The Ultimate IM

I admit it, I like the design of Ultimate Iron Man.  Even though it’s a pretty drastic variation from all other IM armors, I think it looks fun and works for me in terms of its “if there really was flying armored suits” premise.  At times clunky, there are a lot of different versions of IM from the Ultimates.  I drew this one bases mostly on the one Pascal Ferry used in the second volume of Ultimate IM.  I added a few customizations based on “earlier” armors,  I inked this one with some disposable Copic pens I picked up a while back.  I used them because I was afraid they would dry out otherwise (they were getting close to doing so), and because the pens work with the markers of the same brand fabulously.

Return of ol’ Shellhead

Here’s another classic IM armor colored with Copics.  I need more variety of red hues, but I’m pretty happy with the result I got with the few I have.

I intended to put a little ball of repulsar energy coming from his open palm, but I can’t decide wheter to do it with the Copics or digitally.  Maybe later…

Iron Man at his best.

When I picked up my first Iron Man comic, he was wearing his short-lived red and silver armor.  It was right before the first Armor Wars started, and there was some really awesome art going into the book then.  Anyway, those 30 or so issues of the silver IM were very formative for how I collected comics during my teenage years.

This armor remains one of my favorites.  It’s bulky and a little stiff.  Despite how cool the movie armor is, I could still go for a little more clunkiness in my Iron Man.  So, here’s my take on it.  I used my trusty ol’ Rapidographs for the line work, and the color was done with Copic markers on Canson marker paper.  Those markers really perform uniquely on different brands of paper.  I was really happy with how they blended this time, but I’m really surprised at how different the colors came out from my scanner.  I swear, the original in my hand looks way different!  The colors really separated more.  I like the scan too.

Last of the Strange drawings.

Okay, after this one, I’ve got Adam Strange out of my system for a while.  I needed one more with some digital colors, and now I’m done…

As Strange as before.

Yeah, I know.  I already posted this drawing, but I colored this one with colored pencils.  I rarely use colored pencils, and I’m trying to figure out if there’s any advantage to them over my Copic markers.  So far, I don’t like them as much…

Strange science

My favorite DC character is a little-appreciated one.  Adam Strange was a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type character who uses science to solve problems, and then uncontrollably zaps back to Earth before he can have sex with his alien girlfriend.  Back home, he was basically Indiana Jones, running all over the ends of the world in order to catch the next beam to the cosmos. What a frustrated hero!

I inked the line work with my trusty Raphael brush, but the colors came from an old set of “Manga” markers I found at the bottom of an art supply drawer.

It’s staying cold.

This little drawing was done as a final practice pass for a commission of, you guessed it, Mr. Freeze.  Or is it Dr. Freeze?  It seems like I’ve heard both.  Anyway, I always like his simple, Batman Animated design the most.  I love spacesuits, and this design always felt more space-suity to me than his more-detailed “I might be a robot” designs typical in the comics.  I also used this drawing to practice color application for ol’ frosty pants.

Batguy

Just a quick sketch to make sure my brush pens still work.

 

Unfrozen

While I work on commissions, I thought I’d post some of my favorite sketches.  I always liked Mr. Freeze the most, when it comes to Batman-villains. He’s very robot-like, which is a plus in my book!  And, I usually like my robots kind of technical-looking when drawn.  Not so with ol’ popsicle pants, though.  With him, the more “cartoony” he looks, the better…