San Diego, Here I Come

It's not supposed to be this hectic. I planned and prepped for this show like never before. "No way," I said to myself, "will I return home to a house that's a mess and a studio with stacks and piles of artwork, display materials and miscellaneous debris littered everywhere.

Unforeseen circumstances.

The washer died (laundry at mom's...what am I, a college student?). Books were delayed. Time collapsed in on itself.

Okay, so the house isn't 100% clean. Upstairs looks great, but the studio looks like a war zone.

On the bright side, The Art of Athena Voltaire hardcovers are being shipped to my hotel and I'm not hauling my suitcase filled with 60+ pounds of artwork,* so I'm traveling light.

The copies of the ashcan of Cipher arrived today (see picture). Plus, I have a few other pitches I'll be schlepping around the show to publishers and anyone interested in ancillary rights. And samples, lots of sample packs for potential illo gigs.

For more info on Cipher and The Art of AV, look here. Other stuff I'll have for sale: both Athena Voltaire trade paperbacks, all the single issues of Athena Voltaire to date, copies of the issue of Domino Lady I drew for Monstone, and all 3 of my previously published sketchbooks.

Additionally, I plan on doing inked grayscale figures for con sketches ($40). Depending on how they turn out and how long they take me, I may revert back to just doing the $25 toned pencil headshots. Come early!

And I'll be on a panel, Kickstart Your Comic because we've already established what a whore I am. Also on the panel will be Kody Chamberlain, Pat Loika, and Steve Earnhart. Details here.

If you're coming to the show, stop by and see me. I'll be at Small Press, table M-14 (Atomic Tiki Studio) next to my pals Jim and Mike Heffron of Lawdog Comics.

* No more amusement from the random guy who seems to be on every flight, offering to take my suitcase from the overhead compartment, and herniating himself. "It's really heavy," I warn...

Commission: The White Queen

Like yesterday's commission, I'm posting both the line drawing and the tonal version. Today's commission is the White Queen.

8.5 x 11, india ink and Payne's Grey watercolor on bristol board.

Slots are still open. Read about commission preordering details here!

New Commission: Zatanna

Here's the first of the Comic-Con preorders, Zatanna. I'm still trying to figure out how to get a good greyscale scan with my new scanner—the original isn't as spotty as this scan looks. I'm also posting the inks because it's clearer to see the linework.

8.5 x 11, india ink and Payne's Grey watercolor on bristol board.

Slots are still open. Read about commission preordering details here!

New Stuff I'll Have at Comic-Con

New stuff for sale at Comic-Con in San Diego later this month!

The Art of Athena Voltaire
Hardcover
134 pages, 20 pages of color.
Signed & Numbered Limited Edition of 500
$30.00
The Art of Athena Voltaire looks at the last 8 years of Athena Voltaire. The book features a color cover gallery, showcasing the covers to all of the AV comics, plus previously unpublished color promotional pieces and unused/unpublished color covers. An extensive section of pencils and inks, spotlighting how some of the work looked before being colored, as well as concept art, private commissions, thumbnail sketches, roughs, and photo reference.

I'll have about 30 copies at the show. Email me at atomictikistudio@gmail.com if you'd like to preorder one.


Cipher #1
Convention-exclusive b/w version of my upcoming series with art by the amazing JunBob Kim! $4.

Cipher follows the adventures of Doctor Ursula Wilde and her team of experts as they investigate impossible science. In the first series, Doc Wilde and her crew unravel the mysteries of Pope Sylvester II. Who was the "sorcerer pope," and what does he have to do with the disappearance of Ursula's parents 20 years ago and the end of the world..?

Taking Commission Preorders for Comic-Con

I'm taking preorders for commissions to be picked up at this year's San Diego Comic-Con (July 21–25).

8.5 x 11 cropped single figure (mid-thigh?) in ink : $30 w/tones: $35

11 x 17 single figure shot in ink: $60 w/tones: $70

Additional figures can be added for additional cost. Contact me for pricing.

Commissions can be picked up in the Small Press section, table M14 anytime during show hours.

Email me directly at atomictikistudio at gmail dot com to order!

