David Petersen's Blog, page 47

Legends of the Guard Cover Stories Video 3

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard covers aren't just wrap-around images meant to imply mouse-legends...no, I write a Legend for each cover (including the variants) and include it for the fans to read in each publication. To celebrate the release of a Legends of the Guard Volumes 1-3 Box Set, I've recorded narration for some of my favorites:


Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Cover Legends 3


The Legends of the Guard Box Set is available from Your local comic or book shop and Amazon.com

For a past blogpost on the Box art for the Boxed set: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/07/legends-of-guard-vols-1-3-boxed-set-art.html
For process blogposts on the 3 covers in the video:
The Cloverdale Snake Tamer:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/05/legends-of-guard-hardcover-art-process.html

The Moth Potentate Coronation:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2015/03/legends-of-guard-vol-3-4-cover-process.html
The Lost Calogero Caravan:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2014/12/legends-of-guard-vol3-cover-1-process.html


2017 Appearances: Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 2-5C2E2: April 21-23Heroes Con: Jun. 16-18San Diego Comic Con: July 19-23Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 22-24New York Comic Con: Oct. 5-8

Power of the Dark Crystal #1 Variant Cover Process

Archaia will be publishing a new Dark Crystal series: "The Power of the Dark Crystal". Adapted from a screenplay by the same name, this is a sequel story to the film The Dark Crystal. As a big fan of Henson and that original movie, Archaia editors Cameron Chittock & Sierra Hahn asked me to do a variant cover for issue 1.


In this blogpost I go through my process for creating the cover art you see to the left.



Pencil sketches:
I was given a packet of reference material for the new series from Henson, which included new characters and a new species. I tried my hand at the two new main characters, but opted to only depict one of them in my cover, using the remaining space for the crystal itself and a menacing Skeksis.

I drew these on copy paper, and with the Skeksis, I got out of control having not planned a composition but just free drawing. I had to tape a few sheets of extra paper together to extend the drawing in the directions I was going. The main Gelfling character was sketched out considerably smaller and is based on some work by Brian Froud included in the reference packet. (I couldn't find my loose sketch of the crystal & surroundings when I was putting this blogpost together).

Layout/Composition:
I scanned the sketches above (and the now missing Crystal sketch) into Photoshop and worked up a composition for the cover. Each drawing was tinted a different color to help define the characters. This layout is a bit different for me because it's less of a scene and more of a montage-collage.

Because this stage had to meet with the approval of both Archaia & Henson, I also painted in the basic color concept and added a Froud celestial design pattern in to fill up some of the background. I sent this .jpg over to my editors to wait for approval before proceeding.


Inks:
The layout was approved with no changes (and very quickly) so I started inking the piece. First, I printed out my composite layout at the art-size (about 10" x 15") and then taped it to the back of a sheet of Strathmore bristol. On a light pad, I'm able to see through the bristol to the printout and use it as a guide while I ink. This saves me a later step of erasing pencil or having to digitally edit out blue-line pencil. I used Copic Multiliners to ink with (the 0.2, 0.3, & 0.7 nibs)

Below you can see some in-process photos I took to share with one of my editors as I worked:




Color Flats:Once the inks were completed, I scanned the art into photoshop and prepared the file for coloring. At first this means adjusting the levels so that the blacks are true black and the whites are true whites while eliminating stray midtone greys. Then I lay in flat color behind the linework layer establishing the areas of color (the Skeksis' skin, the armor, the crystal, the Gelfling's armor & clothes, etc.) I also establish the color-holds. These are areas where I don't want my inked linework to be black, but to be a color. The background pattern is the most obvious one of these, but I also held the linework of the crystal, the Gelfling's freckles, & the glow of the pit below the crystal.



Final Colors:
The last step is to render all the colors adding light, shadow and texture. I mainly use the dodge and burn tools in Photoshop to do this while using a stock textured brush. I also make lots of slight color adjustments as I work, using the free-hand lasso tool with a feather on it to make subtle color shifts for rosey noses, glowing light sources that would affect color shifts, etc.

The final cover art sans-logo can be see to the right. And follow @Archaia on Twitter for updates about this new Dark Crystal series.



