Greetings, Fogeys Fans! For today’s installment of The SuperFogeys, Brock asked me to play around with a different style for the flashback montage in panel 1. We’ve done may flashbacks before, usually drawn in the same style as the regular story only rendered them in grey tones. This flashback, however comes at a moment in the story that promises to have HUGE lasting implications for everybody in the SF Universe. A rougher, more visceral style was required to help add to the impact of this scene.
Anyone who follows me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter knows I like playing with different styles and materials for my sketching. I am always up for trying new pens and papers. Believe it or not, I’ve even drawn on sandpaper and a large metal blade!
For each SuperFogeys strip, I first layout the roughs in Photoshop. This allows me more speed and freedom in moving panels and figures around to make the composition just right. Once the roughs are done, I print them out on Bristol and proceed to pencil traditionally.
Pencils for SF 530
For SF 530, I branched out a bit from my usual routine. After the pencils were complete, I then laid out a sheet of grey toned paper over the pencils and inked the flashback scene using my trusty old light box and some Pigma pens. Putting aside the inked grey toned paper, I then inked the rest of the strip in my usual manor, vellum overlaid on the pencils. Lately I’ve gotten in the habit of outlining the black areas and then filling them in in Photoshop. This saves time and ink.
Inking the flashback montage on the trusty light box.
Inking the rest of the strip.
With the inking done, I then went back to the flashback scene. Using a couple of Prismacolor grey brush tip markers, I then shaded the piece. Next, I added white highlights to make the whole scene “pop”. This was accomplished using a white gel ballpoint pen and a white pastel pencil.
Adding grey tones with a Prismacolor brush tip marker.
White highlights applied.
With the analog portion of the art done, I then put the elements on the scanner and brought them into Photoshop. I colored the majority of the strip in my usual fashion and then dropped in the flashback art as a separate layer, creating a layer mask to keep it in the background.
Photoshop colors for the main strip.
Flashback dropped in with a layer mask.
I hope you have enjoyed this little peek at how SF 530 came together. Of course, you can read the final strip right here: SF 530. Thanks for reading!
Speaking of making comics, I would be remiss if I neglected to mention that today marks what would have been Jack Kirby‘s 96th birthday! In honor of the King’s birthday, I urge everyone to contribute to the Hero Initiative, a charity that helps out the creative trailblazers who helped create some of the superhero icons we all enjoy.
Written by : Marc Lapierre
This was very, very cool to see. You know I know so little about art. I think the white highlights was especially interesting, but the whole process is pretty awesome to behold.
Marc, thank you so much for the tips! And you totally nailed Jerry’s expression in the last panel. I’m totally creeped out! Great job!
That was very cool, thanks!