Robert Grabe Samples

Highbinder

2009-08-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

This is my version of my buddy Stephen Santa Cruz's latest:

I inked it partly with a brush and partly with some pens and then kind of tweaked it all on the computer. All Illustrator.

-Rob

Big Update II

2009-08-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is the Captain America story I was working on in my spare time, when not touching up jewelry. It was written by Stephen Santa Cruz and features such favorites as Cap himself, Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos, and Wolverine (who would show up more if I drew the last two pages of the script).

This is a style I've been messing around with for a couple of years, really since I started Coin-Operated Boy in 2005ish.

-Rob

Big Update I

2009-08-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

So it's been a while. I always seem to go through these big gaps between posts. But I can explain! For the past couple of months I've been doing mostly photoshop work, cleaning up photos and cg files for a jewelry catalog, not leaving me a whole lot of time to work on sequential work. This is the kind of thing I was working on:

Not bad, huh? Especially considering I had to piece this one together from three different photos. They tell me that jewelry and food are the most difficult things to photograph.

-Rob

Cap

2009-05-07T22:51:00.001-07:00

I've been photoshopping jewelry for a catalog for a while so I haven't been able to draw anything, pretty much since I finished the western two months ago. Now the catalog is done(ish) and I've got a little bit more free time. Up next: Captain America fighting some Nazis!

-Rob

Booster Gold

2009-03-03T12:48:00.000-08:00

I did these a while ago. Did I ever post them? I forget.

-Rob

Cyclops

2009-01-07T12:20:00.001-08:00

-Rob

Rob

2009-01-06T14:10:00.001-08:00

-Rob

Surge

2008-12-29T16:30:00.001-08:00

This is a character I don't know anything about from a title I've never read. I decided to take a different approach to the coloring than I usually do. There's more shading than my normal coloring, but it's still pretty simple. I don't like most computer coloring, I think colorists go too overboard with gradients and whatever else. Keep it simple. Please.

The drawing also looks pretty graphic in just black and white too.

-Rob

Wolverine vs. Eric the Red

2008-12-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

Wolverine's newest outfit with a tamer mask.

And there's really no reason to show the pencilled version because it's exactly the same as the inks, but I like how it looks.

-Rob

Uncanny

2008-12-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

I recently reread my X-Tinction Agenda trade and Inferno will probably be next. I really love late 80's/early 90's X-Men with Silvestri and Jim Lee and everybody else. So after that, I was in the mood to draw some X-Men.

Dear Jean Grey,
You're boring, go away.

-Rob

Wonder Woman

2008-08-28T14:05:00.000-07:00

I was looking at a bunch of Adam Hughes' Wonder Woman covers. He makes me feel like an awful artist.

-Rob

Supermen

2008-08-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

I reread the Superman Godfall story last night and decided to see what my version of Superman's Kandor outfit would look like. The boots were tough because I'm not sure they're really ever shown clearly in the comic so I had to half make them up. Also, Electric Blue Superman.

-Rob

Kryptonite Monkeys

2008-07-31T23:56:00.000-07:00

There's a lot I like about these pages here. First is, I started working on them last Wednesday so I cranked them out pretty quickly. I also like that I didn't use any interior lines on Superman but his mass is still described really well. Also, kryptonite monkeys. I was kind of making it up as I went along so it's not a complete story or anything. You'll just have to deal.

-Rob

You would like me when I'm angry

2008-07-13T22:43:00.001-07:00

I watched the new Hulk with Ed Norton a couple of days ago and then the Ang Lee Hulk on tv yesterday. The Ang Lee Hulk is way better. Not saying the new one is bad, it's just...not as good. The model and animation of the Hulk is better in Lee's version. I could go on, but I don't care to do a full review. Basically this is all just a intro for the drawing. What is seen here is just part of the full drawing but I didn't like how it turned out so you only get the part that I'm happy with.

Here's a couple of characters that went in the background.

-Rob

Spider-Man

2008-07-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

After being dissatisfied with my previous attempts at Spider-Man I was determined to draw one I liked. I think I got it.

-Rob

Wolverine!

2008-07-08T21:48:00.000-07:00

I was looking at the Spider-Man picture I posted the other day, really not liking it that much, and decided that I'd take another crack at it.

Here's the penciled version:

It came out okay, I guess. Spider-Man is still pretty dull but I really like how Wolverine looked so I inked him. Here's that:

-Rob

Thwip!

