Comic Books – Page 4 – The Art of James Richardson

Masters of the Universe

Masters of the Universe

Ok, so this movie is not considered to be a classic. Far from it. But, I do have great fondness for it. I was a big fan of He-Man from early on in my childhood. I still remember getting my first He-Man figure right before I started kindergarten. I loved the toys and the comic books and was also big into the cartoon. I’m not sure what it is about this property that really grabs me. While it has some awesome looking characters, like Skeletor, you also get some really lame characters, like Orko. I am able to take the good with the bad when it comes to this property. The original cartoon series can sometimes be a little hard to watch and people love to bash all the reused animation that the animation company, Filmation, used in every episode. I think the look of the cartoon is very strong and still looks really clear and appealing. And in the early 2000s a new company came out with a new cartoon series that was fantastic and one of my favorite animated series.

What is the thing about this property that makes me excited and wanting to do some art from it or why do I still read the comics and watch the shows and movie?

It’s the fantasy. The history and the setting and fantasy of the world of Eternia is a huge part of it for me. And I’m hoping to come back to this subject soon. I decided to start off with the movie that came out in 1987, Masters of the Universe. It stars Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. Like most movies based on a pre-existing property, Hollywood decided to make changes and alter the looks of characters, which is almost always hard for a fan to deal with. But, enough time has past and I can now just watch the movie and do some drawings of these versions and just enjoy.

As for this drawing itself, I wanted to do a pencil drawing that was a fully finished pencil drawing, focusing on tone and technique. I was listening to an interview with the artist, Allen Williams who does these crazy awesome pencil drawings and that really inspired me to try doing just a pencil drawing. I’m planning on doing a second piece that is the villains from the movie. A part of me does really want to paint these though…

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Apocalypse

Apocolypse

Wrapping up this week of X-Men, with our fourth character, Apocalypse. He is the big baddie of the new film, X-Men: Apocalypse. He is a time travelling Egyptian God who wants to take over the world. Just another day at the office for the X-Men. In the movie he is played by Oscar Isaac. The final version of this piece was drawn with ink and painted in Photoshop.

Here is the line art-

Apocolypse line

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Magneto

Magneto

Day 3 of X-Men characters from the movie universe brings us to good guy/bad guy, the master of magnetism, Magneto. He is portrayed by Michael Fassbender in the last 3 films. His constant flip flopping from evil to good is not just a movie thing, this is also the way he has been portrayed in the comic books. To me, Magneto will always be on the side of evil and I think he works best that way. He is such a good bad guy because his reasons for doing the “wrong” things is completely understandable. You can empathize with his way of thinking. And I never felt the movies gave us a Magneto who you believe really wanted to make the world pay for the ways humans treat the mutant population. That aside, I think Michael Fassbender does a great job.

Here is the drawing pre-Photoshop coloring:

Magneto line

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Mystique

Mystique

Here is X-men number 2 for this week, Mystique. While she was a bit player in the world of mutants, in the comics, the movie universe has changed that. The other big change was her look. While always blue, she was not so naked or scaley. This is a painting on illustration board and with gouache paint. For the next X-Men character we will be going away from the traditional painting and go into the digital paint world.

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Wolverine

Wolverine

In preparation for seeing the new X-Men movie today, I decided to do some quick portraits of some of the characters from the more recent films. And how do you not start off with the top X-character, Wolverine? For me he is the best character in these films. Hugh Jackman plays Wolverine perfectly for me. He can play him as a crazed killer and bring it right back to guy who can drop a funny one liner and it all works. Wolverine isn’t really in the comics anymore so this is the one place I can still get my fix.
This painting was start to finish about an hour long and was painted with gouache paint on illustration board. It is 8″x8″.
I filmed the whole process and should have a speed painting video to share with everyone soon.

