Weekend Wayback: SPIDER-MAN 1996

This week is the fourth installment of Weekend Wayback, where I gaze back into the archives, trying to keep an eye on where I was, in appreciation of where I am, and where I could go.

I dug this one out of an old sketchbook from high school. You can see the date pretty clearly next to Ben Reilly's leg; 5/10/96.`

Some sort of disposable pen (not ball point). I like this piece because it shows how at the time I was so obsessed with massive amounts of crosshatching. I did a Star Wars fan comic with a classmate in this style, and it looked just as black and sticky.

It's also funny in how near completely opposite it is from my current style.

Ain't nothing wrong with a little crosshatching, but very few illustrators use this many lines well (I am NOT one of them). Lesson to you aspiring artists - calm down on the rendering. Lines add age to a face, so if you're not using them right, don't use as many.

Daily Sketch: DAWN

Up late, but up nonetheless. Joseph Michael Linsner's Dawn.

I took the opportunity to turn this into an experiment in halftones. Still haven't found exactly what I'm aiming for with this yet. I really want to do a black and white comic story with tones.

Hmmm...

Daily Sketch: BONE

Been kind of a lousy day, so I thought I'd draw something simple and happy, in this case, Jeff Smith's Bone (more specifically, Fone Bone) from the epic Bone.

If you haven't read this series (easy to find in collected editions now) you're REALLY missing out on a Lord of the Rings level epic adventure (but with a bit more cartoon humor).

That doesn't mean it's for kids.

Anyway, drawing Fone apparently wasn't as easy as it looked. I'm still not completely "on-model," but I'm happy with the result.

Daily Sketch: DOCTOR WHAT?

Today's lil' sketch is a ink and marker of the Doctor looking a bit puzzled/flustered/awake.

Daily Sketch: SLITHEEN

Continuing on with a bit of Doctor Who theme, here we have a member of the Family Slitheen, native to the planet Raxicoricofallapatorius.

Most of my Daily Sketches have been waist-up shots, but this is one of the first times that it really looks like this is the entire creature. I assure you Slitheen have legs.

(Well, maybe not after the events of "World War Three.")

BTW - this piece is up on eBay, along with yesterday's Zygon. Check it out here --> CLICKY.

Daily Sketch: ZYGON

Lookie here! A Daily Sketch not posted at 11pm!

Today features that classic Doctor Who baddie, The Zygons (or rather, "A" Zygon). The Zygons can be seen in the Fourth Doctor serial "Terror of the Zygons" (though they have been mentioned in other episodes including very recent ones).

Unlike a lot of my other Daily Sketches, this one is traditional pen and ink, with marker for gray tones. I was testing out a new pen.

UPDATE: This lil' Zygon is now up on eBay here --> CLICKY.

Weekend Wayback: SPAWN 1994

This week is the third installment of Weekend Wayback, where I gaze back into the archives, trying to keep an eye on where I was, in appreciation of where I am, and where I could go.

Our subject for today; Todd McFarlane's Spawn. Drawn back in 1994 (I was 16) for the monthly cover contest in Hero Illustrated, a (now defunct) rival magazine to Wizard. I submitted a picture of the Mask a year previous, and while it didn't win, it was published in the runner-up section.

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.

eBay: DOCTOR WHO #9 COVER

The Weekend Wayback will be postponed until tomorrow due to this special eBay auction;



This is the rough pencils for the "B" cover to Doctor Who Ongoing issue #9. Drawn in pencil on 11"x17" Blue Line Comic Cover Art Board. Click --> HERE <-- for the auction.

From the description;

"I work mostly digitally, however I do work things out in pencil from time to time if I think it's quicker or easier for the piece/page. I had always intended to sell this piece after the book had come out, but I didn't realize how popular it would be.

First off, my process on these hybrid traditional/digital pages is thus; after receiving the script I rough out the page on the computer. For hybrid pages, I then will blow up the rough and lightbox it in light pencil onto a comic page. I then tighten up the pencils somewhat, but not as much as if I were working with another inker, so the pencils are still somewhat loose and rough, and backgrounds are usually very sketchy. I then scan the page in, resize as needed, and start digitally inking in Photoshop, correcting backgrounds, changing small details, and especially on Doctor Who, clean up the likenesses. I then pass it off to my editor. In the case of this cover, after the black and white digital inks were approved, I colored this image myself.

