Zulu's art

BentonGrey · May 28, 2007, 08:17:58 AM

Very nice work Zulu, you probably know how big a fan I am of the JOEs. I knew Hama was knowledgable, but I didn't realize that he was as accurate as all of that. Nice to know!

zuludelta · May 28, 2007, 03:06:48 PM

Quote from: BentonGrey on May 28, 2007, 08:17:58 AMI knew Hama was knowledgable, but I didn't realize that he was as accurate as all of that. Nice to know!

Larry Hama was really into Eastern philosophy, and it showed in how he wrote Storm-Shadow's views on violence and warfare. He also wrote in a lot of socio-political commentary in what was a pretty much a toy marketing tie-in that I think was pretty ingenious at the time... he was quite critical of Reagan's foreign "policy" (if you could even call it that) and he even managed to satirize the first Gulf War when he wrote the Trucial Abysmia invasion. Excellent and intelligent stuff, especially when you read it with the benefit of hindsight and a knowledge of the context of the times.

BentonGrey · May 28, 2007, 03:10:48 PM

I did realize that about the other factors, and I can't tell you how much respect I have for him as a writer....really makes me weep when I compare it to the new comics. Anyroad, he really wrote some great stories.

Glitch Girl · May 28, 2007, 07:26:55 PM

These are looking great ZD. Have you considered trying a few comic pages, just to see how they look in page layout?

zuludelta · May 29, 2007, 02:40:11 PM

Quote from: Glitch Girl on May 28, 2007, 07:26:55 PM
These are looking great ZD. Have you considered trying a few comic pages, just to see how they look in page layout?

Thanks GG!

I've toyed around with the idea of doing a comic book (I've got a few sketchbooks worth' of gag strips and one-off short stories)... and I've got a couple of things going on in the background that might eventually see the light of day. Like I mentioned earlier in this thread, my brother and I have talked about maybe pitching a concept for a mini-series to a major publisher one of these days (although he'll be handling the bulk of the art chores) but right now we're just at the "sitting around and talking over a couple beer" stage.

zuludelta · May 30, 2007, 12:19:46 AM

Thought I'd show my second GI Joe piece... it's Snake-Eyes:

It's based on his original "commando" costume (which is the one that I prefer), but I added the sword from the second version of the toy (just to get that ninja look going).

Also, here's the second Punisher collaboration piece I did with my older brother:

It's supposed to be an homage to his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129, and maybe, if I have the time in the not-too distant future, I'll do an actual comic book cover mock-up complete with an updated Spidey in the crosshairs. Go back a page or click here to see the first Punisher image we collaborated on.

psychopanda · May 30, 2007, 10:08:45 AM

Nice blacks on the Punisher. Looks like you're shooting for Bradstreet in the face, no?

BentonGrey · May 30, 2007, 09:41:36 PM

Ahh, I was hoping you'd take SE on, one of my favorite characters....ever...I see you went with the commando look, cool stuff. I've always been partial to his second costume. (Although I loved how Hama didn't even TRY to explain why he all of a sudden decided to switch) Still, the commando looks is awesome. I always liked the visor from the second one best. Did you read GI JOE reborn? I think there version was something of an amalgam, with the commando uniform and the visor of the ninja suit. Anyroad, nice work. That Punisher is really fantastic as well.

zuludelta · May 30, 2007, 10:10:27 PM

Thanks for the commments and threadviews everyone!

Quote from: psychopanda on May 30, 2007, 10:08:45 AM
Nice blacks on the Punisher. Looks like you're shooting for Bradstreet in the face, no?

It's definitely inspired by the Max Punisher art, sort of an amalgamation between Bradstreet and Lewis Larosa/Leandro Fernandez's interior art... although as I mentioned to my bro, he looks a little like a grizzled Craig T. Nelson.

Quote from: BentonGrey on May 30, 2007, 09:41:36 PMDid you read GI JOE reborn? I think there version was something of an amalgam, with the commando uniform and the visor of the ninja suit.

