Thanks for the compliments!

I was actually planning on doing X-Cop but I can't figure out a good way to draw it without it looking like, well, a giant action figure. The human face and chest are on a plastic flap that flips down, which is kind of hard to translate into a drawing of a monster.

Maybe I'm overthinking it.

Someone asked about the Spud Thud having a scoop on it. I think the bottom of the hammer was hollow, but I assumed it was out of cheapness (trying to save a dime on plastic). So I made it flat, like a giant mallet.

Anyway since real work is piling up I will have to take a brief break from all the drawings. If anybody wants to try their hand at shading any of these things, I'd love to see it. I will return next week or so with X-Cop, Fearsome Flush or Fright Feature Janine.

Thanks again!

As I said before, we can wait…take care of work before fun

I shaded Venkman. My scanner isn't working so I can't scan X-Cop or Fearsome Flush!

Nice. I really like that. I tend to cell shade my stuff…which severally limits what I can do…but that is awesome.

I Hate your scanner is down for the count ATM…

that stuffs amazing dude. dead on amazing. How do u shade it, in photoshop, i never mastered how to shade drawing in that program. got any tutorials?

Nice shading. Wish I could it that good with co-pic markers

Thanks for the comments guys. The day job is finally calming down and I think I got my scanner working good enough for black and white drawings, so I'll get X-Cop up this weekend.

YourBigPalAl asked about the shading. I'm using a mouse which is like trying to draw with a brick or a hamburger or something. I shade with a combination of darker versions of the base color, and then the dodge and burn tools. It's good enough but really I wish I was much better at it.

JamesC mentioned cel shading, which I do sometimes but when I do it, it tends to look harsh. The children's book I am working on has cel shaded characters (I think that's what it is) and it took FOREVER and doesn't look as good as I wish it did. The edges are too harsh.

I am good at half-assed coloring and shading this stuff, which is probably why I have a super boring day job and have to do artwork freelance.

C'est la vie, right?

Bat, I eagerly await your designs of Fearsome Flush and X-Cop, especially seeing how you tackled the latter.

Bativac. I had the same problems. Usually what I do now is when I do my cell shading once the shading aspect is done, I blur the color boarders to give it a smoother look:

Example:


This particular image I colored for fun and placed it on Deviantart. The image was originally created by Deviantart Art User http://kuritarou.deviantart.com/

This image is a good example of what I was referring to and probably one of the images I am most proud of its coloration…wish I had drawn it though :p

Nice shading! I wish I had done that with my book. Now I feel like an idiot knowing it was something as simple as blurring the edges of the shadows. Do you do it by hand or is there some layer property or filter or something that does it for you?