FAVORITE ARTISTS: Juan Zanotto

Juan Zanotto was an extremely talented Italian-Argentinean artist.

Here are some fine samples of  his work from the comic book Henga (1974-1975):

SEGUNDO: Putting God in the Mix

SEGUNDO is the name of my latest comic book project.

Created, written and drawn by me, and colored by Donna Gregory, it will be a mini series telling the story of John Segundo Santello, a man chosen by God as a nowadays John the Baptist who's to prepare the way for the return of the Messiah, Jesus Christ to Earth.

Links

• SEGUNDO has a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/SEGUNDO-comic-book/235235103229274?sk=wall
• Additional information in my official website at http://www.juliomolinamuscara.com/Drawings/JM/segundo-comic-book-by-julio-molina-muscara.aspx
• Original artwork for sale at  http://www.juliomolinamuscara.com/Drawings/JM/artwork-for-sale.aspx#apocryphal All sales are used to fund the cost of creating this comic book.

Artwork

Art from Omega Chase #6

Hello all! Here is some art from the upcoming Omega Chase #6.

For more artwork and news related to Omega Chase or my other comic book and illustration projects, please visit my Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Julio-Molina-Muscara/142987274512

Omega Chase #5 is almost ready!

Issue 5 from Omega Chase is almost ready to be sent to print!

Omega Chase tells the story of Mack Baron, a man who knows who he is but doesn't know where (nor when) he's supposed to be.

This issue sheds some more light over the secrecy of Mack's mysterious life and his "powers", as our hero dwells the land of the Dark Elves along a team of warriors who distrust him.

Some pages from the issue, I hope you like them.

From Thumbnails To Pencils

I am going to use page 55 from my Hulk Fan Webcomic to show how I usually draw a comics page:

1) After reading the script, I take as much as I need to imagine how the page could look like. Dozens of ideas run in my head, and I pick what I think works best.

2) When I am ready to draw, I scotch a regular "computer printer" page (size A4) on my drawing table, and start doing "thumbnails".

Thumbnails are small and very sketchy versions of the final page, which allow me to see how the story develops graphic wise on the page. "Storytelling" is seen here: how the story flows and is told graphically. I believe this is the single most important ingredient when drawing pages.


Note: The scotch tape is special for artists, does not spoil the paper.

The number of thumbnails I draw could vary from just one to two or three in some cases. Sometimes I redraw single panels only.

Note 2: In the attached sample, you see some discarded panels (marked with an X). The final thumbnail is on the right.

3) When the thumbnail is ready, I scotch it on a side of the drawing table, and scotch in the middle of it a large white drawing board to draw the final page.

The drawing board is an A3 size page that Architects use in Argentina. A3 is approximately 11 x 17 inches, which is the standard size of boards used in the USA by comic book artists, so they work just as well.

Using a "blue" pencil (it's actually light blue), I sketch the thumbnail at full size, and apply details if necessary.

Note: The light blue pencil that I use is a Staedtler L3 karat aquarell made in Germany.

4) When the blue pencils are done, I grab an HB pencil and draw the final pencils (all of it: lines, shades; characters, backgrounds) over the blue pencils, and use a fine point marker to draw the panel borders.

Note: I use HB pencils by Papermate or Faber, and markers by Staedtler.

5) Finally, using my Windows PC, I scan the artwork at 300 DPI in color mode, and using Photoshop, remove the blue color, convert the artwork file to grayscale, make any necessary adjustments so the page is ready for the next stage (inker, colorist, or letterer), and save it as TIFF with LZW compression.


This process takes about 4 hours, time depends on the complexity of the drawing.

> More drawing samples at www.juliomolinamuscara.com

> See the Hulk Fan Webcomic at http://incredible-hulk-library.com/superhero-library/incredible-hulk/incredible-hulk-webcomic.aspx

Comprando comics en Córdoba, Argentina

(Find English version below)

Conozco dos opciones para comprar comics en Córdoba:

1) Crossover comics store
www.crossover-comics.com.ar
Ubicada en la galería Rex (Gral. Pax 174 local 11), es la más grande y además de comics y libros, tiene una gran variedad de muñecos, películas y video juegos.  

Pero le pegan un rótulo a la tapa trasera de los comics (lo que decrece su valor como coleccionable) y aparentan no ser muy versados en el tema. Además, la última vez que compré ahí, tuve que recordarles que me dieran la moneda que me correspondía de vuelto ($1, aprox. 30 centavos de dólar) y uno de los comics que metieron en su bolsa y no revisé hasta que era tarde, tenía un corte profundo en la tapa.

2) LlantoDeMudo libros & comics
llantodemudo.blogspot.com
Ubicada en la galería Cinerama (Colón 355 local 61) es más pequeña y sólo venden comics y libros.

Pero su stock es grande y variado, no colocan rótulos a los comics, son muy versados en el tema (publican comics regionales y en el exterior) y tienen mejores precios.

English version
I know of two places to buy comics in Cordoba:
1) Crossover comics store
www.crossover-comics.com.ar
Located in the Rex gallery (Gral. Pax 174 local 11), it's the biggest store and besides comics and books, has a large variety of action figures, movies and video games. 
But they stick a label on the back cover of each comic (which decreases its collectible value) and seem not very knowledgeable about the medium. Besides, last time I did business with them, I had to remind them to give me the small change I deserved ($1 about US 30 cents), and one of the comics they placed in their bag and I didn't verify until it was too late, had a deep cut in the cover.

2) LlantoDeMudo libros & comics
llantodemudo.blogspot.com
Located in the Cinerama gallery (Colón 355 local 61) it's smaller and they only sell comics and books.
But their stock is large and varied, they do not stick labels on comics, they seem very knowledgeable about the medium (they publish comics here and abroad) and their prices are better.

Learning From the Best: Steve McNiven

Steve McNiven is a Canadian artist who became well known in the media after drawing Civil War for Marvel. He is now drawing "Old Man Logan", a Wolverine story by Mark Millar for which Steve may get a prestigious award.

If you like photo realistic style, take a look at Steve's work. Study his lines, and then using photo references, try to mimic his style but also, add some of your own. You don't want to become a McNiven clone, just "inspired" by him. Try to produce vivid and impacting artwork like Steve does.

The following are sample drawings from "Old Man Logan".

 

Logan (Wolverine)

  

 

 

Old Black Bolt