This one is a large painting in gouache and ink I did a little while ago. I've actually painted the original X-men team once before, but not in an action shot or in costume. While I grew up in the 80's and read the Claremont/Byrne comics of the team as a kid, the original lineup of mutants is my favourite. You can check out my various roughs that lead to the final art below:
Originally, I drew up this rough composition, but I hated it since it had so much dead space between figures:
So after some failed tinkering, I sat down and drew up a newer thumbnail which I liked much better. It's hard to read, I know, but it was enough to point me in the right direction:
That thumbnail lead to this new rough, which I used as the basis of the painting:
While the final art is done traditionally in goauche and ink, the roughs and the pencils were done digitally in Alias Sketchbook Pro -- a fun little drawing program I sometimes use for the novelty of drawing on my computer.