2008-07-01T10:36:00.001-07:00

Here's kind of a lazy Spider-Man sketch. I really should've put him in a more extreme position but didn't think of that until it was inked. I like the curves and sharp corners and my coloring has expanded [back] in to using gradients, which is the real reason I decided to post this. I still really like flatter coloring but a little light/dark is good. I've never really liked the super gradient, airbrushed computer coloring you see all over comics. Just not my taste.

-Rob

robphone

2008-06-25T05:06:00.001-07:00

This is only funny if you know that I often rock the Joe Namath/Hulk Hogan mustache. I realize now that it doesn't have "send" or "menu" buttons or anything but maybe you just push on different corners of the mustache. Yeah.

-Rob

The Fastest Man Alive!

2008-06-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

I drew this this afternoon and originally inked it with brush but it didn't look very good when I scanned it in so I ended up re-inking it completely in Illustrator. Right now I like it, but maybe I won't tomorrow when I look at it again. I really like how smooth and clean it is, which is a style that I think well on the Flash. I'm getting a lot faster inking on the computer, almost to the point where it would be a feasible way to ink a book. The coloring is flatter than I'd like, but it's been years since I took my computer coloring course so it's about all I can do anymore.

And the uncolored inked version.

-Rob

Ben loves Obama

2008-06-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

Here's my buddy Ben and his favorite candidate in the whole, wide world.

-Rob

Some flash

2008-06-09T19:05:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pages a little out of the ordinary for me. Normally, I like my panels in something close to a gird, no overlapping no flashy stuff like shattered glass panels (sorry, early 90's) but for these two pages I did something a little different.

On page 8, I broke a panel border for the first time, maybe ever. It wasn't planned, it was actually a mistake. When I drew the panel, I drew it with too little room for the coffee splash so it would've been cut off by the border. By breaking the border there I think it really makes the coffee pop out.

Here on page 9, I wanted to something different than just drawing the guy get hit by the chair. I really hope it comes through that he's getting hit, I think I found a creative way to show it.

-Rob

Superman

2008-05-23T17:33:00.001-07:00

This is a George Reeves style Superman I drew a while ago but decided to ink recently.

On an unrelated note, I'm really, really bored right now.

-Rob

COG 18

2008-05-13T18:33:00.001-07:00

I've started skipping around the book now in an attempt to save time. Here's page 18.

-Rob

Self-portrait

2008-05-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a self-portrait I did the other night in Illustrator. It's not too bad.

-Rob

Captain Canary

2008-05-04T23:15:00.000-07:00

I'd love to be asleep right now but I've been having problems with insomnia over the past couple of weeks. I have my suspicions as to it's cause, but that's hardly important. Luckily, I have the San Jose Sharks and Dallas Stars 4 overtime hockey game to keep me company. Playoff hockey is very entertaining.

Above you'll see something I drew. I'm starting to prefer Illustrator to Photoshop now. Illustrator allows me to make really clean, sharp art and I like that. Every once and a while I'll get an itch to work in some new style, but for the time being it's this sort of thing.

-Rob

Page 5

2008-04-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Twilight Zone is winding down and it's now looking like I could be done with it by the end of April, which will be a huge relief. At 64 pages plus a cover penciled and inked, it's easily the biggest project I've ever worked on.

This is page 5 from Coin-Operated Girl, which apparently might start getting solicited soon. I don't know for sure. So far all of my information on that front is coming second hand.

-Rob

Back to work

2008-04-08T17:02:00.001-07:00

My girlfriend and I made it to Chicago behind schedule and over budget but we're pretty much settled in now. The centerpiece of our apartment is a sofa made out of unpacked moving boxes.

Anyway, here's a couple more Coin-Operated Girl pages that I was able to get to the last couple of days. These are pages 4 and 6, which is really too bad for you because without page 5, they make no sense at all.

-Rob

Off to Chicago

2008-03-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally here. In a few hour I'll be on the road.

-Rob

2008-03-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

Inking is moving right along for the Twilight Zone book.

My girlfriend, Isis, and I got our lease signed for our place in Chicago and we'll be moving up there NEXT WEEKEND. I never thought it would get here.

-Rob

A panel!

2008-02-29T22:35:00.000-08:00

It took me a while (nevermind how long), but I got a panel done from a two or three page story I've been thinking about. With the other work I'm doing I can only work on this a little bit at a time. I'm having a blast working on it since it's a different style than I've been doing for a while.

