Gambit Breakdown!

This is card #81 Gambit

I thought I'd share the process on this card.

For starters it was a commission and the request was Gambit throwing an Ace, in his trench coat and possibly having his staff.  I was excited about this request, because when I first fell in love with comics it was Jim Lee's X-Men that really grabbed me.  I loved Gambit!  So on my drive home from work I start thinking about how I can fit all the requested elements onto a small trading card.

So step 1- after coming up with the image in my head I do a super quick sketch (maybe a minute max)
If its working I move to step 2

Step 2- I Goggle Gambit images so I have reference for the costume and I lightly pencil the character onto the card

Step 3- I start inking and adding detail while thinking about how to deal with the background.  This one I had a hard time deciding at first I was thinking just action lines to help the movement of the playing cards, but with the amount of space I left above Gambit's head it didn't feel right, so I just started sketching again and came up with the background, felt it worked well and inked.

Step 4- Painting- This is probably my favorite part!  I love playing with the water colors and on this card and on a lot of my cards I will use gel pens in small areas to make things pop.  The gel pens really do not scan well.  But on this card I used a pink gel pen to highlight parts of the playing cards, you really can't see it on the scan but it makes the cards pop on the original art.

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I hope you dug this!  I really appreciate the support!!!!!

Spence