2017 Appearances: Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 2-5C2E2: April 21-23Heroes Con: Jun. 16-18San Diego Comic Con: July 19-23Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 22-24New York Comic Con: Oct. 5-8

Toned Paper Commissions

In August I posted a batch of my Toned paper Commissions from Heroes & SDCC. Today I'm sharing all the rest of the toned pieces I did for Boston, Baltimore, & NYCC. I plan to keep doing these at conventions in 2017.

Lieam
A Wizarding Mouse
A Rough Guardmouse
Big from Perhapanauts
Choopie from Perhapanauts
Hogwarts Invitation
Rathraq from Rumble 
Thai Artist Mouse
Jester Mouse
Killer Robot
Pilot from Farscape
Dog in a suit
Dog in a suit 
Guardmouse
Healer/Apothecary Mouse
Old Guardmouse
A Fox in Armor
Shere Khan
An Ancestor of Mr. Toad's
Saxon
A Guardmouse
Dog in clothes
Hoggle from the Labyrinth
An Otter as Sherlock Holmes
A Guardmouse
A Mouse Blacksmith
Plague Doctor Mouse
Locke & Key Mouse
A Guardmouse


2017 Appearances: Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 2-5C2E2: April 21-23Heroes Con: Jun. 16-18San Diego Comic Con: July 19-23Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 22-24New York Comic Con: Oct. 5-8

Petersen Non-Mouse Guard checklist.

I was asked by a fan on Twitter if there is a complete source/checklist for all my Non-Mouse Guard published/printed work. I was able to tweet him back with some help, but this blogpost will serve as a complete* list of my Non-Mouse Guard works.

*I will try to update it as best as I can. If fans find corrections, let me know.


Covers Locke & Key Small World Variant (IDW)
Star Wars #1 Variant (Marvel)

Avengers Now #24 Variant (Marvel)
Rocket Raccoon #1 Variant (Marvel)
Mr. Stuffins #1 Variant (BOOM!)
Mr. Stuffins #2 Variant (BOOM!)
Mr. Stuffins #3 Variant (BOOM!)
Muppet Robin Hood (BOOM!)
Muppet Robin Hood #2 (BOOM!)
Muppet Robin Hood #3 (BOOM!)
Muppet Robin Hood #4 (BOOM!)
Muppet Peter Pan #1 (BOOM!)
Muppet Peter Pan #2
Muppet Peter Pan #3
Muppet Peter Pan #4
Muppet King Arthur #1 (BOOM!)
Muppet King Arthur #2 (BOOM!)
Muppet King Arthur #3 (BOOM!)
Muppet King Arthur #4 (BOOM!)
Muppet Snow White #1 (BOOM!)
Muppet Snow White #2 (BOOM!)
Muppet Snow White #3 (BOOM!)
Muppet Snow White #4 (BOOM!)
Muppet Sherlock Holmes #1 (BOOM!)

Fraggle Rock Volume 2 #1 (Archaia)
Jim Henson's Storyteller: Dragons #1 & HC (Archaia)
Skyward Variant (unpublished)
Dragon Prince #4 (Top Cow)
Following Cerebus #12 Jam Cover
Ramayan 3392 A.D. #3 (Virgin)
Wilds End #1 Variant (BOOM!)
Thanatos Diver Variant (unpublished)
TMNT Micro Series: Raphael (IDW)
TMNT Micro Series: Michelangelo (IDW)
TMNT Micro Series: Donatello (IDW)

TMNT Micro Series: Leonardo (IDW)
TMNT Micro Series: Splinter (IDW)
TMNT Micro  Series: Casey Jones (IDW)
TMNT Micro Series: April O'Neil (IDW)
TMNT Micro Series: Fugitoid (IDW)
TMNT: Turtles in Time #1 (IDW)
TMNT: Turtles in Time #2 (IDW)
TMNT: Turtles in Time #3 (IDW)
TMNT: Turtles in Time #4 (IDW)Pinups TMNT 30th Anniversary Issue (IDW)
Hellboy 20th Anniversary (Comic Con 2014 Souvenir Book)

Cursed Pirate Girl #1 (Comixpress edition)
Cursed Pirate Girl #1 (Olympian Publishing)

