#clayton barton

I just realized I’ve never posted a single Spawn image in the hundreds of superhero posts I’ve made, so here’s a fine portrait by Clayton Barton.

What a productive day - Feels awesome! 😀✊

I had one goal to accomplish: knock out the entire Hair Workshop for the Character Creator Course - start to finish…

I knew I was in it for the long haul.

And here’s the end result… Naturally this rockin’ deva don’t need no introductions – you’ve all been well acquainted with ‘E’ at this point.

Given I was narrating the entire demonstration the whole way through, I was expecting something a little less refined – but I’m super happy with the outcome and I had a lot of fun putting it all together.

Safe to say this particular series of lessons will teach you pretty much all you need to know about drawing, styling and rendering the hair of your Comic Book Characters.

In fact, I figured since I've been talking about how to draw hair all day long - I'd share a few useful tips for rendering it over at  the HTDC Blog.

Click here to check it out - https://www.howtodrawcomics.net/single-post/2017/06/19/Tips-For-Rendering-Hair

I've also dropped a few more details about the upcoming Character Creator Course in the article too - for those who are eager to find out more.

Enjoy the pic! Had a great time whipping these lovely lady heads up.

You might have noticed I’ve been rather quiet around here lately… and you know what that usually means – I’ve been hard at work in the studio cooking up something real special for you! 😏

Remember E? I sent out a post about her about a month or so ago, revealing that she’d be the star attraction for my upcoming course on Creating female Comic Book Characters.  

Since then I’ve polished up her line work with some slick inks, given her a splash of color and topped off the presentation with a slick backdrop – recording the entire process every step of the way.

Now 100% of my focus and attention is on the narration – where I’ll be talking you through each and every step of the production process. That includes laying down the initial foundations, sketching in her anatomy, drafting up the design, shading, rendering and detailing the final line work - and then of course I’ll take you through my entire comic book coloring workflow.

As I was creating this course I was worried that it might be getting too long – as I’d really only sped it up a little bit so that you were able to see the entire process unfold as close to realtime as possible…

And just now I’ve checked exactly how long it is… and I’m kinda shocked.

Somehow this monster course has racked up 17 hours’ worth of content over 26 videos!!! 😲

Every second of which is narrated… and that’s not including the additional workshops I wanted to include along with the course as a bonus.  

The Character Creator Course was created to be as comprehensible as possible, I just had no idea it would be THIS comprehensible.

Let me know what your thoughts are on this – part of me feels like this is WAY too long for anybody to sit through, but the other part says that for anyone who’s seriously dedicated to leveling up their Comic Art skill set, this course could be an absolute gold mine.

I have a habit of going overboard on the amount of content I pack into my tutorials, which often gets a mixed response – so I’d seriously value your feedback on this!

I couldn’t help it… I had to give you another peak at this lovely lass, (don’t tell her I said that – she HATES being called lovely… or lass 😶)

Here you’re looking at E’s alternate costume variation as well as a couple zoomed in head shots from various angles…

This part of the process was where I really got to define the shape and subtle nuances of E’s facial features, as well as figure out how her groovy hairdo would look from different points of view.  

I’ve always found the character concepting process particularly special, because it’s the point at which you as the creator really begin to get to know your character.

You’ve got to get up close and personal, and figure out how they’re going to appear from every facet.

This is especially true and mandatory when it comes to creating characters for comics.

Despite the amount of time I’ve spent drawing over the years, I still feel as though I’m learning and developing more with every new piece of art work.

And I’ve got to say I’m really proud of E and the way she’s turned out. I’ve captured the exact look I wanted for her.

With every new piece of work, I feel as though I get to know my artistic self a little better, my confidence shining through in my style and the line work itself!

For those who just came in… E is the bad-ass deva design I’ll be featuring in Part 1 of the new ‘Comic Book Character Creator Course’ coming soon from HTDC. It’ll feature 3 character designs all up, and come included in the full Comic Book Creator Course.

So far I’ve racked up upwards of 6 hours of content for the Comic Book Character Creator Course, where I’ve recorded every step I’ve taken to draft, design and refine E for you here.

Not only does this new training cover Penciling, Inking and Coloring – I’ll also show you an in-depth look at my approach to design and my creative thought process.

Tonight… I’m putting down the stylus for a while and venturing into the beginning of some very long and intensive narration sessions.

I’ve already done about 6 videos mind you… all of which I’m happy to say have come out top notch. In fact they barely required any editing at all once I’d properly switched into voice over mode.

Making that switch is harder than it sounds... believe me!

So. If you’re looking at E here, and you’re scratching your head as to exactly what it took to create her – leave your questions in the comments below!

That way I can address them directly in the course for you and make sure all bases are covered.

Finally, before I go – jump on the e-mail list at www.howtodrawcomics.net if you’re not already.

I’ll be sending out exclusive previews of the course to my subscribers so they can send me their feedback. So if you’d like an early-bird look at what’s in store just make sure you're on the list when I send it out.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you like her! I can’t wait to show you how she looks once she’s all colored up. :D