What Artists Think - Blue Bolt Edition

I'm currently on a streak of turning old, public domain, comic images into T-shirts, and such. My latest can be seen above. Available by clicking here. I'm very happy with the results, but this image was filled with a few challenges. Click on any image to enlarge.

The original cover, from Blue Bolt #105, is below. Here's a few thoughts-- Note the reflection of light on Blue Bolt's helmet. I've noticed in old comics, artists often use this shape to indicate a highlight. The hilarious thing is that it's in four sections, like light coming through a window frame. This works great for apples in a still life, painted inside, but not so much for outdoor scenes. I suppose it merely became a symbol for reflected light at some point.

Also, his left, lower leg is really long! I had to draw his right, lower leg from scratch and decided to make it a similar length. I took liberties with his cape too, just to make it a nice shape overall.

I knew I would need to re-ink this cover to get the maximum clarity out of it. But, as I started to work on it, I realized there was no way such tiny hatch work was going to print well on fabric. That kind of detail would definitely clog up and get blotchy.

I paused and considered not even doing this image. Except, I really liked it! It was draw by the magnificent LB Cole and was a great representation of sci-fi comics from the Golden Age. I ultimately decided to simplify the inking and replace the hatching with shadow colors. Happy it worked out.

And here you thought doing art was all cheese and crackers.