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Comics 101
Art tips and techniques, reviews and interviews from my studio. Archived here and at World Famous Comics.

Comics 101 Archives

Comics 101 for 12/20/2001
The Art of CCG Illustration
Week One: There Can be Only One.


'Between the time of the Silver Age when comic books cost thirty-five cents and the decline of the mighty empire in the nineties, there was an age undreamed of. And on to this, Joe Corroney was destined to carry the guilded steel of the mechanical pencil with a troubled brow. From the dawn of 1973 he came; moving silently down through the years, creating many secret artworks, struggling to reach the time of the deadline; when the few illustrators who remain will battle to the last. No one has ever known he was among you ...until now. It is this, Comics 101, who alone can tell thee of his saga. Let us hear of the days of high adventure!'

Starting this week, we'll take a look at what I like to call the 'red-headed stepchild' industry to the big brother comic book phenomenon.This industry I'm referring to which doesn't always get the respect it deserves from 'real' artists and the like, though it can be just as fun and lucrative as comic books, is the role-playing game industry, specifically the collectible card game arena. Pull up stool and grab a tall mug of Glenmorangie, but keep your trusty steel by your side... this business can be a little rough. We'll pull back the wizard's veil and reveal the secrets and creation process of my professional trading card illustration for Microsoft's Age of Empires ccg and White Wolf's rage ccg.

Trying to make a living as an illustrator I often ask myself, 'Freelancer, what is good in life?' Most times I answer, 'Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, hear the lamentations of the women, and receive steady paychecks', but not always in that order.

So what's an illustrator to do when the comic book companies aren't always calling on you? When you need to keep the money coming in and still find other avenues to utilize your creative skills besides flipping burgers, role-playing game companies aren't a bad place to start. Besides giving you official reasons for drawing things you used to get in trouble for in highschool, these companies can usually be dependable when wanting a paycheck for your creative illustration talents (and possibly warped imagination as well). Especially if you're trying to make a name for yourself as an illustrator when just starting out.

Let's face it, everybody and their brother wants to draw comic books. With so many established artists competing for the work as more and more publishers are going under or cutting back on their titles, the work can become real competitive real quick. Comic books aren't the only place to draw superheroes, monsters, aliens and scantily clad women in distress, bub'.

Working in this gaming field was not only beneficial for me to express my imagination (or get my creative fix) but it allowed to me explore a variety of techniques as an illustrator. Not only could I hone my comic art penciling techniques, but it allowed me to develop and progress my pen and ink and both full color traditional and electronic techniques as well. In other words, I expanded my horizons as an artist and didn't 'draw' myself into a corner just as a penciler. With each new company and assignment, I had new techniques I discovered or strengthened to fall back on which allowed me to pursue other similar media to comic book storytelling.

As an illustrator, first and foremost, what I enjoy most about my job is the chance to tell stories. Besides comic books, interior illustrations, covers, and trading cards are some of the areas I tackle for the variety of gaming companies that give me work.

Photoshop is stronger than steel.

The first oppurtunity I had to illustrate trading card artwork was for White Wolf's 'Rage' ccg. White Wolf is a company primarily known for it's horror themed role-playing games and this particular ccg was based off their popular 'Werewolf-The Apocalypse' gaming line. At the time of this assignment I had just begun illustrating for this company though I had freelanced for a variety of other gaming companies before including West End Games' Star Wars rpg. This is where I first experimented in electronic coloring techniques for a series of interior character cards for the Star Wars game book 'Platt's Smuggler Guide'. Since I had previous experience in Photoshop and Painter, I was confident I could create some nifty lookin' werewolf art in howlin' full color. Soon, contracts were signed, deadlines and payment agreed upon and I was penciling and inking away to create line art that I could scan into my computer and begin coloring digitally. The following illustrations (Examples A, B, and C) are some examples of my 'Rage' ccg artwork. Along with these finals, you can see some examples of the artwork as how they appeared when published as the printed playing card (Ex. D, E and F). Next week we'll refer to a step by step feature that dissects the creation process in more detail for one of my Rage cards from thumbnail sketch to final printed card.

Example A
Example A

Example B
Example B

Example C
Example C

Example D
Example D

Example E
Example E

Example F
Example F

-Joe

<< 12/13/2001 | 12/20/2001 | 12/27/2001 >>

Recent Columns:
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Archives >>

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