My Father's Day Card

I meant to post this earlier.

Last week, my son unleashed the most awesome Father's Day card in the history of the holiday.

Now, I understand. You think this is just me, his dad, being hyperbolic and exaggerating how cool it was. Nope.

A tiki mask with glowing glitter eyes ("They're atomic, Dad!")...and inside, two cyborg robot monkeys (again, more glitter glue) and some kind of artifact (with atomic symbols in the upper corners).

Me? I'm a hack. This kid? The real deal.

Tribute to Al Williamson (pencils)

As mentioned elsewhere, my favorite of Al's work was his 13-year collaboration with Archie Goodwin on Secret Agent Corrigan. Over the course of their run, Al and Archie took Phil Corrigan on a bunch of exciting adventures, frequently alternating espionage stories with homages to various stories that had inspired them, including The Lost World, The Prisoner of Zenda, and even Flash Gordon.

In short, everything that Al loved was thrown into Secret Agent Corrigan.

Looking at the progression of the strip, Phil Corrigan started off looking very much like he did when Alex Raymond launched the strip, but as time passed, Phil, like Han Solo after him, developed more and more of a resemblance to Al. You can attribute this to Al using himself as a model, but not everyone who Al posed for ended up looking like him.

I think that Al was going on the adventure himself, like when we played as kids.

For this piece, I had originally planned an elaborate montage spotlighting a few of my favorite Secret Agent Corrigan adventures, but most of my Corrigan photocopies have been lost or are stored somewhere in my studio. Thankfully, the upcoming reprint series from IDW will eliminate my need to find those copies.

Here are the pencils to my Al Williamson Twart (the inks were posted today at ComicTwart).

Al Williamson

My hero has died.

Al Williamson was probably the most important artist in my pantheon. I met him back in 1992 when a friend of mine was sharing studio space with him. Professional, affable, humble, and charming, he taught me about how to conduct myself as a professional over the course of a couple of days hanging out in the studio.

Yeah, it was that pivotal of a meeting.

I was most taken by the fact that this guy was just a couple of years younger than my dad, yet here I was relating to him about science fiction, art, illustration, comics, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Comics and adventure fiction had worked their magic on him and he truly seemed like a young, vibrant guy.

My artwork at the time was bad—truly awful—yet he took the time to go over it with me, spending far more time than was justified by the level of craft in the work.

I was introduced to Al's art by way of his work, with Archie Goodwin, on the Star Wars daily strip. Lush settings with dynamic figure work—and those layouts! Look at the way the man composed a Sunday page...stunning, elegant storytelling at it's best. His sense of action wasn't Kirby dynamics; it felt more like a glorious action-movie punch. When an Al Williamson hero threw a punch, you FELT it.

I later gravitated to his E.C. work, particularly his collaborations with Roy Krenkel and Frank Frazetta.

However, it's his work on Secret Agent Corrigan (again with Archie Goodwin) that became my eventual all-time favorite of his work. Al's using more photo reference on this stuff, and it boasts a slicker line (you can really see the influence of John Prentice, who Al assisted on Rip Kirby, especially in the first few years of the strip), but it's just so damn perfect. I'm eagerly awaiting IDW's release of these books.

If you're curious about Al's work—possibly, you're only familiar with his latter day inking for Marvel Comics, check out the following books:

Creepy Archives, volume 1. Dark Horse. The first issue of Creepy contained one of my favorite Williamson/Goodwin collaborations, The Success Story. Based on an actual guy...but you can judge for yourself which parts are fiction.

Al Williamson's Flash Gordon: A Vision of the Heroic by Mark Schultz. Flesh Publishing knocked it out of the park with this collection. Buy this. Buy it now. Perfection.

X-9: Secret Agent Corrigan. IDW Publishing is adding Al and Archie's seminal work to their Library of American Comics. The first volume releases in July.

Al Williamson Archives volume 1. Flesk Publications, the people who brought us the awesome Flash Gordon volume will be releasing the first of a series of Williamson sketchbooks in July. Buy this.

