ANATOMY OF A COMMISION

So, I figure I document the process I take when it comes to commissions. 1) Because I've always enjoyed seeing how people work and thought you might enjoy it as well and 2) Heck it helps me remember how to do this stuff!

I will be starting out with a typical brief I receive from a client. The client asked me for something similar to the Timely Wonders Piece I did for the Stan Lee show, something with superheroes.

That's basically all I got as a brief, really not much to work on. As an artist this freedom can be nice but can also be a pain in the butt with the unlimited options available to me. I decide to dig a little deeper and ask the client, what were your favorite superheroes growing up or what cartoons do you remember watching as a kid?

Long story short, the client recalled growing up with the Batman TV series from the 60's and wanted something in that realm. I usually start with a general idea and do little doodles and comps as they come to me. Below are the comp sketches I started out with. You can see I starred the one I wanted to go with so I scanned the page, isolated that comp, scaled it up and fine tuned the composition in Photoshop.


I also work on designing the individual elements in my sketchbook so when I get to my final drawing all my design work is done and I just have to worry about execution. This next page is a sample of how I work at designing shapes for the characters involved in this piece. I actually did research on the villains of the old show and tried to capture the spirit of them as best I could.After I figure all that out I grab my trusty light box (Yes I am not 100% digital just yet), print out my comp and do my final drawing atop my comp so I can try and maintain the life that my original sketch had(easier said than done). So below is the final line art ready for color:So you can see how much work this entails up to this point. I reworked a lot of shapes in the final drawing to get the right feel for the shot. My main focus, is of course, the little girl and bear hanging upside down, everything else is meant to support that focal area in the image. I will post more as I approach completion of this piece. The next phase would be lighting, laying in my black and white values and start the coloring process.

I'll be back with more stuff, hope you guys enjoy this!

-Pat