Kuta Art Card Contest

Kuta © Sean Galloway

By Corey Breen
Photoshop Final Colors REVISED

Kuta © Sean Galloway

By Corey Breen
Photoshop Final Colors

Kuta © Sean Galloway
By Corey Breen
Photoshop Final Flats

Kuta © Sean Galloway
By Corey Breen
Final Tones

Kuta © Sean Galloway
By Corey Breen
Final Inks

Kuta © Sean Galloway
By Corey Breen
Final Pencils

This is my entry for the Kuta Vinyl Contest being held by Sean Galloway, aka Cheeks, on his Blogspot, http://gotcheeks.blogspot.com/2009/05/kuta-card-contest.html

Above is my entire process for the submission.

CjB

Jason Todd All Over Again?

Robin © DC Comics 20009
By Corey Breen
Pencil

So Battle for the Cowl has ended, and the new Batman and Robin have finally been revealed! Turns out it is in fact, Nightwing becoming the new Batman, and Damien (Bruce's son with Talia Al Ghoul), the new Robin. Bruce is still stuck in time in Final Crisis (we all assume), so this is the new direction for the Bat-verse.

I am a little bit excited about this. It could be cool. I am always a big fan of costume changes, and changes in character and direction. The problem is, is that I am a HUGE Bruce Wayne fan, and like him second to only Snake-Eyes. In my mind, no one will ever replace Bruce as Batman. But I am going to give this story a chance. I think this could be very cool. And I trust the editors and creators on the books right now, that I look forward to seeing what happens, and also working on the books as they come in.

One of the things I do like in comic books, is progression. Even more so then that, are legacies. I like when the mantle is passed on, and the their seems to be a "real time" aspect to comics. It was always unexplained that Dick Grayson grew up to become Nightwing, yet Bruce never ages? Made no sense. And some of the best Batman stories are the ones where it's the end of Bruce's career. He gets older; how can he continue (Batman Beyond & The Dark Knight Returns); blah, blah, blah.

It's like the X-Men, Days of Future Past storyline. If that's the future, then when will we finally get to that future? It has to start somewhere. And maybe, if DC can keep this new Dynamic Duo together for more then a year, it will seem like Batman and Robin can move on from all those old stories and ties to the past, and make new ones. But it could also really backfire. I REALLY didn't like how Bruce was "killed" off, honestly. I also really didn't like Battle for the Cowl. It was just bad, art and story wise. But let's see if it gets a lot cooler now that Ed Benes is drawing some issues, and then the Morrison & Quietly issues start. Much like Captain America at Marvel, I'm keeping my hopes up for this one. And if it does fail, so what... they tried, and it'll be worth it, even if you have to just bring Bruce back. I just want some consistency, that's all.

Actually, the best Batman stuff has been within the last year or two. That has been the Detective stories that Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen have done. THAT is Batman to me. Just awesome stories and art that focus on characterization, lots of action, fast paced, Sherlock-Holmes-ish mystery and detective work. It was very noir-ish, and brilliantly written. If you missed out on ANY of those stories, then pick those up! The GREAT news is, Dini and Nguyen are still going to be working in this new Bat-verse. They are doing a book called Batman: Streets of Gotham, and that is the book I am looking forward to the most behind Batman and Robin.

(Also the Superman/ Batman issues by Allen Burnett, and Dustin Nguyen are TOTALLY worth picking up, too!)

On another note... just saw two bad movies in a row, which is rare for me. Last night I finally got around to watching Benjamin Button on DVD. I thought it was ok, but I got bored half way through it. It was too long (needed an editor, lots of scenes cut), predictible, and really the only good thing about it, was the effects and Cate Blanchett. The soundtrack was great too, but I've had that for months, and it didn't save the movie. Pitt was just ok, and it kinda seemed all pointless. What was the point? We all die alone? Awesome.

