Elsa Lanchester-The Bride of Frankenstein

Warm up sketch! Didn’t really have a chance to time it but finished it pretty quick. I’m thinking it took me around 20 minutes.

GRAVE updated roster image!

First stages of Grave’s new roster image for the Nightmare Pro Wrestling website. Still not sure about his face, gonna try out some other expressions before I digitally ink it.

NPW Comic Issue 2 Page 19 Inks

So I'm finally getting back to blogging and I'm going to try even harder to do more posts and more often. Here are the pencils and inks for page 19 of Nightmare Pro Wrestling.

I took a lot of things into consideration on this page. For one, I tried to make sure everything that the characters were doing was clear. I also tried to push the poses as much as possible to get some dynamic acting from the main characters on the page.

I don't know how many times I've heard that I should be doing those things but it never really sunk in until I found these drawing tip tutorials by Sherm Cohen. Maybe I'm just a visual learner or maybe it's that the tutorials had images of Spongebob, but things finally clicked for me. You can find the Tips here and here if you want to have a look.

I discovered his Artrage tutorials and Adobe Illustrator inking tutorials about a year ago. They helped me to evolve the inking style and look of Nightmare Pro Wrestling. I don't want to sound like too much of a fanboy but I have to thank him for that. He's a got a really great site with a lot of information and inspiration on there, plus he's a cool guy and is happy to share his knowledge of cartooning. Lately his storyboard tutorials have been inspiring me and I try to work those concepts into my comic pages.

On this comic page I also messed around with my approach for doing speedlines. I'm now using a little less of them and focusing more on creating a sense of movement with the lines I already have on the page. For example, on the last panel of page 19, I made the outline of Devastator Dragon's arm into speedlines to make it look like it was moving fast. I did the same with Grave's body on that same panel. I guess you can say I'm trying to convey movement with the lines on the characters which is something I've been studying from anime and manga.

Finally, I think the biggest difference in this page compared to some of the earlier pages is I've been using more blacks in my backgrounds. I think it makes it look spookier and adds more interest to the panels that don't have backgrounds.

Alright, well be sure to check out the completed page over on NightmareProWrestling.com

See you Ghouls next time.

PAGE 13 AND 14 PENCILS

It feels like I haven't posted any pages on my blog for a while. Today feels a little off, maybe it's because I didn't get a chance to workout this morning. Not that it's been a bad day, I've gotten a lot of stuff done, it just feels strange.

Alright back to the Pencils for pages 13 & 14. I again placed the word balloons where I would like them. This has been helping a lot when lettering the pages, as well as drawing the backgrounds. If there is something important in the background, I can now just draw it in the panel where the planned word balloon won't affect it.

For example on page 13, I want a shelf with creepy stuff behind Dr. Nightmare. The shelf will also have Britney's Teddy bear, which Dr. Nightmare will hand to her on the next page.

Speaking of Britney, this will be her introduction into the comic. She seems sweeter on these pages which will contrast to when she shows Grave her real personality.

So it probably shouldn't bother me but adjusting the color to my pencils makes them look pretty bad, at least in my eyes. I should just start uploading them like I do my warm up sketches, so you can see the blue lines and pencils better. That'll look more visual appealing when I post up pencils in the future. Bleh, it's not a big deal but I'll try and do it.

Inks for Pages 11 & 12

I fell a little behind this week since I got sick but I did finish the inks for pages 11 & 12.

PAGE 11: I think I got how quick Grave is grab, thrown, and strapped, pretty well. I'm really happy with the details in the background. If you look closely at panel 7, you can see little creatures in the jars. I'm sure you'll see them a lot better in the final pages. I'm really looking forward to coloring this page. And looking at the page now I'm thinking about adding a stone floor.

PAGE 12: I purposely didn't put a lot of detail in this page for a few reasons. For one I feel like it it slows the page down and this way your eyes aren't going crazy focusing on everything. Two, There will be a lot of word balloons in the last panel, so why put stuff in the background if it's gonna be covered up. Finally, I hate to admit it but the last reason is because needed to save some time so that I can make sure these pages are finished by Monday.

But don't worry, it's not the end of my detailed backgrounds. If I do have some extra time I'll throw something in.

Alright

Page 9 & 10 inks

Page 9 & 10 Inks

Well it's Friday. Wow time has been going by pretty quickly. This weekend will be awesome though, gonna go spend time with my family for HALLOWEEN. Should be great!

Page 9: I didn't put the flames behind Grim on the 2nd to last panel yet because I don't want them outlined in black. I think if they are, then they would take away from the panel. I'm really happy with the over all flow of the page.

Page 10: I really love the way this page came out. If you look closely you can see little details, like spider webs. The light source for most of this page will be coming from the candelabra in the background. Again I'm hoping to establish a fun but spooky mood, that will help establish the overall mood of the NPW universe. Hopefully I'll pull it off.

Check out the finished pages on the NIGHTMARE PRO WRESTLING web comic on Monday.

Hope you have a spooktacular HALLOWEEN!!!

BWAAAAHAAAAAAAA.....

Later.

NPW Web comic Page 9 & 10 Pencils

Well it's almost Halloween. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Halloween has always been a big thing in my family, so my wife and I are driving down for the weekend to spend Halloween with my family. I'm excited!

So these are the Page 9 & 10 Pencils.

Page 9: The last panel on this page was orignally going to show Grim punching Grave through a wall but the image didn't look too exciting. So I went with Grim's fist punching through the panel. I really want to put a lot of detail on the fist when I start to paint it, just to add a creepiness to it, as well as focus. I had drawn this page out a while ago but when I looked at it again, things didn't look right. So I redrew some the key panels and just touched up the others. Nothing much more to really say about this page.

Page 10: I'm really excited to be working on page 10. I'm hoping to establish the mood of this universe even further with the page. I plan on adding more detail to the suits of armor, and maybe change them a bit. Looking at them now the small suits look a little too much like Alfonse from Full Metal Alchemist. I do plan on adding a few other things like spider webs and more detailed stone walls in the background.

Alright, thats enough for today.

Later.

Victor Monstor and Lil' Franken

Here is my morning warm up sketch for today. There's poor Victor Monstor who has fallen off a tiny bike. He got a few scrapes and his best buddy Lil Franken brings him a double scoop ice cream cone to make him feel better.

Hahaha. You can see my lovely wife's sketches visible from the page behind it. Especially Cycloptopus.

This is another sketch I would like to use for something else, a print perhaps? I would really like to finish up this drawing, add in a side walk, and creepy little neighborhood in the background.

Pages 7 and 8 Inks

Here are the inks for pages 7 & 8.

Page 7: Putting together the arena in google sketchup was a pain to do, even if it was just basic elements. I just put together a basic Pro wrestling arena and just drew in the details.

Page 8: This page changed a bit since the pencils. I didn't really like the way the page was flowing so I decided to get rid of a panel and rearrange the rest a bit. I wanted the ring in the training room to look different than the ring in the actual arena. So I didn't add a lot of blacks and changed some shapes. The colors will also be different. I wanted the dumbbell that Grim is using, to be massive. I also wanted it to look a lot more realistic and match the background elements.

I really like the way panel 1 turned out. I wanted to put all this detail in there, along with a few monsters working out. I had wanted to show more of the training room but it would have taken away the focus of the panel. The whole point of that panel is to show you where Grave, Lobo, & Grim are. This will make things easier for the reader and the actions on the page will flow a whole lot better.

Alrighty, well back to work. Check the Nightmare Pro Wrestling web comic on MONDAY for the final pages.

Cheers!