THE DUDE'S RETURN TO COMICS??

THE DUDE'S RETURN TO COMICS?? 
Read on..!

Devotee's of the Dude Daily Diatribes may find this of interest:

I've decided to finally make my long awaited return to comics.

This decision took place no less than a month ago, after I came to the following realization--

One-- I've had enough time away from the field to want to come back.  In the time that I've been gone, comics seem to have only gotten worse in terms of art and story, which is what made me back off in the first place.   I feel that any direct contributions I could make by re-entering the field might have a positive effect.  

Two--I needed the bread.  Commissions and other jobs are fine, but actually being an active member of the comics field seemed more prudent.  After talking it over with Gino, we decided it would be best to write the company I'd most like to do business with, and then see what transpired.  And who would that company be?

That company would be DC comics.

The books I would most like to contribute to?  Here they are in order of preference:

1.  SUPERGIRL

2.  SUPERMAN

3.  BIG BARDA and her FEMALE FURIES

4.  OMAC

One month ago, I began my contact with DC through an editor that I knew.  Having no success, I tried a second editor.  Then finally, one of the higher-up "exec" types.

So far, one editor has responded--with a turn down.  The two others I never heard back from.

Interesting world, isn't it?

If any changes take place over the next few weeks, I'll fill you in with an update.

In the meantime, keep ordering those commissions!  I have tried and failed to do "simple" watercolors for so I regret I must raise the price to starting June 1st.  These were supposed to be "quick" 11x14 watercolors and instead have been finished 15x20 paintings.

In the spirit of all great creators who've shown me the way,

I remain,

The humble Dude

Commission Link: http://www.steverudeart.com/Commissions_s/657.htm
Watercolor Commission Link: http://www.steverudeart.com/Watercolor_Commission_p/customwater.htm

GOLDEN AGE CAPTAIN AMERICA COMMISSION IN STAGES

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Stage One

Stage one has always been inspiring to me, and I might be able to add a few things to this piece to justify doing it. Going into it, however, I had only the vaguest glimpse of procedural foresight to see how I might pull this off. And that's what your roughs are for... What the hell do I know about WW2? Besides next to nothing? Some guys really get off on this historical stuff. My dad, for one. But I'm not my dad. Kirby's great creation ,Stage One involved--I believe its called.

If I thought if I could get away with merely copying the original drawing line for line, well, I knew that was out. The soldiers, planes, artillery, poses of Cap and Bucky, and the multitude of extras would all have to be modified to appease the image in my head. I knew the research was going to be heavy--no getting around that. A few trips to the library, and few polite urgings with Gino to look online, and I had my basic materials that I would be needing. And need them I would.

Stage Two

The drawing came first, on some nice lifetime-enduring 2' x 3' watercolor board. Once I roughed in the drawing, I shrunk the whole thing down on my xerox machine, and did a few value roughs over these miniature copies.

In the late 50's. Dorne worked in transparent, colored permanent inks, which he applied over a value painting done first done in b & w washes. Alex Ross has made a career from working in this method, as well. I myself was a bit rusty with this technique, but it eventually came back to me as I toiled on. Halfway through the inking stage, I got the idea to ink in only the shadow areas and not put in the outlines all around the figures. Not sure why. But instead of then going right to color, again using the golden-age version as my guide, I decided to render everything first in a b & w ink wash, a procedure which I learned from artist Albert Dorne, the man who put together the Famous Artists School.

When I finally got to the color stage, I hauled out the colored inks and went to work, almost completely ignoring the original color scheme from the golden age reference. My own sensibilities seemed to take over at that point.

Stage Three

Once the color was applied, it was done. Was it easy? Hell, no! It was immensely taxing, and looking back, I should've charged twice what I asked for it, but this is the way things go as a commercial artist. Once you've agreed on a price, you apply yourself to the same standards whether they paid you 5 bucks or 5 million.

Hope everyone likes this special Dude recreation of the golden age

I look forward to your comments.

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More step by step photos available on Facebook (you do NOT need an account to view)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150437321850433.638476.57611645432