Tag: Science Fiction

Renegade! Part one – The Pencils

Renegade
Renegade pencils by Ralph Contreras

Renegade! Part one – The Pencils

Here are some pencils I did for fun. I was planning on creating it for the Bubonicon Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention held in Albuquerque, NM. The convention was looking for art to be added to their silent auction. I created one that was inspired by sequential storytelling, a giant comic book page! The drawing is on a 24″x19″ 2-ply Bristol board paper. I used a 9.0 HB mechanical pencil and kept to mostly quick and gesture line work. In the middle of working on the piece, I realized the con was looking for work around the size of 16 inches. Mine was a little too big. I decided not to enter it but still wanted to finish it. I was having too much fun working on a piece so big. The pencils were the first step in the piece I titled: Renegade. Next, I’ll ink it.

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.

Iron Man – "Present Past" Drawing I did in 1989

Iron Man drawing by Ralph Contreras

Iron Man – “Present Past” Drawing I did in 1989

A few months ago I was vising my mom’s house where I found a box of old drawings I did when I was a kid. There were drawings I did of Veritech fighters from Robotech to comic books and superheroes. Last night I was looking through these treasures from my childhood. I had a blast remembering how I’d stay up late, looking at my comics and wanting to create and recreate these awesome artworks. One of the drawings that jumped out to me last night was this one of Iron Man. I drew this 20 years ago in 1989 when I was 14 years old.

In the late 80s I was reading all the Marvel Comic I could get my hands on, but Iron Man was on the top of my favorites list. I’m a huge science fiction fan and Iron Man was a perfect meld of Sci-Fi and Comics. This drawing was a recreation of the cover of Iron Man 244, it was originally drawn by Bob Layton. I remember being blown away by the split screen showing Iron Man’s then-current suit and his original grey one. I had to redraw it. So this is not a tracing, but a recreation of a cool comic cover. This is how I learned to draw. I’d look at a comic and try to recreate it. I didn’t take any art classes when I was young, but I loved to draw.

Looking at this drawing I did as a bright-eyed kid so many years ago really reminded me of the passion I had for comic book art back then. I feel very lucky that as an adult I haven’t lost that passion. I plan on posting more of my childhood drawing up, so keep an eye out. -PoW, Zap, Zooom! 

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.