The next bad movie I saw was tonight, and that was Terminator Salvation. I need some Salvation from this movie. It wasn't as bad as Wolverine, but it was a failure to me just the same. I will never own this movie, and thats a shame. I love Sci-Fi movies, and I love Apocalyptic movies. So you would think this movie would kick all kinds of a$$, right? Wrong. It was boring, pointless, had no story, and was just lame. There was nothing memorable about this movie. No cool fight scenes, no cool dialogue, no cool time travel conundrums. No good philosophical mumbo-jumbo that I LOVE about the Terminator movies. WHAT WAS THIS MOVIE FOR? Nothing was really redeemable about this movie, and I rather have saw Star Trek again or something. Sorry, but T2 AND T3 were better then this movie. This was neither a popcorn flick like T2 was, nor a philosophical mellow thinker like T3.

I would go on about why I didn't like these two movies, but they aren't even worth it. I will just move on, and look forward to Transformers II, and be glad that Star Trek and Angels and Demons were really good. they can't all be winners.

One last thing before I go... How much does my cat, Sebastion look like the dude from Labrynth, Sir Didymus? Kristy and I finally figured it out tonight. I knew he looked like some Brian Froud like creature, but also thought he looked like that Grey Ewok, or Salacious Crumb, Jabba's pet. But no, it's Sir Sebby Didymus! What do you think?

Hope you like the Robin pic. I think I have a couple more Batman Characters I will still try out (ie- Red Robin); maybe. Got other to show you too, just waiting for the right time, so stay tuned...

CjB

My Cat Sebastian Bathazar vs. Sir Didymus from labyrinth

Red Hot!

Batwoman © DC Comics
By Corey Breen
Pencil & Photoshop

And the NEW Batgirl is...?

Batgirl © DC Comics 2009
By Corey Breen
Pen & Ink Wash & Whiteout

Pen & Ink & Photoshop

Pen & Ink & Photoshop

Pencil

I know who it is under the mask, but I'm NOT telling. Confidentiality Agreement and all that. Bummer, huh? LOL

But I can say that it's REALLY cool, and that a lot of Batman fans will be psyched! It will all be announced soon. I love when new characters take over or new costumes revealed, especially when it is a mystery as to who is under the mask! I don't think the mystery will be a part of the story, but as of right now, I can't say who it is. Any guesses?

I will actually shut up now, and just let the art speak for itself. I talk too much sometimes, and for this Blog entry, I'll just let you enjoy the art. It was really fun to do, and very experimental for me. I tried a whole bunch of inking techniques, and after becoming very frustrated, I think I finally came out with something very cool. Let me know what you think! Do you like the ink wash final more, or just the straight up inks? Or maybe just the look of the line art? Or should I have never inked it the first place, because my inks suck, and I should stick to pencils? LOL

More Batman family goodness later in the week! Happy Hump Day! Happy Comic Book Day!

CjB

"I like this ship! It's exciting!"

Kirk & Spock from Star Trek © CBS Studios, Inc. By Corey Breen Pencil

I was never a Trek fan. I had watched the old shows here and there, for various reasons throughout my life, but just never got into it. It seemed lame and really dorky. Star Trek always seemed to me to be a series that just went on and on and on, and there was no beginning, middle or end to it. There was all these various incarnations to it, and reboots, and different characters, and such, that I just never became a fan. I love science fiction so much, but the reason I never got into Star Trek was mainly because it wasn't a story that I could wrap around that had a beginning, middle and end to like Star Trek or the new Battlestar Galactica. I like things I can get in from the ground floor and be a part of the whole thing, not bits and pieces. Star Trek was just too big for me.

After seeing the latest movie though, I am now officially converted. The movie was AMAZING! It had everything I loved about Sci-Fi, and more. It was accessible, it was action packed, the cast was perfect, the story was awesome, the acting was really good, the SFX were top notch, and I could just go on and on. Like I said above, I have liked Star Trek here and there, but I was always a Star Wars nerd. I have to admit, I really liked Star Trek Nemesis though. That was the first Trek I saw in theaters, and I liked it because it wasn't really a typical Star Trek feature. Trek fans seemed to hate it, and I think that is part of the reason it took to me. It kind of just told a

straight forward sci-fi story. and I got into the villian and the story pretty easily. But after seeing this new movie, I was completely BLOWN away. Starting with this movie, it now is on par with Star Wars and Battlestar.

