Heading to ICE
Next month I’ll be heading the the International Comics Expo and then to Comics Uncovered the next day. I’ve only ever been to one other Comic convention, that time a fun visit with my brother Sean to the London Film and Comic Con where we enjoyed goggling at the bizarre cosplay sights and I got to meet Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica!
This time it’s Comics Uncovered for a day of workshops, talks from comic pros and the nerve wracking portfolio reviews. I’ve decided to submit my work for reviews and I’ve got appointments booked in with DC, Titan and Markosia.
I’m pretty nervous, but I’ve been working hard and building up a number of images to show them. Time to get some business cards I think!
This one I’m particularly fond of. I’m a huge fan on Stephen King, especially the Marvel Comics versions drawn by Jae Lee. So here’s my own attempt at a Dark Tower cover. If you’ve read a single King book you’ll probably be familiar with some of the characters as the Dark Tower books seem to touch on pretty much every other King book there is. There’s connections to the Stand, the Shining, Hearts in Atlantis, Rose Madder, and IT to name just a few.
This image was completed really quickly. I already had a design for a cowboy character prepared in Zbrush from another project so I was able to breath new life into it here. This image was completed in just one day.
Alex McArdell Illustration 
Hello! May I just ask if this is done in illustrator? Coz I wanna achieve this kind of illustration. And how many days do you finish an artwork? Thanks! Also, can you check out my recent artwork. Because I don’t really use Illustrator but I just wanna know if I did good in that one. My Mad Max Poster is in Illustrator. Thanks!
August 24, 2015 at 1:36 am
Hello. No this work is not done using illustrator. I think it might be difficult to achieve this effect with illustrator as it’s vector based. But maybe you could, I’m not sure. I don’t really use it so I’m not sure what it’s capable off. These images are made with 3D software. So they’re sculpted, not drawn. I make the models in Zbrush and I light them in Keyshot. This gives a very nice cinematic appearance. I finish them in Photoshop.
Other artists might achieve a similar look with different software but this is my method. Some people might use Corel Painter.
The first two images on this post took a couple of days each to finish. Designing the characters is what takes up the time.
The Gunslinger image only took one day. I was fast with that one.
I really like your Mad Max image. I watched that for the first time just yesterday! I think the likeness of Furyosa is very good. Did you design the layout as well or was that taken from an existing poster?
August 24, 2015 at 9:53 am
I did the layout. I took pictures from the film and then rearranged them in photoshop. Then I used illustrator for the final poster. Thank you so much for checking me out! And for replying to my question. Really helps me a lot!
August 24, 2015 at 12:15 pm
You’re very welcome. If you like movie posters you might want to check out the work of Drew Struzan. You’ve probably heard of him as he’s really well known, but I feel he’s one of the best movie poster illustrators out there. Good luck!
August 24, 2015 at 12:47 pm