While this was the "B" cover (the "A" cover was by regular series cover artist Paul Grist), it was shipped in a one to one ratio with the other cover. However, I started to get word from friends and peers that my cover was selling out before the others, as it was easy for them to find Mr. Grist's cover, but very difficult to track down mine. My cover also graced many a preview and review of the comic, Tumblr pages, Doctor Who news and fan sites, and also was named a Daily Deviation (image of the day) on deviantArt in the Comic Book Art category. I've now found while many of the Mr. Grist "A" covers are still available for purchase online, my "B" cover has been sold out at some of the same online retailers.

As you can see, this is a very popular piece. This and the other page currently up are the last two full-penciled pieces I'll be selling from Doctor Who Ongoing #9. This is also the ONLY cover I illustrated in the entire four-issue arc I drew for IDW. So while my other penciled pages are rare, and rarer still as I keep most of them, this cover image is truly unique."

Thanks for looking and bidding!

eBay: DOCTOR WHO ORIGINAL PAGE

I've listed another piece of original art from Doctor Who #9. In fact, this is the LAST penciled interior page from issue #9 I'll be offering for sale on eBay. Read below for pictures, descriptions, and links;



This is the rough pencils for page #18 from Doctor Who Ongoing issue #9. Drawn in pencil on 11"x17" Blue Line Comic Art Board. Click --> HERE <-- for the auction.

From the description;

"I work mostly digitally, however I do work things out in pencil from time to time if I think it's quicker or easier for the piece/page. This was a page done in pencil as it was the first full image of the Angels of Enochai, an alien race created specifically for this story by writer Tony Lee, and designed by me. While the Enochai had appeared on a previous page, since it was a small shot of them, I did that one 100% digitally. On this page I felt like drawing the whole angel out in pencil a few times to get a better understanding of them. The detail I put into the initial design proved to be a bit much for the time constraints, so in future pages (and issues) I'd draw them digitally to speed up the process (there are a few exceptions to this on pages I may or may not sell later).

My process on these hybrid traditional/digital pages is thus; after receiving the script I rough out the page on the computer. For hybrid pages, I then will blow up the rough and lightbox it in light pencil onto a comic page. I then tighten up the pencils somewhat, but not as much as if I were working with another inker, so the pencils are still somewhat loose and rough, and backgrounds are usually very sketchy. I then scan the page in, resize as needed, and start digitally inking in Photoshop, correcting backgrounds, changing small details, and especially on Doctor Who, clean up the likenesses. I then pass it off to my editor and (in this case) colorist Charlie Kirchoff.

So what you have here is a somewhat rare piece of actual production artwork from me (and a page with not only the Doctor, but a good few of the lead Angel of Enochai). Most of these I keep, and I only have a few fully-penciled pages. The rest are headshots and filler/patch panels - and everything else is 100% digital. So fully penciled pages are very rare from me, and I won't be selling many of them..."

Thanks for looking and bidding!

Daily* Awesome: SPACE DOGGITY

This'll be a long post, so bear with me (s'all good, I assure you).

First off, do you know of Jonathan Coulton? Yes? Proceed on. No? Either skip this entry (though you'll miss out on an awesome story, some artwork, and some awesome music), or educate yourself here, on his page --> CLICKY, or here, with his biography from his website's wiki --> CLICKY

Got it? Okay. Moving on.

Since becoming a fan of Jonathan Coulton (or JoCo as he's known to his fans), I've wanted to go to one of his shows. Usually the closest he gets to Vermont is Massachusetts. Last year was a near-miss, us low on funds when it came time to purchase tickets. I promised myself that the next time I'd push harder to get to a show. With that in mind, I started thinking about things I could give the man in appreciation of all that he's done (not only the music, but having the guts to leave a steady job that he was doing competently and say "I want to follow my dream").

So, that of course meant doing some artwork (cos honestly, my baking skills aren't the best).

While many of his songs lend themselves easily to the realm of comics ("Skullcrusher Mountain", for instance), most of those had been quite well touched upon.

Then I heard the song "Space Doggity."

