Near Mint Comic Show Interview (Short Edit)

Hey -- who wants to hear what I sound like when I say "um" over and over?

During GraniteCon Manchester, I was interviewed by the guys over at the Near Mint Comic Show, a comic book podcast. The link below is a cut-down mp3 (5.2 MB total) of my bit of the show, but you can hear the entire show at the Near Mint Comic Show link above.

(Click to hear, or right click to download.)

And thanks to the guys at the podcast!

Excelsior!

Two Girls, Two Guys, One Gun, Seven Eyes.

More sketch cardness. Left to right, top to bottom;

Invisible Woman (in her slutty mid-90s outfit), Dark Phoenix, Nick Fury (616 version), and Sunfire (original costume).

Cold Blooded Warrior

I'll call this a sketch, though it's a bit more of a finished line drawing. Our subject today, the Doctor Who aliens known as Ice Warriors. This would be my take on a Warrior class, as opposed to their masters, the "Ice Lords."

With all due respect to the Doctor Who creature team of 1967, the Ice Warriors for the most part look like guys wearing barrels;

I tried to streamline their design while retaining most of their visual cues, and the appearance of the weight and power they must have behind them.

You can also see this piece as a promo to say, "Hey, you. Comic reader! Be sure to check out DOCTOR WHO: COLD BLOODED WAR, a one-shot coming out in August from IDW Publishing! The Doctor and Donna try to help the Draconians and Ice Warriors broker a peace plan - but someone else stands in their way. Written by Gary Russell, and illustrated by Adrian Salmon."

And that's how I plug, yo.

Fantastic Females

Another four commissioned sketch cards, this time with (left to right, top to bottom);

Wonder Woman, She-Hulk, Starfire, and Aayla Secura.

And that's that!

Hey, Doctor - My Eyes Are Up Here!

Wow - something that isn't a sketch card! A miracle!

I downloaded a new flatting plugin for Photoshop, and needed something to test it on. I borrowed the background from a comic panel I drew previously, but drew a new Tenth Doctor face over it.

I don't know what he's looking at, and I'm sorry if he creeps you out. If it's any conciliation, he likes what he sees.

Quick Six

A quick post tonight of some of my latest approved commission sketch cards (left to right, top to bottom);

Jason of G-Force, The Baroness, Sylar, Baron Ironblood, Red Shadow, and Cortana

G'nite!

Sketch Cards: No More.

That's not entirely true, but this card did represent the end of something.

This Spidey is loosely based on the famous cover of Amazing Spider-man #50, "Spider-man: No More!" This was also the last Artist Proof I had approved in the Marvel Masterpieces 3 (2008) series from Upper Deck Entertainment. Drawn mostly for myself, signifying the end of work on that line.

It seems that Rittenhouse Archives now holds the license to Marvel Comics trading cards for the foreseeable future, so in that sense, it really was "Sketch Cards: No More."

It's now for sale, because as I told someone recently, "beggars can't be keepers." Here's to you, Spidey. I shall miss ya.

Terrible Twos: Part One

I've been sick and somewhat injured for the past week or so, so I haven't been updating as I should. But, punching through a fever yesterday, I finished a few pieces, including the "inks" on this Secret Invasion #1 Sketch Cover.

This is actually a three part commission where the client wants some various Spider-man baddies surrounding the webhead. All three covers are penciled, but this is the only one inked so far. These two are, of course, Sandman and Electro.

The client sent me these copies which turned out to be first printings of Secret Invasion Sketch Variant #1 -- the covers are VERY slick, and I had to use a very soft lead for my pencils to show up at all. Then in inking these, I could use ONLY Sharpies, as everything else took too long to dry and risked smudging. Even then, as I inked, many of my lines were a bit unsteady, the surface as slick as it is, with no bite to help steady my lines.

I still like how it came out, though the contrast in this scan is wonky, as I scanned the comic when it was back in its bag, which held a lot of dust.

I'll post the other two as they're inked and approved.

Sketch Cards, the Final Frontier

But most likely, not the last cards I'll do.

Another batch of commissioned sketch cards. Left to right, top to bottom we have; Catwoman, Firestar, Young Spock, Spock Prime, C3P0, and X-23.

I tried to make my Young Spock look like an amalgam of Quinto and Nimoy, with my own stylized line choices thrown in for good measure.

C3P0 is based on his Clone Wars Animated (not the CGI version) look, with a little "Droids" animated series thrown in.

DeCONtamination.

This is me finally getting around to blogging about GrantieCon Manchester 2009. This'll be a bit brief (for me) and a bit rambling (for me) as I don't really have any particular order I want to relate this tale in. I only had one case of the "my [insert relative here] is ready for Marvel/DC/etc." (I highly doubted it, as the kid didn't look to be out of elementary school, and mom did all the talking, while the kid look less than enthused), so I really have nothing to complain about.

Short version -- it was fine and good and fun.

Financially I did okay, considering there were so many talented artists in Artist Alley... and a few untalented ones -- let's be honest.

That might be a bit mean... maybe more proper would be "not ready for the big time (or smallish con)." But that's a discussion for a different post.

There really were quite a few super talented folks, not including the certified Big Two pros that were there (who I never got a chance to talk with, so busy I was with my own table and the goings on).

I was joined by my wife, my cousin Sarah, Coasterchild from Twitter, and my daughter;



She had fun. I'll throw down a few bullet points;

- A general con shot;



As you can see, a lot going on, and that's only a little more than a quarter of the room. For the full scoop on what went down, you can check out the GrantieCon Website. I'm only mentioning what happened with me.

- The New England branch of the 501st Legion was there, which meant people in awesome costumes;




And a remote controlled, full movement, sound, and light R2D2;



- A girl dressed up as LeeLoo. No pictures of that yet (c'mon Coasterchild!). And no, not the thermal bandage version (sad face).

- Met at my table (that'd be cousin Sarah next to me);



Even in sort of the back corner of the Alley, I got some good traffic. Sold a few sketches (unfortunately without photographing them), and lots of prints, the majority of which were my Super Grover image (check out my website for that).

- A few of the sketch cards I did get scans/photos of before they left me (a few of these I still have and are up on eBay, if you'd like 'em);





- Banged my elbow good on the table. Couple of times. Hard enough that now, on Thursday (that was Sunday), from the wrist to the tips of my ring and pinky fingers it's still slightly numb (left hand). Makes typing interesting, makes washing my hands painful (hot&cold get mixed up). My father (a physical therapist) says it should come back in time, but it really can't come back soon enough. Imagine pins and needles for a week straight.

So, like I said, all in all pretty good. Best con yet. I'll probably hit the Concord con when it rolls around this September, but we'll play it by ear for now.

As for me, I have sketch cards to catch up on, and other projects that need attention.

Until tomorrow (when I post some of those new sketch cards) -- buh-bye!