Ben Gives You Nuclearman!..

The character you never asked for! I'm not sure why I drew him. I think I've been wanting to do Zod and his fellow Kryptonian criminals from Superman 2, but just started sketching out Nuclearman.  And this is what you get.

I'm feeling the itch to go through and do the rest of the villains, but we'll see if I have time.  Time Lapse of the entire thing is below.

-Ben
www.NeedYourDisease.com
www.twitter.com/needyourdisease
www.instagram.com/needyourdisease
www.facebook.com/needyourdisease

Ben says "Welcome to Apokolips!"

"Had I known one human's death would pained you so, I would have killed more. And kill more I shall. Carry that agony with you to oblivion, Superman."

I really like Darkseid.  As a character, as a design, it just works for me.  Granted, the majority of my experience with him is from Superman: the Animated Series.  So a lot of that appreciation may come from the voice of Michael Ironside.  Either way, I decided to draw him up last Sunday and here he is.

Sketch and inks with Manga Studio.  Colors in Photoshop.

-Ben
www.NeedYourDisease.com
Twitter @NeedYourDisease 

The Darkseid High-Five

If you have such hap hazard eye lasers why would you hold your hand up when you were firing them off?  Cause your Darkseid that's why!  

Birthday Ben

Today is Rust Belt Monster Ben Hale's Birthday. What a lucky girl am I to have him in my life!
Ben is hilarious, talented, intelligent, and has great taste in music but above all, he is kind. If the world was filled with Ben Hales it would be a much better place, but celebrating his birthday wouldn't be quite as special. Hope you had a great one, buddy.

Ben's Free Comic Book Day Art Extravaganza

My Dr. Doom for the Mural. Modak by Craig Worrell and Silver Surfer by Erin Schechtman.

What an amazing time Free Comic Book Day was this year.  Not sure what changed, but there were next to no nerves going in.  The crowd was great and I got to meet a lot of really cool people.  Some from as far as London.  See, people from around the world come to Cleveland.  I thought I would post a collection of some of the art I did AT and FOR the event.  

Sketchcards for the event. Raphael, Hellboy, and Hulk

More sketch cards. Joker and Superman

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Michelangelo

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Pirate Joker and Batman

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Huntress

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Classic 1960's Batgirl

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Winter Soldier

Sketch at Free Comic Book Day: Raphael

Superman Day!

This July 27th is Superman Day at our favorite comic shop - Carol and John's Comics here in Cleveland, Ohio where the Man of Steel was created 75 years ago. To celebrate, the RBMC and many other incredible artists each donated a comic book drawing to the shop.

My personal celebration has consisted of watching a ridiculous amount of Justice League Unlimited. With that in mind, here is my cover:

See you all next Saturday and have a very super week ;)

- Erin

Tim's Action Comics #18 Cover

A couple'a weeks ago, I painted this comic book cover for Carol & John's Comic Book Shop to commemorate 75 years of Superman, and the city where he was created (Cleveland, Ohio).

...and to sate your morbid curiosity (you know its true), I have a whole bunch of photos detailing the creation of this cover.

The fresh unadulterated sketch cover 

I photocopied the cover and did all my initial sketches on cheap crappy Bond paper (to not ruin the actual cover). The goal was to draw "Superman and Cleveland", so I figured that Sups' would also enjoy one of my favorite spots in the city (with a slightly better vantage point), the statues overlooking the Lorrain-Carnegie (or Hope Memorial if your new to town) Bridge.  

 At this point, I decided that I really really hated the modern "New 52" logo and branding, and I wanted to use the masthead from 1939, so after finding the appropriate reference (www.coverbrowser.com), I mocked up everything in photoshop and printed it out on more bond paper.

I taped down the comic to my board, masked it off to keep the rest of the comic clean, and then gessoed  on front cover...

I then covered the backside of the mockup printout with soft (9B-ish) graphite, and taped it to the board, over the front cover...

and traced over the taped down mockup with a ballpoint pen...

then, when I peeled back the paper, I was left with a clean graphite transfer on my cover.

The next step was painting the cover, I'm using acrylic paint mainly because it dries fast, and it's water soluble (so no mineral spirits smell). I covered it in a warm yellow ground because: a) I hate starting with a white page, and b) because this painting needs to be warm and fun.   