Cursed Pirate Girl Vol 1 (Archaia)
Gronk: A Monster's Story (Action Lab)

Drafted: A Story from the Space Marine Corps #3
Bodie Troll #4 (Red 5)
Dark Crystal: Creation Myths Vol 1 (Archaia)
2012 Baltimore Yearbook: Liberty Meadows
2013 Baltimore Yearbook: Usagi Yojimbo

2014 Baltimore Yearbook: Grendel (incentive print)

Baltimore Yearbook 2016: Archie 
Hawkman Companion (TwoMorrows)
Fish 'N Chips (Steve Hamaker)

Perhapanauts (Dark Horse/Image)
Iron - Or the War After (Archaia)
Monsters & Dames 2009
Monsters & Dames 2012
Monsters & Dames 2013
Monsters & Dames 2014
Jim Henson's Storyteller (Archaia)
Robotika: For A Few Rubles More (Archaia)
Runners: Snow Job (Sean Wang)
Runners: Snow Job (Sean Wang)
Skin Deep Vol 1: Orientations (Kory Bing)
Season of the Witch #3 (Image)
Spongebob Square Pants #50 (United Plankton Pictures)
Table Titans Book 1 (Toonhound Studios)
Table Titans Book 2 (Toonhound Studios)
Usagi Yojimbo #104 (Dark Horse)
Usagi Yojimbo: The Sakai Project (Dark Horse)
Vogelien Book 1 (Fiery Studios)
Beyond The Western Deep Vol 1 Hardcover

Stories/Interiors Snowy Valentine Children's Book (Harper Collins)
The Abominable Charles Christopher: Guest Strip (webcomic)
Gotham Academy #17 ~ 3 page story (DC Comics)
Ramayan 3392 A.D. #3 ~ 3 page story (Virgin)
Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream (Locust Moon)
Wind In the Willows (IDW)
House of Mystery #7 ~ 5 page short (Vertigo)
Fables #150 ~ 2 page short (Vertigo)
Panels for Primates (comiXology)
Ye Old Lore of Yore ~ 3 short stories & cover (ComiXPress)

Misc
Asgard's Chosen Game (Mayfair Games)
Locke & Key Head Games Special Edition13 original pieces inserted (IDW)
Mondo Poster: Brave
Modo Poster: The Rescuers
The Mill at Calder's End Promo/Kickstarter Poster

Probamon Card Art (Reading With Pictures)

Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Packaging 
Torchbearer RPG Chapter header (Burning Wheel)

Torchbearer RPG Petersen Bestiary Vol 1 & Vol 2

Star Wars Galaxies 4 Trading Card (Topps)
Star Wars Galaxies 5 Trading Card (Topps)

Legends of the Guard Cover Stories Video 2

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard covers aren't just wrap-around images meant to imply mouse-legends...no, I write a Legend for each cover (including the variants) and include it for the fans to read in each publication. To celebrate the upcoming November release of a Legends of the Guard Volumes 1-3 Box Set, I've recorded narration for some of my favorites:


Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Cover Legends 2



The Legends of the Guard Box Set is available from Your local comic or book shop and Amazon.com

For a past blogpost on the Box art for the Boxed set: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/07/legends-of-guard-vols-1-3-boxed-set-art.html
For process blogposts on the 3 covers in the video:
The Gatherers in the Dale:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2013/08/legends-of-guard-vol2-hardcover-cover.html
The Morten-Harvest Trio:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2013/06/legends-of-guard-vol-2.html
The Coin Horde Memorial:http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2013/07/legends-of-guard-vol-2.html

2017 Appearances: Emerald City Comic Con: Mar. 2-5C2E2: April 21-23Heroes Con: Jun. 16-18San Diego Comic Con: July 19-23Baltimore Comic Con: Sept. 22-24New York Comic Con: Oct. 5-8

Locke & Key Small World Variant Cover Process

I've not been quiet about my love of the Locke & Key series by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez. It's one of my go-to recommendations for anyone who can take some of the spooky stuff. Back in 2013 I did 13 pieces of original art as tip-ins for the Head Games (volume 2) limited edition set. This December a one-shot stand-alone issue of the series comes out and I was asked to do a variant cover for it.