I now feel like I am on the ground floor of this, and I love that fact. I saw the movie on a digital screen, and I really felt like I was IN outer space. Everything from the sound editing, sound mixing, the clarity and color of the film, and especially the cinematography of the film, was supurb! I loved the pacing of the film, and the dialogue was just a great mix of action, adventure, intrigue, mystery, and revelations, and they treated the material with respect. They didn't go into it thinking it was silly in any way, and much like Battlestar, treated the material with high quality, well written, well directed enthusiam. The first 10 minutes of the film, I was speechless, and it tugged at my heart, and hooked me right away. I knew that I now had yet another favorite sci-fi experience and francise to add to my list of things I love. The time travel stroy was wonderful, and was like Lost-Light! The creators of Lost, did what they did best with that show, and added it to Trek, to make a simple, yet sensible time travel story that quiet frankly, ROCKED! They made it accessible to all audiences (Kristy, my fiance, LOVED it too, and she just bascially puts up with my sci-fi love).

I must give props to everyone who created this movie, and I look forward to seeing it a second, third and forth time, and owning on DVD, the day it comes out. I totally want to do more drawings of it too, I was that inspired! Kudos!

Last thing before I go, I wanted to mention that this past friday, not only was I in awe of the movie, but when I got home, I caught J Scott Campbell, my third favorit artist, behind only Mad! and Bachalo, on his twitter, doing a LIVE, streaming art demostration! I stayed up til about 4am, watching this AMAZING artist tone a drawing of Poison Ivy, take requests, answer questions, talk with other professional artists, and draw, from scratch, Michael Scott from The Office, and Sawyer from Lost! I can't thank him enough for doing this, and I can't believe I got to watch something like that. It was beyond inspiring, and he is one of the nicest, mellow, INCREDIBLE artists I have EVER seen, and to watch him draw so something I will always treasure. I can't wait until he does it again, and he is a MASTER! He even revealed that he will be going back to Danger Girl after he is done with his Spider-Man project!! That just made me giddy!

So enjoy my Star trek drawing, go check out some J Scott Campbell art, go watch the Star Trek movie, and go be inspired by something that you love. I'm telling you, there is nothing like seeing and doing things you love to do, that really makes you happy.

Next up, are those Batgirl drawings I did. Then even more stuff throughout the week.

All my best, and happy Mother's Day mom, I love you!

CjB

PS- Next up for movies, Angels & Demons, and then Terminator IV. GOOD I love the summer movie season!

War of the Witchblade!

Witchblade © 2009 Top Cow Productions
By Corey Breen
Pencil

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I wanted to do a 10 minute sketch, kind of like a warm up exercise that people like Skottie Young and Eric Cante do. But, much like I always do, it turns out to start becoming too complex, and takes me a hour or two to do instead. I wanted to draw Witchblade for the LONGEST time, and finally got a round to it, so I'm very happy. I have been loving Chris Bachalo's covers for this series for the past couple of years now. He has been doing covers for the series on and off again, and when he does, it ALWAYS blows me away! Some of his best covers ever have come on this series, and I am just in awe of him. The detail, the designs, the composition.. he just makes Witchblade so so freaking cool! The book has been really good story wise too. I'm not really a fan of the interior artist, but every time I read it, the book is definitely worth picking it up! The storyline now, War of the Witchblade, looks very promising, too!

I tried to not do my usual big, figure drawing for this one. I sometimes tend to draw very large and then realize I take up to much of the page. I draw on 8 1/2 x 11 laser paper most of the time, just because I am used to it. It's not the best paper, but I am comfortable on it, and like the way I can manipulate my mechanical pencil on it. It's very VERY smooth, so the lines just glide on the paper. I can create very solid under-drawings and gestures on it. My friends and coworkers ask me all the time, "why do I draw on such paper, and not something heavier like Bristol," and I tell them that I just work best that way. If I want a more finished, higher quality, inked piece, that's when I transfer the pencils to Bristol. But I always start out on the laser paper. Not afraid to make mistakes on it, too, so I am able to be more free. I think I get nervous on Bristol, because I usually use that for more finished pieces, like I said.

