SCOOBY-DOO: When Simplicity Creates Focus!

Final cover art vs. final printed cover: simplicity creates focus!

When showing the whole Gang in the same shot, you lose a lot of precious real estate for other aspects. Add a monster to the layout and it gets really busy! 

Everything always goes back to Scooby & Shaggy in the end. This is why most of the Scooby covers I did for Capstone Publishing only had Scooby & Shaggy on them.

They had someone at Scholastic go into my layered file and take out Daphne, Velma and Fred. Then they enlarged and moved Shaggy & Scooby over. I wish they had asked me to fix this for them as Shaggy's sleeve is off! You can see the hard cut-off when he originally went off the side of the layout. They added his elbow too, but it looks okay. I never knew about the tweaks until I finally got my complimentary copies.

Overall, it looks better as a cover with just them, but I didn't know how big they were going to make the title or add the bottom flashlight icon. The bonus is that you can see more of my painted backgrounds (which took some time to match the show)! The glossy high-end paper they used darkened the final colors to give it the perfect creepy look!

Anyway, I thought I'd post the full original final art as it was. It still looks pretty cool! I added the Mystery Incorporated show logo to make it look like a poster.

SCOOBY Sketching

Sketching Scooby one evening under the warm soft white bulb above my drawing table creates an added layer of mood and atmosphere! 

Sketched on cheap paper with a black col-erase pencil. I like to add line weight to my sketches (if I have the time) as it makes them "pop" more off the page. Normally, I just draw it flat and do the embellishing when I ink, but when sketching for fun I like to spend more time on it. 

Anyone remember the TV show DINOSAURS?

Anyone remember the prime time TV Show Dinosaurs (1990-1994) from the Jim Henson Company?

This is a sketch of the Baby Dinosaur who basically would steal the show. "Not the Mama!" he would yell as he banged his father, Earl, over the head with a pot or pan or something. The show was a great satire for current events.

I found this black Conté Crayon sketch on newsprint paper I did back in '93 or so in my archive. I had the action figures for the show and I held the Baby Dinosaur figure in one hand as I drew it with the other. It was a fun warm-up sketch before I went to a an evening life drawing class back then.

I liked sketching with a Conté crayon more than working with normal charcoal sticks.

Conté crayon was drawing tool that was composed of compressed graphite (or charcoal) and mixed with a clay base which made it harder and more stable to hold without breaking. It came in long 2" thin rectangle sticks. It was no muss, no fuss in my mind and gave you a slick, smooth result.

To keep your fingers from getting any residue on them, you can wrap some masking tape around the stick where your fingers would hold it. As the stick wears down, you can unwrap some of the tape to expose more of the stick. See all the cool stuff you learn here?

 

Found an old color guide for an Ed, Edd, n Eddy cover!

Found an "old school" color guide from 2003 in my archives! 

I only drew this cover (Cartoon Cartoons #20) and didn't color it. Don't know who did the guide or made the notes on it. When DC Comics mailed me back my original cover art they threw this in the box with it. I kept it all this time though the original art was sold many years ago.

Ye olden times, indeed! Back when you mailed the physical final art to the publisher to scan! A year later, in 2004, you could just scan and upload the art to them directly via FTP. 

 

SEQUENTIAL ART: Ed, Edd, n Eddy in "Where Is My Ed?"

Here's another Ed, Edd, n Eddy comic story for you to read! 

One of my favorites that I drew and it's titled "Where is My Ed?" Never drew a giant clam before, but it was a lot of fun. The original script for the story was titled "Where's my Ed?" which I think works better, but one of those little editorial tweaks made at the end during final approvals before it was sent off to printer.

This story is also the last story I drew for the Eds as Cartoon Network Block Party was ending as a series. I liked the short story format for these characters as they're a quick in-and-out commitment for the artist and a nice change of pace from something else you were working on at the same time.

Towards the end of the CNBP series, one of my contributions to the Eds comics was creating a separate credits box which would be on the title page of each story. The upside down art of the Ed's poking their heads into the panel was modeled and based on the animated show's opening title sequence!

Eagle-eyed readers will also note that the "END" at the end of the story was the same "END" for most of my Cartoon Network comics I did. I added it to the art to show it was the actual end to the story. When you held the original artwork in your hands, it was purely visual with no word balloons and you could get the impression that there might be more to the story.

 

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #44 Cover Art: From Concept to Final Art

Following my recent Looney Tunes post featuring the step-by-step creative process, I thought I'd post a Scooby one! 

Here's the final cover art I did for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? #44. This first image is a scan of the actual printed cover that came out. Some highlights from the paper it was printed on were picked up by the scanner though. I hate that glossy paper. Anyway... 

Here's the original thumbnail that WB chose to go with as a design. I did four designs in all for this cover on 8.5" x 11" paper. Even at this small size this design works in its simplicity and balance. Again I used a 40% Warm Gray marker to make the thumbnail pop. I usually make notes on the sides so that whomever is looking at it will know what I have in mind.

This is a scan of the final art that was done on DC Comics art board. Because I used my light table and inked over top of my rough sketch, the final art is super clean, which makes scanning easy. I didn't show my rough art as it basically looks exactly the same! Again, my stuff is super tight so it does seem like I'm doing the work twice.

 

In the photo below, I'm using a brush with Pro White paint on it to touch up some lines on the art.

 

I inked it during the evening and the soft white bulb above my drawing table added a spooky ambience to the process! I recently had the same experience with a Phineas & Ferb cover that had a spooky feel to it. I used to do a lot of work in the evening as it was quiet and calm. 

  

Then Candace Rock, who was at Heroic Age at the time, did the coloring for it based on the script and any notes I had. Once final approval from DC Comics and WB came through again, it was off to the production department at DC Comics to finalize.

 

Finally, I included this cover version as well as this was the final cover for the digital release of the comic. The nice thing about a digital release is that you lose the UPC box in the corner. 

 

All in all, I like this cover a lot! A great shot of Scooby and the Gang with an air of mystery to it!