Cover, pages 1 & 2 INKS!!

Ok back with another quick blog during lunch, then back to work to finish up the new pages of NPW I'm working on.

Alright, well since this was the first official launch week, things are a little disorganized when it come to the blog pencil and ink posts. Originally, Wednesdays=pencils, Fridays=inks, and Mondays=FINISHED PAGES.

Today being Wednesday...right?(checks calendar) Yes. I'm going to post up the pencils for the new pages. However, I'm also going to post the Inks for the three pages that are already up. That's great news right? more content!

Here are the final inks for the cover and pages 1 and 2.

I ink in Illustrator cs4 by the way. I find quicker and it gives me the look I'm going for. I downloaded the ink brushes from a great artist called.... can't remember at the moment but ran across him on the web. I'll post a link in the future when I have more time.

Anyway back to the pages. Not much to say about the cover. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I had the idea for this cover years ago when the ideas for Nightmare Pro Wrestling were just barely getting started. The earlier drawings, which I plan on posting in the future, SUCK!

This newest version is a lot better and like the story and characters, a lot more fleshed out than they were when I first started the idea.

The Inks of page 1 and 2 went through a few changes. For one, I made the lizard on the door in page 2 bigger.

I also originally had 3 panels on page 1 but felt it slowed down the page too much. Wish I had the pencils to show you, so you can see what I mean.

The doors for the castle are a template I made so I could just cut and paste the image to save time. To get the look I wanted, I drew out the doors using a reference picture and made the changes I wanted to make it spookier and to avoid those pesky copyright issues :/

I ran it through the "cutout" and "posteredges" filters in Photoshop and merged them. Finished by multiplying the original pencils over it and cleaned it up till I was happy with it.

Alright that's it for these pages. You can check out the finished product on www.NightmareProWrestling.com

Issue 1 Cover - Pencils

I just saw the trailer for the Nightmare on Elm St. remake. It looks good, if you can ignore that the first opening credit says "From Producer Michael Bay." I know Wes Craven wasn't involved in the remake at all, the studio or whoever didn't even try to contact him, but I'm going to check it out any way. I personally think the casting of Jackie Earle Haley was a great choice. Again I don't want to make any judgment calls yet. I gotta see it first to do so.

Anyway, here are the pencils for the cover of NPW Issue 1.

Here is a sketch for the cover of Issue 1. I started off with Grave and got his pose down during the sketch but the other characters need a little work. I'm happy with where the characters are in relation to each other but not how they are positioned. Midway through the sketch I felt like it needs something more. So I decide to add the Ring Squid (a creature you will learn more about in the comic.) to the background.

I always draw each character separately, so if I'm not happy with their placement I can move them around once I scan them into my Mac.

Once they're all scanned in, I use Photoshop to place them the way I want them. Using the brush tool, I sketched in the wrestling ring and where I wanted the Squid's tentacles to go.

You might have noticed that the design of the placement for Victor Monstor changed. Always remember that your design is not set in stone. If you want to change it, well, change it. I feel that the way he is positioned now feels more dramatic and adds to the flow of the design. I also added Lil' Fraken in there because the two are inseparable in the comic.

Soooo, I don't have the pencils for pages 1 & 2. I was still figuring out the process of creating the the pages, and forgot to save the pencils : /

I do have the inks and I will post those along with the inks for the cover, so don't judge that me to much. I was actually thinking of faking some pencil work but that would be too time consuming and just WRONG. I promise that the rest of the pages will have pencils to post : D

Alright well hope you enjoyed the blog,

Remember Nightmare Pro Wrestling!

LATER,

JoN