Matt Wieman.com

Max Recovery

2011-08-15T17:34:00.001-07:00

Before it Leaves Your Hands: Lettering Part 2

2011-05-11T17:31:00.000-07:00

As I said last time, lettering should be just as big a part of the creative process as any other in comic book production. Sometimes, I reach beyond my job description and fix things regarding the actual artwork.

EXAMPLE 1) In this example, I didn't "fix" so much as add to the existing work. I got some very light scans of the original art (a) and crisped up the linework and also colored it in with some gradient duotone shading (b).

I don't know what possessed me, but I just felt it broke up the art a bit more from foreground and background elements. Since I knew it was going to be in black and white, I did this all in a separate layer, knowing it might not be what the client wanted.

Thankfully, they dug it. At least I THINK they did. Well, they didn't fire me at least.

EXAMPLE 2) Where I really go cookoo for cocoa puffs is where I actually get involved in tweaking the final art. The problem with being such a perfectionist is when I see things that to me look severely OUT OF PLACE. The artist in this story did such a great job with the vehicles and details, but on this one page (c) the wheels of the Camero seemed too simplified compared to the art around it.

So... . I used the artist's own wheel detail from a previous panel he did and worked it into the final art, so that it matched his own art seemlessly. (d).

Was this a bit much? Maybe. Unnecessary? That's up to debate. I'll let you decide. My point in all of this is that I am all about the final product. If it works and it looks good, that's my main goal. If I can help it, I leave all the art as is, and move along.

But, when I have the luxury of choice (which most pencilers, inkers, colorists, and letterers DON'T) I do my best to send it to the next step in the collaborative process as good as I can get it... BEFORE IT LEAVES MY HANDS.

Next, I'll go through a bit of my logo design process. Yipee!

Easter Fun!

2011-04-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, it's Easter and my kids wanted more than just the usual candy. We got some store-bought goodies, but since I've been doing sketch cards lately, I figured I would do cards for each of my older boys (the little one is teething and would EAT his). I based them off of their favorite cartoon shows; Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Regular Show.

Happy Easter!

Before It Leaves Your Hands: Lettering Part 1

2011-04-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

Lettering should be just as big a part of the creative process as any other in comic book production. I say "should be" because some of what passes for lettering these days is just an afterthought, at best it's a guy typing with horribly awkward fonts inside of a circle.

Currently, I'm lettering a more "mature" comic entitled Las Locas for an up and coming comic company Badcog Studio, which is a publishing partner of Angel Comics. The book is great fun with bounty hunter femme fatales beating the crud out of bad guys who MORE than deserve it. With 10 page stories featuring a variety of artists, it really gives you a good amount of creative bang for your buck.

Now, the fact that I do MORE than just letter can be a double-edged sword. George Perez told me years ago that you do what you can to a page before it leaves your hands, so that you don't assume the next guy will fix it. But, I think I might have the same penchant artist Kevin Nowlan has. For those who don't know, Kevin often "inks" others work by redrawing the art completely. It looks amazing and beautiful, but I bet he ticks certain artists off, and I'm afraid I may do the same. I sure hope not.
A note on this project; I was given the task of making the word balloons non-traditional, more European with shapes that are different from the norm. Also, this book is in "widescreen" or landscape format.

EXAMPLE 1) One thing I do sometimes that others might not, is RE-letter areas of artwork that that have words incorporated into them already. For example: I designed the Las Locas logo AFTER the first issue was drawn and inked. Each artist drew their own version (a) of what that might be on the side of the motorcycles, while I went back in and inserted the final version (b) into all the artwork. Not necessary, but there you go.

EXAMPLE 2) Another example of this is seen where a city sign was already lettered by the artist (c). I, of course had to go in and add my own little touch the street sign (d).

Now, while some of these examples in this and the following lettering series might seem irrelevant to the average comic book fan, I think that subconsciously, we all pick up on subtleties in our entertainment whether good or bad. You don't need to be an expert in special effects to know when an effect in a movie looks "wrong". I feel the same with the art of lettering.

Next, I'll tell you who my lettering idles are and give you another look into the mind of a mad artist/letterer!

Luxura Sketchcard Process

2011-04-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, so last time I promised an update on my sketch card stuff. The problem is that I'm knee deep into actually WORKING on them right now, so I'll just give you a peek at the process(for now).

I am working on Kirk Lindo's Vampiress Luxura Sword of the Apocalypse set for The Sketch Card Studio. I am doing 30 cards which will be a black and white and BLOOD RED subset. The majority, if not all the other, sketch cards will be full color, so mine will be easy to spot if you get one in your pack. Once I scan them, I will post them in my gallery and in my deviantart gallery.

First thing I do is sketch out a pose I like and set the basics for the card. I use a Pentel "Champ" .5mm mechanical pencil with grip.

Then I hit some inks on it while tweaking the image a bit here and there, cleaning things up and erasing the pencil lines with a Pentel Hi Polymer eraser. I use a Sharpie fine point and a Micron .005 pen for this stage.

Last thing is to add the tones with marker. I've been using a set of Bic fine point "Mark it" brand. For the Luxura set, I've only used gray, red, and pink. Then I hit some highlights and clean things up with an opaque white Sakura Gelly Roll Medium pen.

Stay tuned here for some cool lettering updates next!

Logos, Sketchcards, and Lettering...Oh, My!

2011-03-17T22:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, everybody. I don't know what happened, but I like it. Seems like everybody and their cousin wants me for something artwise lately. I am in my element when I'm stretched to the max. Anyone who knows me knows I am a workaholic and it's great to be working on things I love (like comic books) to pay the bills.

So, besides what I'm doing now, it seems like things I've done in the past are still creeping out slowly into the world. One such nugget is a logo I designed when I was working with Bluewater Comics back in their formative years.

I was asked to do what was then supposed to be a sci-fi imprint for the company called Bluewater: Orbit. I never saw it used until I was browsing their website and TA-DA:

And before anyone goes on to comment on Bluewater either positive or negative, I am not in a position to judge what they are doing, as I am not doing anything for them on the business side of things now. I just helped them create the "look" of their books and some logos. Both of which I am still pretty proud of.

Stay tuned here for more updates on the other stuff: Next up... A cool new sketch cards update!

New Year, Fresh Blog

2011-03-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

So, I cleaned a little house today. I used to just talk about what various art or music projects I had going on, which I will definitely do here. But, I didn't have a really good gallery so it was mostly a way to just say, "Here, look what I did!"

Well, not anymore... I am going to blab on and on about EVERYTHING here. My life, my art, my music, but mostly the PROCESS of those things. The end results will make their way into my deviantart gallery or my own gallery of images. Whatever got me there or doesn't really fit in will be HERE. So, no repeats. I will try and have different things in the blog than I have elsewhere.

Yep, that's about it. No more old crap clogging up the interweb...

Just new crap.