Inktober 2017 and the Troy Library Mini-Con
Just like last year, I’m participating in Inktober again this year… trying to draw at least one new hand-drawn illustration each day. Last year I didn’t quite make it to the end, but I hope to actually complete 31 illustrations this year. Time will tell. Be sure to checkout the Inktober Web site if you want to find out more of what this is all about. I have been posting daily to Facebook and will be posting weekend summaries on the blog like I did last year every Sunday to collect all of the week’s creations.
For now, though, I would like to call your attention to the Troy Library Mini-Con, which takes place on October 14th (one week from today) in Troy, NC. The convention is being held at the Montgomery County Library, located on 215 W Main St in Troy and runs from noon until 5:00pm. There will be lots of free comics, cosplay, trivia, dealers, guest artists, and pretty much everything you expect from a comic convention! Also, there will be a raffle as part of a fundraising effort to raise money for Rod Haase and his battle with cancer. Rod is an actor who has been in many things, but comic fans of the 1970s might remember him from the Legends of the Superheroes on TV where he was the first live-action Flash!
Please checkout the Troy Library Mini-Con page on Facebook for further information and updates about the convention. Also, please visit Rod Haase’s GoFundMe page if you aren’t going to be able to attend this convention but still would like to contribute to helping him with his expenses. For my part, I am unable to attend this convention in person but I did donate my first two days of Inktober sketches to the cause, so if you want to own the original art for either of these pieces shown below you will need to attend the show next Saturday!
The first illustration is on 9×12-in. Canson 98-lb paper and is a portrait of the Flash inspired by Rod Haase’s original portrayal on TV from 1979. The second illustration is a 2.5×3.5-in. personal sketch card of the Flash in motion. I have signed both sketches on the reverse side and included a link to my blog in hopes that whomever wins these at the convention will visit here and say hello. I hope everyone who attends the convention has a good time next weekend!
Adam West Batman
I actually drew this back in June, in honor of the passing of Adam West. I’ve just been behind in getting things up on the blog, even though I’ve still been creating a lot of different things the last few months.
As a kid in the 1970s, I remember the old Batman TV show coming on around 4:30m or so every day. I didn’t get to watch the show in its original run, but I got to watch it every day! It was a fun show and had lots of actors I recognized seeing in other places too. I know for a while the campy fun of this version of Batman kind of fell out of favor with fans… or at least casual fans… but there has been a recent surge with the Batman ’66 comics and the release (finally) of the classic TV show on home video.
It’s also been fun to hear Adam West as the mayor on Family Guy. He is a big part of that show. Not just there because Seth MacFarlane liked him, which of course is also true… but Mayor Adam West on the show is tied up in lots of shenanigans on that show and his voice will be missed there.
I’ve also long campaigned for DC to have made a live-action Batman Beyond movie with Adam West cast as old Bruce Wayne mentoring the new young Batman. I think Adam West’s acting skills are often overlooked because of his jovial personality and how well he slid into the camp of the classic Batman… but I have no doubts he would have been stellar as a more serious version as well, and it would have been a nice nod to his stint in the role back in the 1960s… but now, unfortunately, we will never know.
There was a recent home video classic-style Batman animated movie with Adam West, Burt Ward, Julie Newmar, and others… and my understanding is Adam West had already completed his voice-over work for a sequel to that… so we will get to hear him one final time as the caped crusader in the future. It’s a shame he is no longer with us, but it’s nice that he went out on many high notes with a whole new generation of fans appreciating him once again.
My illustration, incidentally, is hand-drawn on a 7×10 in. comic backing board. It’s not an exact likeness of course, but I tried to get a little Adam West in there so that it wasn’t just a generic Batman bust illustration. I generally like how this one turned out. Let me know what you think.
Remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
04/23/2017 Raleigh Comic Book Show, Epilogue!
Was so tired at the end of the day Sunday that I went to bed early, and slept late Monday… so I didn’t get to write about my experiences at this weekend’s Raleigh Comic Book Show until late tonight. It was good to see all of my old friends, make some more new ones, and (as I would find out by the end of the show) pose for a super portrait!
There were four invited guest to this show, counting myself. I was seated next to Buddy Prince, and though I didn’t get to talk with him much this show, it’s always good to see him there. Seated to my right was Glen Richardson. It was a pleasure to meet and chat with Glen throughout the show. Turns out we have some similar world views and while our styles are somewhat different, the subjects and references within his work mirror some of my own.
Glen had a bunch of nice prints for sale at the show as well as copies of his self-published comic Sgt Sasquatch: The Bigfoot of Liberty. Make sure you check out the link to Glen’s Web site! We each discussed our own projects and the creative process. He also brought his daughter Ziley with him to the show, who pleasantly surprised me at the end by having drawn a picture of me, for me, while Glen and I had been talking. They also bought a Two-Face sketch card from me, so I know that one is going to a good home!
