Ralph's Art Blog
First Order Stormtrooper from Star Wars the Force Awakens. Done with a pen brush and a micro pen. This was done last year for Inktober in October 2015. Had fun with this drawing. I really dig the new helmet design.
For this Inktober illustration from October 2015, I did a quick sketch of Rae Sloane from Star Wars using a pen brush. At the time, I had been reading Star Wars: Aftermath where she was an admiral. Little did I know that she would become a big deal in the First Order too.
Normally, I would have penciled the drawing before inking, but for Inktober, I decided to follow the original rules by Jake Parker and go straight to inking. The result was a little stiff, but I’m still happy with it.
To give the drawing more depth, I added a black background around her head and shoulders. Overall, I enjoyed creating this ink drawing and exploring the character of Rae Sloane.
A quick BB-8 from the new Star Wars The Force Awakens film. This was done with a pen brush. I think this little droid is going to totally steal the show.
I’m very excited about the Albuquerque Comic Con coming to Albuquerque, NM in January 2011! With a great line-up of celebrity guests and comic book creators. It’s going to be a whole weekend of comic book fun! The con has 4 rooms dedicated to it at the Hilton of Albuquerque! I think I might be most excited to meet Lou Ferrigno (The HULK) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), but there will be a lot of other great comic/sci-fi celebrities there.
There will also be a great representation of comic book creators. From local to national comic artists, writers, and publishers. Like 7000bc, Andy Kuhn, Gene Ha and Brian Pulido.
Where:
Hilton Hotel
1901 University Bl. NE
Albuquerque, NM
When:
Saturday, January 15, 11 am-6 pm
Sunday, January 16, 12 pm-5 pm
Prices range from $5 to 50 to enter the con. You can reserve your spot here.
$50.00: Full Conference – VIP (All-access, Door Prizes, First in line for autographs)
$25.00: Full Event Passes
$15.00: Daily Pass Saturday
$15.00: Daily Pass Sunday
$10.00: Childs All Event Pass
$5.00: Childs Daily Pass Saturday
$5.00: Childs Daily Pass Sunday
Kids under 6 are free with a paying adult
*Police, Fire, and Military all get free admission
Here’s a list of some of the artists appearing:
Here’s a list of the Celebrity Guests:
VADER’S FIST the 501st Legion will be there too! I’m a huge fan of this group. Last year I drew my own pin-up of Vader’s Fist: The 501 Legion for May the 4th (National Star Wars Day). This was before I knew of this Cosplay group. I got to meet them at the EPCON 2010. You really get the feel of the Imperial presence when they come into the showroom.
The Albuquerque Comic Con will also be holding its First Annual Comics in Film Festival! A place for independent filmmakers to showcase their films. Each movie will be 45 minutes or less. The films will be judged by a panel of critics. One film will be Awarded as the “Best New Original Comic Book Genre Film”.
Where: Hilton Hotel, 1901 University Bl. NE, Albuquerque, NM
When: Saturday January 15 11am-6pm, Sunday January 16 12pm-5pm
FRIDAY
Pre-registration Party at Borders: 12pm-6pm
Launch Party at Imbibe: 10pm-2am
SATURDAY
Gaming Saturday
10am: Tournament Registration
11am: Open Gaming (RoomA) Warhammer 40k registration (RoomB)
12pm-5pm: L5R CCG Sealed Deck Tournament, Hero Clix Tournament (RoomA) 40K Tournament (roomB)
5pm: Warhammer Fantasy (roomB)
6pm-12am: Magic The Gathering Tournament Legacy Format (roomA)
Panel Room
10am: Breaking into Comics
11am: Self Publishing 7000 BC
12am: Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers
1pm: Star Wars Actors Q&A
2pm: Armor Building with 501st Dewback Brigade
3pm: Boondock Saints
4pm: Taking comics to Film Brian Pulido- Andy Kuhn
5pm: Breaking into Film- Casting Director Darlene Hansen
Film Screening Room
Comics In Film Festival
11am: David Dirks and Chris Harrington Panel Discussion
12am: Film Festival begins
12:30-2:00: Films
2:00-2:30: lunch
2:30-5:30: Films
Saturday late-night event
Uptown Bar and Grill
9pm-2am: Official After Party
SUNDAY
Gaming
10am: Open Gaming (RoomA+B)
11am: Tournament Registration/ Scheduling (roomA+B)
12pm: Magic the Gathering Type 2 (room A) L5R tournament Current Block (roomb)
Panel Room
11am: Walking Dead
12pm: Lou Ferrigno
1pm: Mixed Martial Arts with Herb Dean and Michael Westbrook
2pm: Comic Art by the experts
3pm: 12 Gauge Comics Boondock Saints Cover Contest judging
4pm: Comics in Film Festival Award Ceremony
6pm: Convention hall closes
Official Wrap Party at Exhale Albuquerque
8pm-12am: Karaoke
This is the first time that this con is being held. From the looks of the guest and panels, it’s going to be a big and fun event! I’m ready to meet some talented comic book creators. Get some signatures from stars of some of my favorite movies. And just have fun geeking out with my fellow comic book nerds. If you see me there make sure to say hi. That’s if you can recognize me, I might be dressed up in some comic of sci-fi cosplay……..maybe I’ll be Captain Marvel.
