Robert Atkins's Blog, page 52

Batgirl Process...

For these sketches, I rarely get a scan of each step of the process. I just got these colors in from Simon Gough and had to share.

Batgirl Process - 337



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For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

Flash Rogues...

Just got back from a week and a half long road trip that included Library presentations, a family reunion, getting burned on the beach and Heroes Con in Charlotte as the grand finale. So needless to say, I got a little behind on my blog. I would have tried to post while on the trip, but surprisingly I had terrible luck getting a decent wifi signal even at the various hotels we stayed at.

At anyrate, I worked on a few sketches while I was gone, and especially during Heroes Con that I can post to help me catch up for this final stretch of my year long challenge.

This was a cool jam piece I did with Freddie Williams on a Flash villains commission. I enjoy working on these, and think its a fun idea when an art collector gets a variety of artists to contribute to one piece. This will end up being larger and include more, but we were the first two to do work on it.

I had the pleasure of drawing Captain Boomerang, probably one of the worst character designs in comics, but actually one of the more intriguing and well developed characters in recent years.

Captain Boomerang - 336


In a similar theme, I had drawn Professor Zoom earlier in the challenge and Simon Gough has colored that up so I wanted to share.

For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

Usagi Yojimbo vs. The Hidden Fortress...

This was a cool commission idea I had to do. Usagi Yojimbo is a fantastic comic that has been ongoing for over 20 years. Created by Stan Sakai, Usagi is a samurai rabbit who has adventures in an anthropamorphic fuedal Japan.

I record a podcast with Co-Creator and friend Quinn Johnson called the Darkhan City Times Podcast. You can find links to the podcast here on the left of my blog. Our very first episode, Quinn does a pretty indepth review of the character and the series if you're interested in knowing more.

Again this was on a blank comic cover. Very fun change of pace, I dont get to draw "cartoony" that often.

Usagi Yojimbo vs. Cobra Temple - 335


For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Scarlett...

Most artists I know are pretty humble about their work. Some are very good, and if you want to know how good they are, well, you can just ask them and they'll tell you. But with the exception of those few, most artists are constantly striving to become better. With each sketch that I do, I can very often come back a month, a week or even a day later and see what I could have done better. If that's the case, then you're lucky because it means you're in the middle of a steep learning curve and moving in the right direction.

That said, usually after a piece of art is finished, it's done and you dont typically revisit it or rework it over and over. Especially with the kind of art that I do. If I do a sketch, and sell it, then it's gone and someone else owns it. If I do a comic page and turn it in, then the book is printed and it will always look that way in the comic. Often if you come across that art later, or look at past comics you've worked on, you might cringe a little on the inside knowing you could do a better job now.

In the case of this sketch, my good friend Shane had bought this gem of a sketch off eBay for $20 I believe. I did this drawing for someone in pencil at a convention and they had owned it for roughly 3 years. Shane snagged it up as a chance to own a sketch of mine for a relatively cheap price. He contacted me and asked if I'd ink it.

He ALSO asked if I could "fix" it. I know he meant it in a kind enough way, but even he could see that in the past 3 years I've grown a bit as an artist, and this was definitely not one of my best sketches even at the time. When he mailed me the sketch to ink (a.k.a. "fix") I thought it would have been bad, but as soon as I saw it, memories of mediocrity washed over me. I was SOOOOO glad to have this sketch back and actually have the chance we artists so rarely get. It was like I had the chance to go back in time, smack my 30 year old self in the head and say..."No, you do it like this! You look like a Darn Fool when you do it wrong!"

I actually forgot to scan in the old version, (I promise that's the truth) and if I can get my hands on a scan of it, I'll post the two side by side. But here is the revised 3 year old sketch.

Scarlett  (got a little "work"done) - 334
For Questions or Comments....or if you have an old sketch of mine you'd like "Fixed"Email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

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Wonder Woman...

Gearing up for Heroes Con, I have a number of pre order sketches to do, but before I can even tackle those I have a few left over blank comic cover sketches to wrap up. This Wonder Woman is one of them. I was a bit worried to do this one because of the how slick and glossy this surface was. I just happened across a pen that works Perfect on it though. I was in Hobby Lobby looking to get a couple new sets of pens, and saw they had a new brand in the size that I prefer. So I bought up two to give them a try. I pulled out this sketch cover and tried using the brand pens that I was used to, and everything was smearing right off at the slightest touch. Then I remembered I had just bought these new pens.

