Em's Crap! (CLOSED)

[Deaths Jester]

I hope ye charging 'Matter a good chunk of change for this stuff becuase the work is too good to do for free!

[Tomato]

*shrug* awhile back MJB needed to do a few commissions, so I took advantage and helped him out. I was working on a mod at the time, and the idea was that these would be load screens for the individual chapters (kind of the same way FF is)

Just to kind of explain where this one came from, this cover was going to be the player's first look at the three characters, and rather then have another splash cover, I figured it'd be better to have them actively pursuing a goal. The concept I initially pitched to MJB was that Tomato and KR would be flying around looking for their target, while Ch'nybe was kind of lurking about in the shadows somewhere in the background. When MJB sent me his initial sketch though, it had Ch'nybe much more pronounced, looking like he was gonna jump out and attack his teammates. And while that wasn't my intent, it set a perfect tone for the character right from the start.

[MJB]

Meejub Monday time again...

Cover dated June 1977
The Triad #25 featuring Haywire, Sonar & Ultimate Soldier



Not as aged as the previous cover. I'm going to vary the age affects so they all don't look identical. Trying to emulate varying conditions of these books.

All these characters are childhood creations that I've slightly updated.

Comments are more than welcome!

-MJB

[Figure Fan]

I really like the dot texture in the back. How are you doing this--is it a brush or a fill or what? Nice job though. Varying the aging effect is also a good idea.

I feel like these are CoH-inspired costumes, but I could be wrong. Did you ever make them in game based on your original creations?

[bearded]

exceptional designs.

[naitvalis]

good work mjb  ! i like the choice of the "title", the  characters, and the only one thing i can suggest (if i can suggest something at least) is to give a little more emphasis to "the void" itself , cause to me look a little "plain".

(i like very much that robot  i don't know why but i imagine him with "tank-wheels" in place of legs. )

[juancho]

this cover is awsome, and hillarious all at the same time.
Great job Emjay.
I'd love to get a clearer look at the blue/yellow character design,

[PreRaphaelite]

Haha, the facial expressions and body language are great, especially for the middle character (Sonar?). The circular composition also makes a nice change, and the sense of zero-gravity free-floating is quite convincing. Furthermore, the character designs are funky, and you can read a lot of personality from each hero.

I've got to say, your choice of typography always seems very authentic - you really do have an eye for mixing text and image. Out of interest, do you make your own fonts, or manipulate ready-made ones?

I'm glad you're consciously varying the age effects - it's good to keep things looking fresh. To help maintain the variation, it might be worth trying something different in the bottom right hand corner in the future rather than tearing - maybe a dog ear or something similar? Otherwise the only real thing that niggles me a tad is the vibrance and flatness of the background. It might just be me, but I don't quite get the feeling of recession into the void that I would like. Partly, I think because Sonar and Ultimate Soldier are so close to one another in the foreground (US could perhaps have been thrown further back into the void). As ever, just another of my fussy little thoughts... But yeah, you're definitely on roll with these!

[Outcast]

Ah yes......i remember capturing those three inside my dark void dimension...kidding aside..it's great to see more of your original characters MJB. Haywire...Sonar...and Ultimate Soldier. I'm really curious to see Haywire's full body design too. Is he a cyborg or an android? It'd be nice to know more of these characters story backgrounds and powers.

I don't really get how the "dot" effects makes it appear "aged" though, but it does have a nice effect to it. Did old comics have those kind of dot effects?

[PreRaphaelite]

I don't really get how the "dot" effects makes it appear "aged" though, but it does have a nice effect to it. Did old comics have those kind of dot effects?

I believe they're halftone dots, related to and referencing the Ben-Day dots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Day_dots) that were used for colouring/shading in mid-20th century comics and later the Pop Art movement. 

[Outcast]

I don't really get how the "dot" effects makes it appear "aged" though, but it does have a nice effect to it. Did old comics have those kind of dot effects?

I believe they're halftone dots, related to and referencing the Ben-Day dots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Day_dots) that were used for colouring/shading in mid-20th century comics and later the Pop Art movement. 