After the ground dries, I start painting in some of my shadows (seen on the staute's face) using thin coats of a darker color (but not black, using plack paint for your darks will dull your colors, so I use a "Burnt Umber" or "Raw Siena", NO black was used in this painting).

The painting is built up gradually this way, with thin coats of paint, moving from background to foreground, and you start adding in lighter colors to define your highlights. 

The retro masthead is painted in, everything is allowed ample time to dry, and then I apply an acrylic varnish to even out the paint and make it shinny and cool.

The comic is CAREFULLY removed from the board. I used drafting tape, but even that isn't 100% perfect when you're removing it, so steady hands and a trusty x-acto knife are crucial.

Thanks for sticking with this, I hope you enjoyed the ride. If you're in the Cleveland area, you can see the actual painting, and tons of other fantastic covers at Carol & John's Comic Shop.

-Tim

Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday.....

..droppin' beats, eatin' brains. 

..., ..., something something something.......

ok, I can't rap but I do like drawing Solomon Grundy. 

 The pants eatin'- ist, rootin' tootin' ist, zombie to ever crawl out of a swamp and make things mildly challenging Kryptonians and Gothamites alike!  He just won't stay down and unlike other mobile dead he's prone to the occasional haiku!  The man's a bard! A swamp Emily Dickinson prone only to evil and talking about himself in the 3rd person! 

You can enjoy this and other comic covers drawings by my fellow RBMCers at Carol and John's Comics later this month as part of their Superman appreciation event, keep an eye on their site for details.

Ben Litters Your Comics With Superman Drawings

I had a great time at Great Lakes Brewing Company's Comic Book Heritage Night and really hope it becomes a regular thing.  The following are comic covers that I drew for patrons, but first, A quick Superman warm-up sketch before heading to the bar.

Fred the dog as Krypto the Superdog

The original superhero concept: "Osgar Man"...

...and my interpretation.

Action Comix

Hey Pals, Randy here. It's been a superman filled week for all of us, and there's more to come. Above is my drawing for Carol And John's superman art event coming next month. Below are some photos from the Truth, Justice And American Ale tasting event at Great Lakes Brewery.

       

       

       

Both fine examples of putting your own stamp on tradition and heritage. It's the American way. 

                                      

                           

Also, doing Deadpool drawings with your buddies Jim Giar, and Tim Switalski where you add Biggie lyrics to the gun. That's the American way, as well. 

Stay cool out there kids. 

Up..up...and away!!

Good morning...Reverand Jim here. I've been handed the duty of tackling Fridays here at RBMC central. Mr. Friday you can call me. Or MF...wait..no...bad idea. As I was saying, I'll be posting on Fridays while the group and I work our hectic summer schedule. So be on the look out.

I thought I'd post a Superman cover a bunch of local artists are doing to help celebrate Supes 75th birthday...but more importantly, his heritage, his birthplace here in Cleveland. It's for an upcoming event at Carol and Johns Comic Shop. This is the initial pencil sketch I did, directly on the cover. Now originally I was going with a 3/4 profile view of Supes handsome chiseled features. But I opted out for a full side profile, liking the epicness of of his stance.
 However there was something wrong but I couldn't quite put my finger on it....I proceeded with colors hoping it would eventually pop out for me.

 Working so much with comics, where I work in black and white, I struggle with color. I typically work with acrylics or marker and chose the latter in this case. I started working with grays first. Going from light and working in my darker shade. It's always easier to go darker than to try and lighten. I then began laying in color. I wanted the figure to pop, so I went with a yellow background so the cools of Big Blues suit would pop. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to superheroes and went with his original suit and emblem. It wasn't until I neared completion that the eyesore popped out for me. I never adjusted the ear from 3/4 to profile. Kids...if you're paying attention, the ear is always placed half way from the back of the head to the front. Now I could have just started over, scrap this cover and begin again. But...our own Erin Schechtman once taught me a valuable lesson...one I've never forgotten and repeat often. "Every painting...every piece, goes through an ugly stage." And I was there. So I went back in, penciled and placed the ear where it belonged, went back in with ink and white paint marker, then overlayed color pencil to blend the ear into the piece. And I ended up with the final shown at the top of this page. The important lesson here is to, one pay attention to details such as basic anatomy and two, never feel that something can't be fixed. Even if not by computer. Hey...it's only art. What's the worse that can happen? You start over.