Return of the Canterville Color

People went on lots of carriage rides back then.

Lots.

To be honest, I'm pretty unhappy with the line art on this page (it happens...sadly), but Jason saved the day with his colors.

I have a boatload of new pages and drawings to scan, but will continue with the colors through the weekend, I think. Next week, we'll see some new b/w work.

More Canterville Color

Continuing to spotlight Jason's terrific color work over my pencils & inks.

This scene leads up to an appearance of the ghost.

Some more Canterville—this time in color

I haven't posted any of Jason's amazing color work from The Canterville Ghost for a while. I think I'll rectify that over the next few days...

I used a lot of loose drybrush on this page and I think Jason did a great job of adding color without overpowering the line art.

Canterville Ghost: Walking toward the light

I'm having fun trying to work more loosely with this book, in an effort to capture some of that kinetic energy of the turn of the century pen-and-ink illustrators. I'm nowhere near reaching that, but feel like it's bringing some extra vitality to some of my other work (I should probably post some of that soon).

Canterville Ghost: Is that tapestry talking to her?

More Canterville Ghost. Just remember, kids, if a figure in a tapestry urges you not to accompany a ghost, it's probably a good idea to heed the warnings.

And that goes double for whenever the lizards in the fireplace warn you about stuff!

Commission: Moon Knight

A quick pencil headshot for a friend. Kind of simple—I hope he likes it!

The Canterville Ghost: More Conversations with Dead People

Another Canterville Ghost page, from the sequence I posted earlier this week. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Jason does with the colors on this scene.

Commission: Mr. Freeze

Experimenting with gray-tone markers this time out. I kind of like the effect, but think I still prefer gray watercolor. I may try that next time I get the urge.

I really love the clunky armor of Mr. Freeze.

Jim Nelson, artist pal, asked why I chose the pose I did for the character. I've just finished reading Austin Grossman's Soon I Will be Invincible and I think that had a lot to do with the body language I chose for freeze.

Commission: Orson Randall, The Immortal Iron Fist

I really enjoyed the conceit that the Iron Fist was a legacy concept, as demonstrated in the Ed Brubaker/Matt Fraction/David Aja Iron fist run. Of all the past Iron Fists featured, of course I have a soft spot for Orson Randall, who wielded the Iron Fist from 1919 to 1933.

When someone commissions an Orson Randall drawing, I don't think twice.

Some Canterville Ghost stuff

More plugging away on The Canterville Ghost. Sometimes, conversation scenes can just be a blast!

Commission: Soulfire

Today's commission is Grace from Aspen Comics' Soulfire. I don't know anything about the character, but I had a lot of fun drawing her!

Commission: Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy

Another quickie commission. This time we have Gamora, who used to be Adam Warlock's girlfriend, I think. There can't be a bunch of green girls running around Marvel's cosmic books, right?

...or can there?

More fun with tones! I'm really enjoying working with the Col-Erase pencils and just ordered a batch of them last Friday.

Commission: Modok and Doctor Bong!

When you're going through the list of Z-List characters on Marvel's slate, Doctor Bong has to be at the top of the list. Or the bottom—whatever's worse.

But Modok just rocks.

For the record, this is the original Doctor Bong; created by Steve Gerber during his Howard the Duck run in the 1970s. He's not to be confused with Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps, who also goes by the name Doctor Bong.

Commission Time: Sgt Rock

I've had some scanner issue of late—which makes it hard when it's an essential tool for doing my job! In hopes of getting enough money to replace both my scanner and my venerable Mac G4, I'm really trying to hit the commissions hard.

When I do tonal work, I have a tendency to try and make everything too smooth! Needless to say, having someone request Sgt Rock was a great way to try and stretch. It was hard to incorporate some of the rough cragginess that flows so naturally from Joe Kubert every time he draws the character, but it was a great learning experience!