Zulu's art

[MJB]

Awesome!

I demand a 1024x768 sized wallpaper! DEMAND I say!!

((:P Ummm... please? Heh.))

-MJB

[zuludelta]

Ask and ye shall receive.

I've also made wallpapers using a few of the other images I worked on, just click on the thumbnails below to view and download the embiggened (1024 x 768) versions:

Hulk wallpaper:                                 Ghost Rider 2099 wallpaper:                                                                               
                         

Daredevil wallpaper:                          Silver Surfer wallpaper:
                         

[MJB]

Mmmmmm... wallpapery goodness!

-MJB

[psychopanda]

Nice ZD! I'm collecting them all! :)

[Uncle Yuan]

Ooooo - shineys!  Thanks ZD - these look awesome!  I might even have to give Blkcasanova's excellent UY a little time off for a while . . .

[Blkcasanova247]

NOOOOO!!!! Yuan say it ain't so? :(....Nah...go for it.. these wallpapers are excellent! Nice work Zulu! :thumbup: sumbliminal message: Don't do it Uncle Yuan! Don't do it Uncle Yuan! Don't do it Uncle Yuan!

[Uncle Yuan]

:dreamy voice:

must . . . not . . . change . . . wallpaper . . . :wacko:

[zuludelta]

Glad you guys are digging the wallpapers... if anybody wants wallpapers made out of any of the previous images I posted, jest let me know in this thread or PM me, it's no trouble at all for me to cobble one together.

Anyway, here's the third (in a series of lord knows how many) Punisher image I've done with my brother.

 

To view the two prior Punisher collaborations I did with him, go back a page or two or click here and here.

As I've said before... he's a huge Punisher fan. How huge? He's been working on-and-off on a Punisher conversion mod for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for most of the last 5 months:

(Anybody who's played the game will notice the M-60 and Hummer are totally new additions to the game... also, that's a totally resculpted head on the Punisher model).

Anyways, I'm doing my own part to feed his obsession by colouring and digitally inking his Punisher pencil sketches.

[Carravaggio]

oh man playing as frank would motivate me to sit through that whole game all over again! that looks great!

[zuludelta]

Something different this time around... I've been neglecting my life-drawing skills the past year or two, although I was never that good in the first place. Here's a portrait of a friend of mine based on a photo:



I was going to lightbox the source photo but ended up doing a more traditional method of blowing it up: overlaying a grid on the photo and then reproducing the image on an upscaled version of the grid... you've probably seen street portrait artists do a similar thing when they're copying a photo. Incidentally, that's also how they make the gigantic, billboard-sized, painted movie posters in some third world countries, where hiring a painter to do it is still cheaper than having the gigantic sheets printed. I actually saw one being done (I think it was for Robocop 3) when I was still living in the Philippines.     

[MJB]

It's nice to see how your new style translates to "real life".

-MJB

[BatWing]

this is great work zulu!!!
how do u do it!?

[zuludelta]

how do u do it!?

Glad you like it, but working off of a photo is a lot easier than it looks, and in my opinion is easier than creating original images for the most part, and is definitely easier than working accurately off of life, like live models and such (which I find extremely challenging)... for one thing, referencing a photograph takes the guesswork out of the actual composition. It's still fun, though, if you like the nuts and bolts of drawing.

[zuludelta]

Just a quick Logan face study to start the day:



I've always wondered how Logan keeps his hair up... it's probably a combination of not showering too often and naturally wiry hair.

[zuludelta]

Well, decided to finish the rest of the Wolverine image:
EDIT: image updated, check below for the revised pic

The costume is based on his default look in the Marvel Ultimate Alliance game.

[Panther_Gunn]

Overall, I think the Wolvie image looks good, except for the left hand.  With the perspective, I'm not 100% sure the claws are all the way out or not.  If they're still in the process of coming out, the back of his hand should still be in line with his forearm (as that's where they reside....which I'm sure you know).  The easiest fix would be to just lengthen what's out on that hand, so they look like they're all the way out.  Unless I'm missing something, of course.  :P

[zuludelta]

Overall, I think the Wolvie image looks good, except for the left hand.  With the perspective, I'm not 100% sure the claws are all the way out or not.  If they're still in the process of coming out, the back of his hand should still be in line with his forearm (as that's where they reside....which I'm sure you know).  The easiest fix would be to just lengthen what's out on that hand, so they look like they're all the way out.  Unless I'm missing something, of course.  :P

Yeah, the claws are bothering me a bit... I've been looking at my fist in the mirror with pens between my fingers to try and get the perspective right. I'll probably go in and change them later.

[zuludelta]

Wolverine image updated (thanks PG!):

[zuludelta]

Ultimate Dazzler:



I dropped Ultimate X-Men months before she first appeared, but I like how they reinterpreted Dazzler as a punk kid (of course, the code name "Dazzler" doesn't sound like something a punk rocker would choose, except as a tongue-in-cheek type of thing). I based the guitar off of my dad's old Fender Jazzmaster... it was a weird thing that was made in Japan, it would feedback on you if you so much as looked at it wrong and it was missing the pickup selectors that were standard on other Jazzmasters. I remember using it for a gig back in college, we were playing at some fraternity party, doing a cover of The Commodores' "Easy" and the thing just started buzzing and feedbacking, turning the normally sedate R & B classic into something out of a Thurston Moore fever dream. Good times, good times.

[captainspud]

Maybe his was just broken, needed new pickups or something.  :blink:

[Tortuga]

I love those Jazzmasters!

