Robert Atkins's Blog, page 51

Magneto...

Wouldn't that be funny if the X-Men started calling Magneto , "Neto" for short.... Actually, now that I say that out loud I take it back. I hope that never happens.

Here is another sketch from Heroes Con. Since my wife was there with me at the show, strangely enough I seemed to be more productive than usual with my sketches. heh. She was really cracking the whip for me to keep drawing during the con hours. It's a good thing though, it would be nice if she could come to more shows with me throughout the year.

This was actually the last sketch I did at the con and finished it up with just about 40 min. left to go. I spent the rest of the day on Sun. quickly walking through artist alley and saying bye to all the guys I knew that had stayed through to the end of the con. That is one regret I have, is not being able to see everyone else's work while I'm at the show.

Magneto - 347

For an interesting look at Magneto's origin, and his past during WWII, you should check outMagneto Testament. You can get it for 40% off here at INSTOCK TRADES 



For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

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Raphael trashing some Mousers!...

Another sketch at Heroes con that was a blast to do. This was for Chris, actually the same proud owner of this Spiderman sketch and the Peter Parker Finger Puppet Parka. You'll have to read this post to get that.

http://robertatkinsart.blogspot.com/2011/10/peter-parkers-finger-puppet-parka.html

Anyway, he started this convention sketchbook that he takes around to various artists to get their interpretation of theTMNT sketched in it. I absolutely love it when artists do their own take on the turtles and explore all the different directions you can go with these characters. I think my favorite approach though is a mix between the old 80's cartoon and current superhero-like proportions and rendering.

I cleaned up my scan of the sketch and added the title to make it more "cover" like. I had loads of fun doing this sketch.

Raphael - TMNT - 346

For Comments, Questions or if you'd like the high res file to color this, email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
I've just realized I've done a few Turtles sketches this year too. Besides this Raph,  maybe my next favorite was this Mikey vs Ash Ketcham from Pokemon


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Nightwing....

Nightwing again, because I can't get enough of drawing this guy, well and because someone asked me to. This was another sketch from Heroes Con this last weekend.  Last Nov. a mother and son came to my table at the NC Comic Con and commissioned a sketch for their Dad's birthday. It went over really well, so at Heroes I got to meet the Dad. He came up and we chatted about his birthday sketch, and he commissioned this for his son, who is really into the character.

One of the best parts of doing so many conventions is the people I've gotten to know over the years. Both professionals and con attendees that have become friends from the shared experiences of the crazy world of Comic Cons. Even though I have a blast and get to chat with friends, the convention is certainly hard work. My wife used to think I went to these and it was like a vacation. But she's come to Heroes con with me the last couple of years and she understands now the comic marathon it is and the amount of work that goes into having a successful show. Always worth it though!

Nightwing - 345

For Questions and Comments email me at Robert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
Recently at Heroes con I had the first 3 volumes of my Blog Sketch books. I sold out of Volume 1 and 3, and only had 1 copy of Volume 2 by the time I came home ( I luckily brought a few more of those).
I do still have copies here that I can mail out, especially for those who came to my table wanting a book but I simply didn't plan for how many I would go through in a weekend.
Thanks for all the support, and for those that are interested you can email me to order these books. Volumes 4 and 5 will be out after the challenge is done July 7th.
366: Daily Sketch Challenge SketchbooksVolumes 1,2, and 3 are available for $10 each combining 180 pages of art!$5 flat rate shipping for 1 or all 3 combined.



For sketchbook orders email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com 


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WilyKit - Thundercats...

For someone that doesn't do quick head sketches, I actually tend to do more than I thought. Especially at Heroes con. When I started doing conventions, I typically did a head sketch for each kid that came up to my table and asked for one. I'd spend 10-15 min. on it and if I had time even longer.

Unfortunately I realized that some guys were taking advantage of this. A couple years ago this little girl came up and asked if I could do a sketch. She was adorable and I thought it was cool she was into comic conventions AND aware enough to appreciate the artists behind the books. So I quickly agreed and asked her who she would like as I took her book.

She said, "Captain Midnite" all proud of herself. I'm sure I had a questioned look on my face, and then I heard her father from across the aisle say "No, No, 'We' wanted a Dr. Midnite, tell him Dr. Midnite" I do know who that is, and I was surprised that she would ask for a Golden aged type character from the DC Comics book JSA. I realized this father was actually bringing his daughter around artist alley and having her ask for free sketches to fill his sketchbook of JSA characters that she didn't even know....

Winner of the Best Dad of the Year goes tooooo.....not that guy!

Seriously. I still did the sketch because I suck at saying no, and didnt want this girl to feel like she didn't do a good job. But it did bother me. I also realized that if I did a sketch for every kid that wanted a "quick" free sketch I wouldnt have time to do the sketches for people that are actually paying me to do them. One quick sketch takes me 10-15 min. at times. This last con I did at least 6-7 on Sat alone.

Anyway I'm still trying to find a balance between giving a kid a sketch and it being the highlight of their show, and me getting work done for people that have come to see me and are willing to pay for my artwork. Generally it's a tough call....Unless they ask for a Thundercats character!

Then it's an easy call and I'll always do 80's cartoon character quick sketches. So if you want to find a chink in my armor, just ask for that. You'll get it every time. I will say that for this sketch, the family did offer to pay for the sketch after I did it. That was an appreciated surprise and restored my faith in parents. Also the girl who asked for this really knew the characters and this book was obviously for her.