The song is a take on the story of Laika, the first dog in space (click here --> CLICK for that sad tale). JoCo tells the history of this song (done for a contest as an homage to David Bowie's "Space Oddity") in this entry from his website's wiki;

Yes you're right, I almost went with the first monkey in space, but I didn't want to be accused of going overboard with the monkeys. So I went with the first dog in space instead.

Her name was Laika and she went up in Sputnik 2. In doing my "research" I discovered that Russian scientists recently released the truth about what happened to her during the launch, which is that she died just a few hours into it, and not after a week as they originally claimed. She died from stress and overheating (the cooling system malfunctioned and it was 104F in there) but mostly she died from being LAUNCHED INTO SPACE IN A FUCKING ROCKET.

JoCo often tells the tale of Laika when he performs the song at shows, adding that he likes to think that Laika somehow got free of the capsule and survived.

To hear JoCo tell the tale and perform "Space Doggity" (this video is the first live performance), watch the link below;



If you didn't catch the lyrics, I recommend reading them here --> CLICKY

Suffice to say, the first couple times I heard this song I was either in tears or just on the verge. It still puts a lump in the throat.

"I don't think I want to be a good dog anymore."

Anyway.

While the idea of Laika surviving has been done in comics before, I believe, it certainly hasn't been done as I considered it. I imagine Laika was scooped up from Death's door by an alien race (benevolent or not is up to you) and given a mech suit to turn her possibly into a weapon? Who knows, the point is Laika wasn't having anymore of this "be a good dog" crap and took off in her brand new space-suit.

Which brings me to the image I created, the cover to the fictional comic "Laika, the Space Doggity";



So as I worked on this image, lo and behold JoCo was swinging around to Mass again (Northampton to be exact). I bought tickets for Sarah and I. Made the time. Got two of the Space Doggity posters printed (11"x17") signed and hand numbered them, and framed 1 of 2 for JoCo (also had to repurpose a busted portfolio as a carrier). We headed down.

It was JoCo's first time doing 6 new songs with a band, made up of bassist Chris Anderson, and drummer Marty Beller (of They Might Be Giants -- and in a non-playing support role in the audience, JoCo's longtime friend, writer/comedian John Hodgman). Classic JoCo mixed with new stuff -- for the record, the new songs I liked were "Nemeses," a song that might've been called "Shopping," and the funny-titled yet bittersweet/sad, "Today With Your Wife" (this video actually from the show);







"Space Doggity" was also played, and was just as bittersweet "electric."

After the show was over, Sarah and I stayed as long as we could, hoping to get to meet JoCo, or at the very least, have one of the venue staff take him the framed poster. As we waited, I spoke to bassist Chris, and had him sign my copy of the poster (which he enjoyed). Sadly, I didn't get a chance to have Marty sign the poster.

JoCo finally emerged from the green room and started to sign autographs and pose for pictures. An awesome guy in line behind us offered to take the photo of us should we get the opportunity.

When I finally got up to JoCo, I thanked him for the awesome show, and presented him with his framed copy of the poster. I couldn't have been more thrilled with his response; surprise followed by laughter, and a possible "cool" thrown in there. I explained the concept of the image with Laika now wandering space in her super-mech suit, happy as can be. JoCo said something along the lines of "of course she's happy, she's a fucking robot dog now!" He was also surprised he was getting the framed copy (I've seen in interviews and videos where he's been presented with half-pony-half-monkey-monsters to sign, but he doesn't always get to keep them). I had him sign my copy of the poster (pictures forthcoming), and a few pictures were taken.

One with JoCo holding the framed poster (up top) and one without;



I thanked him again, and we were off.

And that's why today was awesome.

*Note - not every day is this awesome, but I try damn hard.

Daily* Sketch: TWO-FACE

I always enjoy drawing Two-face, as much as I loathe head-on shots. He's one of the only characters where it's not only appropriate, it's necessary.

I model my Two-face on a mix between Bruce Timm "DC Animation" style and the comic book version.

*I've got lotsa stuff to do this week, so my Daily Sketches will actually be "Every Other Daily Sketches." The next "official" Daily Sketch will be on Friday (though there might be something special up tomorrow if time allows). Stay tuned!

Daily* Sketch: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

Sing with me; "Who died in a pineapple cos of BP?" (Seriously, it goes with the song.)

