Posts from ‘Artist Trading Cards’
Archie Comics character sketch cards
I immersed myself in the world of Archie Comics last weekend, somewhere that I haven’t been for quite a number of years. I did this for a sketch card set commission and despite not reading Archie for such a long time it was nice dropping and seeing what the character was up to.
I read the wedding series that sees Archie marrying Betty and Veronica separately in alternative universes (who knew Archie was so scifi!?) which was interesting as my last exposure was Archie vs The Punisher.
Obviously the first thing is that Archie is drawn in a particular style and that’s really core to the character. I’m not about to mess with years of Archie despite the fact that they themselves did an updated Betty and Veronica comic which personally I think looks ridiculous.
The next thing that I faced was the fact that Archie has been running for so many years and there a very distinct eras of artwork, especially for the secondary characters. Ethel Mugg for instance has gone through several complete changes (for the better in the most part) so I’ve tried to balance that and use a current/old stylised version. Reggie too has gone through several subtle hair and face changes which made it even harder to decide on his look.
I wanted to make this a really happy collection so I made them all laugh or at least have huge grins on their faces. I think this just reflects the whole vibe of Archie Comics. I actually learned a lot when drawing each of them about the style and found myself pencil sketching people in the Archie style the other day whilst watching TV!
The client hasn’t even seen these yet which is nerve racking for me but she wanted to be surprised so I hope she likes them and wasn’t spoilt by this post!
It was a little strange drawing the Stargate SG1 characters so quickly after drawing them the first time round, don’t get me wrong they are fun to draw but I’m looking forward to taking a break from the Stargate universe for at least a week 
Actually I had a lot of trouble drawing General Hammond and spent a couple of weeks solely on his card. It took a break from trying to capture his likeness and got inspired late one night and managed to get him down.
Stargate Command sketch card commission
It feels like this was a bit of a marathon illustrating each of the official Doctor Who cards and it’s been quite a journey down Doctor Who memory lane for me.
I discovered that I’d never actually watched a William Hartnell episode all the way through and was reminded how much I actually liked Patrick Troughton’s years.
But in saying that it does just feel like yesterday that I was doing the pencils for the Matt Smith card only hours after actually watching the first episode featuring him. Well they are all done and by the time this publishes they should be on their way to their new home and hopefully they are well received in person.
The Christopher Eccleston card was redone at the very last minute because whilst midway through inking it I decided that it just wasn’t working. I’m much happier with the final result and it’s a lesson not to force something because sleeping on it can bring better results!
Now I’ve got an avatar to illustrate which I will be recording and posting on YouTube then a set of Archie sketch cards and two A5 Doctor Who pieces that I will leave until I finish the Archie ones to give myself a bit of a break from the good timelord.
You can order your own card set at the Quit Your Day Job shop!
