Original Creation Date: Completed May 11, 2014
Doctor Strange. I think I read one of his comics once when I was a kid, but otherwise I know very little about him. In fact, I think I even made fun of him a few times in my Michigan Comic Strip in the past. But he was never one of my favorites.
Which, of course, is exactly why I sought him out. I wanted to draw a character I was unfamiliar with, and even prepare another piece in the more elaborate vector painting style I've experimented in the past, first with the Joker Madness and later the Nemesis pieces. Without giving away any of my secrets, or boring anyone in the process, pencil artwork is treated in very specific ways in Adobe Illustrator and then later embellished with additional raster treatments in Photoshop. I like to call it my "GrayPaint" technique.
As you can see here, the piece starts as a very loose, and free-form pencil drawing. It's almost as if the pencil doesn't leave the page at all during its creation.
And additional treatments are made for shadows, contrast, color, and in the final image, mystical magic bolts.
This drawing tested the technique in ways I'd never pushed it before... as well as the active memory of my MacPro. But as it always is, a solution is found, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.