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Batman

8"x10" oil painting on a canvas panel — 8″x10″ oil painting on a canvas panel

March is upon us and at the end of the month Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice is coming to the movie theaters. This is a film I’m very excited for and I figure this would be a good time to do some art based on the characters that will be in the movie for this month. Today features the Michael Keaton version of Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton film. When this movie came out, it was a big deal to me. At that point I was a huge Marvel Comics fan and had not paid a lot of attention to the Dark Knight. To be honest, I did not pay much attention to DC’s characters. Like most kids I knew who the big players were. I watched the Super Powers cartoon and the Batman tv show. But that was about it. This movie was very eye opening for me.

I can still remember reading the movie novelization, playing with the action figures, I had a cool Batman shirt and then going straight to the music store to get the Prince soundtrack right after the movie.

This movie is not perfect but I do still enjoy it. Michael Keaton’s performance was great. He played Bruce Wayne perfectly. His Batman was intense. I also enjoyed Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale. But, I’m torn by Jack Nicholson as Joker. I think the make up they did on him was great and of course his acting was just as good. I always felt he was a bit too old and he does some pretty lame things, like pulling a 5 foot long hand gun out of his pants to shoot down the Batwing plane with one shot. Ugh. The mood of the film itself is perfect for Gotham City. Tim Burton’s vision of the film is excellent. And a completely different version of the setting and characters that we were previously used to from the Batman tv show of the 60’s.

The painting itself was something kind of new for me also. I usually do not paint on a canvas textured surface. I typically go for a smooth surface to paint on like the paintings I did in January. And, I haven’t played around with oil paints since I had my last art show. Technique was also a new thing for me on this painting. I have been recently studying a new painting instructional book and also watching some dvds about painting. So, this is a new way of thinking when I paint.

We will have to see how this painting technique pans out for me in the future.

Keaton's Batman Underpainting

Here is the under painting before I started laying on the oil paint.

Next up we shall see who challenges Batman in the new film, Superman.

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Spider-Man’s Kiss

Spider-Man's Kiss — Spider-Man’s Kiss

Here is a little 5″x7″ gouache painting that I did last night. I felt like doing a little study of this scene from the first Spider-Man movie for this Month of Love. It’s been a while since I’ve done a completely gouache paint painting and I figured I would give it a shot. I also tried to give the under drawing a loose feeling by not using my normal mechanical pencils.

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The Rocketeer- Day 28- 30 Paintings in 30 Days

6"x6" ink and watercolor paint on bristol board — 6″x6″ ink and watercolor paint on bristol board

Day 28…how sweet it is. I’ve been 28 for 28 for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. I can’t say that I have been doing my best work during this month but there are some pieces that I have been happy with. And this painting is one of them. I have been a fan of the movie, The Rocketeer since it came out. It came out right around that sweet spot of movies, for me, movies like the first Batman by Tim Burton, and Dick Tracy. All of them through my formative years of 1989-1991. I’m not sure most people feel as fondly as I do to those movies, but they are three of my favorites. All three are based on comic books and a comic strip, and that may have something to do with it. I feel that Dick Tracy and Batman are very visually exciting and faithful to the source material. But, most of all they are fun adventure movies. Something, that I feel is missing from movies. Some of the current super hero movies are on target. And Star Wars: Force Unleashed absolutely lived up to the fun adventure movie criteria. I do miss the fun of movies like the Indiana Jones movies, Back to the Future, Masters of the Universe and even Howard the Duck. I think today’s cinema is missing enjoyable fantasy and sci-fi movies too. It feels like movies are all about realism and current day topics. I wish there was more movies for people like me who want to turn off the real world and watch a movie about a guy who straps a rocket pack on his back and beats up some Nazis.

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#rocketeer #disney #davestevens #fanart #movieart #90scinema #30paintingsin30days #watercolor #art #painting

Iron Man- Day 22- 30 Paintings in 30 Days

6"x6" ink and watercolor painting on illustration board — 6″x6″ ink and watercolor painting on illustration board

Today we have Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man.

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#ironman #marvel #comicbook #tonystark #robertdowneyjr