Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Comic Twart art blog, JOHN CARTER of MARS pt. I


Between sessions of work I've been whittling away at this. Now, usually I post the process for my Comic Twart pieces AFTER they're complete, but in this case I'm not entirely sure this is right. Which is why I'm posting it here unfinished. I have a LOT of work to do this week, and will have to work on this in bits and pieces, but something tells me this will change a great deal before the final is done. I'll post bits and pieces here as it proceeds...hopefully :)

Anyway, check it out.

Mike

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Mike, I love this piece. I have this great old book of Boris' artwork that I've cherished since I was in Jr. High. This piece really reminds me of that. I love it. You always do such nice work.

Mike Hawthorne said...

Thanks man. Still not totally sold on this, as it feels a little too static to me...but we'll see.

Thanks again! :)

Frame Theory said...

Comin out good man.

Mike Hawthorne said...

Thanks, bro :)

Patrick Hoover said...

I agree that it's a bit static...how bout some action? Like John ready to square off against Tars Tarkas or one of the huge green-skinned martians? You could go all Frank Franzetta and have Dejah huddled against John's leg. :)

Mike Hawthorne said...

The first piece I started had Tar Tarkas in it, but I'm trying to avoid the whole leg-hug thing as it feels so very wrong.

I'm working another sketch up with John getting his fight on. So, fingers crossed...

PatrickWedge said...

Mmmmm....delicious.

Mike Hawthorne said...

Thanks ;)

Scott Cohn said...

cool piece! but..... i think his calf looks too thick for his frame, and she's tiny from the waist up. if you cover her top half, then her bottom, it look like it's 2 different people. her head seems proportionate, but her lungs look too small, as well as her arms.

and what's up with his abs? they get stretched out all of a sudden at the bottom. i say, pull his ribs down a bit, and get those 6 abs in right, boy! (you need a southern accent for that last bit)

and, ha ha, any chance of replacing that sword with a stick with a mirror attached? "john carter, space pervert..."

i can't wait to see this piece finished. you've just been running on all kinds of cylinders lately. you've really taken things up a few notches, which is already saying a lot!

Mike Hawthorne said...

Thanks Scott. Most of what you've mentioned I pushed purposely, to stylize it. Thora in particular I wanted with big hips/butt. But I agree about the thick leg on John though.

In the end, I'm not sold on this 100% for composition reasons, not so much drawing ones. Just feels static. Plus, I kinda want to draw Tar Tarkas in the piece.

Anyway, thanks for the crit.

best,
Mike

John G said...

I love the Mars series. One day I might actually finish reading the whole thing. It's a bummer there's no comics currently going all out in that world.

Mike Hawthorne said...

I've never ready any of them, and knew almost nothing about it till this. I'm such a bad comic guy ;)

Mike