I tried reading some of the Devil's Due GI Joe stuff but I just couldn't get into them for some reason. The writer (was it Brandon Jerwa? I forget) can definitely write dialogue in a style consistent with Hama's work, but it's just missing, I don't know what to call it... Hama's sense of relevance. With Hama's early-to-mid Joe work (everything up until issue #110, I guess), it felt like he was trying to communicate something bigger besides just telling a good, action-oriented story. Today's stuff... not so much (and even Hama's current GI Joe work seems to be missing a little something... I think his work on GI Joe, Nth Man, and Wolverine were products of their time as much as they were of his singular talent, so we might never see him hit it out of the ballpark in the same way... sort of how like Chris Claremont could never top his 1980s run on the X-Men no matter how hard he tried).

I might try doing my own "Ultimate" versions of some of my favourite GI Joes and Cobras though. I always liked drawing Cobras and the Dreadnoks when I was a kid, they always seemed that much cooler.

zuludelta · June 01, 2007, 03:22:07 AM

A quick take on Sunfire:

Nymph · June 01, 2007, 06:30:21 AM

I like it......i especially like how you went with his horseman look. (That was my favorite!) :thumbup:

Tomato · June 01, 2007, 04:31:37 PM

Niiice! Sunfire looks awesome!

Figure Fan · June 01, 2007, 10:15:16 PM

a w e s o m e

captainspud · June 01, 2007, 11:16:06 PM

Horseman? Isn't that just his AoA costume? Either way, it's great. :)

Joe Madureira is a costume design god. Awful human being, but dayum... he draws some purty tights.

GrizzlyBearTalon · June 01, 2007, 11:40:09 PM

Quote from: captainspud on June 01, 2007, 11:16:06 PM
Horseman? Isn't that just his AoA costume? Either way, it's great. :)

Joe Madureira is a costume design god. Awful human being, but dayum... he draws some purty tights.

Just out of curiosity why was he a terrible human being?

And is he the one responsible for all of the AoA designs or just Sunfire? Cause seriously they are easily some of my favorite costumes for several characters.

captainspud · June 02, 2007, 12:45:36 AM

He did the bulk of them.

I love his work, but I hate him as a person because he decided that playing video games 24/7 was more important than making comics. Battle Chasers started out bi-monthly... the last issue came out 13 months after the penultimate.

I was 13, and he was my hero. He broke my heart. I wish he still made comics so I could not buy them in protest.

MJB · June 02, 2007, 01:43:13 AM

Good news for you Spud. He is currently working on Ultimates 3.

Back on subject I like that design for Sunfire, I'm not sure it is better than the original but I really like your take on him.

-MJB

Previsionary · June 02, 2007, 02:58:58 AM

Quote from: captainspud on June 01, 2007, 11:16:06 PM
Horseman? Isn't that just his AoA costume? Either way, it's great. :)

Sunfire now wears a similar costume to his AOA costume after he was made into a horseman.

Anyways, very nice zulu. Will there be a full drawing of him coming our way?

zuludelta · June 02, 2007, 03:21:25 PM

Wow... some of these comments suddenly made me feel old. I associate the Madureira design with the Age of Apocalypse event and it seems that there are people reading comics now who only started reading after that crossover and more readily associate it with the current Horseman story. Sort of like how I felt when my younger cousin (he's 8) asked me why I had a "fake" playstation gamepad... referring to the old, version 1 playstation controller that I keep on my desk (the one without the analog sticks). I can't believe it's been 12 years since 1995!

Quote from: Previsionary on June 02, 2007, 02:58:58 AM
Anyways, very nice zulu. Will there be a full drawing of him coming our way?

Maybe... I'm in the process of redefining how I draw and digitally paint, I want to move towards an even less-rendered, less detailed look which should allow me to work faster and make it easier for me to draw action scenes and backgrounds... I want to go for a look that's easily reproducible (similar to the Timm/Dini Batman, Glen Murakami Teen Titans, and Tartakovsky Samurai Jack aesthetic) but still recognizable as being unique.

