New Art Project: The Lanterns #1

Here I am again folks to bring you the first piece in a new Art Project. I started on this project a while back. Right around the end of the Comic Coalition project but I've been distracted by school and Mere Mortals to get to do it. Well with Mere Mortals having found a home (http://meremortals.thecomicseries.com/ Updates every Sunday and Wednesday) and school being out I have time to do some art work. This project is a simple set of what if's and re-imaginings. It's simply titled the Lanterns and was prompted by a discussion on twitter about how some of the DC characters were a better fit for certain Lantern Corps as temporary members than the ones that were selected.

For today we have the selection I best see fit for the Sinestro Corps and that's Batman. "Now wait a minute," you might be asking yourself, "Batman was 'dead' and a black lantern. He couldn't be a Sinestro Corps member." Well first, this sorta already happened a while back before the Sinestro Corps war when a yellow power ring tried to enlist Batman into the Sinestro Corps and second Wonder Woman was able to overcome being 'dead' with the power of the Star Sapphire Ring. Though to be fair she was living before she became a reluctant member of the Black Lanterns. So that might factor into why Batman wasn't picked for the honorary deputy of the Sinestro Corps (I have an image of a Yellow Lantern Barney Fifth now).

Now why did I pick Batman for the Sinestro Corps spot? Well it's primarily because to me Batman instills a lot of fear into his villains and that screams yellow ring. Also I like to draw Batman, so yeah, there's that. Now I guess it's time to introduce you to the art.

First I have the quick sketch I did a while back for this idea:

First you may notice I decided not to use the Sinestro outfit that was given to him in the comic image above. Reasons for that are 1) I didn't like it. It looked too much like Sinestro's old costume before the War. 2) I didn't have it on hand to reference so I went from memory and what I thought worked. You may notice the curtain rod cape that he's wearing and that's because I thought of the weird gothic Batman art design you occasionally see in comics. Also there are oversized blades on the arms and legs. I done this to make him look more intimidating and fear inducing. For the symbol I just drew an oversized bat and placed the Lantern Corps logo in the center. Unknowingly I made the bat match Sinestro Corps' costume design. That was accidental but awesome. Not much else to say about the sketch.

Now here is the final inked and colored version

Now there are some differences between the sketch and the final version. The biggest one is the change in pose. The sketch was more dynamic looking and this one isn't as dynamic. I don't know why but that's how it came out. The other big difference is the removal of the Lantern and the new placement of the "fear" blurb. There are a couple first for this picture. This is the first time I've fully colored something for the site. That includes provide a realistic flesh coloring to the character. Makes the piece look infinitely better when compared to others. One thing I do like about this piece is the use of black. It fills up almost half the page and would've been the whole page if my marker didn't give out during this piece. Overall I love this piece and how well it came together considering I have not that much experience in actually coloring my own pieces in a semi-competent way. 

That's all for now. Remember to check out Mere Mortals every Sunday and Wednesday for new comics. Oh what you know it's Wednesday. Check it out. Also RIP black marker. You've been a great tool considering you were dirt cheap. 

Now to go buy a new Black brush-tip pen/marker.