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UNION CITY HEROES
Qualities
We're going to talk about two new pieces of art for Panels and through them show you how Antonio and I work together on the art and design for UCH. First are my two crude drawings done in pencils. I also send descriptions to Antonio. Here are the descriptions and sketches for these.
"Panel 1: Terror of the Tentacles! Here is a sketch of the tentacle heads. This is a Lovecraftian Villain who has taken many forms. In the sixties it sent out a psychic thought that transformed people into tentacle heads. Their mouths and noses are still there, their mouths open in permanent screams, but their eyes are gone. The panel will be several people who have tentacle heads, with Doctor Tomorrow flying down. He’s got a big gun-thing but it’s not a weapon, it’s a ray to cure the people."
"Panel 2: Rescue Dog fights Bear-Cat at a power plant. Bear-Cat is an alien cat that is the size of a bear and attacks and eats electricity. Bear-Cat’s eyes glow and give off lightning. Bear-Cat is not evil but is very destructive. Rescue Dog likes to chase and fight with Bear-Cat. Rescue Dog is a regular sized dog, so Bear Cat is a lot bigger than Rescue Dog. High Tension wires or something else to look like a power plant should be in the picture."
Much of how the characters appear are there from my first sketches of them, but Antonio's additions and changes are all invaluable. Like Rescue Dog's goggles. Also, I liked my idea for Doctor Tomorrow's "T" being the harness clamp for his Rocketpack, but I must admit that the big "T" makes him look more heroic.
It takes only a few days to a week for Antonio to gets me the pencil sketches for the two panels. Sometimes we go back and forth on the layout but with these two he really nailed immediately. He captured the essence of both of my rough sketches and has good layouts. I give a thumbs up and a few days later he sends his completed pieces.
Beautiful! The occult portal is badass, and their mouths are terrifying! I also think his Power Plant is incredible! I like the pose for Rescue Dog! He's fully in the panel and it conveys the scale better. Antonio does amazing work, but there are always some things I had envisioned differently, so I finish the pieces myself. Sometimes these changes are bigger sometimes there is virtually nothing to do. These pieces are about average for what I usually do.
You'll see I changed the Tentacle Head's skin tone because I think it better shows what the Tentacle Heads are all about. I also think the slight veins and changing polyps are scarier. I punched up Doctor Tomorrow's healing ray and his gauntlets. With Bear-Cat I really wanted a particular color scheme and I wanted the eyes to cut through even the high voltage. I added the Rescue Dog text to his vest and glass to his goggles and did some colors on the Power Plant. And that bring us to the Panels as they will appear in the book!
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