-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.
A few months ago I decided to draw Vader’s Fist, the 501st Legion. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and wanted to draw something cool. I usually draw comic book characters but I think it was a fun change to draw some sci-fi stuff. The 501st Legion is cool because they are in the prequels, the original trilogy, and the extended universe. They are the highest and most elite Stormtroopers in the Empire. First starting off as the best clone troopers then as Darth Vader’s personal squad. Check out this article at Wookipedia to learn more about them.
This is the final digital inking of my original 11″x17″ drawing. I used my graphic design skills in adobe illustrator to ink the 501. The original drawing was done with an HB woodless pencil. I posted it in an earlier blog post, Vader’s Fist – The 501st Legion – Pencil Drawing. Check it out if you’d like. What’s really cool is if you do a Google image search for “Vader’s Fist” the original pencils show up on page one.
For this digital inking, I decided to use Adobe Illustrator. I’ve done inking in Adobe Photoshop before, but I find that I really like the way my digital inks look in illustrator. In illustrator your inking is in vector, this allows you to enlarge the image with no pixelation. So if I really wanted to I could make a print the size of a building and it would look awesome and sharp.
The tool I like to use in illustrator is the pen tool. I do have a Wacom table, but I feel I have more control with the mouse and pen tool. It lets me create a smooth/jagged line in my piece. I work with anchor points to create curved lines, straight lines, and solid shapes. There was some line work where I did use the brush tool with my Wacom tablet, but most of this digital inking was done with the pen tool.
I’ve very happy with the way this digital inking came out. Ever since I moved to Santa Fe last year, I’ve felt a real recharge in my artwork. The penciling and inking of Vader’s Fist, the 501st Legion is a great example of this. I had a real blast inking it. 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.
Here it is….my drawing of Vader’s Fist, the 501st Legion. I started drawing this picture a few weeks ago. I took a week off from drawing it and finished it this weekend. I had a lot of fun with this drawing. I usually draw comic book stuff, but I felt like changing it up. I’ve never really drawn a Stormtrooper from Star Wars before, so I decided to draw a bunch. I choose the 501 because they aren’t just any legion of Stormtroopers. They are the Elite in the Empire and Darth Vader’s personal legion and later Grand Admiral Thrawn’s too. Check out this article at Wookipedia to learn more about them.
This pencil drawing was done on 11″x17″ Bristol board paper. Comic book art paper to be exact. I used an HB woodless pencil to sketch it out, then used an HB mechanical pencil to darken the lines I liked. I used little Xs to show where the solid black area would be. When I finished with the darkening of the final lines, I used a 4B woodless pencil to fill in the black areas. To see the beginning stages of this drawing check out my blog post ” Star Wars – Vader’s Fist – Beginning Drawing“
I’m planning on digitally inking this pencil drawing in illustrator. I like inking digitally with Illustrator because vector images are always perfect no matter how you resize them. I haven’t decided if I’m going to color it in Photoshop or in Illustrator though.
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’ve been working on a drawing of Vader’s Fist. Also known as the 501 Legion for the past few days. They are an elite legion of Clone Troopers and later Stormtroopers from Star Wars. They became Darth Vader’s personal legion of Stormtroopers because they were the best around.
Today is Star Wars day, originating from “May the 4th be with you”. So I’ve decided to upload a few images of my creative process on this drawing. The photos were taken as a way for me to see my progress from a blank page to the finished drawing. I will ink it using Adobe Illustrator when I am completely done.
My drawing table is set up with various photos of clone troopers and storm troops for reference. I’ve taped down my 11″x17″ bristol board paper to keep it secure. This is actually comic book paper, the kind used by comic artists.
This first image is my sketch of the troopers. I usually draw superheroes, but being a huge Star Wars fan I wanted to do something different. So I decided to have some fun and draw a group of Stormtroopers. I did this initial sketch with an HB Ebony woodless pencil. I used this pencil with my previous quick drawing of Thor the God of Thunder from Marvel comics. I found that I really enjoyed working with the softer pencil. I have struggled with what type of pencil I feel comfortable working with. Usually using a very hard lead to start off with. Like an H2 to an H6.
After my first initial sketch, I went ahead and focused on the first figure. A clone trooper in the uniform worn during the latter half of the Clone Wars. This armor was first seen in Episode III Revenge of the Sith. It’s very memorable because it shows a bridge between the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy to the Clone Troopers from Episode II. As you can tell I’ve started the beginning sketches of the Stormtrooper to the left of the Clone Trooper.
This is as far as I’ve gotten with my drawing of the 501 Legion. I took a break today to celebrate Star Wars Day by watching Episode IV and posting this blog. I’ve had a lot of fun with this drawing. I’ve never drawn a Stormtrooper before and I think I’ve done pretty well. I need to finish the back trooper, then I will move on to the one on the far right, then the one on the bottom. When I’m done with the drawing I’m going to digitally ink it using Illustrator. I’m very excited because I plan on using my Wacom tablet and the brush tool. I’ve spoken with several cool people on Twitter who gave me some great tips. My next blog post regarding this drawing should be about the final stages and the final pencil drawing.
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.
