Marvel Comics Archives

Guardians of the Galaxy Art: Gamora Color Pencil Head Sketch

*Gamora Color Pencil Drawing by Ralph Contrera*s

Color Pencil Sketch Portrait of Gamora

As a fan of Marvel Comics, I was thrilled when Guardians of the Galaxy hit the big screen and became a huge success. Gamora, one of the members of the Guardians, has become an even more well-known and popular character because of the movie.

So, for fun this afternoon, I decided to do a colored pencil head sketch drawing of her. I used Prisma color pencils and grid paper to help me keep my proportions accurate. By overlaying different tones of green, I was able to add variation to the shadows and highlights, while using yellow around the eyes to make her more accurate to the comic book version. Even with the grids, the eyes turned out a little crooked, but I’m still happy with the end result.

Comic Page Inking! Thor vs. Taskmaster

Comic Page Inking – Thor vs. Taskmaster

I’ve recently started to enjoy inking with pen and ink. In the past, I’ve focused on inking digitally using either Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. But I decided to tackle inking in the physical world. I have found inking with pen and bush to be more satisfying to me personally. I still believe that digital inking is a great technique. But for the time being, I will try to sharpen my skills in more traditional ways. My tools of choice have been a 102 nib pen and a size 4 sable brush.

I’ve been inking my own work, and that has been a great experience. I’ve decided to try inking other comic artists’ work too. My hope is that this will help me learn new creative approaches to comic art. I looked all over for a penciled piece I’d like to ink, then I found this super awesome piece of Thor vs. Taskmaster by comic book artist Mahmud Asrar. It comes from Avengers: The Initiative #32 Page 4. I found this on Mahmud’s DeviantArt page. I had fun inking these pencils. I will definitely be inking more comic pages in the future. – Shazam!

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 Am A Secret Avenger

Cool! I Am A Secret Avenger! A few months ago with countless other comic fans, I entered a contest to join the Avengers. PaZow, I won! I was one of the few chosen. The photo I sent was put in the first issue of the new Secret Avengers comic.

The ad with all the winners had this cool tagline “Upon hearing the battle cry, “Avengers Assemble” these are the brave warriors that heeded the call and joined the ranks of Earths Mightiest Heroes at IAmAnAvenger.com” This was especially cool for me, not just because I huge comic nerd. But because the first comic I read when I discovered comics was an Avenger comic. So if you can find an issue of Secret Avengers #1, make sure to check out me and the other honorary Avengers.

I’m proud to be an Avenger!

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 Am An Avenger

Yes! I Am An Avenger! A few months ago Marvel Comics was heavily advertising their relaunch of the Marvel Universe into The Heroic Age. The Avengers was the headlining title for this new direction. Receiving several new title relaunches. As a promotion, Marvel announced a contest to be an Avenger. Found on www.IAmAnAvenger.com.

Basically anyone could sign up, send a photo, and hope to be chosen. Whaza! A few weeks later I received this cool email from Marvel comics. Congratulations True Believer! I won. I was chosen to the ranks of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers. My photo would be highlighted in the upcoming first issue of the new Marvel monthly comic, the Secret Avengers. so if you get a chance check it 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.

Creating Cool New Characters for The REPLICANTS Project

I’ve been participating in a fun collaboration with some great comic artists in The REPLICANTS Project.

What we are doing is creating our own characters based on existing characters. Similar to how Marvel Comics Squadron Supreme was based on DC Comics Justice League, and how the Watchmen characters were based on the Charlton characters. We’ve mashed up half the 70s X-men and half the Justice League into a Heroes and Villains team.

The idea came from Dean Rivet who set up a blog on Posterous. The blog’s name is The REPLICANTS Project. We create the character inspired by that week’s chosen character. We design original costumes, character names, and back story. We then email the post to a Posterous email and PazoOoW it appears on the blog.

I’ll be posting the process I’m using to create my characters; from pencil drawing and inking to the final coloring in upcoming blog posts. Here’s a list of the characters that we are using as inspirations for The REPLICANTS Project.

