Outsiders Annual cover art

I hadn't seen this one for several years but the owner of the original painting posted a scan on the CAF site recently so I thought I'd update my old post, showing the sketch and pencils:

I'd forgotten how bad those old seps were. They really washed out the colors.

Outsiders Annual: Cover art

This sketch was very rough.  Nowadays I wouldn't attempt a painting without a tighter prelim.  I'm also posting a copy of the sketch with my scribbled notes.  The "send copies of Dals..." notation refers to the production people who were in charge of coloring assignments in 1986 and really didn't want to give the job to me, since I was a rookie. They wanted to see some samples of my coloring work before they'd give me the green light. The obvious question at the time was, "Who's better qualified to do the color guides, someone on staff who's never seen this story before or the guy who painstakingly pencilled and inked every knuckle, noodle and nostril on this 44-page comic?" 

Outsiders Annual: Page 19

Once again, the scan of the original art is from the kind and generous Mr. Simon Miller. The horizon and reflection seem to disappear in the second scan and reappear in the third but like many of the effects in this story, they were inked on an overlay.

Outsiders Annual: Page 33

One thing I liked about drawing this book was the larger DC art paper that was being used for the offset "Baxter" comics at the time.  I had an extra inch or two which really helped with the fussy inking style I was using.  Most of the fine lines held up much better than they would have on a newsprint, letterpress book.

Outsiders Annual: Page 5

A very dark page. I must have been afraid that it'd print too dark so I replaced some of the solid blacks with zip screens and crosshatching.

Outsiders Annual: Page 18

(Looks like I finally missed my daily post yesterday. Two quick trips out of town and the inevitable daisy chain of intrusions are to blame. Some of you are waiting for answers to email messages and I'm working my way through that list as well so please be patient. This week should be a little quieter than last so I'm hoping to do some catching up. )

Two things worth noting on this page: The photographer was based on a real person, a friend of mine who really was and still is a talented photographer.  The special effects for the floating skull images in panels three and four were bungled.  They were inked on an overlay and had simple instructions spelled out in the margins but sometimes that wasn't enough.

Outsiders Annual: Page one

The first scan isn't a prelim or a layout, it's my first version of the pencils, before I went in and made a few small changes like George's hair and eye color.  It's also worth noting that this was drawn before I stumbled on my secret trick for drawing footwear.  Nice lettering by the amazing Todd Klein.  This was published back in 1986.

Batman & The Outsiders pin-up

This was published in the Teen Titans and Outsiders Secret Files and Origins 2005.  I'm fairly certain the layout was originally a rejected version of the cover for Outsiders 25 from that same year.  Glad it got used somewhere.

Outsiders Annual: Page eight

One thing I really enjoyed about this job was working "Marvel Style", from a plot instead of a full script.  I had the freedom – especially on action pages like this – to handle the pacing as I saw fit.  The story was 46 pages long so we had the luxury of devoting several pages to Batman's dogged pursuit of this thief, even though it was a minor plot point.  I grabbed the photo of the original art when this page sold on eBay recently.  It wasn't my auction, unfortunately.

Outsiders Annual: Two-page spread

Many thanks to the current owner of this original, Mr. Joe Lee, who went to an awful lot of trouble to mail me a full-size copy.  Layout, pencils and inks for pages two and three of the Outsiders Annual:

The Outsiders Annual, page 44

The dramatic shot of Batman's departure must have seemed pretty important to me; I kept trying it from different angles.

Adventures of the Outsiders #42 cover art

From 1987...