A pic mostly for my kids. A lil' Doctor Who with a "Geronimo" thrown in there. Tell me when this ends up on a mousepad (grumble).

Not super on-model (an animation term - use the Googles), but I've never been one for "house styles."

*I've got lotsa stuff to do this week, so my Daily Sketches will actually be "Every Other Daily Sketches." The next "official" Daily Sketch will be on Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Weekend Wayback: SPIDER-MAN 1990

So I'll take a mulligan on the week. Between art theft, last minute projects, and crazy "artists" who should just climb into the trunk of their car and lock themselves in, it's been a heck of a week.

I missed a few Daily Sketches, but I'll just hit reset and start this week anew.

So in my second installment of the trip down illustration memory lane I like to call the Weekend Wayback, we have this hand-made mini-comic cover from around 1990.

This was created during a time in elementary school where I was big on making my own comic books, to share with friends, etc. This was issue #2 of "Venom's Saga", a comic series I made up that takes place just after Venom was captured after his first appearance in Amazing Spider-man #300.

In this issue, Venom is swinging free through the city, just after the symbiote tricked Spidey into breaking Brock out of prison. Just then, in an "incredible" spash panel, the Green Goblin (Harry Osborn) attacks! Meanwhile Mary Jane convinces Peter to get over himself and track down Venom. And then... I dunno. I never finished it.

It's better this way. Trust me.

Daily Sketch: THE MASTER and THE DOCTOR

So, due to technical difficulties, this is actually yesterday's sketch. I'm only able to post it now.

Anyway... this is one of my first John Simm Masters. I'm still trying to work him out in my linework stylings.

This is not my first Tenth Doctor image. ;)

This image will be up on eBay tomorrow if anyone is interested. Watch this space.

How NOT to handle art critiques

(This post was originally written over on my deviantART journal, so when I refer to "you guys" and the like, I mostly refer to my dA watchers.)

Let me say this up top - I don't post this for y'all to go over to this person to say "you suck!" and flame them. I specifically don't want that to happen. I see you do it, I'll report you to dA myself.

The individual in question asked that I remove the link - not without more accusations and mysterious asides. I do so now only because the post made its point and generated discussion, but I leave the rest of the journal as the exchange was on a PUBLIC forum. They need to understand that. I've had to learn that if you want to portray yourself a certain way, there are certain things you don't say in public or on the net - this goes for this individual as well. You can't unring that bell. Original post is as follows.

I post this as a lesson to a lot of you who I know want to be professional artists (and some of you, specifically comic book artists).

Now, with that said, heres a little exchange I had with a dA user about a piece of theirs;

[Link removed upon request.]

Once in a while I like to randomly critique an image if I think there's room for improvement or I see potential within the artist. Unless the artist comments say "DO NOT CRITIQUE" or "NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS," then I consider it fair game.

I've also heard a lot from editors that you should never argue about a critique given. Yeah, we all defend our pieces on dA when a comment is given we don't agree with. That's natural. But to lay down a bitter rant like the one shown is past unprofessional and into plain unfriendly.

I was honestly there to help that person. My comments might've been harsh, but they were all true, and none were said with anger or snark. And I always try to say one good thing about the image. However, this is the reply I got. They made me grumpy, and now I don't feel like assisting any further.

Can you imagine if I was someone looking to hire them? They'd be S.O.L right then.

And I don't really like tooting my own horn (self-effacing is my middle-ish name), but I know what I'm talking about when it comes to basic perspective and anatomy. I mean, you're more than welcome to call bullshit if I ever make claims about knowing all about watercolor painting or rendering with 3D software - but this stuff, I got. But they nearly spits it back in my face, some of their comments directly contradicting comments from moments before.

So anyway, the lesson here is, even if you don't agree, politely say so, nod and smile, move on.

Don't torch potential bridges with a nuke.

Daily Sketch: MARY JANE WATSON

Got a bit busy today, so not only is this sketch late, it's not even brand new. Sorry.

I actually completed this before I started posting my Daily Sketches. This is one of Mary Jane Watson, neé Parker, neé Watson.

The pose itself is based on a John Romita panel from a classic Spider-man comic - I'll let you figure out which. I just wanted to have a go at the same pose and see if I could put as much dance motion into it that JRSR did.

John Romita is still much better.

