comic

Comic Book Artist: Greg Capullo

marcos333 — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:31:26 +0000

Regardless the fact that Todd Macfarlane is the creator of Spawn and most of the characters of the series, the credits of great part of the series success should definetely goes to Greg Capullo. Greg has being the main penciler for the series for quite sometime, creating a really remarkable detailed and sick style.

It's really a pleasure to feature him here, since he was one of my favorite artists back on the 90's when I started drawing. You can check more of his recent artworks at his Devianart profile.

About the author

My name is Marcos Torres, I'm Graphic Artist from Porto Alegre, Brasil. You can get to know more about me by acessing my Personal Website or by following me on Twitter: @marcos333. You can also see some of my last projects at my Flickr.

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9 Awesome Web Comic Series

Francisco — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 21:02:27 +0000

The internet is a wonderful and beautiful thing. It used to be that if you had the talent to draw your own comics you were still limited by the avenues of distribution like newspapers and magazines. Now all you need is a computer and a small chunk of change (some web design skills wouldn't hurt.). Here are 9 of my favorite web comics that I think you will also like.

Diesel Sweeties

You 8-bit graphic lovers out there will like this one because it's illustrated in an 8-bit style, but the videogame nostalgia ends there. It takes place in a world were robots exist and even have relationships with humans. It's very witty and fun to read.

Cyanide & Happiness

This is one of my favorite web comic series. It's very simply drawn and so dark in its humor. They also produce animated versions of their comics which are incredible as well

Freak Angels

A very popular web comic written by Warren Ellis, an experienced writer who has worked with Marvel, DC, Image, and others, and an amazing illustrator named Paul Duffield. It's a more classic comic-book style.

The Brads

Brad Colbow is web designer and illustrator. He also releases a web comic series titled "The Brads" which is about two web designers making fun of the issues that some designers face with their clients and technology. If you're a designer you will certainly enjoy this comic. You might have seen his work in Smashing Magazine or Vector Tuts.

Octopus Pie

Octopus Pie is an ongoing comic series about two women living in Brooklyn, NY - their jobs, social circles, and some problems.

Ctrl+Alt+Del

A sci-fi/geek/videogame culture comic in the same vein as Penny Arcade. One awesome thing that they do is a choose-your-own-adventure style mini-series where they ask readers to email which decision should the character make.

Antics Comics

This one is similar to Cyanide & Happiness. Dark humor and simple drawing style.

Creased Comics

It's really a bunch of comics and video-comics in one. They are weird, dark, and funny.

Penny Arcade

And last but not least, Penny Arcade, the godfathers of web comics. A geek-culture comic strip about videos games, role playing games, movies, and even fatherhood. They've expanded into a little geek empire with an online TV series, an animation series, and 3-day gaming festivals held on both coasts of the U.S. WIRED magazine even did a nice profile on them in 2009, read it here.

About the author

Hi readers!
I'm a Graphic Designer in New York City (Brooklyn!). NY is a hub for design and my posts will try to focus on, but will not be limited to, design related things happening in NY, such as museum exhibits, architecture, events, local artist interviews, galleries, etc. I'm very much into technology and art and how they intersect to make multimedia art installations. Hope you enjoy my posts!
Check out my blog Distracticon.com
My site: www.franciscog.com
Follow me on Twitter

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Beautiful Illustrations by Mike Dutton

abduzeedo — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:07:53 +0000

Mike Dutton has been a writer/illustrator most of his life. He completed his first book when he was seven, a stapled mass of dot-matrix printer paper filled with leaping dinosaurs. He once drew the entire Sunday Funnies during class, but none of the jokes were funny. In fact, his teacher found them to be quite rude and his parents were asked to pay a visit. Since then, Mike has gone on to make children's storybook illustrations, comics, coloring books, magazine articles, landscape paintings, video game art, and quite possibly a portrait of your dog. He is still learning to be funny, but thinks you might enjoy his increasingly popular online comic, One Swoop Fell (www.OneSwoopFell.com).

For more information about Mike visit http://duttonart.net/. Mike is also one of the designers behind the Google Doodles (http://www.google.com/logos/)

Childrens Book Illustrations for Ages 2 to 202

Comics and Coloring Books

Tiny Works

Landscapes, Industrialscapes, and Other Escapes

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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Fantastic Illustrations by Christian Nauck

abduzeedo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:29:45 +0000

Christian Nauck is an illustrator, comic designer, and game designer from Berlin, Germany. We have stumbled upon some of his works through the Daily Inspiration and were completely dazzled by the quality. Therefore nothing better than a full feature post on Christian Nauck's work.

