Thursday 9 April 2009

Bus Bum

People! 

Gather round me, and hear my words: weekend travelcards should be half price if I only get to use half the frikkin service!!! Let's march for discounts!

Or not, cos I'm warm and cosy at home now, after another 5 hour trek on nighttransport. Pff, let them keep their money. It's amazing how tranquil one can feel with central heating, a nice internet connection and a cup of Baileys Coffee beside me. Anyway, onto the art:


This is a page from Azrael issue 1 which came out last month (on time too, naysayers). I decided to show a bit of the page process cos some people asked me, and I have no completed covers yet to show you. So what ye see above is the sketch, the layout that I use to base all the tricky arting on. Loose, eh? You betcha.


This next stage is where I use my ink layer to outline the main figures and whop in the boldest shadows. No backgrounds here, as I do that on a different layer.
Next up is the adding of greys. These really are the meat of the art, with the black lines being the skeleton, the colour being the skin, the...er...borders being...uh, the pants...*shuts up*
Ok, more meat on the bones. I love Potatoshop so much it *hurts*.
Here I add the background layer. It usually differs from page to page, but in this case it all was all on one layer and then I cut out the main figures. Like old school, but with shiny macintosh machines and less screaming.
Then I add the swords and fire to a new layer. What, you thought I drew that on the same layer...?...*chuckle*, no no no, Grasshopper. Noone would be that stupid. 
This is where I thought I'd be able to leave it. I added a new layer for the colours and painted them on, and a few tweaks with some white paint, but then I got a most distressing email...
Yes, apparently I had got his mask wrong. So last minute panic revisions resulted in a new layer over the painting and some old school patch-em-up tactics were employed to remedy this error. Seamless, eh? Go on, you can say it, I'm not bashful...

Right, next time I update (like, thursday) I will probably show something other than the blow-by-blow stages of a picture, maybe doodles I make on the toilet...?...or perhaps drunken scribbles of naked ladies...

Whatevs. I have to get back to reality now and continue distracting someone from the boredom that is the internet tonite. Hi Kim!

F xoxo

4 Comments:

Blogger Karl Savage said...

Awesome work, Frazer!
I picked this bad boy up and enjoyed it thoroughly.

My friend and flatmate Dan Duncan, http://deletedscenesonline.blogspot.com/ whom you met at SDCC last year, was flipping through it and wondered out loud that he was curious as to how you did the very circular, very organized textures on Azrael's chainmail around the shoulders and such.

We were curious whether that was something you did by hand or was it through your vast "potatoshop" knowledge?

Come to think of it, you did a circular technique on Klarion's shoulders as well. It seems you dig making the shoulders something fun to look at.

Anywho, great issue, man! I'm looking forward to the rest.

13 April 2009 at 21:55  
Blogger smoky man said...

Hi Frazer,
great work! I looove yr style.

a big Italian ciao :)
smoky man

PS.: my international blog is
sardinianconnection.blogspot.com

3 May 2009 at 11:54  
Anonymous Wes Craig said...

Great work Frazer, as always.
Hey did you know we're working on the same project? I just found out you're doing Timestorm 2099 Wolverine, true? Well I'm doing the Spider-man part of that tale.

7 May 2009 at 04:47  
Blogger Geoff said...

Gorgeous work on Azrael, man! Will you have anything to do with the ongoing series this fall?

14 May 2009 at 06:10  

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