Becoming a Comic Book Artist

maximiliani:

PING PING PING!

I tried another coloring practice by coloring in the last page to fsbot’s Cassandra Cain (Black Bat) vs. Scarecrow mini-comic. I tried coloring it a bit different, you may notice I gave Cassandra’s suit a reinforced texture to hint that it’s of a Kevlar or micro-chainmail type material (God knows Wayne Industries makes it!) this time.

CLICK FOR HQ

First and second pages here

Third and fourth pages here

Fifth splash page here

I hope DC will revamp her Black Bat costume once she returns from her designated “benching”. I do like the over-sized bat-ear face mask, the tattered Spawn cape, and some  artists draw her gloves as having literal claws which together do have a very scary feral and “Bat-monster” look. Her Batgirl costume was always very scary in that same vein.

                         

Instead of her leftover Batgirl costume sans the cowl, Cassandra’s Black Bat costume should be slightly more armored and distinctive. The samurai-esque outfit with the plated gauntlets Bruce wears in Batman Begins when training with Ra’s Al Ghul in the Himalayas if streamlined a bit would work. Or even her temporary Marcus To Hong Kong costume she wore when she appeared in Red Robin before Tim gave her Batgirl costume back. Really something like Raiden’s super soldier make-over from Metal Gear Solid 4, except with bat-ear extensions on her partial helmet/face mask would be ideal.

Kenneth Rocafort, the current artist on  Red Hood & The Outlaws seems to have drawn either concept art  or a pure fun doodle for Cassandra Cain Black Bat.

                        

Little too organic but certainly scary. Rocafort draws incredibly intricate stuff (though his Jason Todd looks more like Tim Drake bishonen)

If they’re ever going to have her as a regular again she needs to look not like a Batgirl or Batwoman while still retain the Bat-theme. She is also the designated Batman of China (at least Hong Kong) through Batman Inc so I think an even slightly more beefed up appearance would be wonderful.

Oh well, we’ll see.

And page 5, which I adore the most so far. I love the last panel and the clash of colors. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the last page, which was my favorite to draw.

But maximiliani’s tumblr is a fun one to peruse. He has some good taste, but I wished he included more of his art, because he’s definitely onto something here.

maximiliani:

PING PING PING! Colored page five of six page Cassandra Cain vs. Scarecrow mini comic by Fsbot. Cassandra is broken free from Scarecrow’s fear toxin with a vision of the Batman Reborn! Era Batfamily. Click for HQ

I only now found out about this. I love Cass’s look in the center.

maximiliani:

PING! PING! PING!

The third and fourth pages of Fsbot’s Cassandra Cain versus Scarecrow mini comic colored by myself. Last we left her, she’s been gassed with Fear toxin! Not one-hundred percent done, but almost? Let me know what you think! First two colored pages of short comic here. Click above picture for HQ.

Fsbot:

Here are the scenes in clockwise order, starting from the bottom left:

-Cassandra’s first kill as a child and when she first understood death. She killed the man by digging her fingers into his neck and ripping out his throat.

-The “death” of Stephanie Brown.

-Lady Shiva. This was a little difficult, because there’s no official look for Shiva. She used to be white, now she’s asian. Her hair changes and she has no official outfit.

-Deathstroke with the drug he used to manipulate Cass.

-Evil Cass, killing some poor lady

-Abandonment issues.

There is something fascinating about surgery, to see figures be dissected and picked apart for display in a public autopsy. To watch and understand the function of each piece and its significance. During these procedures, I, like the rest of the audience, focus more on the content, pushing the surgeon back as an afterthought.

I say this because while I drew this piece to possibly have permanently drawn onto someone’s abused skin, it was the charming psudonym who took the time to color it for me (and who may be the only bigger Cass fan than I). I partook, with several others, watching psudonym coloring it at http://www.livestream.com/coneyislandartinstitute. 

It inspired me to branch out on my set of skills and attempt techniques I would not have done otherwise. I’ve always been sore when it comes to coloring, considering it confusing and boring, but considering the things I was able to learn that night, I think it would be rude to consider otherwise.

Which is the explanation to my prolonged absence. I’ve been coloring, growing unsatisfied, throwing my art away, and starting over from scratch.

I would also like to mention that when I submitted the piece, the tattoo artist ecstatically exclaimed, and I quote, “thas wha i’m fukkin talkin bout.”