Monday, October 22, 2007

The Sphinx Part III


Well, here it is. The final pencils. It took longer than I'd hoped, due to some minor mishaps around the house. (I put a nail through my drawing hand and got a tetanus shot in the other arm. More on that later.) Maybe I've been looking at it too long but something seems a little off. I can't put my finger on it. That happens a lot when I draw. Whatever it is I love about the underdrawing rarely translates to the finished pencils. Oh, well. Maybe some decent inks will fix whatever's missing. Tag, Mr. Leaf. You're it.

15 comments:

Rich Faber said...

Beautiful, Matt!

If Mr. Leaf weren't already involved, I'd be begging you to let me ink it!

As for something being off, the only thing I'm seeing that might be askiew is Sphinx' right hip and leg(stage left). The hip and upper thigh look just a little flat to me, as if the upper part of his leg isn't quite connected properly to his waist, and the leg looks like it might be a bit... broken...?. I'm not even sure if it's incorrect, but that's the only thing I can point to. But then, I'm no anatomist, so make of it what you will.

Either way, it's really great work!

Best,
Rich

Christian D. Leaf said...

Don't worry, Rich. Mafus may be begging you to ink it after I get my brush on his fine lines. (That sounds a little dirty, doesn't it?)

todd said...

matt--

it looks beautiful! and that "underdrawing doesn't translate to the final"...man, i hear that from EVERY artist! kiss it and send it off to that boy--he'll do it up right! it's all good!

but what's this about a nail in your hand...? don't you know that, like concert pianists and surgeons, you artists are s'posed to protect those hands?!? pulled back on a beautiful spike on jim starlin last night so as not to damage those instruments of magic!
did he thank me...? no.
he's a bastard.

Matt Wieringo said...

And after he messed up your peepers! Ingrate.

Anonymous said...

Matt-
Looks awesome.
It's really coming together.

Keep this up and i'll be buying YOUR comics.

Looking forward to Leaf's inks.

Adam Hutch said...

Matt looks great! I still say it would make an awesome opening splash page for a Nova comic.

Anonymous said...

No doubt an awesome cover...I cannot help staring at the Sphinx's face...so cold!
I tip my hat to you, sir!
Can't wait to see Leaf ink dat piece, yo!

Heywood Jablomie said...

Gawdamn Matt that's an awesome piece of work! I love it so much I'm doing what I used to do with Mike's stuff, print it out and practice inking it myself.(Course my skills are kinda meh, but I wanna take a crack at it anyways) As far as what you think may be off, you can't tell really anything's 'off', but like Rich said, his right leg is a little 'off', but you can't tell and it's a fantastic piece. You should feel proud, and start working on more stuff man!

Brian said...

Send that bad boy off to the inker Sir, it is ready to go.

As for Mr. Starlin, given he was one of my childhood art heroes, on behalf of his talented hands, on behalf of that old bastard I thank you for not breaking any of his fingers with your awesome "ATOMIC SPIKE OF DOOM!"

Squeeze said...

Looks great honey. Don't know about stage left or right, but the only thing I can see is I think what Rich is getting at. If you are looking at him, the leg on the right or if you are the evil Sphinx, it's his left leg, looks a little too straight. Nova looks GREAT- all busted to heck, gasping for air, looking beat but you know he may be down but not out. Dust off the concrete and rebar and get back to arse-kickin' time.

Leaf the pressure is on. Rich is waiting in the wings and Heywood is already taking a practice crack at it too. Can't wait to see what those ink-stained fingers turn out.

Todd- don't ever pull the spike. Smack that Wilson down and don't look back. So says the Big MAC Volleyball Conference Player of the Year 1984.

Denis said...

Gotta agree with the rest of the gang here! I love it! Also, you should totally get Leaf AND Rich to each do an inked version! I think it would be an interesting project to see the end of. Then get other people to colour it maybe?!?

renecarol said...

The good news is the travel nurse at work said the new tetanus shot doesn't hurt as bad as it used to. So it could be worse. I imagine the nail hurt pretty bad though. And I'm amazed you could draw at all.. I'd probably still be complaining.

Warren said...

The drawing looks great!

The main difference I see between the preliminary art and the final pencils is the expression on the Sphinx' face.

In the original, the thicker shading on the top half of his eyes and the thinner lines on the bottoms help the viewer understand that he is focused on his fallen adversary. In the finished pencils, the lines on the bottoms of the eyes make it seem as if he is looking past Nova, to a point a little further out on the horizon.

Or maybe it's my imagination, because I really don't know what I'm talking about.

Either way, I think it's a great piece, and look forward to the inks and colors. You are definitely showing some serious superhero chops, dude. I look forward to seeing more.

Craig Zablo said...

Nize!

Rich Faber said...

Leaf: I'm sure you'll be great! Looking forward to seeing what you do.

Suzanne: Nah, not waiting in the wings. I just love Matt's pencils, so it would be great to ink his work sometime.

By the way, did you ever get my response to your email a while back? My email was a little wonky at that time, so I'm not sure if all of my messages went through. Let me know if I should resend.

Best,
Rich