So, a little background on my method. I had nothing to show for the last week or so on the blog, because everything I have worked on lately, I am just not ready to show yet, which has been a bummer. I decided that I want to just do a lot more pieces exclusively for the Blog, that way I always have something to show every week for you guys. The Green Lantern spread, I want to show so badly, but I just can't yet. The reason being, I have found a professional inker, AND colorist to finish the spread, and am going to wait until it is all done. I am so EXCITED about this, I can barely contain myself! Wait til you hear who I got to work on the piece over me! You will be BLOWN away. It's gonna be so cool. Both have been in the comics industry for a long time now, and have done some SERIOUS work for so many top notch books! The piece is gonna look so professional done, and I hope, when it's done, to make posters of it, and give a ton away at the next convention and right here through the Blog! Just be patient on this one, hen it is ready, it's gonna be so cool!

Besides that, I can't show you the Wolverine, Project Rooftop drawing yet, because that was submitted to the website, and hopefully I will be chosen to be shown on the site. I like my redesign a lot, and feel it's original enough to maybe even win a top honor. Maybe. I know there are going to be a lot of entries by top notch artists, so we'll have to see. Once that contest deadline is over on May 15th, and they post the winners to the site, I will post all those drawings I did for the designs right here on the Blog, for sure!

Since I didn't have those to show, I wanted to make some art just for you guys, and yesterday, and today I started doing that. Fellow artist, and inspiration, Chris Samnee, gave me some advice, and told me that he picks one day a month and does drawings EXCLUSIVELY for his Blog, and that way he never runs out of new stuff to show. I want to do this. I need to pick a day to just do like at least five new drawings and then I can post at least one a week! This got me so pumped, that I already started! I am working on a series of all new Batman character drawings based on all the changes from Battle for the Cowl! There are so many changes in the book right now, I wanted to start drawing some of them! Right now I am working on the new Batwoman, and the new Batgirl! I hope to do more, including the new Batman, Robin, and Red Robin. I already did the new Azreal! Then I will post each one by one, in the coming weeks.

I hope you stay tuned and check for those, and I will keep everyone update, as usual! I got REALLY inspired last night when I saw through Jim Lee's Twitter page, that he did a free 8 1/2 minute sketch for a random Twitter follower. The winner got a free drawing of Gambit, and Jim did this AMAZING piece in pencil, pen & ink, and white-out in just uner NINE minutes! WOW! Check it out at http://gelatometti2.blogspot.com/2009/05/8-min-gambit.html!

He totally inspired me to do something similar, because I love his technique! He has gotten so AMAZING lately, I have been in awe of him as well! I knew he was the master, but he has been ON FIRE recently. Have no words for that guy, he is an AMAZING artist, and I am luck to even know him, because he is a GREAT guy too!

Well, I wrote enough for today. Be sure to check out the links I gave you above, and the Jim Lee video for his gambit piece. And then stay tuned for a lot more drawings from me. Thank you for visiting my Blog as always, I am appreciative!

Corey Breen

Stupid Movie, but I still love Gambit...

Gambit © Marvel Comics
By Color Breen

So I saw the crap-fest called Wolverine. If you wanna know what I thought of it, you need to re-read my first sentence again. Yeah, I didn't like it. But, "Corey," you say, "how can you not like it, it had your favorite X-Man, Gambit. And you love Wolverine and the X-Men, too..." Well, just seeing these characters on the big screen is just NOT enough anymore. Yeah, it's cool to see comic books characters that I loved growing up, in movies, but we are so used to that now; the movie has to be good! And Wolverine just wasn't.

Hugh Jackman is a great Wolverine, don't get me wrong. He looks the part and it doesn't come across as lame when he plays it, which it easily could. But in this movie, it was all just fluff. He was not the bad-a$$ Wolverine us comic fans know and love. He was, quiet frankly, a pansy. At times, the fight scenes were cool and "action-packed", but then they ended so quickly and abruptly, it was hard to get into them. Wolverine was about as exciting as an old episode of
MacGyver.

The plot twists were actually my favorite part of the movie, although they were just thrown in there to have the main character do something besides run around naked. I liked the way they tied together his origin, but they did it so quickly, and carefree, that it wasn't the focus of the movie. I got the sense that it could have been so much cooler, had they treated the material more seriously. My point being, that they failed to tell Wolverine's ORIGIN!

