Joe Quesada’s Hyper-Detailed Fantastic Four 50th Anniversary Artwork Tutorial

Marvel Entertainment Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada just gave us a fascinating glimpse of his artwork development process step by step on twitter, featuring how he created a piece for the upcoming Fantastic Four 50th anniversary:

So, a couple of months ago, Marvel Exec Editor @ asked me if I'd like to do a promo piece for the 50 Anniversary of the FF.
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JoeQuesada
The rules were simple, do any incarnation of the FF that you want from the 50 year history and design the piece for multiple usage.
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JoeQuesada
In other words, it could end up being a poster, and ad or a cover.
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JoeQuesada
So my first thought was to do a large wrap around cover piece, but then I started to think about time, so maybe simple might be best.
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Here's my very first rough. At this point I'mjust blocking out shapes http://yfrog.com/kjzocibj
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I took it a bit further and started to flesh out the characters. http://yfrog.com/kin9rduj
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It's at this point that I realized couldn't stand this layout, it reminded of the kind of covers you would see in the 90s. Stagnant /boring.
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I even tried the layout as a double pager, but it was still dull. http://yfrog.com/kiy9wvj
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Yes, even though I didn't have a lot of time, I still felt the pull of a double page layout.
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I tried a variation on the theme, perhaps with the characters a bit more in 3/4 view leaning into the camera http://yfrog.com/kjjkmhej
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JoeQuesada

Hate it! Finally I succumbed to my natural impulse and decided to start designing for a double page spread.
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The idea now, get some movement into it, show off their powers. Came up with this rough http://yfrog.com/khe6byuj
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There was something there to work with, so I started fleshing it out. http://yfrog.com/kirs7uqj
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Here's what I liked about it, if it was a wrap cover, the side facing the customer had the right composition. http://yfrog.com/kjbc0wwj
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The viewers eye, led right to left and top to bottom.
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As a poster or promo ad, it also had a good flow http://yfrog.com/kkuimswj
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Yes, for those of you thinking it, I sweat this stuff A LOT! FYI, all these sketches drawn digitally on a Cintiq with Sketchbook Pro.
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I can't recommend Sketchbook Pro enough, just an AMAZING pencil tool that feels and looks pretty darn real.
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Okay, now I switched over to Photoshop, time to get into the details. Ben Grimm is the anchor to the piece http://yfrog.com/ke44dtbj
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Now that I had Ben's basic shape blocked in, time to do those damn cracks http://yfrog.com/h3aayvkj
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And now here's a much tighter version of Ben. THE THING IS BORN! http://yfrog.com/gy82lasdj
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Johnny Storm, here we come. One of my fave characters as a kid, too bad he's dead http://yfrog.com/gz16mkwj
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Notice I pushed Johnny up in the layoutt, this was a result of how Ben ended up sitting on the page after I blocked him in.
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Once I was happy with Johnny's anatomy and dynamics, I added in some modeling http://yfrog.com/kk9jkkhj
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Flame effects, keep in mind we're still in the layout stage and I'm now cursing myself for going double page http://yfrog.com/h23w3fxej
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And now a quick check to see how Johnny and Ben relate to each other on the page http://yfrog.com/hs4lstcj
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You may be asking, why go to all the trouble of drawing every character in layers? It's my process but also it serves a purpose here..
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More on that later, in the meantime, it's time for Sue Richards. Notice Sue has moved as well in the layout http://yfrog.com/kfcmxlyj
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And now for Reed, he's important as his power as it allows me to use him as a design element. He's also shifted http://yfrog.com/h07ytcmj
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The team in all their glory, but something's missing... http://yfrog.com/gyg07uzj
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Ah yes, a background that harkens to their origins and sense of wonder that the FF brings http://yfrog.com/h7g89hdj
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Now, what you're looking at, is my final layout before I got to pencil on board. Notice that you can see Ben, and Johnny through Sue.
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The slight invisibility aspect of Sue is something that I'll work on with the colorist.
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JoeQuesada
This layout done in Photoshop was done at actual art board size and 400 dpi resolution using the pencil tool.
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Now, I take this layout and print it at actual art board size. I then take those printouts and tape them to the back of the art board.
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Once taped and ready, I break out the old lightbox and start penciling. I use a very hard 4H lead
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Here's the final penciled piece. BWS is old school comics shorthand for the inker, it means black with stars. http://yfrog.com/kj5tsnzj
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Now comes the waiting game, like a kid on Christmas I have to wait a few days for the brilliant Danny Miki to ink it
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And then it comes. Once again, is there any doubt about how amazing Danny Miki is? http://yfrog.com/h2x8ranj
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JoeQuesada

One thing I noticed was that I had some really awkward tangents around the area where Ben, Johnny and Sue intersected.
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The colorist may have a problem seeing what's what so I did a quick color guide. Noticed the circled area http://yfrog.com/gy3ayrmj
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That's where the bad tangents were. Keep in mind, this was not to indicate what color things should be, but rather what was what
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Then I got the bad news, legendary colorist and my long time collaborator Richard Isanove was on vacation and couldn't color the piece :^(
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JoeQuesada
Luckilly at Marvel we have an embarrassment of Riches when it comes to creators and the amazing Laura Martin was available to color it.
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JoeQuesada
I was floored and flattered that Laura was going to color it. I e-mailed Richard and told him this could be his Wally Pip moment :^)
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JoeQuesada
So now here is the never before seen final colored piece and remember it's just between us folk here on Twitter http://yfrog.com/kejrkzuj
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JoeQuesada

Oh, and the reason I drew all those characters through in the layout was to be able to get Sue's invisibility power done in the color stage
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JoeQuesada
Thanks to all those of you who were interested in the process and put up with my massive Tweetyness... that may have come out wrong.
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