Penciling a Page with Jim Lee

This is a video of Jim Lee penciling a Superman page for the comic.  This should give you a sense of how long it takes to pencil sketch a professional page and the process.  Watch as he begins with a very rough concept and builds up the details... and changes them as he works to suit the scene better.  More importantly this video shares the time and dedication necessary as an artist to commit to the creation of a single page of art. 

Designing Villains

The Joker is the property of DC comics

One of the biggest driving forces behind most comic book stories are the villains.  They pose or create the greatest obstacles for your heroes to over come.  They have to be as dynamic or even more than your heroes.  And the most successful villains are the ones that have levels of depth to their character.  Here we are going to learn how to create villains with such sophistication in their quality of traits that your readers will love to hate them...or love them!

Bullseye is Property of Marvel Comics

With villains we need to start at the beginning to see what makes them tick.  In most, but not all, a tragic event or accident has somehow negatively affected the villain and twisted his or her fate.  This is one of the best ways to begin to define the underlying foundation of your villain, but remember that characters are constantly changing so understand that you can always make changes later on that will be part of the character development. Marvel's own Bullseye's history is uncertain as he him self has only divulged small pieces of it for the sake of making the story interesting. Its not unheard of for a villain to switch roles and become a hero.  Back to working on your villain's origin.  The world is full of tragedy all you have to do is look around.  From the despair of a father for a child lost in the unforgiving violence of war to the son who loses his father to an illness because of the negligence of a doctor or the pain of a grieving mother of a daughter raped and killed by an unknown assailant to the rage of a daughter for the senseless attack of a church or mall where her mother and family is slain.  You don't need to look any further that the home page of any news site to get the latest dose of rampage.

After building a source of pain for your evil doer start forming their purpose or motivation.  Did the illness that caused Billy's dad to die and the perceived lack of help or empathy because of Billy's our despair convinced him to want others to share in his own grief and so he became a terrorist to medical staff and hospitals.  Was the puppy that just got run over by a careless and uncaring driver the only thing holding Diana from entering her life of an orphan assassin.  Get creative!

Dr. Doom is the property of Marvel Comics

Here's another fun part.  What powers did your super villain gain from the incident.  The plasma weapon test that kill Mark Danger's brother also imbued him with ability to manipulate electricity.  The shock of Kendra losing her Government funding for her lab and life's work created the madness that lead her to create doom's day robots and eventually into a cyborg herself.  The reason doesn't even have to be noble, sometimes people just snap.  After Harry stole Frank's girlfriend Wendy, Frank decided to become his wrestling persona "The Viper" but as a bank robber and hired muscle for the mob.  The Latverian Monarch known to many as Doctor Doom was born brilliant. In a deal with the devil, his mother sacrificed her soul in return for her son to be a ruler. He spent much of his life studying both dark magic and science.

Whatever the case is keep it interesting. Stay away from generic bad guys, unless your just introducing thugs or underlings.  Try to create at least three amazing super villains to keep your heroes on their toes and your readers at the edge of their seats!

  

       

Warfare Between Comic Juggernauts

As the onslaught on comic movies continue this year so does the critical review from fans.  Are the studios feeling the pressure as they carefully watch their numbers every week?  Fans and critics fight about the reviews of Batman v Superman as great expectations are set in for Captain America: Civil War and Suicide Squad.  The speculation of changes in upcoming movies from the DC universe contue as the mixed feeling and numbers are examined everyday. 

Should DC find a need to step up their game in the movie arena?

Batman v Superman

There has been a lot of buzz over the Batman v Superman movie.  With its mixed reviews its had to decide whether to go and check it out or wait until it comes out on Netflix, especially after Fox's Fantastic Four's disaster.  So what can you expect from this long awaited cinematic showcase?

I saw Batman v Superman at the Cinebistro.  I will tell you this right off the bat, if you have been thinking about seeing it, then see it.  Don't get mixed emotions because of the mess of critics out in the social media stream.  I personally enjoyed it.  The movie does come with a cluster of critics but for different reasons.  The movie itself was well made.  The problem that have some fanboys bent out of shape are the introduction of certain characters in which they will argue that their origin was not cited correctly.  But you know what...that's ok because of creative licensing and it makes the movie interesting.  The film is littered with references from famous comics from each of the main characters.  You can say it pays homage to the stories that have impacted these characters in the their development and fandom to this day.  Many comic fans will understand the references and find it interesting how the series will develop.  Really don't worry about plot holes.  Let the movie unwrap itself and you'll have something to look forward to the Blueray release and future movies.

Its no secret that the Justice League movies will mimic the Avengers by heading to an ultimate battle down the line.  And just as the Avengers prepare to battle Thanos in the near future over the Infinity Gautlet so to will the Justice League find themselves against a formidable foe, Darkseid.

 If you ask DC fans, many of them are going to tell you top watch the movie.  I really liked it.  Go check it out.  Definitely a thumbs up from us!

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to our blog!

First off Let me welcome you guys to our new blog!  Consider this an extension of Digital Hand Studios.  This will be our fun comic blog.  I'll introduce you guys to the team in the next couple of days.  We're gonna' blog about comics, mainstream and indies, movies, and a lot more.  We want to share Kickstarters and fun projects, showcase artists, and post art techniques.  

 We'll have a Youtube channel soon enough because everybody and their mother is video casting now a days. 

And finally, we'll be sharing our own projects that we've been up to during this long hiatus....oh my!   

So share the word, like our page on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!

Thanks!

Awesome Andres