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The Hunter – Character Design – From Sketches to Final Ink – Part 1

The Hunter – Character Design – From Sketches to Final Ink – Part 1

I was going through some of my old sketches the other day. I have a personal treasury of character designs and comic book drawings. Back in the day, I would love to come up with new characters. It seems I don’t draw as much now as I did back then (and I draw a lot now). I’d draw and come up with a new character every day.

On one of my inspirational days, I can up with a character named Nemcromn. You can check out some redesign sketches I’ve done of him in a previous post, Nemcromn Character Design Sketches On that day I came up with both Nemcromn and his main adversary “The Hunter”. Here are the initial drawings of “The Hunter”. I had just seen the movie Blade and was really into Brom art at the time. I think his design is very much inspired by both.

The original design of The Hunter was done sometime between 1998-1999. Ten years later in 2009 I found my sketch and decided to change it up a bit. I redesigned Nemcromn and wrote a new extensive biography for him and gave him a new adversary “The Radiant Guardian”. I decided to change “The Hunter” too. He was now an assassin/hunter who now works for Nemcromn. The Hunter and a new character I came up with, named the Grimm Creeper would now be Nemcromn’s most deadly assassins always trying to outdo each other in his favor. You can check out Grimm Creeper’s original and resign on a previous post Grimm Creeper, Hand Scythe Weapons

With the redesign, I made him a little bulkier. These are quick sketches to get the feel and general look of The Hunter. My drawing style has changed in 10 years when drawing a quick idea sketch I want to get his look down. These drawings look a little rough, what I’m trying to do is get my ideas down on paper before I lose them. I’m not as concerned about making them look perfect on these initial drawings, that will come later when I draw him in a pinup of some sequential pages.

In my next post I’ll be showing a Pin-Up drawing I did of “The Hunter”. This will be a more defined drawing. So keep an eye out.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

I Conquered the 30 Characters Challenge!

I Conquered the 30 Characters Challenge!

In the month of November 2009, Tyler James created an awesome opportunity for creative minds to unite. He put forth the challenge of creating 30 characters in 30 days, 30Characters.wordpress.com. I of course answered the call. It was also answered by over 25 other artists.

Here are my 30 Original Characters.

Every day for a month I’d set down and try to come up with a new character. It was a really fun challenge. I don’t think I’ve drawn so many characters since I was a kid.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

30 Characters 30 Days – Day 2 – Beta-A.T.E.S 005

30 Characters Challenge 2009 – #2 Beta-A.T.E.S 005

Real Name: Beta – All Terrain Environmental Suit version 5
Aliases: Beta-A.T.E.S 005
Occupation: All Terrain Environmental Suit
Group Affiliation: None
Height: 6′ 2″
Weight: 325 pounds
Eyes: none
Hair: none

Known Powers: Mining Tools
Special Skills: None
Weapons: Mining Tools

History:
The Beta-A.T.E.S 005 is the 5th generation All Terrain Environmental Suit. The suit is designed to be used in space, asteroid mining, deep sea exploration, and any extreme environment.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

30 Characters 30 Days – Day 1 – Burn

30 Characters Challenge 2009 – #1 Burn

Real Name: Jason Eagleson
Aliases: Firebug
Occupation: Costume Criminal
Group Affiliation: The Holidays
Height: 6′ 1″
Weight: 189 pounds
Eyes: Green
Hair: Brown

Known Powers: None
Special Skills: Arsonist
Weapons: Flamethrower Suit

History:
As a child, Jason loved playing with fires and matches. He would light up trash cans, weeds, his toys, and anything he thought might make that wonderful pop sound he loved. At the age of 17, Jason was well known for setting fires, so when the local church burnt down and took half his neighborhood Jason was the prime suspect. He didn’t start the fire though, it was the local bully Alex Masterson and his little gang. They knew that they could burn down the church for a laugh and blame it on Jason, and that’s exactly what they did. Jason was arrested and with the witnesses of Alex and his friends was sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Jason’s life in jail was hard, and there was nothing he could burn. Jason was able to work in the prison cafeteria. He thought to be finely found his way to play with the flames again, lighting the burners on the stove. On his first shift that’s exactly what he did. He played, and he started a fire that burnt the kitchen, the prison, the other inmates, and himself. In the chaos, a badly burn Jason escaped the prison with a few other inmates.

One of the other escaped inmates was James Barton a.k.a Acid-Trail. James had connections with Boss Holiday, a very well-known crime boss who specialized in costumed criminals. James helped a badly burn Jason by taking him to one of Holiday’s safe houses. Holiday’s people tended to Jason’s wounds and helped him recuperate. The only condition for the help was Jason would now work for Boss Holiday when he was well.

Jason Eagleson was given a fire-creating flamethrower suit, on this day Burn was born. Burn is now one of Boss Holiday’s most loyal generals in his small army of costumed criminals.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, NM

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, NM

This year I participated in the annual 24-Hour Comic. The challenge is to create 24 pages of a comic book within 24 hours. This was the second time I’ve done it. I really had a great time doing it too. At times it felt like I wasn’t going to finish, but I did…..with 3 minutes to spare (WhaZa!). It has been a very popular and fun exercise for both writers and artists. The idea is to come up with no preconceived notions of what you’re going to create, and make a 24-page comic!

So here it is, my 24-Hour Comic entitled “infiltration” written, penciled, and inked by me Ralph Contreras in 24 hours and 57 minutes on October 3rd to 4th, for the 2009 24-Hour Comics Day! I did my pages with widescreen panels, I think it adds a significant element to the storytelling.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 2

Ralph Contreras inking a 24-hour comic page

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 2

The Half-Way Point!
Participating in 24-Hour Comics Day. Here I am 12 hours into the challenge. Not as far ahead as I had planned. But still having fun. I originally planned to have the comic done within the 1st 12 hours. I’m actually on pages 6 and 7 at this point. Not even the halfway mark. I honestly didn’t think I would finish, but I knew I wasn’t going to give up. (I did finish the 24-hour comic, at exactly 11:57 am…. with 3 minutes to spare. Shazam!)