-Rob

Logos

2008-02-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

Here's an embarrassing hobby of mine. I play Out of the Park Baseball, which is incidentally my all-time favorite baseball game ever, and those who know me know I can never love anything as much as I love baseball. My favorite part of the game is how completely customizable it is, you can construct your own teams and leagues, etc. It's been a dream of mine since I was four to design baseball logos and uniforms and now after these long twenty years, I am finally able to do so. Perhaps it is nerdy and somewhat shameful, but at least it's not World of Warcraft. It's a deep, dark secret but I'm pretty pleased with how some of these logos are turning out. I've learned loads and loads about Adobe Illustrator while doing them so it'll end up helping me professionally.

I know a ridiculous amount of baseball history. I can tell you the winner of every World Series. Part of my deep-seeded, obsessive-compulsiveness is that teams logos have to change over the years. Since they had different design sensibilities in the 70's than they do now I had to design different logos for each era.

It's been a really good exercise for me involving a lot of research and it's made me think different ways to suite different eras. So, shameful though it may be to me, I think some of these are pretty good and I'd really like to get in to more graphic design work as time goes on.

-Rob

2008-02-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Probably the last Coin-Operated Girl page until March. I'm just short on time to work on it. Don't worry, half dozen people who know about it, it'll get done.

-Rob

2008-02-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

I've gotten the go-ahead to start inking my Twilight Zone book. I pencilled it in a pretty open style so it should go pretty fast and give me a lot of practice with my brush. My goal is to have the whole thing inked before I move to Chicago in March so I'll have to be working at a pace that I can only describe as "epic". It wouldn't be so bad if I weren't losing four days next week when I'll be up in Chicago finding an apartment. I was also hoping to have Coin-Operated Girl done by the time I moved but I can pretty much guarantee that not happening.

-Rob

2008-02-11T21:49:00.000-08:00

I finally found time to sneak in some work on Coin-Operated Girl, the companion book to Coin-Operated Boy and done in the style that most people seem to recognize me for. I should be able to produce a page a day of this while I'm inking my Twilight Zone book so, God willing, Coin-Operated will be done by the time I move to Chicago.

-Rob

2008-02-09T18:20:00.000-08:00

Nobody in particular, inked entirely with brush. Look at all the little lines!

-Rob

Star Trek inks

2008-01-02T13:52:00.000-08:00

The inks to the previously posted Star Trek picture pre-Adobe Illustrator and it's also the first thing I scanned with my new fancy pants large format scanner. Oh, I'm so happy.

-Rob

My Heroes

2007-12-31T02:30:00.000-08:00

Look, I'm not going to get in to the argument about which is better, the original or Next Generation, but I will say that if you think Next Generation is superior and you were on fire, I wouldn't bother trying to put you out. You deserve the fire, is what I'm saying. You brought it on yourself.

This is a combo of traditional inks and Adobe Illustrator. I inked the entire thing with a brush, I'll eventually throw that up when I get a better scan of it, and turned it in to a vector image in Illustrator. Also, I think flat coloring is really underrated, but that may just be me.

-Rob

2007-12-04T11:34:00.001-08:00

I was bored today and decided that my sequential folder (with all my pages and work in it) needed a better icon than the standard picture that every other file has. On the computer, it reduces down to, like, a quarter of an inch you can't really see any detail. Whatever. I just wanted an excuse to draw some more Brando.

Odyssey of Flight 33

2007-11-27T11:50:00.001-08:00

After a few months there is a new post! I have an excuse though, really. For the past couple of months I've been doing pretty much exclusively inking work but now I will be producing original art again. Below is a sampling of it. I'll be pencilling and inking a 64 page Twilight Zone book and also pencilling and inking a 30ish page sequel to Coin-Operated Boy, Coin-Operated Girl (get it?). They'll be in two completely different styles as you'll see once I get some Coin-Operated Girl pages up by the end of the week. Anyway, without further ado, a couple of pencilled pages from THE ODYSSEY OF FLIGHT 33!

-Rob

2007-06-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is a Thor drawing by Jason Baroody, apparently, and inked by me. I'm happy that I inked 95% of it with a brush.

Robert Grabe

rgrabe20@gmail.com or rgrabe20@student.scad.edu

Tony Stewart

2007-05-25T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is a Tony Stewart work that I did in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It turned out pretty much exactly how I planned, which is weird.

Robert Grabe
rgrabe20@gmail.com or rgrabe20@student.scad.edu

2007-04-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

These pages are from a mini series I finished called Black Mist written by Jim Pruett. It was originally published by Caliber Comics in the late 90's and illustrated by Mike Perkins. Only three issues came out at the time so now Jim is republishing the series through Image Comics. I drew three pages in issue four and all of issue five. It's being colored now to be released during the summer.

These pages are from Coin-Operated Boy, written by Steven Prouse (http://www.803studios.net/) which, as far as I know, is being published this summer.

-Rob