"Three years after wrapping up their award-winning, best-selling Locke & Key saga, the team that built Keyhouse returns to Lovecraft, Massachusetts with a new tale of terror and suspense! An impossible birthday gift for two little girls unexpectedly throws open a door to a monster on eight legs!"


Here you can see the finished cover, but below I run through a step-by-step process of creating the variant cover art.


Sketches/Pencils:
After reading the synopsis and then the script for this story, I decided to focus on the spider and they doll-house version of Keyhouse. I consulted Gabe for two things, 1) the specific species and pattern markings of the spider (google image search gave to wide a variety to assume) and 2) a Google Sketchup model of Keyhouse that I could turn and rotate for reference. The model is the main geometry of the house, not filled in with the trim, brick, or even many of the windows, so I had to study through my L&K volumes to get all the details presented in my chosen angle of Keyhouse.

Layout/Composite:
After I had a my tight drawings of the spider and Keyhouse, I assembled them in Photoshop. Because they were drawn as separate elements, I could manipulate them individually, changing the scale, rotation, even shifting the spider's legs, without disrupting the house behind them.

The colors I put down were just a way of helping me to see the final image better, what was house and what was spider (and what was background). I drew in a web digitally and it not only helped me decide what to do with the background, but also the web lines drew the eye inward to the spider's head and the core of Keyhouse.

Inks:
I printed out the above composite (being 10" x 15" I had to print the top half and bottom half separately on two sheets of printer paper and then tape them together.) I taped the printout to the back of a sheet of Strathmore 300 series bristol. On a lightbox (I'm now using a 17" x 12" Huion light pad) I was able to see the printout through the bristol so that I could ink directly on the bristol surface without having to transfer or re-pencil.

The inking was all done with Copic Multiliners (the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs with a bit of brush for the larger fill-ins on the spider).
Below you can see process shots I took with my phone as I inked to share with a few art buddies:

Inking process:






Color Flats:
Once the inks were done, I scanned in the lineart, cleaned up any flaws and imperfections, and then started everyone's least favorite part of coloring: flatting. It's the part of the job where you isolate different areas as different colors: the spider's main body is a different color than its markings, which is also different from Keyhouse and the background, and the webbing....not to mention all the little house details like roof, stone, and trim. Most of the color selection here was close to what ended up being the final...but that was mostly because the colors were already established either by previous L&K content, sample images of the new key, and nature.


Final Colors:
The final rendering was all done using the Photoshop tools Dodge & Burn (and then a bit of color shifting here and there on the Spider's legs). Dodge is a tool used to lighten an area (there are some other controls for the range and exposure) and Burn is to darken an area in the same way. I use a textured brush as I use either tool, which gives the work that pebbled look.

To the right you can see the final cover art sans-logo.

Locke & Key: Small World will be out in December.



2017 Appearances coming soon...

Wind In the Willows: Field Mice Illustration Process

Later this year, IDW will be releasing my illustrated edition of the Kenneth Grahame classic Wind in the Willows. The book will be Grahame's original text, with over 70 illustrations by me.

For this week's blogpost, I'm going to share the process of one of the b&w illustrations from Chapter 9: Wayfarers All:

"Many were digging and tunneling busily; others, gathered together in small groups, examined plans and drawings of small flats, stated to be desirable and compact...Some were hauling out dusty trunks and dress-baskets, others were already elbow deep packing their belongings; while everywhere piles and bundles of wheat, oats, barley, beechmast, and nuts lay about ready for transport."

It was very hard to narrow down all the moments in the book to choose to illustrate. In chapter 9 Rat goes on a early fall walk to find the field mice getting ready to leave the fields, which will be soon ready for harvest, packing up all their belongings and planning for the future. One of the troubles with illustrating this book is scale. At times the animal characters seem that they could be tiny, their appropriate size in our world, while at other times they must be somewhat bigger, or even the size of tall children. With the mice pacing up all the natural harvest items, it made that job more difficult, but I opted to not include Rat, so that his size relation to them is not known. I sketched out several mice hauling, packing, and looking at plans.



