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Description
So I'm always coming up with characters I wanna draw for myself and thought it would be fun to do some for a print and see if I can talk Weems into inking it. Lucky for me he likes inking my pencils so I got off pretty cheap.

Yes these are obvious analogs for Batman and Robin but I wanted to play up an older more anarchistic tone. I love old race cars and wooden tracks so I gave them their Deathtrack that they are racing along. It started out as a very simple piece and became more complex as the hours raced past.

There is a bit of wonk in the figures but I have fun with wonk, so I don't worry about it too much. My main goal with figures in comic books is gesture and expression. I don't really care too much how something looks as long as those things are conveyed. At least that's what I tell myself...and everyone else.

I was really happy that the folks who picked this up at the Phoenix show really seemed to dig it. While many of my Bat fans were confused on why I did this instead of a Batman and Robin print. As if I had offended them, it was quite strange. Made me feel like I was a rat or something, so I ate their cheese and moved on.

Weems hated the paper, and that was a bad call on my part. I gave him the rough 400 bristol trying to challenge his approach and see what happens. I was really happy with the inks but it made it very difficult for him. Oops. Always treat your inkers well- whether in paper, deadline or attitude. If you want good final work, make sure the inker is happy. Happy inker= good finished product.

I'm happy with the composition. It was a bit a a brain ache and I would have liked to put one more day into it, but that may have lead to over thinking. The flat buildings were a fun way to represent a cityscape for a comic character. Almost hinting that their world is flat and 2 dimensional while still conveying tone. The track leads you around the town and then to the figures faces, then to the car. The lightning bolts in the lower left are not just meant as a design filler, but also frames the piece with out drawing attention to it. I hope. I was also pretty happy with the hand drawn logo. It could use little tweaking as well and I will prolly do that in the future.

Things I didn't pull off- Driver's right hand on his gun. It was an afterthought that got a little muddy. The framing for Shotgun's head could have been dealt with better too. It just doesn't pop enough and is tangential with the leg of the Deathtrack,

Things I love that Weems did- His free hand speed lines on the ground under and around the car are great. It's rare to get an inker that can pull that stuff off. I also wish I would have got a scan before it was spotted so you could see his free hand work on the buildings, yes freehand. No one, and I mean no one, throw as confident a line as Joe Weems. He also did a killer job capturing Shotgun's expression and details on his face. This kid has had a bad day.

And yes on the fender next to Shotgun- those are hash marks indicating just how many heads he's popped on a drive by braining.

Billy Brakhge ( cobracage.com ) and I will be making this into a screen print poster soon. We are just working out the colors right now. I'd love to see some colorists take a crack at this. So feel free color kids.

And until next time- Keep it cool, fools.

Description
So I'm always coming up with characters I wanna draw for myself and thought it would be fun to do some for a print and see if I can talk Weems into inking it. Lucky for me he likes inking my pencils so I got off pretty cheap.

Yes these are obvious analogs for Batman and Robin but I wanted to play up an older more anarchistic tone. I love old race cars and wooden tracks so I gave them their Deathtrack that they are racing along. It started out as a very simple piece and became more complex as the hours raced past.

There is a bit of wonk in the figures but I have fun with wonk, so I don't worry about it too much. My main goal with figures in comic books is gesture and expression. I don't really care too much how something looks as long as those things are conveyed. At least that's what I tell myself...and everyone else.

I was really happy that the folks who picked this up at the Phoenix show really seemed to dig it. While many of my Bat fans were confused on why I did this instead of a Batman and Robin print. As if I had offended them, it was quite strange. Made me feel like I was a rat or something, so I ate their cheese and moved on.

Weems hated the paper, and that was a bad call on my part. I gave him the rough 400 bristol trying to challenge his approach and see what happens. I was really happy with the inks but it made it very difficult for him. Oops. Always treat your inkers well- whether in paper, deadline or attitude. If you want good final work, make sure the inker is happy. Happy inker= good finished product.

I'm happy with the composition. It was a bit a a brain ache and I would have liked to put one more day into it, but that may have lead to over thinking. The flat buildings were a fun way to represent a cityscape for a comic character. Almost hinting that their world is flat and 2 dimensional while still conveying tone. The track leads you around the town and then to the figures faces, then to the car. The lightning bolts in the lower left are not just meant as a design filler, but also frames the piece with out drawing attention to it. I hope. I was also pretty happy with the hand drawn logo. It could use little tweaking as well and I will prolly do that in the future.

Things I didn't pull off- Driver's right hand on his gun. It was an afterthought that got a little muddy. The framing for Shotgun's head could have been dealt with better too. It just doesn't pop enough and is tangential with the leg of the Deathtrack,

Things I love that Weems did- His free hand speed lines on the ground under and around the car are great. It's rare to get an inker that can pull that stuff off. I also wish I would have got a scan before it was spotted so you could see his free hand work on the buildings, yes freehand. No one, and I mean no one, throw as confident a line as Joe Weems. He also did a killer job capturing Shotgun's expression and details on his face. This kid has had a bad day.

And yes on the fender next to Shotgun- those are hash marks indicating just how many heads he's popped on a drive by braining.

Billy Brakhge ( cobracage.com ) and I will be making this into a screen print poster soon. We are just working out the colors right now. I'd love to see some colorists take a crack at this. So feel free color kids.

And until next time- Keep it cool, fools.