Green with Envy Blues!

Green Lantern © DC Comics
By Corey Breen
Pencil

Next up is Green Lantern! Much like the huge double page spread I did of all the Green Lanterns vs. Sinestro, I have no idea how or why I started drawing this image. Hal is one of my favorite DC characters behind Batman & Robin, so I guess he is just becoming one of my go to characters that I just wind up drawing almost subconsciously. This just started out as a figure drawing and became a Green Lantern pin-up, so go figure.

A lot of these drawings I'm posting this week came from a comment my coworker gave me about my work. He said that lately I've been drawing to many straight forward shots and haven't been doing as much action or extreme perspective images. This hit me pretty hard, because I always try to do something other then a super-hero just standing there. I think it's very boring and just lazy. I always feel I'm better then that and strive for pin-ups that have crazy action poses to them, or limbs crossing, or legs coming at the viewer. In other words, I like trying my best to make dynamic action poses. I didn't like the fact that my coworker said this comment, so I wanted to prove to him that that is one my STRONG points as an illustrator. I feel I am really good at drawing the figure, and I LOVE to stretch things out, extent limps, have characters in crazy positions, and try to really just use my imagination.

I am NOT a photo reference type of comic artist. I feel comic books are suppose to be fantasy, and it's actually more rewarding for me as an artist to try and create everything out of my head. I mean, yes, if I need to draw a car, I will research cars and use reference, but that's just a given. You should always look up stuff to get inspiration and to have a frame of reference for what you want to draw. I'm talking about just using my skills and education, and just DRAWING. Just make a cool a$$ iage, and do your best to make sure it makes sense, and the viewer can know whats going on. It is said in the comic world (among other fields) too often that you "MUST know how to draw things realistically before you can exaggerate them." Yeah, that's true to a certain extent, but I also feel that is just stressed upon too much. I say, as long as you have fun, and you are happy with your drawing, then others will probably like it too. Who cares if I missed a couple of muscles in his arm, or his elbow is too pointy. SCREW that. It's a comic book drawing, and it should look like one. Give an extreme angle, a huge hand, or crazy a$$ muscles to people, and weird a$$ buildings in the background that defy physics. Who cares. I want a viewer to look at my drawings and say either, "wow, that's awesome" or "I don't really dig that so much". Either was is ok with me. In fact, I hope that's how everyone looks at my art.

Anyway, I could go on for DAYS about this subject, but, maybe another time. In the meantime, enjoy this Hal pic, and join me tomorrow for the NEXT image! It gets even better from here, because I feel the next three pin-up's are three of my stronger pieces I've ever done. And they are HUGE examples of pushing the limits of comic poses, so I can finally put my coworkers comments out for good!

CjB

PS- A couple of coworkers have been visiting the Green Lantern Movie film set, and they can't talk, but at least told me that it is gonna be AWESOME! I am just DREAMING that this movie is to this next generation (and mine) what Star Wars felt like back in 1977. I think this movie has the potential to be what Star Wars is to so many. Oh GOD, please, I hope that's true! It has it's work cut out for it, because Avatar is right up there now with Star Wars in my eyes!

PPS- Here is just a little bit of my decision making process on this Green Lantern drawing. I was trying to work out the perspective I wanted on Hal's right arm, so I worked a couple of different poses. I had the arm at first the way it is in the final drawing, but thought I could do more, so I tried a different positioning. But then I realized I completely LOST the extreme "coming at the viewer" arm that I wanted, so I went back to the original. Just a little sample of how I work sometimes. If you draw something cool and don't want to lose it, trace it on a light box, and then you have it to go back to in case the "new" idea is not as good as the old one!

Green Lantern Arm Position Sketches
By Corey Breen
Pencil