Benjamin Hobbs:

Waverly Comics asked me to color Dave Sim's Cover C for the TMNT8 campaign. I started with the color flats. The colors I used are a lot closer to the final colors than a lot of the previous color flats I've made:

Color was added to the rest of the image. I was thinking the orange logo would play off the Turtles green:

Waverly Comics didn't like the orange logo, so I tried blue, with a fade on the Cerebus logo.  The staff of the Time Scepter was also colored:

The blue logo still wasn't working. Last I heard, the logo will be a metallic green. The cover Dave sent didn't quite have enough image for the bleed of the print file, so Waverly asked me to expand out the image. This was done through copy and pasting and the clone stamp. Coloring in those extra leaves that will be trimmed off took FOREVER:

 Next Week: It's the last Wednesday of the month! A new CIH? will be at your LCS!

Benjamin Hobbs:

Waverly Comics asked me to to color and distress the Cerebus #1 homage cover for TMNT8.  This is how the cover looked after coloring it:

I added some stress to the cover, and a rip in the top corner, along with a coffee ring on the front cover:

The cover rip is the same gag as the TMNT #1 homage, so I tried a version with tape on the cover.  This new version also features some writing on the cover, and more distress:

The final version of this cover might look different.

Next Week: The final TMNT8 cover progression!

Benjamin Hobbs:

Waverly Comics asked me to color the TMNT8 distressed covers.  I started with the TMNT 1 homage.  This is the cover without any distressing:

I added some stress and scanned in some blue tape to create a more damaged look.  The blue tape was universally deemed to "not work":

The tape was removed, and more weathering was added:

Then some hand written text was added to the front.  The front was also destressed further, as if it had been out in the sun:

The last word from Waverly was that this was TOO MUCH destressing, and that the cover was too light.  So the front cover will be a bit darker when it goes to print.

Next week: TMNT8 Cerebus Homage Destressing.

Benjamin Hobbs:

The RemasteredTMNT8 Kickstarter campaign is moving right along. One of the covers on the campaign was drawn and colored by me:

 

Over the next several weeks I'm going to show an Overly Exhaustive Progression of this cover.  This week: The Color.

Having scanned in the image and cleaned up bits I forgot to white-out, I added Color flats:

I wanted The colors to look water colored. To achieve  this, I printed out sections of the cover and, on a separate piece of paper, water colored over them using a light box. I started with Cerebus, the rings, and the area behind Cerebus and Renet. I scanned in the water colors and placed them in the image.  Orange was used a placeholder in the border boxes:

Next, I added color to the middle circle up top. And added some digitally created energy emanating from the clock at the bottom of the cover:

Next I rendered some light on the circles around the price, issue number and Turtles:

My wife pointed out that the circle around the rings wasn't really, you know, A CIRCLE. So I fixed it digitally. Then added more light effects to the designs around the Turtles. Also, Cerebus' eyeball drops down a bit:

Renet's clothes and cape were colored,  and the power from the Time Scepter was laid in.  I put a Blue field behind the four Turtles.  I thought about doing Blue/Purple/Red/Orange, but that would have been a BIT too cutesy:

I turned off the color flats to give myself a more realistic idea of what still needed to be colored. Having done the watercolors for the skin tone on Renet, I placed them.  Only to discover that I forgot to color her chest. How did I miss THAT:

So I colored her chest.  And the Turtles:

The alternating yellow and orange color on the rings wasn't working for the image, there wasn't enough depth. So I adjusted that.  Digitally, I cleaned up the lighting effects in the borders around the Turtles:

The Time Scepter effects weren't looking right.  So I took out the line work, and let the effect exist on it's own. The blue behind the Turtles wasn't working for the image, so I swapped it out for a color that matches the color behind Cerebus and Renet, unifying the cover:

 Then, I changed the logo text and cover price, and added highlights to the Turtles heads.

And finally, I moved around some highlights on the Turtles and added some to their bandanas:

Next Week: It's the last Wednesday of the month! An all new CIH? at you LCS!

Benjamin Hobbs:

The Remastered TMNT8 Kickstarter campaign is moving right along. One of the covers on the campaign was drawn and colored by me:

Over the next several weeks I'm going to show an Overly Exhaustive Progression of this cover.  This week: The pencils and inks. 

