One Set of Horns

I was recently asked by Ape Entertainment to do the back up stories for their upcoming Kung Fu Panda 2 books. This is page 4 in that 8 page story.

The process for these pages is obviously much different from my usual fare, but I learned a few new tricks that I will definitely be incorporating into new work...

Here's how they were done:



I started with black and red line art (done with a mixture of rapidograph pens, micron pens and brush for the large fills). I wanted the lines to be even, and doing the art in 2 colors helped me to separate out the lines to color them (see this post for details on that technique).


I then painstakingly colored in the flats and the line art, making sure to color the lines outlining the characters so they matched the fill color, giving the art a flat, "Samurai Jack" feel.


I then selected sections and started laying in gradient layers to add subtle variation in color for the FG rats, darken the BG rats and color the sky in the first panel.


Another gradient layer was added to give the splash panel a warmer tone, and shading layer was added on the ox.


This is a layer of highlights and a gradient to brighten up the top right corner.


Final gradients and texture added in.

I'm finishing up the second and third back up story now. They will be showing up in the upcoming comics, to be released with the movie.