Ah..I see. Thanks for explaining it to me PreRaphaelite.

[MJB]

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback guys! I'm really glad people seem to be digging these covers.

Now on to your responses...

I really like the dot texture in the back. How are you doing this--is it a brush or a fill or what? Nice job though. Varying the aging effect is also a good idea.

PreRaph nailed it in his response. They are halftone dots done in Photoshop (Filter+Pixelate+Color Halftone). The BG was done with large dots set to around 10-12 radius. The dots on the colors were set to 8. What I normally do is I color my image, put the logo/header on then copy the whole pic. Then I make a new image, paste the copied image & use the color halftone to dot it up. Copy & paste that image over top my cover & change the opacity to around 10%. It gives it that faint dotted look that old comics had.

I feel like these are CoH-inspired costumes, but I could be wrong. Did you ever make them in game based on your original creations?

All original costumes. Each of these characters are at least 20 years old. I very slightly changed their looks. I did play City of Heroes for 4+ years so when I updated them some of that CoH look could have creeped in but nothing intentional.

exceptional designs.

Much appreciated, Bearded.

good work mjb  ! i like the choice of the "title", the  characters, and the only one thing i can suggest (if i can suggest something at least) is to give a little more emphasis to "the void" itself , cause to me look a little "plain".

(i like very much that robot  i don't know why but i imagine him with "tank-wheels" in place of legs. )

Thanks for the comment, Nait. The "plain" look to the Void was intentional. I guess I should have designed it to look like it's pulling them in more but this was all designed right on the page. No thumbnails or sketches before hand.

Haywire does indeed have legs. Sorry no tank-wheels.

this cover is awsome, and hillarious all at the same time.
Great job Emjay.
I'd love to get a clearer look at the blue/yellow character design,

Thanks Juan. The next Triad cover has a good shot of Haywire's look.

Haha, the facial expressions and body language are great, especially for the middle character (Sonar?). The circular composition also makes a nice change, and the sense of zero-gravity free-floating is quite convincing. Furthermore, the character designs are funky, and you can read a lot of personality from each hero.

I've got to say, your choice of typography always seems very authentic - you really do have an eye for mixing text and image. Out of interest, do you make your own fonts, or manipulate ready-made ones?

I use ready-made fonts but I often alter them slightly to fit the look I'm going for. I'm somewhat of a collector of free fonts. I think my font folder has like 500 fonts in it now.

I'm glad you're consciously varying the age effects - it's good to keep things looking fresh. To help maintain the variation, it might be worth trying something different in the bottom right hand corner in the future rather than tearing - maybe a dog ear or something similar? Otherwise the only real thing that niggles me a tad is the vibrance and flatness of the background. It might just be me, but I don't quite get the feeling of recession into the void that I would like. Partly, I think because Sonar and Ultimate Soldier are so close to one another in the foreground (US could perhaps have been thrown further back into the void). As ever, just another of my fussy little thoughts... But yeah, you're definitely on roll with these!

A dog ear would be a perfect fit. Thanks for the suggestion I'll be sure to use one soon!

Again the flatness is purposeful but I could have definitely pushed Ultimate Soldier further into the void. Hindsight & all that...

Ah yes......i remember capturing those three inside my dark void dimension...

You fiend!!

it's great to see more of your original characters MJB. Haywire...Sonar...and Ultimate Soldier. I'm really curious to see Haywire's full body design too. Is he a cyborg or an android? It'd be nice to know more of these characters story backgrounds and powers.

He's a robot with the brain of a human. All my characters have back-story origins & whatnot. I really need to type it all up at one point.

I don't really get how the "dot" effects makes it appear "aged" though, but it does have a nice effect to it. Did old comics have those kind of dot effects?

PreRaph explained it perfectly. These dots were present in the print of older comics. Modern scanning techniques have helped magnify the affect a bit. These dots on my covers are very much overblown from what would have actually been noticeable in older comics. Just a style choice to get the time period across.