PS - if you're going to borrow a pose like I did here, oh wannabe-comic artists, GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.

eBay: ROSE TYLER PENCIL SKETCH

Another piece up on eBay right now - Rose Tyler! You can view the auction here --> CLICK

From the description;

"A few recent commissions have tasked me with drawing Rose Tyler, a Doctor Who character I've amazingly never actually drawn before. This piece represents my first study of Rose, based on her appearance in the fourth season/series, specifically 'Turn Left' and 'Journey's End.'"

Thanks for looking!

Daily Sketch: THE CROW

Today's sketch, a character I haven't drawn in a long while, but used to draw all the time (much to my art school classmates' chagrin), Eric (last name Draven in the movie only). I haven't read the comic in a while (and I probably will tonight), but I'm not sure if he's ever specifically called "The Crow" by anyone. The Crow was, well, the crow.

Anyway, this was the first comic I had read where I realized comics could be more than just stories of superheroes and super villains. They could also be a catharsis for a very wounded heart, and a nearly dead soul.

eBay: DOCTOR WHO ORIGINAL PAGES

Hello all. After the crappiness of this weekend, I've finally gotten around to listing two pieces of original art from Doctor Who #9. Read below for pictures, descriptions, and links.



UPDATE: SOLD! First up, the penciled page for Doctor Who #9, page 6. Click --> HERE <-- for the auction.

From the description;

"I work mostly digitally, however I do work things out in pencil from time to time if I think it's quicker or easier for the piece/page. This was a page done in pencil for two reasons a) it helped me block out the layout a bit better, and b) it had a lot of Doctor to draw, and I wanted to have a go in pencil.

My process on these hybrid traditional/digital pages is thus; after receiving the script I rough out the page on the computer. For hybrid pages, I then will blow up the rough and lightbox it in light pencil onto a comic page. I then tighten up the pencils somewhat, but not as much as if I were working with another inker, so the pencils are still somewhat loose and rough, and backgrounds are usually very sketchy. I then scan the page in, resize as needed, and start digitally inking in Photoshop, correcting backgrounds, changing small details, and especially on Doctor Who, clean up the likenesses. I then pass it off to my editor and (in this case) colorist Charlie Kirchoff."



UPDATE: SOLD! Next, the penciled page for Doctor Who #9, page 13. Click --> HERE <-- for the auction.

From the description;

"As you can see from this page, the second panel was almost entirely digital. You'll also notice the doorway at the bottom of the second panel isn't there in the rough pencils or inks. Only after reading the script to issue #10 did I realize there needed to be a second doorway in the library, so I created a patch and sent it off to the colorist."

And one final note;

"So what you have here is a somewhat rare piece of actual production artwork from me. Most of these I keep, and I only have a few fully-penciled pages. The rest are headshots and filler/patch panels - and everything else is 100% digital. So fully penciled pages are very rare from me, and I won't be selling many of them."

Thanks for looking and bidding!

ART THEFT: Over for now.

UPDATE: Seller has removed the item from his own website as well!

I was contacted by the seller of the auction this morning. In part he said;

"hi, I didn´t know about [the use of your art], I have a dealer who bring me new mousepad models but I don´t know where he takes the drews and designs. I will close the auction and please forgive me about this situation, I will talk with my dealer to aboid future problems."

The auction is down now, so you'll see there's nothing to report any longer. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment, but I also advised him to take the mousepad from his website as I am in the process of informing the rights holder of the trademark/copyright infringement.

This looks to be over (at least involving me) for now.

I want to thank everyone who commented here that they reported, all those that retweeted on Twitter, spread the message on Facebook, got my story on to BleedingCool.com, and everyone who leant a hand in every forum I posted on. There are days when the internet seems only good for info, and lousy to find good people. You guys made me believe that once in a while, you can help a guy out. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that.

Oh, and thanks for all the compliments on the Matt Trakker/M.A.S.K. piece. It's an older piece. Something I came up with when I was trying to figure out cel-shading, so in some ways it's a bit embarrassing to see it splashed all around the net, as it's not the best example of my work. But thanks just the same.

All the best to all of you.

~Blair Shedd

eBay: SPIDER-MAN VS VENOM AP CARD

So... in other eBay news, look what I have; something LEGAL, COMPLETELY AUTHORIZED, and ORIGINAL. Click --> HERE <-- for the auction.

