My First Post

[Staz Johnson]

Hey everyone,

This is my first contribution to the site, so be gentle with me. I'm a pro comic book penciller, & as such non of my work can be truly described as finished (since it first goes thru the hands of an inker & then a colorist before it is ready for publication).

However I have dug thru my archives & come up with a couple of things which can be described as finished.

First up is a piece I did for a charity auction. I & a bunch of other comic book artists were asked to produce an image of our favorite character, I chose Druuna, & in an homage to her creator Serpieri, I attempted to do the piece in an approximation of his very singular style.

The second piece was done for a fan, & was one of the few comic drawings I have inked myself for many a year.

If I were to post examples of some of my comic pencils, which forum should I post them? Here? Or would they be regarded as Works In Progress?

Your comments on the work is welcome, but like I said, be gentle.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/StazJohnson/Druuna.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c267/StazJohnson/Batman1.jpg

[Lone Wolf]

That's a great Batman piece. Nice Inking job.

[plissken]

the Batman is great- very dynamic composition. I think the woman is very well rendered, lovely pose.

[BMunchausen]

The woman's eyes don't sit in her face quite believably and I think her neck might be a smidge long - or maybe it's that her head looks too small for those narrow little shoulders? Not sure. Otherwise, nicely done. I like the dynamism of the Batman piece too.

[adien]

Hey these are great. I did notice the eyes looked a bit off in the first one as well. Love that batman.

As for your pencils, as far as I've been able to tell, pencils can be shown in the Finally Finished section if they have a finished look to them. If your pencils are sketchy or really rough, they would probably be moved to the SKETCHES & WORKS IN PROGRESS section

[Staz Johnson]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

BMunchausen: Can't say the thing with the eyes & neck on Druuna ever occoured to me, & you're the first person to mention it...I guess everyone else was looking elsewhere!:teeth:

adien: Look out for some of my pencils in the Finally Finished forum then, I'll put up some of the pages from my current Marvel gig.

[katsgod]

Great work

[Mr. Visions]

These are nice pieces. I will agree that the weakest point in the first shot is the face, mostly the eyes. Maybe it's the tilt of the head, or maybe just the left eye. I really like the batman pic, too. I would say the neck on bats seems a bit elongated, or maybe just too much of it is showing, making the head seem disconnected. But, overall it is a very dynamic and graphis page. Nice stuff.

- Visions

[Janus]

hey staz, have you still got some of your old batman pages ? i loved them.
Very good work.
The Batman you posted is very dynamic, wow

[Staz Johnson]

hey staz, have you still got some of your old batman pages ? i loved them.
Very good work.
The Batman you posted is very dynamic, wow

Yeah still got loads of them. I'd post some but I don't have digital copies of the pencils, only photocopies...I did all of my Batman work long before I had a computer.

[S.C. Watson]

Staz, these are just great. Love the Batman piece. He seriously looks like he's not having a good day.

If you are not comfortable posting your pencils in the finished section, you can start a sketchbook in the Sketchbook Section (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41).

However, I'm sure that at the level that comics need to have their pencils, that anything you posted here would be fine.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Cheers,
~Shane

[Dizon]

I miss Druuuuunnaaaaaaa

good job man!

[Mort]

looks like old school comic style. hard ink and great details. btw what is she doing with that slimy alien?

[Capprotti]

Wow, I really like that colored piece. It reminds me of the french "humanoids" style of art. I also really like how natural the body looks. And what can I say, the batman is just badass. I love how his face is all in shadow and all you can see is his expression. The cape really looks amazing too. Nice work.

[Death]

RAWR! these rock! keep up the awesomeness! :D.

[Staz Johnson]

Oregano : Thanks mate. As you may now be already aware, I have started a thread here in thr Finally Finished section with some of the pencils from my current gig.


patdzon: Yeah Druuna is a great comic. Well I say that, but to be honest it's just the artwork I buy them for, I've never read one since all the versions I have got are in French. Serpieri is a truely master draughtsman.

Mort: As for what Druuna is doing with the alien, I refere you to my previous answer. Those kind of things are always cropping up in the Druuna stories, why?...I have no idea.

Capprotti: As I mentioned the Druuna piece was intentionally done in a European style, the kind of stuff I used to see when I was growing up & looking at Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal.

Batman's face in shadow, yeah it's something of a cliche, but I like to use it from time to time. An inker friend of mine calls it the lightbulb inside the head look, which sums it up nicely I think.

Death ; ...er, ...okay...dude.8) 8)

[miljenko]

I've seen couple of pages from a Marvel comic you posted here recently. Now you've shown to us that you have interest in European comics as well. Tell me please, which do you prefer? American or European?

My own understanding of the two types is that European comics are more economical in panel organization, whereas American comics may take up to a whole page for a single scene. Also, I've noticed far more aggressive usage of captions, often to explain character's feelings or to show what goes on in a certain scene. European comics, on the contrary, rely somewhat more on picture and dialogue to explain characters and plot. I may be mistaking, but thats how I gather.

[Staz Johnson]

I've seen couple of pages from a Marvel comic you posted here recently. Now you've shown to us that you have interest in European comics as well. Tell me please, which do you prefer? American or European?

My own understanding of the two types is that European comics are more economical in panel organization, whereas American comics may take up to a whole page for a single scene. Also, I've noticed far more aggressive usage of captions, often to explain character's feelings or to show what goes on in a certain scene. European comics, on the contrary, rely somewhat more on picture and dialogue to explain characters and plot. I may be mistaking, but thats how I gather.

On the whole,I think you're quite right. Although in more recent years, these divisions are becoming more blurred...the traditional cloud-like thought balloons which I'm sure many of us remember from the comics we read in our youth,are largely a thing of the past.
Also, I think you have to take into account the target audience of the two forms. American (I assume you mean superhero) comics are aimed at an adolecent or younger audience (despite the fact that many older fans also read them), so one might well expect to see less sophisticated storytelling techniques employed than one might be expected to find in a European album aimed at a late teens & older readership. I'm sure if you were to look at some of the American comics aimed at older (more sophisticated) readers, like DC COMICS Vertigo line, I think you'll find they have much in common with their European cousins.

As for my personnal preference, I just like well drawn comics...European, American or British (which tends to be something of a halfway house) makes no difference to me.

[X-Static]

These look great, love the "lightbulb" effect with Batman. keep it up!
later,
Andrew

[Calle_]

is that you hair? I LOVE IT! haha awesome
great art too, that batman looks great