[Figure Fan]

Ahh how awesome. I completely forgot about the color hafltone filter..so simple yet so affective. Thanks for sharing.

I also meant to point out how much I like the yellow circle design on the antenna guy's costume.

[MJB]

It's Tomato Thursday so it's time for Influx cover #3.

[Outcast]

Yay! Another great comic cover MJB.

[PreRaphaelite]

Another funky cover, Majub. The use of action lines, the dynamic poses - it all works very well. The linework and the colouring are bold and clean, and again it looks thoroughly tactile, as though I could pick it up for 50p at a nearby carboot sale.

[MJB]

Thanks guys.

Hopefully the lack of comments isn't a symptom of you guys getting bored with the covers. I'm still quite fascinated with them.

Cover Dated December 1969
Guest starring BrainStorm!


Comments are always welcome and very much appreciated.

-MJB

[juancho]

niiiiice
Bloodlust look terrific, and I love the way Brainstorm's cape just floats all arround him, it kind of look like he has just arrived to the scene, niiiice

[Reepicheep]

I really like these. Your colouring is just getting more and more imaginative as well. No comic book is complete without a brain in a jar as well - this one is a really fun design. His aura made me think Energy-X, too.

My only comment is the composition of the characters. They all lie a little bit flat, like they're on one plane to each other. I think the general needed something to give him a little more notice in this last one, he's kinda hidden in the corner - took me a second to notice him there. You've probably read it already (in fact, I think it was you who I got the recommendation from) but How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way had a couple of pages on composing a front cover that are really handy.


I actually really like the last influx one - you got that dynamic feeling where something is about to happen. The two characters are going for each other, but it isn't clear who is coming up trumps. I think a comic book cover needs that. The thing is, even though theres more stuff happening in this last one, I feel like its already happened. The general is already grounded, and Brainstorm has already fired off his laser. I think it needs to feel like poop is about to hit the fan, rather than it already has.

But thats a minor comment compared to how great this looks. Your style is nothing short of awesome.

[PreRaphaelite]

Aah, I remember the days when I used to waltz into the nearby comic shop and eagerly search the racks for the latest copy of General Victory. Issue 86 was one of the best ones. You wouldn't believe what GV gets up to! What a man...

First let me say I like that you're experimenting with using different colour schemes, trying out new combinations such as the mottled dark blue/purple background. It shows you're still pushing yourself, which always earns you points in my eye(s). That said, I'm not sure if the background is just a bit too bold. Tonally it seems too close to the reds of Bludlust and the pinks/purples of Brainstorm's cloak, contributing to the degree of flatness that Reep mentioned.

In terms of composition, I don't think the 'one plane' composition is too detrimental here. In a way it's actually quite charming, because instead of focusing on a foreground to background recession, you've focused on a stacked single plane compostion where your eye literally zig-zags down the page from the General Victory sign, to the Brainstorm sign, to Brainstorm, Bludlust, and finally GV (which I'm guessing is why Mr Cheep might have taken a moment to spot GV?). The use of diagonal lines is a big part of this movement. Nevertheless, my main concern with the composition is that everything has been squished down on the page. There is a lot of vacant space at the top of the cover compared to a very compressed amount of action at the very bottom. That empty space can be quite distracting, while the 'Bludlust Unbound' text seems a bit cramped next to/on top of GV.

But naturally the pros far outway the cons in this image. BrainStorm's design is very cool - a brain in a jar with a body of energy? It's priceless. And I really like the way you've drawn the energy of his body - it's a classic type of dark, blobby energy that really works. The action poses are also very well considered, and I do get the feeling of a battle being/having been waged here. The linework is very clean with some areas of subtle shading (the understated shadows of Bludlust for example) and the colours of BrainStorm are exciting and eyecatching. GV is a little bit lost down there, but I can see why you did it - to give that sense of defeat as he's overwhelmed by his adversary. His expression, however, and that of Bludlust, are very well executed. Thumbs up! 

