Spud's Art - (Updated August 17th: Caregiver)

[captainspud]

Heya folks!

There was recently a contest for the superhero card game I play, to make a set of fantasy "Legend" cards for a character. A Legend is basically where you make character cards, and then support cards that refer specifically to that character ("Tap a Captain America you control"). I couldn't think of any big-name "Legendary" characters I wanted to do cards for, so I decided to be a bit goofy and pick a ridiculously obscure character instead. I eventually decided on one of the least popular X-Men ever: Maggott. :)

I needed art for the cards, but there isn't a whole lot of Maggott art in existence (for some reason, the industry's top artists don't seem to be big fans of him), so I had to whip up all the art myself. Here's what I came up with. :)

"Japheth"


"Inner Void"


"Metabolize"


"Eeny and Meany"


I can't take much credit for the left slug in that last one-- I took a Carlos Pacheco drawing (that I loved) and perspective-shifted it to be a bit more head-on.

So, yeah. I'm so utterly sick of drawing him now. :D

[MJB]

Love the art, don't get the character though. Then again I've never been much of an X-Men fan.

-MJB

[captainspud]

He's a fairly obscure X-Men supporting character from a few years back. He was introduced by one set of X-creators, but after a few staff changes, one of the creative teams decided they hated him and wrote him out by having Beast recommend he join Generation X. The GenX staff hated him too, so he showed up for one issue and then left. He was simply spiralling around in obscurity until a few years later when another editor found himself in charge of a storyline involving a mutant detention center which was exterminating mutants, and he made sure to pencil Maggott onto the guest list to make sure he could never pop up again. That story left the possibility that one of the slugs survived, so another writer made sure later on to show it in a tank in Mr. Sinister's lab, with the implication being that it's either already been dissected, or soon to suffer that fate.

Basically, everybody at Marvel loves Maggott.

[electro]

I like'em all - Inner Void is my fav and have it as my background for the week :blink:

[Tortuga]

They're niftiriffic!

[Mowgli]

This is great stuff Spud. I wish you would post more often. I particularly enjoy the fact that I can see a lot of your drawing in these pics. You draw well and should show off that fact more often. I dig the figure in the first one most. Nice lighting as well.

More please!

[captainspud]

This is great stuff Spud. I wish you would post more often.

I wish I drew more. ;)

Seriously... everything I draw and finish goes up here. It's just that barring special projects like this, I finish about two pictures a year.

Remember that picture I showed you six months ago that you said was "not like what I normally produce"? That's still my work-in-progress project for when I get time to draw. :)

[captainspud]

I've had this picture of Thor trudging through the snow in my head for a few days, I just wanted to get it down on paper. Spent about two hours knocking it out tonight... it's not quite done yet. The forms on the legs aren't quite right, and I haven't "armored up" the arms and legs yet.

[Tortuga]

It looks great so far -- it's got tons of mood and ambience.  The arm in front seems out of place however.  To me it looks like it should be a little to the left.  But that's a small quibble.

I declare it huzzah.

[El Condor]

Caramba, Spud, that's wicked-good stuff!  I'd never heard of Maggott before, but I love the characterizations.  Also, the variety of textures you've mastered is impressive.  :cool:

It looks great so far -- it's got tons of mood and ambience.  The arm in front seems out of place however.  To me it looks like it should be a little to the left.  But that's a small quibble.

I declare it huzzah.

Maybe the rotation of the right arm is a bit awkward, too?  I'm no artist, but that seems to get my attention.

EC

[captainspud]

I think the biggest problem is that he's awkwardly making a fist. I'll swap it out for an open hand at lunch today.

[captainspud]

Fixed a bunch of small items over lunch (hammer angles, opened right hand, fixed shading on beard, shrunk helmet, adjusted posture, moved elbow and knee, etc).



I'll armor him up tonight.

[MJB]

He should be holding Mjolnir in his left hand. :P

-MJB

[captainspud]

I tried the hammer in both hands, but it just looked weird no matter how I posed it. There's nobody around for him to fight, so it looked weird for him to hobble himself with a weapon when he's got enough trouble wading through the snow.

To be honest, the left hand probably shouldn't even be where it is at all. It should be extended sort of toward the rear, palm down, for balance.

[style]

Yo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's Dope!  :shock2: Hey Spud Marvel needs to let you pencil Thor for them they need help!....Bad!

[captainspud]

Yo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's Dope!  :shock2: Hey Spud Marvel needs to let you pencil Thor for them they need help!....Bad!

Sorry, unless they let me put the beard back on him, I'd have to say no. ;)

[Mowgli]

Spud!!! Alright, more work! I love the pose, and the flow of the cape. The proportion is solid and the face is great. The only thing I'm not crazy about is the fuzziness of the image. That's a stylistic choice though, not a critique on technique.

