Robert Atkins's Blog, page 3

Daily Sketch...Hank Pym (a.k.a. Giant Man, Ant Man, Yellow Jacket)

To be honest I didn't know much about Hank Pym as a character. I didn't get into reading Avengers until the early 2000's. I was more of an X-Men guy, and I read Captain America as well, but then I read Avengers Forever by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheco (one of my favorite artists at the time). In that story Hank Pym plays two different characters at the same time...it's confusing and timey-wimey, but even if you're not well versed in Avengers history, this book is like a crash course in it. I learned there that Hank Pym was a brilliant scientist, was Ant-Man, then reversing his shrinking serum was able to grow into Giant Man. At one point he has a mental breakdown and a second persona emerges and he calls himself Yellow Jacket. Eventually he falls back into the Avengers roll as go-to scientist and is an amalgam of Giant Man and Ant-Man whenever the situations need one ability or the other.

This is obviously very generalized and written by someone who doesn't know the character very well, but there you have it. There are parts of his character I like, and others I don't find very enjoyable to read. I do like that he has this legacy of a variety of identities that he floats between, and the look of these different personas is unique and very fun to draw.

I had this commission request a very long time ago to do a montage piece of these 3 Hank Pym characters together. So here's the pencils. I'll post up the inks very soon!

Hank Pym - 849 Sorry for the bad "scan" this was just a photo from my phone with the drawing on my table. Not sure why I didn't take the time to scan it. There's a nicer scan of the finished inks I'll post.

Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Spider Gwen...

Here's another commission from last summer's conventions. First time getting to draw this character. One of my favorite things that came from the Spider-Verse story arc. That was a really good story too by the way. If you're looking for a fun/intense Spiderman story to read, this really has it all.

Spider-Gwen - 848


Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Captain America...

Another larger head sketch, like the previous Batman. This one of Captain America. Not much to comment on. I need to be updating the blog more. I'm not sure how many people are visiting my blog without being directed from my Facebook or Twitter links.

If you check out my blog through an RSS feed, or visit the site occasionally to see if I'm updating, please post in the comments to let me know. I need to centralize my art updates and I'm thinking of just sticking to facebook and google plus to do that. Having a personal website doesn't seem to be the most up to date way to get promotion and updates on my art to the general public.

Anyway, I've got plenty of content to share, so I'll keep posting for the next few weeks.

Captain America - 847


Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Batman's Cool...

So nothing much to this one except that it was cool to draw Batman. I've actually done two of these head sketches, they're not the same, but just both Batman head sketches. I did one for my bother-in-law and the other as a kickstarter reward. They were great studies on shadow and expression....this one he looks pretty grumpy. Always helps to work on that kind of thing.

Batman - 846

Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Scuba Duke....

This commission was a LOT of fun. It took a classic scene from a GI Joe cartoon episode and added a and added a little redesign to the mix. In one of the early mini-series of GI JOE, episode 3 "The Worms of Death", GI Joe have to race against Cobra to obtain certain elements. In this episode they are after Heavy Water as a key element and battle on the sea floor. In the mix these gigantic sea worms come out of these coral pillars and attack them. Over all classic cartoon, GI JOE fun!

* A part of this whole sequence was field commander, Sgt "Duke" Hauser. So this commission focused on Duke as a part of the mission. I got to research the subs gear from the show, and add in some vintage scuba elements at the request of the awesome dude who commissioned this.

On top of that, we get the added work of Simon Gough who nailed the coloring job and really makes it look like it was pulled straight from the cartoon. I'm glad we were able to get this one colored, I think it makes all the difference!

*I was misremembering this episode, I thought it was Flint at the sea floor with Baroness, but was quickly corrected that Duke was a big part of the episode! haha! Thanks for the correction.

Scuba Duke - 845
Pencils and Inks by Robert Atkins
Colors by Simon Gough

Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Scarlett Snake Eyes....

This was a commission for the Elders of the RuneStone Kickstarter campaign. That certainly was quite a long time ago that the campaign ended. Since then writer and co-creator Quinn Johnson was working with Disney on the Disney Infinity video game and I had a steady stream of work that all combined to keep us from getting a full production schedule going to complete the campaign. That said, in the last 6-9 months we've made major headway in completing the kickstarter reward commissions and production on the book. Final pages for issue #3 are being penciled and inked very soon, and issue 4 is now completely laid out and ready for finished pencils!!