[Outcast]

I'm thrilled to see more your original character creations in your main hero's comic cover. Since there are new villains/characters being introduced. It somehow makes these comic covers more authentic to me. Like there's a story inside that would explain how and why Captain Victory ended up in that kind of predicament. I also think it helps make Captain Victory's world more complete or more fleshed out, because you see more of who these villains/characters Captain Victory has to deal with or has encountered.

I also dig the Kirby like squiggles you made on Captain Victory atop the Title.

[Panther_Gunn]

I've meant to pop in this thread much sooner than this, but I seem to keep getting distracted.  I think my favorite one so far has been the first one, because Lou is awesome, as always.  But I'm liking this most recent cover.  What I first noticed though, is that the areas of the cover that aren't looking torn look very crisp, almost pristine, almost like they haven't been aged.  I would have expected to see some wrinkle creases or some other sort of wear in some of the larger expanses of solid colors (like behind Bludlust).  I am liking Brainstorm's design.  Almost like a combination of The Brain from the Brotherhood of Evil and Wildfire.

After reading Reep & PreR's comments, I did notice that GV was a little hard to see.  I would swap the positioning of the Guest Starring box and the issue title, scaling them both down enough to see the rest of GV's costume so he pops a bit more, and to fit the issue title in without covering up too much of the action.

One thing I wanted to ask, were you attempting to have the covers be evocative of the era that you're cover dating them to be?

[bearded]

are there stories behind the covers? color me interested.

[MJB]

niiiiice
Bloodlust look terrific, and I love the way Brainstorm's cape just floats all arround him, it kind of look like he has just arrived to the scene, niiiice

Thanks Juan!

My only comment is the composition of the characters. They all lie a little bit flat, like they're on one plane to each other. I think the general needed something to give him a little more notice in this last one, he's kinda hidden in the corner - took me a second to notice him there. You've probably read it already (in fact, I think it was you who I got the recommendation from) but How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way had a couple of pages on composing a front cover that are really handy.

I actually really like the last influx one - you got that dynamic feeling where something is about to happen. The two characters are going for each other, but it isn't clear who is coming up trumps. I think a comic book cover needs that. The thing is, even though theres more stuff happening in this last one, I feel like its already happened. The general is already grounded, and Brainstorm has already fired off his laser. I think it needs to feel like poop is about to hit the fan, rather than it already has.

But thats a minor comment compared to how great this looks. Your style is nothing short of awesome.

Thanks for the comment, Reep. Indeed the composition is flat. I usually draw these freehand on a sheet of paper without thumbing them out. The results are generally flat. I'm trying to do better with the layouts on my most recent ones.

How to Draw the Marvel Way is indeed a great book to look at for tips. I need to dig out my copy.

First let me say I like that you're experimenting with using different colour schemes, trying out new combinations such as the mottled dark blue/purple background. It shows you're still pushing yourself, which always earns you points in my eye(s). That said, I'm not sure if the background is just a bit too bold. Tonally it seems too close to the reds of Bludlust and the pinks/purples of Brainstorm's cloak, contributing to the degree of flatness that Reep mentioned.

In terms of composition, I don't think the 'one plane' composition is too detrimental here. In a way it's actually quite charming, because instead of focusing on a foreground to background recession, you've focused on a stacked single plane compostion where your eye literally zig-zags down the page from the General Victory sign, to the Brainstorm sign, to Brainstorm, Bludlust, and finally GV (which I'm guessing is why Mr Cheep might have taken a moment to spot GV?). The use of diagonal lines is a big part of this movement. Nevertheless, my main concern with the composition is that everything has been squished down on the page. There is a lot of vacant space at the top of the cover compared to a very compressed amount of action at the very bottom. That empty space can be quite distracting, while the 'Bludlust Unbound' text seems a bit cramped next to/on top of GV.

But naturally the pros far outway the cons in this image. BrainStorm's design is very cool - a brain in a jar with a body of energy? It's priceless. And I really like the way you've drawn the energy of his body - it's a classic type of dark, blobby energy that really works. The action poses are also very well considered, and I do get the feeling of a battle being/having been waged here. The linework is very clean with some areas of subtle shading (the understated shadows of Bludlust for example) and the colours of BrainStorm are exciting and eyecatching. GV is a little bit lost down there, but I can see why you did it - to give that sense of defeat as he's overwhelmed by his adversary. His expression, however, and that of Bludlust, are very well executed. Thumbs up! 

