More character dev for the graphic novel

So, for those of you just joining us, I've been working on a graphic novel...The Great American Graphic Novel! As a side note, character design is kind of my thing, so I have A LOT of development sketches.

Ok, so a colleague asked me how Amazona's battle kilt worked. Basically, its made of twelve alternating strips of a heavy leather-like material.  Even numbered strips on the outside and odd on the inside. So, it falls like a long skirt with slits, 'cause sometimes a lady needs to axe-kick people.

Amazona v.5938659857075057057

Don't feel like I'm nailing this design. Something is off, and whatever that thing is, makes her no fun to draw. The hair's a blast, though :)

All Star X-Men sketches...

So, what would YOU do if you had a  chance to create an X-Men series? A friend and I had been batting around ideas just for the hell of it and that conversation put some cool design ideas in my head. This is a rough approximation of how I'd handle Beast. 

More concept art for the graphic novel. Some people have commented that his mask looks like spiderman, but actually its supposed to look like one of those Area51 aliens with the spooky black eyes. Te second pic, I just wanted to work on the color scheme a little. Think I'll go with a lighter gray next time.

Same character...

...with her girlfriend. This is a sketch for a splash page late in the book. I had a very clear vision of how her hair would be splayed  out on the bed while she stares blankly into nowhere. But I wound up copping out :( Sometimes that happens in the sketching stages. Hopefully, I'll have it worked out by the time I get to the actual story-page. 

What I've been up too...

Well, I've been working on "The Great American Graphic Novel". The founding fathers intended for us to have the freedoms needed to make a graphic novel, and I've been pounding away. Since I'm keeping the story pages top secret, I hadn't been posting. 

But for you, my loyal Briamaniacs, I will post sketches!

These are some developement sketches for one of the main characters. Sometimes I need to design what a character's back looks. Being an animator, a quick alternate view sketch becomes a hole page of "Oh how do her teeth look when she smiles" "Where does her hair part when she wears pigtails"...But sometimes I just warm-up by drawing a character doing regular everyday activities.

Artstream: Ed McGuinness

Maybe you weren't paying attention...but this guy is doing some of the best mainstream work in the industry. As the legend goes (and don't quote me on this) Ed Mcguinness was a pizza delivery boy. By a stroke of luck, won the lottery and was like "Wow, now I can stop worrying about survival and devote myself to breaking in to comics." He paid his dues, showing sample pages to editors and pros at conventions, and eventually found himself pencilling a Deadpool miniseries. We loved Ed's work...We loved Deadpool, and so Mcguinness got more chances to prove his awesomeness. He started working with Jeph Loeb on Fighting American for Awesome Comics, and that relationship flourished into a full-on creative team. The two even made it to the top of the mountain: Superman. The Loeb-McGuinness Superman run is one of the best the series has ever seen, and after a ridiculous ammount of issues, they finally moved on to something new...Superman/Batman. I won't get started on the brilliance of that particular concept, as this is a post about art. After Superman/Batman, Ed "signed on" at Marvel, but the original Ultimates4 idea he was supposed to do got canned. Red Hulk became McGuiness' new project, and OMG, that book is crazy! At first, we were all on the fence about the story, but after about five issues of Hulks having Dragonball-scale battles, you kinda stop caring about why they're fighting in the first place. Keep an eye out for McGuiness' next project, he rarely fails to impress.