I didn't even know you liked the character of Thor, so this is a pleasant suprise!

Style: "...Marvel needs to let you pencil Thor for them they need help!....Bad!" Bwu-huh? :huh: Are you talking about Thor's solo book? I think the current artist on Thor is doing terrific job. He's one of the reasons I buy it.

[captainspud]

The only thing I'm not crazy about is the fuzziness of the image.

It's a trade-off... if I put the time into un-fuzzing it, I get sick of working on it and don't finish.

I didn't even know you liked the character of Thor, so this is a pleasant suprise!

I don't think I've ever read a Thor comic before. I couldn't give two farts about him character-wise, but he's definitely fun to draw. :)

What really prompted this is that I'm going to be starting up a weekly just-for-fun article for the card game I play, where I whip up custom cards and explain the rationale behind why I did them the way I did. I'm going to try to do as much of the art on my own as I can. I'm doing Thor for the first one specifically because I don't know the character and he's hard to represent in card form, so I can talk about how to work your way out of the unfamiliarity pinch when designing cards.

So, yeah. I'll be doing a couple more Thor pictures over the weekend to round out the art I need for the article. I've got a few of the designs floating around in my head, but nothing's too solidly defined yet.

To be honest, what I'm really doing is creating a time sink for myself since I'm really getting sick of WoW and have no game to replace it right now. So until something interesting comes along, or until I get bored and wander off, I'm gonna force myself back on art duty. ;)

[style]

Style: "...Marvel needs to let you pencil Thor for them they need help!....Bad!" Bwu-huh? :huh: Are you talking about Thor's solo book? I think the current artist on Thor is doing terrific job. He's one of the reasons I buy it.

I just hope he wasn't the one to come up with Thors new costume in simple words ...I hate it! :thumbdown:

I always felt a Thor comic should have that old cabin look like Spud gave him. :thumbup:

[zuludelta]

Neat Thor piece Spud... wondering if you could find a way to work in his hammer into the image somewhere, or if the fact that he's hammer-less plays a role in the image's "story."

EDIT: NVM, just noticed it hanging on his hip... looks a little too subdued in that position, but it works okay. 

[C4]

This is a shame






a shame we don't get more art from you. That is some quality work on Maggot. (making a bland character look that good takes skill)

[bat1987]

First time I hear of this Maggot guy, but the drawings are great!

I too prefer Thor with a beard, I mean he`s a Norse god for pete`s sake, he must have a beard!

[captainspud]

Alrighty, more or less done.



I'm doing a couple more Thor pics this weekend. I'll try to have one done tonight.

[captainspud]

EDIT: Tossed in spoilers because I couldn't stand looking at it. Updated, but not entirely better, version below.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Hrm... I tried a new coloring technique on this one, I'm not sure I like it very much.

[Panther_Gunn]

*WARNING - nitpicks ahead*

I like the pre-armor snow pics, although I'll agree that there's something about the arms that looks off, but I don't have enough of a trained eye to determine what.  When you added the armoring, what type of armor are you trying to illustrate?  I'm not familiar enough with Thor's current look, so I'm not sure what it's supposed to look like.  At best, especially along the legs, it looks mostly like some kind of padded/quilted leather.  If it's supposed to be some sort of scale armor, it doesn't look like it overlaps enough (the appearance of overlapping isn't there), and each row should be shifted over by half, like the pattern for a brick wall.  I know comic book artists take shortcuts to make some of the details take less time, but for a one-off, the shortcuts can detract more than it's worth.

Is the color pic a WIP, as there's no hair, facial or otherwise, visible?  On it's own, it's not bad, but it's definitely not a typical depction of Thor.

[Cardmaster]

Actually, that's a fairly accurate rendition of how Thor's armor is currently looking in the comics.

I have nooo idea what it's supposed to be; I'm just here to say that it's technically canonically accurate. :P
[spoiler][/spoiler]

This is all PHENOMENAL stuff Spud. Makes me really want to work harder at my Photoshop painting skillz. :) Major kudos!

-CM

[captainspud]

Alrighty, I think I'm getting the hang of the new colouring method.

[Sword]

I say thee, Rock!

That is an awesome Bill.

[captainspud]

Still not really liking this one. Combination of 1) I don't like my own exaggerated/cartoony stuff that much, 2) The colours look really wrong, 3) I was too lazy to armor up the arms and legs, and 4) It was mostly done before I decided to use the new colouring method, and my new and old workflows don't really work together very well.

I'm probably just gonna abandon this piece. It helped me learn the new method, but on its own it's just not very good.

[Uncle Yuan]

Hooray - I'm back on high speed internet and can catch up on art!  These are all really great, Spud.  And Bill is awesome!