Star Wars deluxe hardcover slipcase edition, published by Russ Cochran. Beautiful b/w reproduction of Al and Archie's strip work in gorgeous oversized volumes. (sadly, out-of-print)

The Art of Al Williamson by James van Hise. Some great stories about Al and the rest of the Fleagle Gang (the nickname of Al and his E.C. artist pals) and wonderful art and reference photos of Al and company. (also out-of-print)

Al Williamson Adventures. Published by Insight Studios, this features a bunch of Al's Warren work, and some other lost gems. The frontispiece, a Star Wars illustration, is actually from the Game Designers' Workshop RPG magazine Challenge—I commissioned it from Al in my days as an art director. (possibly out-of-print)

Volumes to be avoided: Anything by Pure Imagination (the had a few Al Williamson Reader volumes with AWFUL reproduction). Ditto for the Al Williamson Sketchbook from Vanguard from 10 years ago—weak reproduction and awful graphic design. Save your money for the good stuff from Flesk and IDW—and the Russ Cochran books, or the Van Hise book.

So long, Al. I hope you and the other Fleagle Gang members that preceded you (Roy, Wally and Frank) are banging out a story with lizards, swashbucklers, and forgotten cities as I type this.

Kickstarted!

Wow! We did it! Not only did we meet our $7,000 Kickstarter goal, we blew right past it and hit $10,450.

I’m stunned, flattered, humbled, gobsmacked, and just plain moved by your generosity and support.

My sincerest thanks to all of you who pledged to the project. I’ll be starting on a batch of drawings soon, I guess! ;)

I’m kind of stunned right now, so I’m still wrapping my brain around what you have helped me with on this. I’m sure I’ll write more after all of this has sunk in.

Thanks!

--Steve

Commission: Stargirl

More fun with commissions! Contact me if you're interested in commissioning a drawing...and, of course, please check out my Kickstarter campaign for Athena Voltaire!

Kickstarter Exclusive Hardcover

I got a prototype in of the Athena Voltaire hardcover that is exclusive to Kickstarter supporters. For more on the Kickstarter fundraising campaign, visit this site to see what you can do to help me get AV back in stores with all new adventures.

The book clocks in at 222 pages and contains all of The Collected Webcomics and the Flight of the Falcon mini-series. The photos are kind of hit-and-miss, but they give you a decent idea of how it looks (and it looks gorgeous).

Here are all the ways you can earn this book:

Pledge $75 or more

ACE REWARD • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary.

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Pledge $100 or more

AIR PIRATE REWARD • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary.

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Pledge $125 or more

LIMITED REWARD 88 of 100 remaining

EXPLORER REWARD • An ORIGINAL ART PAGE from The Collected Webcomics or The Flight of the Falcon. Artist’s choice, but if you have a particular page you want, we’ll do our best to accommodate your choice on a first-come, first-served basis. • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary.

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Pledge $150 or more

LIMITED REWARD 4 of 10 remaining

GLOBETROTTER REWARD • 8.5 x 11 BRAND NEW ORIGINAL INK DRAWING of Athena Voltaire. • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary.

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Pledge $500 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

ADVENTURER REWARD • The ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #1, published by Speakeasy Comics. • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $500 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

SOLDIER-OF-FORTUNE REWARD • The ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #1, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $500 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

LEGIONAIRE REWARD • The ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #2, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $500 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

FORTUNE-HUNTER REWARD • The ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #3, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $700 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

TOMB RAIDER REWARD • The ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: Flight of the Falcon #4, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $1,000 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

SWASHBUCKLER REWARD • The wrap-around ORIGINAL COVER ART to Athena Voltaire: The Collected Webcomics, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Pledge $1,000 or more

LIMITED REWARD 1 of 1 remaining

HERO REWARD • The double-sized ORIGINAL COVER ART to the Athena Voltaire/Black Coat One-Shot, published by Ape Entertainment • EXCLUSIVE LIMITED SIGNED HARDCOVER containing The Collected Webcomics and Flight of the Falcon —available ONLY to Kickstarter.com supporters— INCLUDES AN ORIGINAL SKETCH OF ATHENA VOLTAIRE on the inside! • Limited edition Athena Voltaire sketchbook, available only to backers of the project. • Your name will be printed in the Acknowledgments section of the book. • PDF edition of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess • Access to the exclusive AV Kickstarter backer-only blog, Athena Voltaire Production Diary. View this cover art here.

