Beast VS Talbain

Here is something that I'm always too lazy to do: A step by step. I got up today with a lot of energy, so I decided to draw an action pinup. These two guys are some of my all time favorite designed characters, and I was gonna draw him for Talbain for the Darkstalkers tribute book, but I don't believe in doing free work (anymore), so I decided to do this instead. And so, without any further A-do:

1. This step is ultra important to me. This is where all the energy has to come out of the drawing. I have a box full of regular wooden pencils that I only use for this first step in my drawings. I used to use my super heavy mech pencil, but Keron once told me that mech pencils make the drawing look to mechanical. Ever since then, I've been using the wooden ones, at least for this first step. This is where the storytelling comes into play. Talbain is more of a martial artist than Beast, but he under estimated his speed. I think Talbain was going to strike, but hesitated when Beast threw a claw, and he got caught off guard, and stepped back a little. I don't think that he would normally block a strike like this, as he would want to parry the blow with a strike of his own, but like I said, he was caught off guard. Little details like this, although not necessary, can pretty much do the drawing for you, if you always add that little bit of story to your drawing. I was having a hard time getting what was in my mind out on the paper, and thusly, Beast has a pretty boring pose striking at Talbain, but I got what I wanted down, so I'm happy.

2. This phase is where I start to commit to some of my lines. I made a few changes, particularly on Beast. I wanted him to be a lot bigger than Talbain, and I wanted to make him a little more Disney in the face. I also switch to my 0.9 pencil. It's light, and fast and I don't want to have to keep sharpening my lead.

3. The final. I now switch to my 0.7, or go with my heavy duty lead holder in this phase. I commit some lines in a very 'sketchy' form, but really, I'm just inking with my pencil. I wasn't sure about Beasts' face after step 2, so I had to mess around for a little while. I'm pretty brain dead in this phase, and mainly listened to the football game while my hand worked. I added the snow because we got a foot of snow today, and this felt like a snow drawing:}

I'm still working on it, I don't think I'll stick with Beasts right hand, but thats pretty much it. Colors coming soon....