Creating Cool New Characters for The REPLICANTS Project

The Heroes

Wonder Woman, Thunderbird, Sunfire, Storm, Nightcrawler, Green Lantern, Flash, Batman

The Villains

Wolverine, Superman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Cyclops, Colossus, Banshee, Atom

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.

Sketch Card – Thor of the Avengers

I’ve decided to do a quick pencil drawing every few days. What better way than to draw on a Sketch Card? It gives me the opportunity to practice drawing different characters, and it’s also fun! Sketch cards are the size of collectible cards. They’ve become very popular in the past few years.

For this sketch card, I decided to continue with the Heroic Age theme and draw another Avenger. So I penciled a quick sketch of Thor. It’s cool because the Thor movie is being filmed here in Santa Fe. I even tried out to be an extra in the film. No callback, but it was still fun. This drawing took me about 18 minutes. I used an HB .05 mechanical pencil. I had fun with this sketch card. More sketches to come…Shazam!

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.

Sketch Card – Hawkeye of the Avengers

A few months ago I ordered some cool sketch cards online. These were trading card size, 2.5″ x 3″ Bristol board paper. Well, I finally got around to actually drawing on one last night. In the middle of cleaning my apartment, I was struck with the inspiration to draw. So I reached over and grabbed a loose sketch card.

The Avengers have been in the news lately with their Heroic Age reboot. So I thought, “Hey, I’ll draw Hawkeye“. So here’s my quick sketch of Hawkeye. I did this in about 15 minutes with an HB .05 mechanical pencil. I tried to keep it loose, but add shadows and highlights. I’m really happy with this drawing. I will definitely be doing more sketch card drawings.

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.

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge – Modok

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge – Modok

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge! Here’s the 4th quick 30-minute daily sketch. This drawing was done on Friday, October 9th of Modok (Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing) from Marvel Comics. I took one day off the challenge, but came back with a really fun sketch!

The last sketch I did of the Enchantress didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped, she came out a little too stiff. So for this one, I decided not to get to stressed and just had fun with it. This was actually the sketch I’d been looking forward to drawing the most. I worked with an H2 drafting pencil and a simple eraser. Started off with very loose lines and added details along the way. To be honest, this drawing took a little longer than 30 minutes, it took me about 45. But I think that’s ok. My goal with this exercise is to help in speeding my drawing but also to loosen up.

When I started reading comics it was Marvel comics. So I totally knew and have read comics with Modok. Modok’s just a supergiant head on a hover chair, that’s fun and cool. I didn’t realize there was such a fanbase for the character. I found numerous websites dedicated to him and Marvel Comics even has an official Modok blog. When Marvel created a new Super-Villain Team-Up limited series, Modok was the main character. I had lots of fun with this drawing and I think it shows. – Shazam

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.

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge – Enchantress (Marvel)

The Enchantress drawing by Ralph Contreras

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge – Enchantress (Marvel)

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge! Here’s the 3rd quick 30-minute daily sketch. This drawing was done on Wednesday, October 7th of Amora The Enchantress from Marvel Comics.

This sketch was very challenging for me. It took me a little longer than my allowed 30 minutes, about 45. I started with a real rough sketch using an H2 drafting pencil. I was trying to give her a soft look, but I think she actually looks a little stiff. This is why I’m doing this daily exercise. To help me get a loose and softer drawing style. I find that there is stiffness in my illustrations sometimes when I work on them too much.

The enchantress was one of the first female characters I read in comics. The second comic I ever read was Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars, but it was the 1st series I actively read. I remember hitting all the gas stations looking for the latest issue. So it was fun drawing a character I’ve been familiar with most of my comic reading and drawing life.

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.

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge

I’ve decided to give myself daily exercise to help in my drawing skills. I call it The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge. This next week I will be doing a quick drawing for only 30 minutes. These drawings will be of random comic book characters. Not only will I get to draw some different characters, but it will help in sharpening my drawing skills.

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge

Last week I asked for suggestions through my Twitter and DeviantArt accounts on who I should draw. I received a lot of great ideas. Here is a list of which characters I will be drawing this 1st week.

I’ll be posting a new Daily Comic Sketch every day. If you have any suggestions on who I should draw next, please let me know. – SHAZAM!

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.