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AdamHughes — Power Girl Tonal Drawing
Published: 2009-02-16 00:44:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 97659; Favourites: 1611; Downloads: 6535
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Description
Here's the original lineart for the Power Girl #1 variant cover. Pencil, ink, Copic markers, all on sketch paper. Probably 15"X20".Related content
Comments: 180
I find it humorous that all the guys are staying with at her that expression of "...BooBs" and the reporter lady is just like what's so special about her.
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Nothing like a gorgeous chesty girl ripping her shirt open 
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@picture
Sheesh, some people can work magic with a pencil. I'm green with envy.
Great job!
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i cannot get over the unbelievable cross hatching on the jeans, they look amazing. i love your composition. also, i'm a bit jealous of your city skylines, you always have a good balance of the lights on/off happening, i always feel mine looks forced. not to mention your buildings and vehicles always feel just as solid as the figures. awesome stuff as always mister! <3
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City lights at night.....**shudders**
It's too easy for them to look like crossword puzzles, no?
Here's what I do...
Always consider what KIND of building you are drawing. Most office buildings have multiple windows per office. Meaning, you'll have several lights "connected" in a row. Apartment buildings might be more prone to having single windows.
Also, lights 'bloom' and create the impression of slightly oval shapes as opposed to rectangles. This varies from window-to-window, depending on how much light they occupants I using in that room. I usually make several windows in any building really oval and 'bloomy'.
Also, always consider the unlit horizontal levels on buildings, usually they are the floors (unless a building is a modern skyscraper with floor-to-ceiling glass windows).
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thankyou so much, i'll definitely have to keep this in mind and do some practise works using these tips. I'm terrible at giving enough attention to this sort of detail so hopefully this will help me be more accurate as i develop :3
you're a champion <3
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lol...i thought you use some kind of mouse hand or somethin like that,neverthought you draw it on paper
really awesome works dude
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EVERYONE LOOK AT MY BOOBS!!!!!!!
lol very nice work
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Adam, you should definitely let somebody record a video of you doing one of these, and then make a DVD out of it. It didn't even had to pretend to be a instructional video, just an "Adam Hughes Draws" would do.
It could be something in the vein of the Anatomy of a Sketch Youtube videos, but longer.
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Adam, you should definitely let somebody record a video of you doing one of these, and then make a DVD out of it. It didn't even had to pretend to be a instructional video, just an "Adam Hughes Draws" would do.
It could be something in the vein of the Anatomy of a Sketch Youtube videos, but longer.
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I've looked everywhere on your page to see if my question has already been answered, but I can't find it, so I'm going to buckle down and ask you. I really apologize if you've already answered this 2394823049 times before, but I've tried to figure it out on my own and I can't figure it out!
When you color a tonal image like this in photoshop... how the f**k do you do it? Specifically, I'll draw a tonal image very similar to this, scan it into photoshop, color a giant blob of color on top of it on a separate layer, and then put said layer through every damn filter (meaning "multiply", "screen", "overlay", etc etc) and not one of them gives me the same effect that your colored pieces have. How do you color the black lines a different color? Do you lock the tonal layer from the white background so that you can individually go over the black lines? If so, how do you do that? I can do it if I just have lineart, but when you add tones to the mix, man, I'm clueless. Gah, I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out how you do it! LOL. Obviously I don't quite know how to use photoshop to its full potential.
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It's OK; I'm not using PS to its full potential either. 
(and thanks for looking for the answer before asking the question here).
I'll admit that a lot of what I do is intuitive, but i'll try to break it down if I can.
I start with a Grayscale scan of a tonal drawing.
I convert to CMYK Mode.
Now it gets wacky...
One way to start getting color on the piece is to use Edit>Adjust>Variations. I like to push the art towards an imprematura that keys off of the flesh tones. Why? Personal preference. Mess around with the yellows and red, especially in the midtones.
Done properly, you'll have a nice warm monochromatic illo now. You can go in with your brush tool set to Color Mode or make a soft Lasso selection and Fill>Foreground Color set to Color Mode, and start changing colors to what you want.
It's a lot like painting. Lots of 'transaparent glazing' and 'opaque highlighting'. It's easier to explain in person, sadly.