[zuludelta]

Maybe his was just broken, needed new pickups or something.  :blink:

I love those Jazzmasters!

Jazzmasters were actually quite notorious for the amount of unwanted hum their single-coils produced, but my dad's was an order of magnitude worse. It might've been poor magnetic shielding for all I know, since it was a cobbled together frankenstein thing by the time I started using it... it had a bolt-on Jaguar neck and a stripped-down Jaguar switching system that my older brother had put in when it was his main guitar, so who knows what was going on in there.

[zuludelta]

As many of you here may know, I'm a big Image Comics/Wildstorm Studios fan from the 1990s, although these days, I'm primarily interested in their characters more for nostalgia than anything else. In retrospect, a lot of those books were horribly written (whatever happened to Brandon Choi?), and the majority of the art was laughably derivative. Still, they were fun for the first 2 or 3 years of publishing, and the artists' and writers' unabashed enthusiasm just about made up for the sophomoric plotting, general lack of focus, and scattershot quality control.

Anyways, I'm planning on doing my version of perennial fan-favourite, the WildCATs (Ultimate WildCATs? All-Star WildCATs? WildCATs Reloaded?). I'm not sure if I'm doing re-interpretations of all the characters (I'm not too fond of Warblade), but I'm definitely doing Grifter, Zealot, Spartan, Maul, and Ladytron.

With that long-winded intro out of the way, here's a look at Cole Cash, a.k.a. Grifter:


First thing I did was replace the original oh-so-'90s mask and the "Image mullet" with a more practical "bandito" bandanna and crew cut (he was pretty conspicuous, especially considering that he was supposed to be a member of a "Covert Action Team"). Next to go was the green trenchcoat (never liked trenchcoats on superheroes), replaced with the top from a military BDU, as a nod to his days as a Special Forces operative. Finally, I got rid of the odd-looking "plasma" pistols (I remember them being drawn almost like portable steam irons at some point) and gave him a pair of Browning semiautomatics. I'm planning on doing the rest of the characters in a way that I can integrate them all into one huge group shot when they're all done. 

[psychopanda]

Glad you like it, but working off of a photo is a lot easier than it looks, and in my opinion is easier than creating original images for the most part, and is definitely easier than working accurately off of life, like live models and such (which I find extremely challenging)... for one thing, referencing a photograph takes the guesswork out of the actual composition. It's still fun, though, if you like the nuts and bolts of drawing.

Interesting. As an exercise, I tried looking at a comic page and recreating it (great for trying to pick up some techniques). I found it more difficult, because I was attempting to draw in someone else's style and also getting everything to line up on the page as they did. I guess when someone draws from a photo that they are acutally interpreting the image in their own drawing style, so it would seem easier. Funny how the two can be so different.

ps- Nice Grifter! My faves from that book were Grifter, Spartan, Maul, Void, and the trio of Villains, (forgetting all their names...) which included Pike.

[zuludelta]

Nice Grifter! My faves from that book were Grifter, Spartan, Maul, Void, and the trio of Villains, (forgetting all their names...) which included Pike.

Glad you like my take on Grifter.

As for the villains, that was the Triad (although they were also referred to as the Troika), which didn't include Pike, BTW (I think my comic book nerdity is showing). Pike and an unnamed Coda assassin were attached as Helspont's bodyguards. The Triad, which consisted of Slag, Attica, and H.A.R.M. were the Gnome's personal guard in the first mini-series. Come to think of it, I never did figure out what H.A.R.M. stood for. Huge, Articulated, Robotic Man? Highly Accessorized Retail Model? Hard-áss Rustbucket Mo'Fo? Hilarious Acronym Resource Machine?   

Anyways, here's a work-in-progress of Maxine Manchester, a.k.a.  Ladytron:



Haven't really done much in redesigning her aside from recolouring her eyes (for that Terminator red pupil look), it's one of my favourite superhero looks of all time, and I don't want to mess too much with the formula.

[vamp]

I think my comic book nerdity is showing

*covers eyes*
Honestly Zulu, put that thing away. There are children around here. :P

But on a more serious matter, those pics look pretty awesome. Keep the goodness coming

[psychopanda]

As for the villains, that was the Triad (although they were also referred to as the Troika), which didn't include Pike, BTW (I think my comic book nerdity is showing).

:banghead: Doh!

It's been ages since I read those comics, but I remember now. Pike probably stuck out because he was the only villain I liked, besides the members of the Triad.

[zuludelta]

Here's Ladytron:



Now, before you hit that "reply" button and start getting all indignant about the depiction of an inverted American flag let me explain my use of the image and save you the time and trouble. The practice of displaying an inverted flag is used to indicate distress in an emergency... used outside of this context, the image is otherwise considered by some as a deliberate insult directed at the institutions and entities it represents. However, the inverted flag is also used in many instances as a sign of political protest and it is in this context that I am using the image. The character has always been portrayed to be a contrarian and downright nihilist, so the decision to emblazon the inverted flag on her shirt is just my way of getting that point across with the image. 

[Uncle Yuan]

I thought the inverted flag was a sign of surrender . . .

[psychopanda]

Whew! I almost hit the reply button!

Oh wait, but I did. Oh, but I haven't hit the post button yet, so I am ok. Another emergency averted. Luckily!

I like it, the design is very smooth. It would look great on an album cover or something. If I had to nitpick on something, I'd say the left hand looks a little off. The shading is a little too thick on the fingers. That's if I had to nitpick, which I don't feel like I really need to do.

Ok, I should go get some coffee. Hmm...what's this shiny button...here...maybe I will...*click*