For more information about Christian Nauck, visit the links below. Tip: be prepared to spend some time.

"Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire" Cover

Yep, my first (and hopefully not my last) Marvel-cover. :)
It's for the last/#6 issue of the Ghost Riders Miniseries, solicited for January 2010.

Rex Plode

Rex Plode from from the great comic series Invincible!

Grifter

yeah, another fan art. ;) This time Grifter from Wildstorm! Kick Ass Character!

Spidey vs Hulk

Am I completely in marvel fanart mode?! ...seems so... ;) This time good ol neighborhood Spidey again and his good pal Hulkyschmalky!

Wolvclops

Started as a little Cyclops sketch .... :) First time I painted a whole scene I guess!

Deadpool vs. Cap

yep, another fanart. Ever awesome Deadpool vs. Captain America:

Darkstalkers

My contribution to Udon's Darkstalkers tribute book

Daredevil

Dared Evil ...uhm Daredevil portfolio work. :) I don't dig that the style looks a bit too similar to Marko Dj.'s stuff, but anyway.

It's a me! Mario!

I think I did the first scribble of this pic almost a year ago after I've had played Mario Galaxy. And finally I managed to finish it. It's a collab with my girlfriend Steffi aka Miss Matzenbatzen! http://miss-matzenbatzen.blogspot.com/ concept and Mario by me, background by Steffi.

Crimson Viper

This time something new. Only the colors are done by me, the lineart is done by Steven Cummings for Udon. The colors are personal work, though - kind of try-out how my colors would look on a lineart like this/which style I would end with.

Randon Works

Sketches

About the author

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Inspiration: Comics and Graphic Novels - Part Two: Batman

Starchild — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:52:31 +0000

In Part Two of my Comics and Graphic Novels inspiration articles, I will be looking at the caped crusader, Batman. Arguably the most famous superhero without super powers, "he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and intimidation in his war on crime" (Wikipedia, 2008).

Our second look at comics and graphic novels takes us to the most enigmatic hero of them all: Batman. With the amazing success of Superman (see Part One), DC Comics requested more characters for their titles, and artists Bob Kane and Bill Finger came up with the Bat-Man.

Originally intended to wear a domino mask, Finger suggested using a cowl instead of a simple domino mask, a cape instead of wings, and gloves, and removing the red sections from the original costume. With the disguise complete, now the task was to think of alter ego's alter ego. The name Bruce Wayne was devised from the Scottish patriot, Robert the Bruce and former American army general Anthony Wayne.

Much of the inspiration for Batman's look and personality came from the films of that time, including The Mark of Zorro, The Bat Whispers and older characters such as Doc Savage, The Shadow and Sherlock Holmes, for his master detective skills. From then on, Batman's adventures began, starting with The Case of the Chemical Syndicate in the Dark Knight's debut in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). As the issues rolled on, Batman's character grew and grew with every new villain, but with the war in full flow, DC Comics decided to alter the dark and bleak atmosphere of Gotham City and change it to that of a "bright and colorful" environment, where Batman became the commendable "father" of Gotham.

By the 1960s, Batman's popularity had begun to wane dramatically, thanks in part to the lack of interest in the genre. In order to regain fans, massive changes were made, including the yellow background added to the Batman logo, the removal of characters such as Batwoman, Bat-Mite, Ace and butler Alfred and a redesign of the Batmobile. In 1966, the well-known Batman TV series was released, starring Adam West as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The show was in initial success, with Batman comic sales of nearly 900,000. However, the camp undertone of the show began to wear thin on fans and it was eventually cancelled in 1968. The 70s saw a return to the Gothic feel of Batman, but this wasn't enough, and by 1985, sales had reached an all-time low.

