I'll be the first to admit that I have been very, very lucky when it comes to meeting artists I have admired. I got to work With Dick Giordano who was one of the first names I recognized when getting into comics, and through him (And Patti, his lifelong partner in crime in this business!) I've gotten to meet and talk with some of the greats including the guys at Gaijin Studios. All of which have become great friends and the people I most look forward to seeing at shows (Which is why I am sorry I am not able to come down to MegaCon this weekend) and huge, huge influences on my work. Brian in particular has spent a ton of time with me not only helping improve my art but also how I do it- It's his fault I am doing everything digital now- And I will never be able to thank him enough for that...
But the very first artist who's work made an impression on me was Jerry Ordway. In fact the first comic I bought was the Batman movie book that he drew- I had been drawing since forever and when I saw that book and how he was able to capture the likenesses of the actors and all I was hooked and knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I then went out and bought everything with his name on it and studied how he would draw this or that or layout a page- The people he drew looked like real people, you could identify which car was which, and when the characters were flying they looked as though they were flying over real cities. I even wanted to emulate his career path. He started as an inker, then became a penciler, then writer, then coloring/painting his own covers for books he wrote with other pencilers...
More on that in a bit...
So, some time ago Patti was heading back to Connecticut to take care of some house business and was going to meet up with him. I asked her to bring a copy of my (Then) recent Perfect Storm book with her along with the original art for the cover to give to him. She did, and came back with a Superman drawing from my childhood idol!!!
Some time later, Mr. Ordway started a facegoogle page so I contacted him through that and asked if he was available for a commission. A few emails later and we arranged for one of my ultimate dreams to come true- He agreed to do a drawing of my character!!!
From that time on I've been lucky enough to keep in contact with him and been able to send him some of my work for his critique... The notes on last 2 pieces I sent had focused on the coloring, which is certainly my weakest area. First one was the Rocketeer piece I posted not too long ago. Something about the highlights just didn't look right. Mr. Ordway gave me some suggestions and a few touch ups later it looked much, much better...
Next was this piece- The cover to a project I am developing called Pulse. Pulse was the first, and to this point only I think, superhero I ever came up with. Somewhere floating around is an 8 page story I drew in high school of this character... God help us all if I ever come across it... So, skip ahead to a few months ago and one of my many long car trips :D To keep myself occupied I tend to give myself assignments or li'l problem solving exercises while driving- What would I do with this character, how would I fix what that person's done with that one... Then eventually I'll drive past one of those billboards with how much the lotto is up to on it and try to figure out what I would do with all that money...
Anywho, so on one of my more focused drives (Maybe the lotto wasn't high enough to peak my interest...) I thought about what I would do with a superhero character. I came up with this or that (Which I obviously can't tell ya cause then when and if I ever get to it you'll already know the story) and then remembered the character I had created all those years ago. I then came home and drew out a li'l sketch of the cover, which being a superhero book is very, very Jerry Ordway influenced! I had originally wanted to commission him to do it, but he is still DC exclusive so I had to do it myself. But, like I had mentioned before I have been lucky enough to meet a bunch of great artists and one of whom came to mind straight away- Joe Rubinstein. He was one of Dick's assistants way back in the day and to me is the one who continues Dickie's inking style most closely today, so who better to ask to help with the cover, a very "Late 80's Superman style comic" then someone who worked on those very books!
A couple emails later and we had our game plan down- I told him how much I wanted it to look like Ordway had done it so Rube went to town and sent me back this amazing piece, and it then fell on me to color it. I had something specific in mind as far as a color scheme and how to handle the lightning so I started with those then worked my way out. Here's what it looked like when I first "finished" it.
Then, I sent it to Mr. Ordway to get his opinion- And again he wrote back with some great, great tips! First off, I should mention to you guys what I had also failed to mention to him or anyone else who's tried to help me with color- I am colorblind. Not "hey, I suck at this so let's say I'm colorblind", but I am actually colorblind. Reds and greens kick my ass. And don't start sending me those hidden eye "F you color blind people" stuff- I may not be able to see it, but I still have feelings...
So yes, he mentions converting the over to B/W to check values and separating the characters and all so I did that then fiddled with the cover some more and came up with what you see below!
Don't know when or how I am going to work on this story- I had intended to write and pencil it then have Rube ink it, but time is getting away from me so I might wind up trying to write it and finding a penciler. See how that works out- I always wanted to emulate Jerry Ordway's career path and look- I am now writing a book and doing the cover just like he did on Captain Marvel, with a li'l help from the man himself!!!
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