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Drawn Down Memory Lane

Whoa, hey. Blog post #50 since I started this crazy thing. Yay me.



A bit of nostalgic artwork today. A peek into the past. Not that this makes up for last month's missed "Then and Now" entry (or soon to be this month's missed entry), but, it's something.

Anyway, above we have Spawn, drawn back in 1994 (I was 16) for the cover contest in Hero Illustrated, a rival magazine to Wizard (now defunct). I submitted a picture of the Mask a year previous, and while it didn't win, it was published in the magazine.

This piece, however, was never completed (as you can see by the penciled "Hero"). I only scanned it for the first time years later, hence the missing lower corner. Still a favorite of mine, and very indicative of my Jim Lee-influenced phase.



And we have "Hobgoblin: Hell's Angel," page one, also drawn back in 1994.

I had written a short story starring Spider-man villain, the Hobgoblin (Jason Macendale version), then began to adapt it into a comic just before a convention in Massachusetts.

I went to the convention with my four or five pages of story, and met comic book artist Bart Sears. He mentioned the company he was working for (who's name escapes me at the moment) was reviewing portfolios. Full of gusto, I brought it to them.

His editor tore these pages to shreds.

Amongst his critiques -- unclean lines (scratchy lines and haphazard crosshatching). No spaces between panels. Pages the wrong size. Anatomy needed work. Perspective needed work. And on, and on.

He said I showed promised, and I walked away a bit defeated.

Waiting in line later to get an autograph from Spawn artist Greg Capullo, the guy in front of me, probably in his early 20s, said he was going to be a comic artist someday. I mentioned that he could go talk to that same editor if he had samples with him. The guy then asked to see my portfolio, so he could "check out my competition."

He was disappointed to see that 16 year old me was blowing the doors off of 20-something him.

Big crush followed by a little buildup, and I kept on going.

Gallifrey: We Who Stayed

It started as a test of a digital painting method, but when the linework was near complete, I felt that it should just be colored normally, so as not to ruin this good thing I had going.

This image of course depicts K-9 (Mark I) and Leela, former companions of the Fourth Doctor, the citadel of the Time Lords shining bright on the Gallifrean (sp?) horizon. The two chose to stay behind on Gallifrey after the events of "The Invasion of Time." Unknown if they survived the Time War -- probably not if both were on Gallifrey -- but K-9 Mark I is supposedly the K-9 to be "reformatted" for the upcoming K-9 Australian-produced spin-off TV show.

Anyhoo, enjoy. Dedicated to all those at that shining citadel called San Diego Comic Con. Maybe next year for me.

Card Czar

I'm not really, but I'm running out of card puns.

Anyhow, a few more commissions. As per usual, left to right, top to bottom; R2D2, Atom Eve, Loki, Deadpool, Nightcrawler, Boomer, and Animated Buffy & Angel.

Cheers.

Don't Try This At Home.

Special effector and host of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters, Adam Savage, posted randomly on his Twitter feed one night that he wondered if anyone would make him an avatar.

I quickly whipped this one up, based on the style of my own avatar (which I drew as well).

He didn't end up using anyone's avatars but his own, but this lil' drawin' exists now nevertheless.

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars

Back to it I suppose.

Need to keep in practice, so here's a Tenth Doctor piece, in anticipation of the upcoming (November) Doctor Who special, "The Waters of Mars."

Based on imagery from the trailer, I'm not even quite sure what I'm drawing here.

Enjoy.

Illuminate the "No"s on their vacancy signs.

Jean Shedd was not some huge celebrity. Hundreds of thousands will not mourn her passing -- and those people are fools for it. Because she was one of the most important people in the world. She was my grandmother.

She passed on at 4 am this morning. My father didn't call until 8 am or so.

During that time I was drawing something for a friend, something very atypical of what I've been doing lately.

Yes, it's Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Yes, I was drawing a Disney Princess.

While I doubt my Nana would've seen herself as a Disney Princess (she had many more dimensions to her, literally and figuratively), I'll always see her as someone special and someone regal in her own way.

So to her I dedicate this picture.

Rest well now, Nana.

Have Ring, Will Travel

A recent commission. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern.

'Nuff said.

If you'd like your very own commission of this sort, head on over to my commissions page for your very own piece of artwork.

X-men Archives 2

A few more X-men Archives sketch cards from the Rittenhouse Archives (you may have to scroll the pop-out). Left to right, top to bottom; Original costume Wolverine, Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler, Chamber, Furry Beast, Classic Nightcrawler, Psylocke, X-Factor Cyclops, Age of Apocalypse Sunfire, Diamond Emma Frost, Sunspot, X-Force Wolverine, Deadpool, Secondary Mutation Beast, Rogue, Deadpool, Deadpool, and two Lockheeds.

One last note, if you're a member of deviantART, you have an in on a special sale I'm running right now. Hit this link right here -- [CLICK] -- and help out if you can. Thanks!

Strike At the Dragon

Here's a recent commission that I now have permission to show you.

This fellow here was commissioned as an illustration for the upcoming website of a knifesmith. The idea is that each knife has a short fantasy based tale for its creation, and an illustration that goes along with it. Based on the initial sketch provided by the webmaster, I came up with this pseudo-samurai. The knife in his hand is of course the one featured.

In the final, this figure will be animated/moved over the background, an image that the background of this piece is based on.

I'll provide more info on the knifesmith's site when it goes live.

X-men Archives

Well, today's the day. You can now purchase the X-men Archives trading cards from the Rittenhouse Archives. Go here -- [CLICK] -- for more info. You can also find individual cards of mine on eBay, from various sellers.

As part of their sketch card set, I did 200 hand-drawn sketch cards. While I won't post all of the cards, I will post some of my favorites, starting with this batch above.

The characters are of course (left to right, top to bottom); Colossus, Deadpool, Juggernaut, Iceman, Rogue, Beast, Sunfire, Wolverine, and Cyclops.

More later, p'raps.

Until then, I have commissions to finish, and a wrist injury to deal with. Sigh.

Happy Fourth

When you're out there tomorrow, watching the parades, BBQing with family, or blowing your damn hand off with your lack of firework skills (not everyone is going home with all their digits tomorrow -- I guarantee), take a moment to appreciate this country, for all its scars -- received in battle, and self-inflicted -- and especially appreciate the loved ones around you.

Because they're not around forever.

And when they're gone, you'll have only these times to remember them.

Stay safe.

No One Can Turn Back the Time

Sorry for the lack of activity as of late, but there have been non-art (read: personal) things going on which have taken me from the drawing board. They're not resolved, but I can't afford to be away from the work any longer.

Anyway.

This piece is a warmup drawing. A bit more involved than most warmups, but I liked where it was going.

It's of course of Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor [Who]. While I had drawn him a lot during my childhood, my first "modern" drawing of him was in my piece The Ten Doctors. While I was okay with it at the time, my opinion of most of the likenesses in that piece have soured, and I wanted to give it another go.

I kept the colors a bit more primary than usual, as I think it fits with this particular expression.

As always, I wasn't going for a full-on photoreal likeness, but a better comic book line work likeness in my own style. Much happier with this. There are tweaks I'd make, but if I ever get to a third try, I'm sure it'd be the charm.

Or perhaps the fourth?