Thank you for the detailed critique. Truly a pleasure to read.

The "squished" composition was an accident. I intended to draw more of the General but once I started inking it I decided to just cover parts in rubble. I think you may be able to tell that in the rough original scan...



See all the empty space at the bottom? I got lazy.

Thanks for the comment. I really appreciate it!

I'm thrilled to see more your original character creations in your main hero's comic cover. Since there are new villains/characters being introduced. It somehow makes these comic covers more authentic to me. Like there's a story inside that would explain how and why Captain Victory ended up in that kind of predicament. I also think it helps make Captain Victory's world more complete or more fleshed out, because you see more of who these villains/characters Captain Victory has to deal with or has encountered.

I also dig the Kirby like squiggles you made on Captain Victory atop the Title.

Kirby-esque is something I shoot for in the shading at times. I'm still working on the effect. Thanks for the comment!

I've meant to pop in this thread much sooner than this, but I seem to keep getting distracted.  I think my favorite one so far has been the first one, because Lou is awesome, as always.  But I'm liking this most recent cover.  What I first noticed though, is that the areas of the cover that aren't looking torn look very crisp, almost pristine, almost like they haven't been aged.  I would have expected to see some wrinkle creases or some other sort of wear in some of the larger expanses of solid colors (like behind Bludlust).  I am liking Brainstorm's design.  Almost like a combination of The Brain from the Brotherhood of Evil and Wildfire.

My search-fu has been weak lately. I've tried to search for better textures to age things but most of the stuff I find wash out the colors too much. I'll keep looking.

After reading Reep & PreR's comments, I did notice that GV was a little hard to see.  I would swap the positioning of the Guest Starring box and the issue title, scaling them both down enough to see the rest of GV's costume so he pops a bit more, and to fit the issue title in without covering up too much of the action.

Added your suggestion to the list for version 2. Danke!

One thing I wanted to ask, were you attempting to have the covers be evocative of the era that you're cover dating them to be

That was the initial plan, yes. I even have a fake publishing history planned out for this company. I know that my drawings don't look very Kirby or Ditko like but it's not about ripping those guys off. It's about having fun with a fake comic company. Right now I'm having a blast thinking all this stuff up!

are there stories behind the covers? color me interested.

Yes there are stories behind each cover. If I had the talent, time & dedication I would draw each & every issue of these comics out. I have stories in my head that would take years to tell. LOL.

To wrap things up here's an updated cover for General Victory #86. Please let me know which one you guys prefer...

• More Aging
  
• Swapped Cover Blurbs
  
• Slight Color Changes

-MJB

[captainspud]

I like the one that's better.

[MJB]

Your helpfulness knows no bounds. You are a living saint, Mr. Potato.

[Tomato]

I'm more fond of the second. I like the darker background, and I agree that moving the "Unbound" tag to give a clearer view of Victory was a good move... I honestly didn't see him at all the first time I saw the original cover.

[PreRaphaelite]

There's no competition between the two: the second is easily my favourite. PG was right (urk), swapping the boxes around has helped a lot. It's also noteworthy that you've given the issue title a box for the words to expand out of - a nice bit of 'unbound' symbolism. The darker colours and the ageing effects give the comic a grittier, moodier vibe - which I quite like, but might not be so representative of the chosen era(?). Nevertheless, it does make it look as if you've scanned in an old, worn copy from real life (as my scanner always seems to make things a bit darker/more world-wearied than they are). It's great to see more of GV, and the composition as a whole is far more balanced.

And thanks for the sneak-peak of the inks - always a treat! 

[Reepicheep]

Definitely better - the whole thing feels a lot more balanced.

[Outcast]

The aging effects looks "better" on the second one. So i think Captain Spud would like that one.