WilyKit Thundercats - 344

This sketch was about 4" tall and took 15 min. or so.
Also I still have prints available for this group shot or for any single character that's included in this image.










For Questions, Comments, or Print orders email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Gordon Shumway...aka ALF...

So again, a quick sketch...and again an odd request. I can say however I've never had the chance to draw ALF before. I wish I had some reference when I did this. It's pretty much what I could remember as best as I could. As I was sketching it, something about him looked way off and I couldnt figure out what it was. Then I remembered he had these huge black eyebrows, as soon as I sketched those in it looked close enough for me.

I thought about drawing a diner behind him called "Roadkill Roadhouse , You kill it - We Grill it!" and ALF holding the Tanner family Cat in his arms. But that seemed a little too dark for this 8 year old kid that for some reason was waaaay into ALF. Instead I opted for the blank stare old Gordon was famous for. In hindsight I should have included the word balloon saying "HAH...I kill me!"

ALF - 343
Very quick 5 min sketch, about 2 inches tall.

For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Quick Sketch - Snake Eyes Penquin

Okay, this is one of those odd con sketch requests. I've mentioned before I generally don't do quick sketches at shows because I don't feel I'm very good at them. But this was for someone that's been very patient waiting for a commission and he just wanted this in his "Superheroes as Penquins" sketchbook.

It was actually pretty fun to look through seeing the various interpretations.

So here in all it's glory, the penguin ninja Snake Eyes...

Snake Eyes Penguin - 342
The sketch was only about 2 inches tall in a small sketchbook.

For Questions or Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com[image error]

Donatello - TMNT...

This was another sketch I did at Heroes Con. Man I love the Turtles. While I was at the show I saw this  AWESOME poster!


I'm kicking myself now for not buying it on the spot. Hopefully I can find another at a convention. 
So I was asked to do this Donatello sketch on a blank TMNT comic. I thought it would be cool to do a newer, grittier version of him ripping through this old school 80's poster. Don't get me wrong, I love the old cartoon, but it's certainly a campy show. 
What I didn't think about was that this poster is actually a pretty positive message. You know, for the kids to stay of drugs and eat more pizza. So, according to how I drew this,  in fact Donatello is so against this message he's ripping through the poster....apparently my version of the turtles are drug-running, pizza haters.

Donatello - TMNT - 341

As you can see on the above comic, IDW Publishing is putting out a new GREAT TMNT book.You can pick up the first vol. trade here at INSTOCK TRADES for 30% off!




For Questions, Comments....or Complaints email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Fire Ice Girl...An Atkins Collaboration

Throughout the year I do various presentations to Elementary and High Schools in the area that talk about my work, how comics are made and what it's like being a comic book artist. I absolutely love to share what I do with the kids and generally they are very excited about it. My motivation for doing it is simply because I think if I was that kid and someone like me came and took the time to show me it was possible to draw comics for a living, I might have taken it seriously sooner in life.

Who knows, I was a pretty irresponsible kid, but there would have at least been that chance. Recently I was asked to come to a library in Indiana to do my presentation. Like the school presentations, I brought along an exercise for the kids to do after I talk. It's a "Create your own Superhero" assignment where I have a worksheet that asks basic questions, and then I provide figure templates for the kids to draw over. It's basically a blank mannequin-like figure the kids can put a costume on.

My son is REALLY into superheroes and seemed excited about the assignment. It had never crossed my mind to share this with him, but I was glad he took to it so quickly. So we worked on this character together. We took turns drawing different parts, I would ask him what he wanted on the character and he would pick from various design choices I gave him.

Reallly, this is his design, but I worked out the details to his satisfaction. It just took 15 min or so, but was a fun chance to do something together. The rest of our trip he talked about his new character "Fire Ice Girl!" Now that he's caught the bug we're going to create a whole team and villains for them to battle.

FIRE ICE GIRL - 340

Here's the figure templates I hand out to the kids to use. They are kind of old now, I should draw some new ones up....you know...in my free time.


I dont normally bring the figure turn around, but thought I'd post that up here too incase anyone wants to use it.

So you can save these to your computer, print them out and draw costumes over them.If you would like the "Create your own Superhero" worksheet that goes alongwith the excercise, just email me below and I can send you the word doc.

For Questions or Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com



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Goliath- Masters of Evil...

This was a fun sketch to do. Like Giant Man, Apache Chief, or Giganta, Goliath here has the power to change his size and intimidate his enemies!  It was an obvious choice to go for the low angle shot here. But the challenge was fitting a character into the space provided, while making him look enormous, while still getting to see his face and costume elements.

In my mind, he was growing large to break through all that rubble on the ground and is pretty angry with whomever put him there in the first place. This was for my pal Shane and his friend that pass this sketchbook around through various conventions.

 Another cool thing about this book is that I've already drawn in it! I had forgotten that I did this Iron Man sketch as well a few years ago.



Both sketches are about 9x12 size
For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com[image error]

Walking Dead - Michone

For anyone that knows me well, you gotta know I'm a bit squeemish when it comes to Zombies. Even doing a little sketch on this cover, I conveniently had paper cover the outer border with all the zombie faces.

So quick post, quick sketch and on to the next one.

Walking Dead - Michone - 338


I will say I read the first trade of this, and even surprisingly watched the first season. Even for someone like me that literally can't stand zombies...it's actually pretty good. 
Get a great deal on the collected trades of the Walking Dead here at INSTOCK TRADES!
Most Trades are less than $9!

For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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