I refer back to Barry Winsler Smith's Weapon X tale in Marvel Comics Presents back in the 80's. How AMAZING was that? It made Wolverine creepy, and mysterious, and for 20 years after that, it made readers clamor for his REAL origin. How and why was he experimented on, and why were his memories erased. The movie made nothing out of all those nice aspects of the comics. They included aspects of the really cool Jenkin's/ Kubert/ Quesada Origin comics, and stuff like Silverstri's Wolverine #50. But it was NOT the comics come to life. No suspense. No horror or creepiness. I mean, come on! Where's the mad scientist aspect of the character?! WEAK!

The movie was a mess; boring, and pointless. Totally pointless. Gambit was cool, yes, for the five seconds he's in the movie. He did absolutely nothing in the movie, and I hated that he was there in the end. It made no sense. The way Wolverine loses his memories is retarded, and just dumb writing. All the other characters they show too, are just lame and have nothing to do in this movie. Deadpool was a great effect, and fight scene; but an after-thought. It was too predictable in the sense that there was no threat what-so-ever. Wolverine was just a patsy and got played the entire movie, so you knew Deadpool would just be a quick fight scene, just cause they had to have him DO something in the end.

I HATE that the movie made 85 million dollars this past weekend the MOST! Now they will call this movie a "success". To me, it was an utter failure. They made Wolverine a wussy, and now they will make a sequel to this stupid movie, instead of just giving the rights back to Marvel Studios because it bombed so badly. If it had bombed, maybe they be like, "oh, ok, we tried, here's Wolverine and the X-Men back so you can make a good movie, Marvel". Now if Spider-Man 4 is terrible (AGAIN), it's just gonna be more of the same with the two franchises. I wish it could all be given back to Marvel, re-booted or something under their studios, so that can make something like Iron-Man, and then tie them all together like they want to.

Well, I ranted for a long time on this one. I still love Gambit though. And Wolverine (even though he sucks in the comics for the past five years too). So who cares, really. The real kick a$$ wolverine movie is much better in my head and in my dreams, so at least I have that.

Lastly, why do I have the feeling that I will be repeating this review in August when I will just replace the words Wolverine, with GI Joe?! Ugh... At least I have Transformers II, Harry Potter, and Terminator 4 to look forward too. Oh- and Star Trek and Green Lantern Cartoon DVD to look forward too. And Angels and Demons, of coarse. Wow, look at that, I forgot all about Wolverine already. Nice!

CjB

PS- I did finish my Project Rooftop Entry for the re-design of Wolverine. I will be turning it in on Monday, after I get some final thoughts form my coworkers to see if I should tweak anything on it. I now have three things I have to show you soon, so DON'T let me forget.

1. Green Lantern Spread (coming this week)
2. JLA/ Rittenhouse Archive Cards (coming in July)
3. Project Rooftop Wolverine Re-Design (coming soon)

iPhone Brushes Application!

Wildcat © DC Comics 2009
By Corey Breen
Color "Finger Painting" done in Brushes Application for iPhone 3G

My coworker called me over to his desk late yesterday, and told me to check out this image he found on the AWESOME Vertigo artist, Cameron Stewart's Blog. It was a Hellboy image that was done ENTIRELY on the iPhone 3G! Since I love my iPhone more then life itself (well, maybe just a little less then my Fiance), I was BLOWN away. I read on the his blog that he used a program called Brushes, which cost about $5.00 in iTunes. I immediately brought the program, because I just had to try and do something as cool as what Cameron had done. With just his finger, he created an AMAZINGLY detailed, yet loose, almost full-fledged Hellboy painting. I was very impressed, and had to see what this app was all about, and see if I can do it.

My attempt is above, in the Wildcat piece. This was all done with my stubby little finger. No where NEAR as good as Cameron's Hellboy finger-painting, but I'll get better. This was my first attempt, and I can see how you can really get better at the program. You just need a TON of patience because it is dificult to do with a finger, as well as control the line and zooming in and out. But with practice, maybe I can do something really cool with it. I think Cameron has MASTERED it though, as you can see from his piece below!

Hellboy © Mike Mignola 2009
By Cameron Stewart
Color "Finger Painting" done in Brushes Application for iPhone 3G

Thanks for the inspiration, Mr. Stewart! Be sure to check out his new Seaguy book, out in stores now! In my links section on this page, you can see his Blog!

I'll be back sooon, have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy!

CjB