Podmark · June 02, 2007, 05:50:28 PM

Man I need to check the art forum more often...

You've got some good stuff here Zulu. I'm particularly liking your Sunfire. I just skinned that look and it's pretty cool seeing someone elses art of what I've always felt was a fantastic design.

titan136 · June 03, 2007, 10:24:52 AM

Hey Zulu, been looking through this thread and the new style you've developed is incredible, its like a american animation meets pop art meets vectors mix that really does it for me, my favorites have been the different incarnations of the punisher, brilliant stuff, keep up the good work.

BatWing · June 03, 2007, 01:35:34 PM

great work on sunfire zulu!

zuludelta · July 01, 2007, 04:57:07 AM

Thanks for all the views and replies, guys. Took a bit of a break from doing anything Photoshop, but now I'm back. Here's a quick one:

Carravaggio · July 01, 2007, 05:14:22 PM

Now this one is fantastic, great colours, great composition, just all-round quality! its great to see this dup together in their classic costumes, love the way you've done the ninja hordes too.

MJB · July 02, 2007, 01:08:08 AM

Power Man & Iron Fist equals awesome.

Nice drawing. My only suggestion would be that the details on Iron Fist's skin should be a touch darker. It's hard to make the lines out. Other than that it looks great.

-MJB

psychopanda · July 02, 2007, 09:38:52 AM

Nice job ZD! Love the the way Iron Fist's hands are posed. Iron Fist and Power Man are kind of merging together in the yellows. I would suggest adding something (darker colors, shadows) to separate the two. Looking really cool though.

zuludelta · July 02, 2007, 01:57:02 PM

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions guys, great point about needing more delineation for the details. I'm still working on getting a consistent look that I want... I've been reading a lot of artist interviews over the past month, as well as practicing my figure-drawing skills using a mouse (I've never been able to get fully comfortable with a WACOM tablet)... it used to be, around 50% of the time, I'd draw something on paper, scan it in, and then refine the image with Photoshop but I'm getting confident enough with my mouse-drawing skills that I'm thinking of skipping the pen & paper phase altogether (saves a lot of time, especially since my scanner takes forever to warm up).

Anyway, here's an old image I dug up:

Pencils by my older brother... I think this was from 3 or 4 years ago, I saw a few Marvel sketches in his portfolio and asked if I could ink/colour over them (I remember displaying my efforts here during an earlier incarnation of these boards). Anyways, I was doing some hard drive housecleaning and found some of the old scans and decided to rework them (I've got a Hulk image up next).

psychopanda · July 02, 2007, 02:57:33 PM

That's pretty awesome! Any chance I could get a larger size for wallpaper?

MJB · July 03, 2007, 02:33:52 AM

Again that is an awesome image but I think that the shadows should be a bit darker.

Hulk is next?! I am the biggest Hulk fan on these forums and I say... " Zulu SMASH!".

-MJB

zuludelta · July 03, 2007, 04:56:31 AM

Quote from: psychopanda on July 02, 2007, 02:57:33 PM
That's pretty awesome! Any chance I could get a larger size for wallpaper?

Glad you like it 'panda. You can save a higher resolution version (870 x 1024 pixels) of the image here. Let me know if you want an actual wallpaper of it (you'll need to give me your desktop resolution, of course).

Quote from: MJB on July 03, 2007, 02:33:52 AM
Again that is an awesome image but I think that the shadows should be a bit darker.

Hulk is next?! I am the biggest Hulk fan on these forums and I say... " Zulu SMASH!".

More like "Zulu smashed" :lol: ... ugh, it seems like every year I go toe-to-toe drinking with my dad during the Canada Day long weekend and every year I end up on the short end of the hangover stick.

Anyways, as promised, a revision of an image I collaborated on with my brother back in 2002, it's a PO'd Hulk (is there any other kind?) facing down a trio of AK-47s: