Future's End 3d Month Covers

In September, DC Comics is doing another month of 3D lenticular covers.  I was asked to do a number of covers but could only do 2 because of scheduling.  So I chose the cover for BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS.  Here is a look at the digital line art.

DETECTIVE COMICS

For this cover, I was asked to do a take on the classic Carmine Infantino Batman and Robin cover, but this time, Robin would be replaced by the RIDDLER!

Carmine Infantino's Classic Batman and Robin image that has been homaged 1000 times by other artists.

My idea was to take the basic layout, but give a few little changes to make it my own.  I decided I wanted a little more "twist" to Batman and to make the cape a bit more epic and large.

Here is the final image with just Batman.  In order to make the image look 3D, I needed to draw everything on separate layers.  So the foreground is one layer, the chimney, The characters, even the cape, and the background.

Here is the final image with the Riddler added.  The clouds are all hand drawn with my fingers on scrap paper and then scanned into the image.

Awesome Colors by Brad Anderson

Here is the final 3D'd mockup for the cover! Looks great!

BATMAN

Rough Layout of Slide 1.  Batman with Cape in batcave

Slide 2: Batman with back brace and Army of Batmen!

Finished Inks

Finished Inks

Final colors by Brad Anderson!

Batman Eternal Issue 3 line Art

Here is the final blog post from my initial Batman Eternal run.  Issue 3 line art!

I stressed over these few pages when I read the script.  I could just foresee a vast crowd of Stephanie Brown fans calling for my head to be on the chopping block if I didn't draw her correct enough.  So I just went with my instincts and tried to draw a girl who looked much like she did in the past, but added some more modern things like skinny jeans and cool shoes.  In the end, the response was well received and I still have my head.

This was a fun page.  Getting to draw those cheese ball villains sitting around a table was a change in things, but fun.  It's also really hard to draw an entire scene with a character that needs to be 100% blacked out, with no silhouette so no one can guess who it is.  A reviewer online made a comment about how it felt awkward, and personally, It did for me as well, but needed to be done so it doesn't spoil the story.

Notice the Batman suit is the one from Batman '89?  Well, sort of.  I used the logo and belt.

This page was funny.  I slipped in some advertising for my buddy Chris Rupps comic store, but in the final edition, they changed the name of the store!  Also, I put a poster up for one of my fav bands, Transatlantic, and they took that out as well....

The marker board was a cool idea we had, where Katie Kubert, our editor, actually wrote out everything on a marker board and then took a picture of it.  I then placed it into the artwork.

Another reviewer commented on the fact that Forbes' Bat symbol was drawn to perfect.  I understand this complaint perfectly, but...it's comics and it's make believe!  I tried it with a more loose looking logo and I didn't like it.  I felt the more recognizable symbol would work well for the final image.