It wasn't until a year later that Batman became reinvigorated, thanks to the famous comic book mini-series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. With Batman now 50, and witnessing the death of second Robin, Jason Todd, the hero decided to retire his cape and turn to drinking. Without Batman, Gotham became a Dystopia, with crime rife and overwhelming. According to Wikipedia, Bruce retook the mantle of Batman after he encountered a group of gangs known as the Mutants in the alley where his parents were murdered. A new Robin was introduced, name Carrie Kelly. The change of characters and darker feel of Batman had fans buying the comics once more. This was then perpetuated with the Crisis on Infinite Earths series, redefining the origins of the Caped Crusader and one-shot comic Batman: The Killing Joke, starring infamous villain The Joker. Coupled with Tim Burton's Batman film in 1989, Batman had become popular once again, and the fame hasn't waned since.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, 1986

Batman: Knightfall, when Bane breaks Batman's back, leaving Azrael to take the role of Batman.

Azrael as Batman

Without Frank Miller's mini-series, there would be no Batman Begins, and certainly no Dark Knight movies. Batman is one of the few superheroes people can feel especially close to, having lost his parents at a young age, and seeking vengenance, with nothing but his own body and mind, as he possessed no superhuman powers. People may also draw parallels with the change in character between the solemn Batman and the flamboyant billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne, seemingly a two-faced character, but made so as to detract any kind of suspicion of a familiarity between the two identities. With the dark undertone of Batman comes some of the best designs, which tie in very well with the popular grunge designs of today.

And who could forget the Joker, Batman's long term counterpart. Some may say one could no longer exist without the other, something I tend to agree with, especially if you've watched the movies.

Related sites

About the author

My name is Starchild, aka Luke Davis, and I'm a student from England. I passed A-Levels in Graphic Design, Mathematics and Further Mathematics and will be studying Computer Science at Nottingham Trent University in October.

I was never an artistic prodigy at an early age, but I still doodled and drew things like any normal child. As I got into high school, however, I began to enjoy art more and more, and managed to get an A at GCSE, probably my greatest achievement to date. It was very hard work, but it was worth it. Initially, I wanted to do Graphic Design at university, but I didn't want to leave my other talent behind, maths, so I decided to make a compromise: do computer science at uni and still continue my graphic design work, but on a casual, freelance basis. With any luck, I'll get spotted.

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Comic Style effect in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:10:30 +0000

I know it's been quite awhile since the last time I published a Pixelmator tutorial, but the wait is over. This weekend I took some time to play around with Pixelmator and I also had the opportunity to test out the new beta version called Tempo. I must say, the new features are really neat. That’s all I can say about that.

In this tutorial you’ll see how easy it is to create a comic style effect inspired by the stupendous work of Roy Lichtenstein. Pixelmator has very useful and fast Halftone filters that allow us to reproduce this effect from regular photos.

Inspiration

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. I used 500x500 pixels. That's just for the first frame of my comic book.

Step 2

Over at OfficialPsds you can download nice images without a background ready to be used for this project. Download the image below at http://www.officialpsds.com/Abigail-Clancy-2-PSD15018.html.

Step 3

Place the photo in your document. Resize the image a little bit and move the girl to the right side of the document. Use the image below for reference.

Step 4

Click on the Magic Wand Tool (W). Create a marquee selection like the image below.

Step 5

Go to Edit>Refine Selection. Then change the Contraction/Expand to -11.

Step 6

Create a new layer, rename it to "color 1", and fill select the Paint Bucket Tool (N). Use a cyan or very light blue and fill the layer with the blue color.

Step 7

Duplicate the "Color 1" layer and go to Filter>Halftone>Line Screen... Use 114 for the Angle, 6 for the Width, and 70 for the Sharpness. After that, change the blend mode of the layer to Screen.

Step 8

Select the "girl" layer, then with the Magic Wand Tool (W) create 2 marquee selections in the areas between the arms and body. See the image below for reference. Then go to Edit>Refine Selection. Use - 8 for the Contract/Expand. After that, create a new layer and with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the marquee selection with the gradient.

Step 9

Repeat the same thing you did in the previous step, but now in the top right area. This time fill the new layer with magenta.

Duplicate the magenta layer and go to Filter>Halftone>Line Screen. Then change the Blend Mode of this layer to Multiply.

Step 10

Select the "girl" layer and go to Filter>Halftone>Dot Screen... Use 30 for the Angle, 4 for the Width, and 70 for the Sharpness.

Step 11

Go to Edit>Select All, then go to Edit>Refine Selection. Use - 9 for the Contract/Expand. Then go to Edit>Inverse.