Super-Me by Ziley:
On the other side of Buddy was Dan Johnson. Unfortunately Dan got there a little after the show had started, and I kept busy so I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself to him before the show had ended. I hope to get a chance to meet him in the future.
I had a lot of new personal sketch cards for sale that I had drawn since my last show appearance. I also brought lots of glossy prints as usual, and some freebies to give away to promote the blog and my ‘Sects comic strip. Even though ‘Sects has been on a hiatus of late, I still hope I prompted some new fans to take a look so they’ll be here and ready for when all the guys and gals make a comeback soon!
One fan, Bradley, commissioned a sketch card of the Olympian, from the Global Guardians, during the show. I had to borrow his smartphone for a while for reference because I had to admit I had only a passing familiarity with the character though I did seem to remember something about the Global Guardians. Bradley was patient with my blank brain, and I think I was able to make a good sketch card for him when all was said and done. He is also supposed to share a scan of the card at some point. When he does I’ll make another blog post about that and share the artwork for everyone else to see.
I was also able to connect with Shelton Drum of Heroes Aren’t Hard to Find and pick up a small box of blank sketch covers comic books. At some point I’ll take inventory of all that I have and make a post so that if anyone wants to request a commission on a blank comic you’ll know what I have available.
All told… I always enjoy appearing at this show, and seeing old friends. Some unique experiences for me this time with the show commission, being an unwitting model for a super-portrait, and making a new creative friend.
Thanks go to Lyn Anderson for the invite, and to all the fans who came out today to support comics, this show, and all of us invited guests! Welcome to all the new followers of my blog or Facebook that come from our meeting at this show too!
Raleigh Comic Book Show, Sunday 04/23/2017
Just found out early last week that I’m going to be a guest at the upcoming Raleigh Comic Book Show, next Sunday! As always, I am looking forward to seeing show runner Lyn Anderson and all the great dealers and convention regulars who attend these shows. Other planned guests at this show are Buddy Prince, who is a solid artist, good guy, and another Raleigh show regular… and Dan Johnson, whom I have not yet met but am looking forward to seeing for the first time!
I will again have original art and sketch cards for sale, including a bunch of new sketch cards from last Inktober that I drew after my last convention appearance. I’ll also have lots of glossy prints of a bunch of illustrations that I’ve drawn over the last few years. Time permitting, I might even be able to do some commission sketch cards or head/bust sketches during the show too. I’m getting ready for the show this week, so I could even surprise myself with new things I don’t yet know I’ll be bringing!
I hope to see lots of Facebook and blog followers at the show… and I promise to try and warp your brain with my nonsense while you’re there. 🙂 If you’re anywhere near Raleigh, NC next week you really ought to stop by the show… you will not be disappointed! For those who can’t attend, I will be blogging about the experience sometime next Sunday night as I normally do after these shows.
Santa Clauses!
Continuing the Christmas theme… Santa dropped by early for an extreme closeup portrait but couldn’t decide whether he wanted traditional or digital illustration work… so I did both! First, the completely hand-drawn version (pencil sketch w/ color marker finish) on a 7×10-inch comic backing board:
I followed that up, using the above baseline, to create a completely digital rendering in vector format:
Typical for my illustration work, I like the cleaner lines and sharper colors in the digital version. I must say, though, that aside from lacking a good match for skin-tone in the hand drawn version… both of these look remarkably similar for a change. Basically it’s a testament to my liking the hand-drawn one enough that I didn’t feel like I needed to make major tweaks or corrections in the digital re-render.
Please let me know what you think and remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
Twice the Olaf for Christmas!
And now… for something more warm and friendly 🙂
I’ve watched Disney’s Frozen more times than I can count recently with my nieces and nephew… so I was finally properly inspired to try my hand at some new Christmas illustrations. For Olaf I actually liked him so much I drew him twice! First, a completely hand-rendered illustration from pencil sketch to color marker finish on a 7×10-inch comic backing board:
Then, using the above as a baseline… I re-rendered completely digitally as a vector illustration:
The lines are cleaner in the digital version, and the colors are sharper. I also was able to more easily add in some shadows and a few snowflakes to complete the image. I personally like the digitally finished one better, but starting with the hand-drawn one allowed me to hopefully carry over most of the organic nature of the character.
Please let me know what you think and remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
Batman Bust Convention Sketch
Convention sketches are like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re gonna get! 🙂 With my humble apologies to Forrest Gump, begins the tale of a convention sketch from last weekend at the Raleigh Comic Book Show.
Once I was settled in and had said my hellos to fellow guests and the show organizer, I decided to begin a convention sketch on a blank 7×10 comic backing board. Admittedly, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to draw when I began, but since I had drawn a Spider-Man last December I was at least not going to do that. So, pencil to paper and at some point I decided I wanted to draw Batman.