The best thing to do with Photoshop is to play around until you discover what works for you. The one thing I caution against is thinking that its all about LAYERS. To many people think that its some arcane series of Adjustment Layers in some insane combination, and for me, it's not. I make copies of what I'm working on, say, Power Girl's face, on another Layer just so that if I mess it up I can delete it and start again easily. That's about it for my Layer usage.
The Big Trick is just figuring out a good way to make a gray pixel a pixel with a discernible hue. THAT'S ALL. Think simple. Don't overcomplicate an already complicated program, and you'll be OK.
If you have dark lines or pixels that you want to be color, trying using the Brush tool set to Color or sometimes Lighten Mode. That works for me.
Good luck and feel free to ask follow-up questions.
-AH!-
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Huge, HUGE help. I think in the end I ended up using filters I was more comfortable with, but I think the effect came out the way I was hoping: [link] I still need to fiddle around more and get some more practice, but that totally set me on the right track. Thank you SO much for typing that all out for me, you seriously unlocked a door that I've been banging on for a long time!!
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You're very welcome! Good luck!
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Nice answer Adam, I appreciate it as well.
Hopefully will see you at Comic Con in July.
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praise god 4 her character designer he understood the need 4 lack of symbol
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In human language, you're called super talented..
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Is it weird that my eyes keep coming back to the crosshatching/wickerhatching on the pants? Maybe there's just too much good stuff in this illustration...
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I really like the attention to detail you gave her jeans
You really captured the material well. I think the same about her jacket
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What big....eyes she has ^_^
I love that texturing on the jeans.
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you create the great experssions in your work. You inspire me to keep up with my craft. Thank you.
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brilliant, I just love the expression of the woman all the way in the bottom right. I'd love to ad my own little dialog of her "uh huh." this is the joy of your expression, amazing piece
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thanks for the reply, I see exactly what you mean and how you did it in your drawing.
keep up the good work man
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Hi Adam, i've been a fan for a long time and have had a burning question, hopefully you can answer...
1. What's the best way to do color holds in a grayscale original? Much like this image. I've been wanting to do our book this way for awhile, but once I add the greys I end up losing my ability to do color holds.
Secret Bonus question: Will you be attending Wizard World Chicago this August? (...or whatever they're calling it this year.)
Thanks so much!
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1. I'm not sure I understand the question....
Bonus: No on is attending any Wizard shows this year, I hear they are all postponed (Can anyone out there verify that?)
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LA and Chicago are still going strong, the others were postponed/cancelled. (Texas and Philly I believe)
M!
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PS. If I would have read the comments first I would have noticed you basically already answered my "tip" question. Sorry for that everyone!
If you are going to Chicago, see you there! Our Artist Alley table just got approved, woo!
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That is so cool.You do the BEST Powergirl! The building reminds me of 9/11 though.
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can't wait for this to drop...been hoping for a PowerGirl cover since jsa classified.
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Boobs fix lots of things. HAPPY boobs fix everything.
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You know ME..... are you seeing other boobs behind my back?!?
Oh. BOOBS.
I get it now.
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really love the spoof on the classic superman exposing his superman symbol under his clothing
what better way to say i am woman, than showing the goods.
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You ARE doing some variant covers for Power Girl's new series? Yes!
I need to print this for my bulletin board!
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Dude I this totally rocks! just out of curiosity when drawing PG is it hard to maintain proper perspective and anatomy, since she is so endowed?
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Good question!
Well, it requires a little 'squash & stretch' as the animation boys call it. I find I have to give her a wider back to compensate, and a slightly longer rib cage. When you can't see where a woman's rib cage ends and the abs begin (if, say, two enormous breasts are covering so much of her personal real estate), I find it look awkward, as if she's MISSING her rib cage. It helps that Power Girl is a bit on the buff side, so I can add mass to her arms and legs to help balance out the overall figure.
The same applies if you are drawing a male fero with enormous pecs (like Superman); you have to perform little anatomic tweaks so that it kinda all balances out in the end.
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Sooo what exactly is the process frojm tonal coloring to normal coloring?
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So many people have asked me this; I may start a series of FAQ journals to cover the oft-asked questions. Stay tuned!
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