As I started to fall back on the pages and the time was moving forward, I thought what can I do to catch up and finish? I decided to work on pages very similar to Marvel Comics’ new format of widescreen comics. That’s where you place your panels stretched out through 2 pages. Like several widescreen shots. Marvel’s title Dark Avengers is very well known for this.

Once I decided to use this technique I was able to catch up. It gave me a great opportunity to create some very dynamic angle shots. Once I gained my confidence that I could finish the comic the story just flowed out of me. It’s full of action and fight scenes. It was really a fun comic to do. The story ends up with soldiers, ninjas, villains, and even a giant monster.

My progress was posted on a few sites during the event. On both the local and national 24 Hour comic blog sites. Here are the links to these sites. 24 hours from New Mexico Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico Official Nation 24-Hour Comic Book Blog – Hours 14 through 18 from New Mexico

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

24 Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 1

*Ralph Contreras drawing a 24-hour comic page*

24-Hour Comics Day 2009 – Santa Fe, Part 1

This year I participated in 24-Hour Comics Day again. It was held from October Saturday the 3rd to the 4th. I had such a blast with it last year that there was no question I would do it again. The goal is to create 24 comic pages in 24 hours. It’s a very challenging exercise. You come to the table with no idea of what you are going to write and draw, and from there you create a 24-page story.

Last year there was a place to participate in 24 Hour Comic in Santa Fe NM (that’s where I live right now), but this year the closest place was in Albuquerque, NM. I decided to stay home and work on the 24-hour comic on my drawing table. I was committed to participating no matter where I did it.

The first few hours were tough, the year before I created my 24-hour comic with the help of my girlfriend as my inker. This year I was working completely solo. I was finding it hard to find a fast rhythm. I was really digging what I was coming up with, but I was just a little slower than I originally wanted to be.

My girlfriend helped me out by updating my Twitter, Facebook & Flickr pages. One of the Twitter updates caught the attention of the group in Albuquerque. They were updating their blog dedicated to the 24-Hour comic and told me to send them some photos of my stuff. You can check out the 1st of 2 posts showing my work progress during the event. 24 hours from the New Mexico blog (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico). What was cool is the blog post was picked up by the Official Nation 24-Hour Comic Book Blog too. – (Hour 13 1/2 from New Mexico)

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

Grimm Creeper, Hand Scythe Weapons

Grimm Creeper, Hand Scythe Weapons

Sometimes you can find the most awesome stuff in the most unexpected places. This last weekend I was at the supermarket buying groceries and out of nowhere, my girlfriend pulls out a Hand Scythe. She intended to scare me, but instead, I was very excited. This plastic toy was a perfect match to the weapon used by one of my characters, the “Grimm Creeper”. I had to buy it. Luckily I was able to find a second one too.

Halloween is always a great time to find plastic weapons and cosplay items. Last year we found a cool life-size Captain America shield, and this year it’s the Grimm Creeper’s scythe weapons.

Original Grimm Creeper by Ralph Contreras

In my original sketch of the Grimm Creeper, I had drawn his weapons very similar to the ones I recently found. In later drawings, I modified and stylized the scythes. After holding and simulating how the weapons work in a fight (I was testing them out in the supermarket), I’ve decided to go back to my original concept: a simple and direct weapon.

Redesign Grimm Creeper by Ralph Contreras

It’s really great having these props. I now have several ideas on how he can wield his weapons. I know that it will help me to come up with better action poses when I draw his fight scenes.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

I See Dead People – Zombie Sketches for Dark New World Zombie Comic Book

Zombie Sketches for Dark New World Zombie Comic

Here are some quick Zombie Sketches. To help keep the Dark New World zombie comic book fresh and new, I decided to sketch out a bunch of zombies’ faces. This way, I can choose which ones I want to use in the comic. I don’t just want a bunch of stereotypical bland zombies. My goal is to have over 50 different zombies already designed for the comic when I start penciling the sequential pages.

I’ve been looking at people to get ideas for the different-looking zombies. I’ll be at the mall or the gas station, looking at the characteristics of all the different people. So basically I’ve been people-watching and re-imaging them as zombies.

I’ve tried to make them retain some of the human characteristics, but still bring the horror I feel when I think of zombies—with some rotting flesh, biting jaws, and dead eyes.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.

Who are The Carnies, Friend or Foe?

Character Designs of The Carnies – Dark New World Zombie Comic

In this new chapter of Carlos Parra’s “Dark New World“. You will be introduced to many new characters. Enter “The Carnies“, a group of marauders who have survived the initial zombie infestation that hit Las Cruces, NM. “Sometimes the monsters do have smiles on their faces.”

Here are my first Character Designs sketches of ‘The Carnies” for the upcoming zombie comic book. Carlos wanted the feel of “A Clock Work Orange” mixed with creepy-looking carnies. I was given sketch samples of their different pained faces, and from there I designed their looks. At this point, the Carnies as individuals do not have names. Which I think actually makes them a bit scarier.

I’m currently workings on the first few pages of the comic book. The Carnies are making a huge impact on the lives of the survivors. In the future, I will post some of the sequential page thumbnails, but not too many. Don’t want to give away the story.

This blog post was originally published on my other website Comic Book Graphic Design and has now been migrated here to RSC Arts, Ralph’s Art Blog.