Step 12

Create a new layer on top of the others, and fill it with white.

Step 13

Add a new layer behind the white border layer you have just created. Repeat Step 11. Go to Edit>Select All. Then go to Edit>Refine Selection. Use -14 for the Contract/Expand. After that, select black for the color and go to Edit>Stroke. Use 4 for the width, and select Inside.

Step 14

Select the black stroke layer and the white frame layer, then go to Layer>Merge Layers, and rename it to border. After that go to Filter>Distortion>Glass. Use 12 for the Scale. That will create a nice effect on the stroke.

Step 15

Go to Image>Canvas Size. Change the Width to 1000 pixels, and the anchor to the right part of the canvas.

Step 16

Duplicate the "border" layer twice and position the new layers like the image below. Now you will have a layout like a comic book. After that, with the Magic Wand Tool select the bottom frame.

Step 17

Add a new layer, and with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the selection with a gradient. Use one starting at orange and fading to yellow.

Step 18

Here I used another image from the OfficialPsd.com site. You can download the image at http://www.officialpsds.com/Katt-Williams-PSD15004.html

Step 19

Select the bottom frame again and mask the "Pimp" layer. To do that, just make sure that the "Pimp" layer is selected and go to Image>Add Layer Mask.

Step 20

Now let's repeat the Halftone filter again. This time apply it to the "Pimp" layer. Just go to Filter>Halftone>Dot Screen. Use 30 for the Angle, 4 for the Width and 70 for Sharpness.

Step 21

Now select the orange to yellow gradient layer, behind the "Pimp" layer. Go to Filter>Halftone>CMYK Halftone. Change the Width to 6 and the UCR to 50.

Step 22

Add a new layer, and create a selection from the top frame layer. You can use either the Magic Wand Tool (W) or the Rectangular Marquee Selection Tool (M). Fill this layer with a beige. After that, select the layer, and add another layer on top of it. Fill this new layer with a black to white gradient.

Step 23

Change the gradient layer Blend Mode to Overlay and the opacity to 70%. Then go to Filter>Halftone>Hatched Screen. Use 35 for the Angle, 6 for the Width, and 75 for the Sharpness.

Step 24

Now just add the title and the other text. You can download pretty cool Comic style fonts at dafont.com. The ones I used in this tutorial are: Badaboom BB for the Pixelmator word and Comic Book for the other text. Also, every time you create a new element like rectangles use the Glass filter. That will give a drawing look to the element.

Conclusion

Pixelmator has very powerful Halftone filters that allow us to create super cool comic style effects. Also, they are incredible fast. You can preview the effect in real time which is always helpful. The important thing is to always look for inspiration, try different colors, and as usual play with the tool you are using. Pixelmator is a really cool app with great filters, and it's getting better with each new release.

Video Tutorial

This is just a short video showing how to create this effect. It's not the whole tutorial, but it will help you to execute the written tutorial.

comic

Comic Book Artist: Greg Capullo

About the author

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9 Awesome Web Comic Series

Penny Arcade

About the author

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Beautiful Illustrations by Mike Dutton

Childrens Book Illustrations for Ages 2 to 202

Comics and Coloring Books

Tiny Works

Landscapes, Industrialscapes, and Other Escapes

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Fantastic Illustrations by Christian Nauck

Christian Nauck is an illustrator, comic designer, and game designer from Berlin, Germany. We have stumbled upon some of his works through the Daily Inspiration and were completely dazzled by the quality. Therefore nothing better than a full feature post on Christian Nauck's work.

"Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire" Cover

Rex Plode

Grifter

Spidey vs Hulk

Wolvclops

Deadpool vs. Cap

Darkstalkers

Daredevil

It's a me! Mario!

Crimson Viper

Randon Works

Sketches

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Inspiration: Comics and Graphic Novels - Part Two: Batman

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, 1986

Batman: Knightfall, when Bane breaks Batman's back, leaving Azrael to take the role of Batman.

Azrael as Batman

Related sites

About the author

Sponsored Links:

Comic Style effect in Pixelmator

Inspiration

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

Step 12

Step 13

Step 14

Step 15

Step 16

Step 17

Step 18

Step 19

Step 20

Step 21

Step 22

Step 23

Step 24

Conclusion

Video Tutorial

Download the Pixelmator File

About the author

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