this year for the Archie relaunch with Mark Waid and Fiona Staples. My Dad actually used to do caricatures back in the day, so I’m sure he was having flashbacks as he inked this.
THE VALIANT #1 p18. 2014. Photoshop, 2750 × 4175 px.
Did I say this week? What I meant was that The Valiant trade paperback will be out May 27. But in keeping with the spirit, here’s another page with its accompanying reference. This page was made completely in Photoshop, with a major assist from Kyle T. Webster’s brushes, specifically Rough Inker, Ink Wash 1, Bone Dry, and Deliciously Dry. This allowed me to keep working on the book, even when I was traveling.
RAAaaauaaauAAuUUUgh! Google!
digital inks with wash tone
When the project first began, I was going to “save time” by keeping the colors flat, albeit modulated with an “ink wash” layer. By the second issue, I was already back to my old habit of two-tone coloring, but this technique was nice while it lasted. Because I was inking digitally, I couldn’t help myself from adding the tone as I went along. I just love that look for black and white comics, something akin to Blazing Combat.
digital pencils
You can see that I made a change between the “pencils” (above) and layouts (below). This was one of the first digital pages that I did, and was very early on in the process. So early, in fact, that I was still figuring out what Bloodshot’s powers were, how strong he was, etc. In the original panel 4, I had him leap 20 feet or so in air, but my editor wanted to power him down a bit. Of course, he still punched through what I imagine would be an aircraft-grade cockpit window.
BOOK OF DEATH #2 COVER. 2015. Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on bristol board with digital color, 11 × 17″.
Hope everyone had a good week! I’m working on Book of Death #3 right now and will be starting a couple poster projects in the coming month, starring some of my favorite characters on earth.
I’ve finalized my Photoshop perspective template, and recorded a tutorial, so I hope to finally get that launched. I have my doubts, though, because it just does everything that Manga Studio does automatically. I’ve been learning that software over the last week or so and like it so far. I’ll probably still use Photoshop for coloring, but MS5 can’t be beat for comics.
THE VALIANT #2 PAGE 15. 2015. Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on bristol board with digital color, 11 × 17″.
The Valiant trade paperback comes out next week, so I thought it might be a good time to look back at a page from issue 2. In this scene, Ninjak really cuts loose — only to have his bum thoroughly handed to him. As you can see from the pencils, I changed where he was looking in the first panel… he wasn’t angry enough!
I also wanted to mention that this page(andmany others fromThe Valiant) are now available through my art dealer, Splashpage Art. Covers are listed separately. And even if you’re not interested in purchasing, we’ve got nice big scans of the originals, pencils by me and inks by my dad, Joe Rivera. Hope you enjoy the closer look.
SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN TEAM-UP #11 & 12. 2013. Ink(ed by Joe Rivera) on bristol board, 11 × 17″.
I’ve got a couple new prints up in my shop, and they make a halfway decent set. These were produced by Bottleneck Gallery in Brooklyn (my old neighborhood) and they turned out great. I even cleaned up a few boogers that I missed when they were first published. Each Artist Proof is 16x24", will be signed and numbered (edition of 14), and ships in a heavy-duty tube. They’re $45 each, or $80 for the set. Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and the originals are still available from my art dealer. You can also see the reference behind the art hereandhere.
Here’s a detail from my digitally painted Justice League: Classic print featuring Black Canary. I almost gave her the classic blue jacket, but I couldn’t quite make it look right in context. She almost had gloves as well. I spent more time on her than any other character (about 20 hours in all).
Hey digital artists or anyone who wants to experiment with digi coloring! Krita is a free open source digital painting program. I created this PDF (also free) to take you through the process of removing blue pencil from scanned art and then adding color flats with a magical tool called “colorize mask”. Here’s an example of the colorize mask tool:
Have fun coloring! ⭐️️
Check out my free tutorial on how to automatically color-flat your line art with the free open source digital painting program Krita.
No more tedious selecting, retracing, or coloring in by hand!
The downloads of this has gone up since y'all are getting stuck inside– hey, why not learn a new thing?
IT’S SO FAST AND EASY Y'ALL!!! I promise this is gonna come in handy!
Recent birthday gifts for @gynandromorph! First drawing is of their fursonas gray (cockroach) and Dupe (chameleon), and second is of the protagonist Kim (spotted linsang) from their excellent webcomic Fresh Meat, which is coming to a close soon. That means it’s the perfect time to jump in as a new reader or give the whole comic a reread! ;P gray’s comics are so thoughtfully written and beautifully executed, and every time I return to them, I notice something new that brings further depth to the story. There’s really no one making comics like they do, and I’m super thankful they’ve made so many and share them online for free. So to celebrate their bday, do yourself a favor and read their comics (after checking the content warnings first of course)!
