This digital fan art started as just me wanting to draw Batman's first costume from Dectective Comics #27 back in 1939. I decided to do it digitally (mostly because I really need the practice), and while doing the layout decided to then add Superman, also in his first outfit. It was after I had a very basic line art (no symbols, insignia, faces or anything, just the basic poses) that I thought "You know, it might be fun to do a compare and contrast on some of the various costumes they've had over the years."
Yeah, I'm an oddball like that.
I copied the line art 3 times to use on each picture I did, pretty quickly deciding which costumes I was going to do. Origins (since I wanted to draw them in the first place), Classics (basically the costumes they wore when I was a kid for many many years...and also my favorites) and The New 52 (The most recent incarnations...not particularly my faves but thier growing on me).
I fixed each line art to thier particular costume and setting, tweaking each pic as I went to accentuate the differences (for example, Batman's "ears" and both thier capes are slightly different in each, then started painting by layers (I even did the insignias in layers...thought it'd look better). Then I did a backgound for Origins somethng like what you might have seen in an earlier comic night skyline. I will admit I cheated when it came to the background on the other two (I built and used the same one...backgrounds are not easy for me, I shamefacedly admit).
It took a bit to get each picture to where I like it, and even now I see improvements I could make. But, I feel in the end I feel pretty good on how they turned out, and I think I've grown a bit in digital art, which is a plus. I hope you enjoy them, now in my Fan Art gallery.
See you next time,
dhbraley
Oh, PS...I have a couple of links to a couple of cartoons that I think planted the whole notion in my mind. I hope you like them. dhb
Batman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFwOS2R9o_8
Superman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo7Bw-iSW6Q