Step by Step Spidey Sketch Card

Hey everyone! I'm back in the blogosphere after some pretty intense work obligations. Thanks for hangin' with me! I've got some really amazing projects to announce soon. I'm under some non-disclosure agreements until they are released to the public but I'll start blabbin' about them as soon as I'm allowed. :)

I thought it might be fun to share the behind the scenes creation of the Spidey sketch card that I created for that fundraiser I mentioned in my last blog. By the way, I got the date wrong in my last post. The fundraiser is May 21st. I'll let ya know how it goes.

Here's the step by step creation of ol' web head.

Sketched him with red col-erase pencil on 8x10 chipboard. Inked him with colored ultra fine Sharpies and Prismacolor Premier fine line markers (LOVE those premiers). Started laying in flat areas of color with Prismaclor markers.

Continued laying in color with Prismaclor markers. In order to create tones or values (shading) I add additional layers of marker color once an area is dry. I build up the layers of color in the areas that I want to make darker. It's similar to a watercolor painting in that way. I also use progressively darker markers to speed things up.

More layers and tones. Right around this time I remember thinking about Todd McFarlane saying how he had backed himself into a corner when he designed this style of webbing for Spiderman. It's so detailed and dynamic that it turns out to be quite a bit of labor all by itself. Old school fans of the character probably remember the days of Steve Ditko and John Romita when Spidey's webs were just an easy-to-draw criss-cross pattern.

I start to choose and add colors as a graphic element in the background. I like using background shapes, colors and outlines as tools to accentuate the main image. I think of those background elements as a supporting cast whose job it is to make the star look amazing!

I saturate the color. Now here's the big secret to rich, saturated color with markers...add colored pencil on top! The marker ink provides a solid color base upon which to layer in colored pencil. Once you do that, the colors get deep, rich and saturated. It doesn't need to be done in every area but it's a tremendously helpful and useful technique in the areas where you want it.

Scanned and complete. The scan rarely maintains all of the dynamic punch of the original. Often I need to make hue, saturation and contrast adjustments in Adobe Photoshop in order to make the digital image look as good as the original. I don't cheat though. I don't typically make improvements or do any digital cosmetic surgery. Usually I need to mail the original off to the buyer anyway so there's no use in misrepresenting the artwork.

So there's a behind the scenes look at how this Spidey sketch card came to be. Now let's all cross our fingers that he raises a few bucks for a good cause at the fundraiser!