Hey Kids! Here is a step by step process for Smallville Season 11 Cover #12. This was done on Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and rendered with Copic Markers.
Below I have a collection of images I took as I was working on this piece. Starting at the top moving from left to right then down-
Row 1) Pencils. Always have a good sketch. Nice and clean. First image is an unused concept. Second is the final concept for the cover. I normally take my sketches and scan them first. Then print them out as a blue line on the drawing paper I will be doing the rendering on.
Row 2) First I start with the skin. (Once day I will do a step by step on that, I promise.) Second I used a handful of Warm grays for the hair. Next the blacks. i use straight up black for these. Good thing to remember that not all darks are black. Only the core. Next I blend them out with Neutral 10.
Row 3) Continue the blending from dark to light with Neutral 8,6, then 5. You can keep going lighter if needed but for this area it is a dark portion of the suit. Next start the second section of the suit, which is much lighter. I started this section with Cool gray 7 as my darkest tone.
Row 4) like the Neutral colors, continue blending out from dark to light. I used Cool Gray 6, 5, 4, and very little 3 at the lightest points. Next i started the cracked ground. First I, again, started with the blacks.
Row 5) Next working in the center bolt I worked my way from Warm Gray 8 down to Warm Gray 5 as I rendered the lava like concrete. Next I moved to Clark's shadow. Starting with Tonal Gray 4 directly under his body. Next I switched to a very full Tonal Gray 3 and rendered the ground. I didn't worry about overlap as I was wanting the random textures to come thru.
Row 6) I next moved on to fill in the background moving back to dark with the Tonal Grays and finally black. I also used the airbrush as well as a tooth brush to splatter the ground and add another layer of texture to the stone. I then took white acrylic and, again, using the toothbrush splattered the ground giving random highlights to the stone. Finally I took both, white water color and a white gel pen and added the final white highlights to both Clark and the ground below.
Row 7) Final stage is to zap this into Photoshop and slap on some colors and special effects.
Breaking up between the warm, tonal, neutral, and cool grays can give an extra sense of depth to your illustration. Remembering the basic rule of warmer tones advancing and cooler tones receding can really work to your advantage. I also find that in this style of computer coloring it helps to keep the cool grays with the cool colors (blues) and the warmer grays with the warm colors (reds).
To enlarge click on the image below
To purchase the latest chapter or catch up on the season click on the cover below and get reading!
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Digital Comic
Smallville: Season 11 #38 One year ago, on Earth 2, as Oliver and Chloe plotted to defeat Ultraman, Lois feared for her husband's life. Today, Chloe is seeing visions of that meeting, but before she can tell Oliver what happened, she turns her focus to Superman and Impulse's battle in Las Vegas! "Haunted" part 10 of 12. Smallville: Season 11
Credits Cover by Cat Staggs Written by Bryan Q. Miller Art by Jorge Jimenez Colored by Carrie Strachan