From the auction description;

The item you are bidding on is an uncut Rittenhouse Archives Spider-man Archives Artist Proof Sketch Card featuring the Amazing Spider-man versus Venom! The card is illustrated by comic book artist Blair Shedd.

The sketch is marker and colored pencil on an official, UNCUT, Spider-man Archives Artist Proof Sketch Card (approximately 4" x 5"), and is signed by the artist. The card is fully approved by Rittenhouse and Marvel Comics.

Of the eight blank Artist Proof Sketch Cards Blair received for working on this set, he has thus far drawn only two. This is one of them, making this card quite rare, even if Blair completes the 8-card set.

And I'll add this - I'm sick of sketch cards. Burnt out.

This one, honestly rare, hard to find card is being sold cheaper than any AP before it - because it's hard to sell these now. Card hoarders who don't collect but just buy these up and then sell them on eBay have flooded the market with so many of my sketches that I can't sell these easily.

I'm never doing another sketch card set. My last was Iron Man 2, and I probably won't even sell my APs from that - I don't think anyone wants them.

Plus, while many of the collectors were awesome people and buyers, there were enough bitter, angry buyers who complained about the quality of the work that I just got turned off. They're SKETCH cards. If you think it looks like I only took 15 minutes to draw it it's because I DID. I got paid $1 to $2 per card! I'm not going to spend five hours on that card. Other artists do, and that's totally their prerogative, but I have to make it worth my time. While it was fun at first to get paid to draw Spider-man and the X-men, getting very little pay for a lot of work and then collector complaints on top of that really killed my spirits for sketch cards.

So grab this while you can - I might do some APs for myself in the future, and might sell them at cons, but this is most likely it for eBay, and certainly no more commissions will happen on sketch cards.

Bye bye sketch cards.

ART THEFT/BOOTLEGGING! HELP!

UPDATE: Seller has taken down the auction. Thanks much to everyone for all the help! (See here for more details -->CLICK)

Original entry as follows;

My art has been ripped-off/bootlegged, and I need your help.

I was shown this auction listing by a friend; CLICK

That's my MASK fan art. As it was fan art, I certainly never authorized an Argentine company to create mousepads of it and to strip my watermarks.

Here's my original; CLICK

I've already put in a report to eBay about the auction, but if I could get multiple voices saying the same, I figure this could get shut down a lot quicker.

Unfortunately, they sell this on their Argentina-based website and I doubt it'd be easy to get them to take it off of there, but if we could at least get them to stop selling on eBay (they have 100% seller rating) that'd be great.

If we can get a ton of people to report this to eBay (via the Report Item link on the right side of the page) we can get this taken down quicker, and tell them that this kind of thing isn't tolerated around here.

As they only allow 100 characters in the violation report (stupid) you could just simply say "Unauthorized use of artwork - http://j.mp/amgE7G" (which is a link to this post) that'd fit.

Please, spread the word!

Any help would be appreciated.

Weekend Wayback: SPIDER-MAN 1992

I've mentioned before that I won't be posting new Daily Sketches on the weekend as my blog views drop way down (y'all must be outside or something). I still sketch, I just won't post.

But for the few of you who pass on by, enjoy a new idea I had, the Weekend Wayback. Each weekend I'll try to pull something out of the archives from childhood, high school, art school, etc, to entertain.

First up is the image above from 1992 (just the beginning of my freshman year of high school). I was trying to do a comic adaptation of Peter David's Spider-man: As the World Burns (which was actually a Choose Your Own Adventure book).

This first page is actually a dream sequence. I wasn't just being lazy with the crowd.

One day I will draw Spider-man professionally (and not for just a couple of bucks via a sketch card). Mark. My. Words.

Daily Sketch: SONTAR-HA!

Today's sketch, one of those spud-headed Doctor Who baddies, the Sontarans (Nu-Who style).

Fiery Redhead

A bit of an extra today. Had this approved a while ago, but forgot to post it.

This is a Rittenhouse Archives Artist Uncut Proof Sketch Card. The artists received a few of these for working on the X-men Archives series for Rittenhouse. Most got sold as commissions (though I always try to keep a sketch for myself).

