SNEAK PEEK SUNDAYS # 7

So, this time I'm showing you something a bit earlier in the process. These are the first-pass pencils by Gabriel Mayorga for one of the Kickstarter's non-canon Safe-For-Work bonus action prints. This one shows Kyle and The Annihilator committing a crime together! Gabriel and I had worked on three different revisions of "thumbnail sketches", getting all the broad strokes roughly in place before he sent me this first pass of polished pencils. Now, out of the gate, there's a lot of things I liked about it. I like the poses and the action -- they're interesting and dynamic. The story-telling is clear -- you know what's happening in this scene, even before it's colored. And I love Kyle's expression. Half the fun of a "what-if" print like this is to show the hero going dark-side, and it's cool to see our sweet Kyle with such an evil expression. And, this being a first pass, there were a number of things I asked for changes on. For example, Kyle's expression is cool, but I feel his mask is looking too thin and off-model. Also, to me, The Annihilator's head was feeling a bit small for his body, so I asked for some extra love there. I can see what those triangular shadows on the bottom of the piece are doing artistically -- they are grounding what would otherwise feel like a very airy and empty section of the art. But I don't know what's motivating them -- what would be causing shadows with those shapes to be there? And I'd also expect the light from Kyle's fire to have an effect on such big shadows too. So, I asked Gabriel to make a more motivated choice with the shadows at the bottom of the art. Finally, while I think it's fairly clear that The Annihilator is ripping open an armored truck, I asked for a few money bags to be visible inside the truck along with a sign on the side that said "AMW 911 Security" just to make the story-telling as clear as possible. So, overall, pretty standard notes from me on some pencil work that was quite good out of the gate and will be that much more awesome in the second pass. I hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek into some future art and our process. More soon! :D