I then scanned those pencil sketches and in photoshop, composited them into a layout that told the story. I tinted each mouse a different color so I could see where the mess of lines for one ended and the mess of lines for another began. Instead of redrawing the vertical bundles of wheat (or barley), I copied and pasted the sketch several times over to build up the shape of the mass I wanted behind the mice.


The digitally composited sketch was then printed out at-size (about 11" x 7") and then taped to the back of a sheet of 300 series Strathmore Bristol. On a light box I was able to see through the bristol's surface to the printout so I could ink on the bristol using the sketch as a guide. For pens, I used Copic Multiliners (the 0.7 & 0.3 nibs). Here I have two in-process photos I took with my phone and posted back when I was inking this piece.


Drawing and inking mice for this book took a conscious brain-shift to do. I wanted them to look like my drawings, but not like Mouse Guard Guardmice. The bodies are obviously different proportions, and that was easy to get around because of the clothes, but altering the features of the eyes, inner ears, and even some of the shape of the face took some concentration.




With so much going on in this piece, I needed to focus on the textures. Not only are the natural items important to texture and give a pattern to, but so are the clothes, the variations in fabric, and the tonality of the various trunks, dress baskets, and boxes.

Here you can see the completed image as it will appear in the book along with 49 other B&W illustrations and 20 color.




Wind in the Willows from IDW will be available Fall of 2016 and is available to pre-order on Amazon.com:https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Willows-Illustrations-David-Petersen/dp/1631403435






2017 Appearances coming soon...

Legends of the Guard Cover Stories Video 1

Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard covers aren't just wrap-around images meant to imply mouse-legends...no, I write a Legend for each cover (including the variants) and include it for the fans to read in each publication. To celebrate the upcoming November release of a Legends of the Guard Volumes 1-3 Box Set, I've recorded narration for some of my favorites:


Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard Cover Legends 1





The Legends of the Guard Box Set is available from Your local comic or book shop and Amazon.com For a past blogpost on the Box art for the Boxed set: http://davidpetersen.blogspot.com/2016/07/legends-of-guard-vols-1-3-boxed-set-art.html
2017 Appearances coming soon...

NYCC 2016 Auction Piece

Last month, I painted a Mouse Guard piece that will be up for bid in the charity auction at New York Comic Con this weekend. The charity benefits St. Jude Children's Hospitals, and to-daye, the NYCC & C2E2 auctions have raised over $240,000 for St. Judes.

I documented my process painting this 15" x 20" piece as I broadcast live from my back yard. Below are the 3 videos of the full painting (the videos were interrupted when urgent calls from my Mother came in that I had to take) and the questions I'm answering were the ones being asked by folks watching live at the time and commenting on Facebook.


Video 1:
 

Video 2:
 
Video 3:
 


2016 Appearances:New York Comic Con: Oct 6-9
2017 Dates coming soon...

2016 Mouse Guard Sketchbook

The 2016 Sketchbook is finally coming out! Like previous years, this is a 24 page, full-color, sketchbook collection of pieces I drew and colored within the last year.  Limited to 500 copies, signed and numbered, it will debut at New York Comic Con (I'll be in Artist Alley: J1)

But...I have it available in my online store already as a pre-order (they will be shipped out when I return home from NYC)
http://mouseguard.bigcartel.com/product/2016-mouse-guard-sketchbook

Below you can see a few sample pages from this year's book:


Top L-R: Morello the patron mouse of Printmaking ~ Kenzie, Saxon, & Lieam on a Fall patrol ~ a fierce band of Guardmice. Bottom L-R: Guardmice fanning a peacock with collected feathers ~ The 5th Black Axe ~ Sadie in a leaf boat.

I didn't take as many inked commissions in the last year as I have in the past, and because of that, putting together a sketchbook took longer than past years as well. I filled the book mostly with personal pieces I drew for myself or for fun (and a few of those originals will be for sale in my portfolio at NYCC and in my online store afterwards if they are unsold). And with my schedule probably becoming more busy because of Weasel War, My Mom's health, and the Mouse Guard film, I don't know if 2017 will have a sketchbook...

2016 Appearances:New York Comic Con: Oct 6-9
2017 Dates coming soon...