This commission was for, obviously, Jean Grey as the Phoenix.

Monthly TimeLapse: THE JOKER

Been a while since I did one of these, but I thought I'd start it up again. This time, digital (which gave me some trouble as the free programs I have don't want to do this easily - and I don't have the scratch for the real programs).

Above is the finished drawing of the Joker. Below is the time-lapse video that shows you how I got there (via Photoshop, total time, about 25 minutes... not including moments where I was messing with iTunes).

If everyone likes, perhaps once a month I'll stop and put one of these together. Let me know via email, Facebook, or heck, crazy idea, in the comments. ;)

Note: The music accompaniment, "Come to Daddy" by Aphex Twin, while appropriately sinister and speedy may not be everyone's cup o'tea. Especially if you're at work. So use your best judgement on volume. If you can listen with the music on, please do, because as with my other two time-lapsed vids, I try to make the music match with what's on screen as much as possible.

Click below to watch! Cheers!

Daily Sketch: ICEMAN, NOOOO!

Yeah, well, that's how it feels here.

Maybe I'll do a more "serious" sketch later. We'll see.

I'm gonna go sit in my refrigerator now.

Daily Sketch: THE HUMAN TORCH

Yup, it's late, but only recently has it been under 85 degrees in my office (about 81 to 82 right now).

With that in mind, today's subject is Johnny Storm.

Daily Sketch: ANT-MAN

I only have a little time today for my daily sketch, so I drew a guy who's usually little: Ant-man!

Daily Sketch: CAPTAIN AMERICA

I won't usually post a sketch of the day on the weekends (as blog traffic is nearly zero, probably cos you people have lives or something), but in the spirit of tomorrow's holiday, I felt like drawing up the Sentinel of Liberty himself, somewhat classically garbed (as in, not Bucky). Since I started drawing when I was young, I've only drawn the Cap'n a small handful of times.

Have a good Fourth, all, and stay safe (fireworks are not your friends, they're sharp objects).

Daily Sketch: THE MASK

Not the Jim Carrey version, but the mean, nasty original Dark Horse Comics version.


And a turkey leg.

Who Reviews: The Final Chapter

Time again (the final time, in fact) for reviews from around the web, this time on Doctor Who #12.

I'll restate how I go about picking these; I usually go for known comic book journalism sites, and stay away from personal reader reviews -- many are complimentary, and I appreciate that. Many of you have your heads up your asses, and that's what makes me stay away (especially this time - a very unprofessionally snarky review from one website that probably only has staff relatives as fans).

And... allons-y;

One again ComixTreme.com gave Doctor Who #12 a 3.5 out of 5 review. They did have this to say;

...Blair Shedd has done some good work with some freaky sci-fi concepts and strong characterization on the Doctor and Martha, evoking the characters without aping them completely.

The whole review can be found here (scroll down a little) - CLICK.



Again, somewhat heavy-duty comic book reporting site Major Spoilers weighed in with this review, giving us a 4 out of 5. They had tons of complimentary things to say, such as;

Blair Shedd’s art is interesting, but keeps us in a realm realistic enough that the face of David Tennant is always recognizable, and even gets the complexities of the old TARDIS console room right, a difficult proposition in and of itself.

For the full (very spoiler-filled) review, follow this right here - CLICK.



And finally, over at ComicsBulletin.com, we've scored a 5 out of 5 rating again for this (my) final issue. Among other things, they say (and I'm grabbing the whole, wonderful quote);

Shedd's Doctor is an animated Tennant full of fury over the Advocate's schemes and bravado in his soft-soled steps. He threatens giant robot angels with his Sonic Screwdriver. He exhibits his expert piloting skills, with a grin on his pliable, cartoony face. At the drop of Shedd's dime, the Doctor becomes a vulnerable quiet soul who doesn't want anybody to die.

The full review can be read here - CLICK.



One final note, a fun article on CBR titled "Doctor Who: Adventures in Space, Time, & Comics," has interviews with a smattering of Doctor Who comic writers, artists, and art from myself and others. Click here for that.

Thanks to all those that purchased and read, thanks to those who reviewed (save for you asshats), and screw you to those who downloaded illegally and didn't pay. You're not helping anything.

And to everyone else, thanks!

Daily Sketch: THE SHADOW

Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

That dude.