Sure enough it layed down the line and dried instantly with no smear. It's a size or two smaller than the Fine Sharpie and a little more black when it dries, so it seems to be a fantastic solution to these glossy covers. I have about 5 more of these to take care of so they can be done and picked up at Heroes.

Wonder Woman - 333

For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Leonardo...

I did this sketch awhile back and don't think I ever posted it. I intended to do a TMNT week but it didn't get squeezed in last fall. I'll give it another go this coming year, but I think with the sketches I have to do leading up to Heroes Con and previous commissions that will keep me busy for the final 30+ drawings for the remainder of this year long sketch challenge.

Leonardo - TMNT - 332

Original Art - Available to purchaseLeonardo - 9x12 Pencils on Bristol Board$50 (if you purchase this and would like the original inked the total will be $75)

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

Batgirl Inked...

This was the sketch I posted a couple of days ago at the pencil stage. Finally got the inks done while I was recording a podcast/interview with the dudes on the STAR JOES Podcast!  Ryan and Chuck are some pretty awesome guys and had Quinn Johnson and myself on their show tonight. I needed to keep myself busy during the times I wasn't paying attention and tadaaa...inked Batgirl.

Barbara Gordon Batgirl - 331

This is actually for the same guy that got the Huntress sketch from me at Project Comic Con. I had meant to do a Barbara Gordon sketch during my Batman week waaaaaay back in Oct. but couldnt get around to it. He requested one from back then and I'm just now getting around to it...Pretty par for the course for me lately. oy.
For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com
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Batman...

This was a recent sketch for my man Timothy Layne. One of the coolest GI Joe fans around. It's been a lot of fun getting to know him the last couple of years as we see each other at cons and email back and forth about GI Joe, our families and repeatedly about how cool the Avengers movie is.

Tim got a few of my blog sketchbooks from me and this Batman sketch is in the inside front cover of Volume 1.

Batman - 330

If you want to read a ridiculously amazing Batman story, pick up the recent story arc that just came out in a collected trade called "Court of Owls"
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The recent Nightwing issues involve this story arc as well, and I simply cannot say enough good things about how cool this story has been.
For Questions or Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

Also, I have this Joker sketch that I thought I had someone lined up to purchase it, but that seems to have fallen through. Their loss is your gain, It's for Sale again.
Joker - Original Art 9x12 inked on Bristol Board$50
Email here to purchase.
Robert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

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Jean Grey Phoenix...

Here was another sketch jam piece requested by Darin, the host of Comic Book Showdown! On this one he was doing all X-Men characters, which is another favorite of mine. When I got this the Colossus was already done and I really like the size of the figure. It's about inches tall or so. When he asked me to do this he said he wanted me to draw it just like the image he printed out for reference. Turns out the picture he printed was one that I had drawn for my blog! So I figured I had a pretty good shot of drawing it like the reference.

X-Men Jam - Phoenix - 329

I did see the jam right after I gave it back and someone had drawn in a very cool Nightcrawler to the right of Phoenix. Again if I come across the finished image of the jam for this I'll post it up.
For Questions or Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com

Black Widow...

I realized in the few "Avengers Month" characters I actually got around to, I haven't drawn Black Widow yet.  This is just a tiny, tiny drawing that I did as a sketch at the recent convention. It was done on one of those blank comic covers.

The guy who requested this sketch (and the next sketch I'm going to post) is Darin, he's one of the hosts of the podcast Comic Book Showdown. You can check that out on iTunes, I did a quick interview with him so that should be out in episode 131 they put out next week.

He was using the blank cover as a chance to do a jam piece. So first he had Clayton Henry sketch in this Captain America. He wanted me to sketch in Black Widow next to him here. I'm excited to see the whole thing when it's finished. I know he was going to have Jim Valentino add a Beast sketch too.

Black Panther Jam sketch - 328

The sketch of Black Widow here is actually smaller than a business card.
An interesting fact about Black Widow is my wife and I named our dog after her. When we first got our dog as a tiny puppy she was all black with a little brownish red areas on her paws. So when we were thinking of names I broke out the old Marvel Encyclopedia to look up names. We came across Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. the Black Widow and it seemed perfect for our new puppy. So we shortened it to "Tasha"...well unless she gets in trouble then I use her full name "Who ate my sandwich on the table?....Natasha Romanoff Atkins a.k.a. The Black Widow!!!!" 
If I come across the full jam piece I'll post it up.

For Questions and Comments email me atRobert@RobertAtkinsArt.com