Had I decided to draw Batman sooner, it would have started out looking less like Orion from the New Gods! I realized I had a little bit of work to do to bring it back to being a Batman drawing and not Orion. Nothing against Orion, incidentally, and I probably should draw him too… but I was going for a more immediately recognizable character for this unsolicited sketch and I figured more people would recognize Batman.
I think I managed to save it… but you can be the judge! Oh, and in case you wonder… I found myself without proper flesh-coloring markers so I improvised with a few different colors and going for the patchwork illusion of skin tone through color overload! It just didn’t look right leaving his face white once I had colored everything else. So, my least favorite part of this one is the faux flesh tone result here, even though the illusion works from a distance… it just doesn’t hold up quite as well to up-close scrutiny.
Remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
Gotcha Demon Collaboration with Morganza
Morgan Welborn (Morganza) is a talented artist that I met through the Digital Webbing forums. He recently made available a high resolution scan of one of his original pencil drawings and invited other artists to collaborate with him to ink and color his illustration. I’m not the only one who has taken him up on his offer, but I’m just going to blog about my efforts… 🙂
I don’t have a convenient way to post mature content here on the blog, so there are strategically placed black bars to conceal the naughtier bits. I do have an uncensored version of this up on my DeviantArt page for anyone who wants to go take a look there. I also recommend you take a look at Morganza’s DeviantArt page as well while you’re there.
I spent the better part of an evening and night working on this, plus some final tweaking the next day before finally deciding it was done. I wanted to punch up the red a bit more on the boiling man’s skin, but was afraid it might not have the desired effect since there was an all-red demon hovering there beside the cauldron. All things told, I feel pretty proud of this one. I had a strong base in the form of the original pencil drawing to work from, so I just had to decide what things I wanted to make pop in the final rendering.
This was a very good exercise for me. I’m not always happy with how I ink my own drawings. I’m far better at working digitally (either completely from scratch or over rough pencil sketches), but I’m also considerably better at inking when working over another artist’s pencils with a much stronger foundation than I typically lay down myself. I need to work on tightening up my pencil work so that I can be a more well-rounded artist, but in the meantime I also want to open myself up to more collaborations like this one to produce solid work and learn how to work better with other fellow artists.
FYI, here’s the original pencil sketch that Morganza supplied for the collaboration. I think you’ll see that all the detail is already there in his original illustration, and you can compare this to my finished rendering above to see what choices and minor changes I made along the way.
Please let me know what you think of this and remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
Superman Fortress of Solitude Sketch Card
I’ve been trying to think of some more things to draw as sketch cards lately. I haven’t drawn any since my comic convention appearance back in December. I like the small canvas and I like that I can make a bunch of them and they are easy to carry around and show to people. But I also feel somehow like I’m wasting them if I just draw random things. I need to get over that, and just draw random things. Sometimes the random things turn out the best, even with my apprehension to do them in the first place.
That said… After drawing my Supergirl the other day, I kept thinking about the classic look to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, particularly the exterior. In the old days, it was a hollowed-out mountain for the fortress, so from the outside it was just a giant door on the side of a mountain. Way far away from the door was the giant key, disguised as a direction marker for airplanes. That’s what I wanted to try and capture, so that’s what I did earlier this week…
I think it turned out pretty well, with my minimalist approach. It’s another thing the sketch cards are good for.. because drawing this on a larger scale would mean you really need to put more detail into it or it would just look mostly blank because of all the white snow you want to imply is there in the Arctic… so the sketch card is really the right size to draw something like this.
As always, let me know what you think and remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
Deadpool Valentine
So… there’s a Deadpool movie. You probably know about that. It’s also Valentine’s Day tomorrow… You probably knew that too. But what happens if you combine them?
I wanted to hand-draw something Deadpool related for the movie this weekend… and inspiration struck when I realized it was also Valentine’s Day and I thought of a (hopefully) humorous way to combine them. For anyone wondering, it’s meant to be fairly cartoony. It helps take a bit of the edge off of the implied gore. I also probably couldn’t have hand-drawn a non-cartoony Deadpool without more practice anyway. 😉
I didn’t scan in a rough-sketch image this time, because I kind of alternated between sketching in parts of this and inking them… so, for example, I sketched then inked Deadpool first… then the bow and quiver, and then the doors in the background. I’m not sure why I did it that way, as opposed to a complete rough sketch before beginning inking… but there you go.
Whenever I do something like this, as I’m finishing it I start thinking how it would look cleaner if I digitally inked and colored it instead… but then I wouldn’t have a piece of original art in my hands. I would also lose a little of the organic feel to the lines that I get from hand-rendering. This particular gag wouldn’t suffer either way, but sometimes the too-clean digital rendering actually distracts from the funny. At least it seems like it to me.
Let me know what you think, and remember, if you’d like an original commission by me or would like to hire me as an Illustrator, please use the Contact page and let me know as much as you can about your request.
i.e. Sequential... Journal... Visual... 
Recent Comments