Quinn and I have always known we'd complete the project, but life and work has seemingly always provided great opportunities but also roadblocks to RuneStone's production. We appreciate everyone's patience, we have full confidence that the first 4 issues and printing of that collected graphic novel WILL indeed happen. We have made a more concerted effort to fit that into both our schedules and we see regular progress. Quinn has been updating the campaign more often as well to keep up that communication with everyone that contributed to this project.

As I get the commissions done I'll be posting them here as well as on the campaign updates. This one was unsurprisingly for our friend Olivia who is one of the biggest Snake Eyes/Scarlett fans I know! She's been super patient and a great supporter of our work. Thanks so much Olivia!

Snake Eyes Scarlett - 844

Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsors
You can PREORDER the next book I'll have work in on the comic shelves through www.DCBService.comor your local comic shop.I'll have sourcebook profiles and short stories featuring the characters in the book HASBRO HEROES From IDW Publishing. Click the link above for a 35% discount on the book!

INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Batman TMNT....

Here's a fun cover commission I did this last fall. I love that comic companies are able to work out these great cross overs. Most recently they had a Thundercats and He-Man cross over, it's something I wish could happen more. Some crossovers make more sense than others, but if you aren't too bothered about why or how these characters make sense in each other's universes, you can really enjoy the stories they provide. Unfortunately, these are always business propositions first and the business of it will determine if the story gets made.

For example I would love to see a Deadpool and Snake Eyes cross over. I think combining two guys with similar skills, and fighting style, but one doesn't talk and the other won't shut up...perfect buddy cop scenario. You've even got the perfect catalyst of the Red Ninjas from the Arashikage clan that dress identically to the Hand ninja from Marvel comics. It's completely plausible that both would be involved or following a plot by one or both Ninja clans which would bring them together.

IDW would gain a LOT from combining their best known and most popular GI Joe character with Deadpool. Marvel on the other hand might not have as much to gain by loaning out their wildly popular character. But working around that are how business deals are made. It's a project I'd love to see, but who knows if these kinds of things would ever happen.

Batman TMNT - 843


Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsor
INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch: Commission Update - Dusty and Covergirl GI JOE...

Man, talk about commissions that needed done. This was a commission for Rob Steal, from waaaay back. It had fallen through the cracks of emails and just not staying in touch. Proud to say we got this worked out and finished. For anyone that's waited for a commission from me, you think you've waited awhile, but this guy has been a trooper. I'm having a great time catching up on these, and it feels like I'm getting out of debt. I've always called it my "Sketch Debt", and it feels good to be making headway again. I've got a new schedule and I'm carving out time each day getting these taken care of.

I'll be posting here and on my facebook page for who's commission is on deck, and I'll be posting updates. If you don't want to see a preview of your commission, just let me know and I'll wait to post anything until you've received it.

Dusty and Covergirl - 842

Proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsor
INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow 

Daily Sketch - Snake Eyes Cover recreation....

Hey everyone! So this commission request was to recreate the older Action Force cover. I think this is some kind of Holiday special issue, but not sure what issue # this was. I was asked to basically redo the cover, but specifically in my style. I'm not trying to draw this line for line, but it was still cool to work on. There's just a fantastic quality to the older art on these covers. Rendering styles have changed today, but there's still so much dynamics and action in these covers that are just phenomenal.

Snake Eyes Action Force - 841

Daily Sketch- Spidey...

I love doing these quick head shots of Spider-man. This was a sketch inside the cover of one of my sketchbooks. I think I did this back at Salt Lake Comic Con. I had a surprisingly low amount of commission requests there, and was able to catch up on Kickstarter commissions for Elders of the RuneStone. This was one of those I believe. 

Spidey - 840
I'm still very proud to represent my Blog and Social Media Sponsor
INTOCK TRADES



You can Check out these two volumes of Snake Eyes that I worked on for IDWSnake Eyes Vol 1Snake Eyes Vs. StormShadow