Creating Comics!

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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(Text)

Creative Process

I tried to keep this painting in the tradition of the

James Bond movie posters done in the Frank C.

McCarthy and Robert McGinnis montage vein. The

key is to pull the viewer’s eye first to the design

and then to the key reflective elements of the

story. I did three cover paintings for this story,

which was written by Doug Moench. The interior

pages were penciled and inked by myself and

colored by Steve Oliff.

The three books were eventually collected

into a trade paperback with a fourth panoramic

wraparound cover. The medium was Cel-Vinyl, a

paint frequently used by animators on acetate.

However, it can be used on a variety of surfaces.

It’s very dense and opaque with brilliant color in

place after drying.

Title: Serpent’s Tooth cover art for James Bond 007

Client: Dark Horse Comics, 1992

Medium: Cel-Vinyl on canvas

Seige was one of a handful of fantasy paintings

I’ve done in the approach commonly used by mas-

ter egg tempera artist Robert Vickery. Although I

used a different medium, I incorporated the mask-

ing technique, which Vickery relied upon. Many

parts of the painting were masked off with heavy

tracing paper, clear tape, and an X-Acto knife to

cut away the overlapping.

For instance, the stone plateau, foreground

soldiers, the girl, and the horse were masked

off and covered before I laid in the far horsemen

and the sky in oil. Next were the soldiers that are

closer and the rocks in acrylic. I hit the girl with a

green acrylic underpainting tint and the horse in a

gray-blue one.

The helmet, bridle, glove, gun belt, saddle, and

chest plate were also done in acrylic, and the rest

was completed in oil. The painting took approxi-

mately ten days to complete.

Title: Seige

Client: Eclipse Comics, 1981

Medium: Oil and acrylic paint on canvas

Paul Gulacy

Creating Comics

60

P

aul Gulacy is an internationally acclaimed

comic book artist with more than thirty years in

the field. Trained at the Art Institute of Pitts-

burgh and at Pratt Institute in New York City, Gulacy has

also worked in magazine illustration, animation, and

high-profile advertising agencies.

Gulacy’s trademark action-packed cinematic style can

be found in titles such as Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu,

James Bond, Star Wars, Batman, and many others. His

book Spies, Vixens, and Masters of Kung Fu is a rich

retrospective study of his extensive career catalog of

drawings and paintings. Gulacy lives in Portland, Oregon.

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:60

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(RAY)

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

06-C57262 #175 P DTP:204 Page:61

060-119_19413.indd 61

6/14/10 4:59:21 PM

(Text)

Creative Process

I tried to keep this painting in the tradition of the

James Bond movie posters done in the Frank C.

McCarthy and Robert McGinnis montage vein. The

key is to pull the viewer’s eye first to the design

and then to the key reflective elements of the

story. I did three cover paintings for this story,

which was written by Doug Moench. The interior

pages were penciled and inked by myself and

colored by Steve Oliff.

The three books were eventually collected

into a trade paperback with a fourth panoramic

wraparound cover. The medium was Cel-Vinyl, a

paint frequently used by animators on acetate.

However, it can be used on a variety of surfaces.

It’s very dense and opaque with brilliant color in

place after drying.

Title: Serpent’s Tooth cover art for James Bond 007

Client: Dark Horse Comics, 1992

Medium: Cel-Vinyl on canvas

Seige was one of a handful of fantasy paintings

I’ve done in the approach commonly used by mas-

ter egg tempera artist Robert Vickery. Although I

used a different medium, I incorporated the mask-

ing technique, which Vickery relied upon. Many

parts of the painting were masked off with heavy

tracing paper, clear tape, and an X-Acto knife to

cut away the overlapping.

For instance, the stone plateau, foreground

soldiers, the girl, and the horse were masked

off and covered before I laid in the far horsemen

and the sky in oil. Next were the soldiers that are

closer and the rocks in acrylic. I hit the girl with a

green acrylic underpainting tint and the horse in a

gray-blue one.

The helmet, bridle, glove, gun belt, saddle, and

chest plate were also done in acrylic, and the rest

was completed in oil. The painting took approxi-

mately ten days to complete.

Title: Seige

Client: Eclipse Comics, 1981

Medium: Oil and acrylic paint on canvas

Paul Gulacy

Paul Gulacy

61

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:61

(RAY)

060-119_19413.indd 61 5/25/10 8:47:52 PM