Last we saw the cover, I had laid out kinda tight pencils on Cerebus and Renet and the circles, and REALLY rough pencils everywhere else:

The next step was inking the rings.  Is it a good idea to start inking before the pencils are finished? Probably not.  But at least this way I wasn't smearing the penciled rings as I was sorting out what else would go on the page:

Then I added more inked circles, worked out the design around two of the Turtles and penciled the Turtles faces. There are also lips floating to the right of Renet. I was using the board as sketch paper.  These lips were never intended to be part of the final composition:

Next, I inked the bottom two Turtles.  Added a design around one of the top tier Turtles and laid in rough text/logo elements:

This next one is strange. It looks like I stopped inking halfway through the top right Turtle's head.  The designs around the Turtles are all inked. Renet's hands, previously only light roughed in, are now fully penciled. One is inked. I had forgotten to draw the fins on Renet's helmet, so those are now roughed in. The floating lips to the right of her are now erased.  If you look at Cerebus' raised foot, you can see there is a smaller circle newly added. I was thinking about making it smaller. The larger size did not look accurate to Cerebus, but I really liked. Decisions!:

I inked more of Renet.  I debated about how much ink to put on her, and how much of the shape should be made by color.  Previously, there had been a shadow penciled in on the under side of her leg. This has now been erased here. The fins on her helmet are inked in.  Cerebus' foot was inked with the larger oval.  The NO. 8, previously at the top of the cover, has been placed at the bottom, with the price on the opposite side.  The top circle is now filled with the rough pencil of the design from Renet's helmet.  Cerebus' arm isn't inked here.  It's too long, and I had decided to move it downward:

Cerebus' arm is moved down, as well as the Time Scepter. The last bits of Renet's helmet are inked. The pencils under the Turtles and rings have been erased. The rings looked too thin after erasing the pencil,  so additional ink has been applied:

Cerebus' arm is inked, as is the Time Scpeter, the power coming out of it and the logo.  The only thing not in place here is the price, which at the time I was guessing as $10:

I scanned in the pencils, after whiting out a few areas.  Although there are a few areas that needed white out, but didn't get it. Such as the squiggle next to Cerebus' arm.  I decide to put $10 as the price on the cover. Reasoning that I could fix it digitally if I was wrong about it:

Next Week: An Overly Exhaustive Making of A TMNT8 cover Part 3: Colors

Benjamin Hobbs:

The Remastered TMNT8 Kickstarter campaign is moving right along. One of the covers on the campaign was drawn and colored by me:

Over the next several weeks I'm going to show an Overly Exhaustive Progression of this cover.  This week: The sketches and start of pencils. 

The first two sketches are from my sketchbook, dated November 2020. These would be from right after I heard there would be a TMNT8 campaign, but long before I had confirmed I was doing a cover. 

In the first, Renet is holding a little Turtle and has a non-Cerebus Aardvark wrapped around her. I wasn't referencing TMNT8, so her helmet has a third circle on top, with an arrow sticking straight up:

The next page in the sketchbook has Renet kissing  what appears to be Cerebus.  Odd, given there are no romantic overtones between the two in the comic.  Was I doing a Frog Prince riff? No idea:

The next sketch is digital. A very rough Cerebus is sniffing Renet suspiciously:

 

Next is another digital sketch. The Renet figure from the SNIFF sketch is flipped and there is a new Cerebus drawing. He now has his sword. This is the first time the Turtles appear, in the four corners. And Cerebus and Renet are surrounded by circles. There was going to be a lot of organic foliage around the cover, because it's fun to draw.  The logo, swiped from Dave's cover as a place holder, is divided up between the top and bottom.

The next image is a revision of the previous sketch. The text is now at the bottom of the cover, and Cerebus and Renet are smaller on the cover:

I decided to try a pose for Renet with more movement, and replaced Cerebus' sword with the Time Scepter from the issue. The foliage has been replaced with energy from the Time Scepter:

This is the image I sent to Waverly that was approved. 

From here, I proceed to start the pencils. However, when laying it out, I realized that I didn't really know what I was doing with the rings around the figures.  I had envisioned them as being filled with different decorative drawings, but there were WAY too many rings to fill them all with items from the issue.  Instead, I made them interlocking rings.  I started with alternating small and large rings.  Cerebus was still holding the Time Scepter in front of him. I wanted more movement, but I couldn't work out how to have him swinging it without either A) The scepter extending outside the circle or B) obscuring a lot of his face.

Having made a mess of this piece of Bristol board, with too many circles and lines and erasure marks, I retreated to a sketch book, to work out Cerebus' pose and how to draw the rings.  For the rings, I settled on having them the same size.  I tried texturing them, but it looked too busy.  I knew I wanted the color to do a lot of the heavy lifting on the tone and texture. In the bottom right, you can see the basic pose for Cerebus that I landed on:

Having resolved these issues, I started the pencils again, on a new piece of Bristol Board. I laid in Cerebus, Renet, the circles, and the basic outline of everything else.  Although at this point, I hadn't settled what would fill all the spaces around the Turtles. I was still imagining that there would be organic foliage:

Next Week: An Overly Exhaustive Making of A TMNT8 cover Part 2: Pencils and Inks