Evolution of the Hammer - Part 4

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It's Sunday in Hamtown!

The final week of the February showdown is at hand! Huzzah!

So anyway. We were talking about The Hammer and how Gabe thought he should be a bunny and he was drawing all kinds of sketches and stuff until in the end we wound up with the coo

l Calvin look you see on the scintillating screens over at Zuda right this very minute.

However, although we had the Hammer nailed down, our original plans were all elbows akimbo.

You see, Rob Berry had originally come onboard Project Hammer as the colorist. As in watercolorist. But after seeing Gabe's version of Calvin, it seemed like maybe watercolors wasn't the way to go after all. So Rob decided to take a shot at inking Gabe's pencils.

Gabe's pencils

Now here's two guys on the opposite ends of the artistic spectrum, but I think their merged styles really work well together to create something cool and different.

Rob's inks

Of course, Rob's switch to inker left us without a colorist. So we scratched our heads and tore our clothes until it finally occurred to us - why not ask Steve Steiner? 

Now as the Zuda faithful are well aware, Steve is a talented and prolific writer/artist in his own right. We weren't sure if he'd be interested in joining our little gang just to lend a hand on colors. Well, obviously, Steve said yes and Team Hammer is all the luckier for it. He really did a bang up job on the colors, knocking out the delicate balance between bubblegum pop and muted noir that really makes the pages sing.

Steve's colors

So there you have it. The evolution of The Hammer. I'm gonna link again to Gabe's awesome YouTube video that shows the whole process just 'cause I think it bears repeating:

The Hammer on YouTube

It's been a real privilege to work with such a talented group of artists. It's weird. All four of us are very much involved in our own personal projects and weren't really looking to collaborate, but everything just fell together so naturally. It's really been a grand old time. And the big pink train of fun just keeps on rolling ...

Thanks for riding along with us so far!