Marvel Feature issue 6 - Red Sonja cover re-creation – colored pencils
Materials: Prismacolor pencils on 11 x 17 toned Strathmore paper
This is a cover art re-creation after the great Frank Thorne who originally drew Red Sonja for the cover of Marvel Feature #6 in 1976.
The original colored pencil drawing is available.
I am also posting the original comic book cover by Mr. Thorne and some work in progress shots I took while working on this re-creation.
This is the original drawing by Frank Thorne but with alterations made to it before it went to print. The drawing had some changes made to it. Like the sword and dagger are in different hands. There is also suspicion that John Romita Sr. redrew the face.
One of my favorite parts is the grapefruit half floating behind the biggest Gator-man. This helps give the fact that they are in the sewers under a city.
I always make a preliminary drawing. Then I print it out onto toned Strathmore paper. For this cover re-creation I used gray toned paper.
I always put down areas that will be white at the completion in the beginning. The layering process sometimes makes it hard to keep white the whitest it should be.
Then I will lay in the basic colors: Red, yellow, blue, green and so on.
The name of the game with colored pencils is layering. I think in three layers for each area of color, most of the time. If it’s going to be a flat area of color like white, it will get two layers of white.
I like “bouncing” the colors around. Mixing the colors on the page like a painter.
All of the layers of color have been put down. Now I’ll sharpen everything and bring it together with white and black.
This is how I sign cover re-creations. Since I originally did not create this image, Frank Thorne did, I give him credit first. I was taught this in art school where I took two years of master studying, aka - art forgery.