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Additionally, there are also great incentives at the $10, $25 and $50 levels, as well (just without the hardcover)! If you haven't pledged yet, head over to the Kickstarter page, watch the video and consider it.

Thanks!

Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess cover #1

Pencils and inks by me, colors by Jason Millet.

Also, if you haven't done so yet, please take a look at my Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is a funding platform for artists, writers musicians, etc...like a PBS telethon, except instead of tote bags, you can score an exclusive Athena Voltaire hardcover collection, an exclusive sketchbook, original art and more!

New Commission: Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I had to draw Nick Fury in my best 1960s situation because that's the era the character belongs in!

Also,m please remember to check out the Athena Voltaire Kickstarter project.

But What About Print Copies?!

On a comic message board, I was recently asked why I'm not providing print copies of Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess as a part of the incentives for this campaign. After all, this is a campaign to generate funding for that comic, so why aren't print copies of the comic being funded a part of the rewards for the awesome folks who are helping make this possible?

It's an excellent question, by the way. And it's a question I wrestled with a lot while determining the incentives for the campaign.

For all of the levels of support, you'll receive a digital copy (PDF format) of the book.

While looking at the possible rewards, I realized that fulfillment would be a potentially big expense. Here's a quick breakdown of some fulfillment costs:

1) Shipping the trade paperbacks to the bindery to have the custom hardcovers made.
2) Printing of custom hardcover wrap, binding hardcovers
3) Shipping of hardcovers back to me
4) Production of sketchbooks
5) Shipping everything to backers

In this instance, all fulfillment could be handled with 30 days of the campaign ending (hopefully, depending on my hardcover provider's queue).

However, if we add in copies of the mini-series (2 issues), we're looking at adding a lot more shipping expenses (and/or much more time).

The Kickstarter campaign is 2 months long. Once the Kickstarter campaign ends, we're looking at 2–3 months until work is done on the book. It could be 1-3 months to get The Volcano Goddess on the publisher's schedule. And then issue 1 would have to be solicited, releasing 2 months later. A month later, issue 2 would release.

Let's look at the 3 potential timelines and check out the logistics of our shipping options:

1) Ship everything after issue #2 of The Volcano Goddess is printed and released. This would allow me to use the greatest portion of the funding to actually fund the comic, rather than spending the majority of the money on shipping expenses. The downfall to it is that you would be receiving the physical rewards for your pledge 8–12 months after pledging. And, in order to accommodate having issue #2 of the series in the shipment, issue #1 would have been released and would have been on the shelves of your local comic shop for a full month before you get your copy.

If you think that's bad, how bad would this scenario be for the folks whose rewards were a piece of art? These are backers who pledged large sums of money and they would be be rewarded by waiting a year to get that art.

2) Ship everything as it's competed. This would satisfy everyone receiving their rewards as soon as possible for each phase. Unfortunately, it would also mean that I would be spending 3 times as much time on shipping, buying 3 times as much packing material, driving to the post office 3 times as much and would be spending considerably more on shipping. When I was setting up the reward levels, I tried to not set the bar too high and wanted to keep the expenses low, so that a greater portion of the money went to financing the book.

The way I see it, you folks are backing me to make a comic, you're not backing me to keep the Post Office in business. ;)

3) Do what I'm doing now. Provide PDF copies of the book and send them out via email (which is no cost) and provide rewards as quickly as possible after the campaign ends.

While not a perfect solution, I felt that option #3 found the best balance of fast receipt of rewards and lower expenses.

Sorry to ramble so much. I hope it's clear.

Thanks a bunch for your support, everyone!

--Steve

A third of the way there!

We're less than a week in on the Athena Voltaire Kickstarter campaign and we're 35% of the way there!

Thanks very much you to those of you who have contributed! I'm humbled and touched by your generosity. To those of you on the fence, Thank you for the consideration!

In all honesty, I sometimes daydream about what would happen if we exceed the Kickstarter goal. Nope, I have to plans to jet off to exotic locales on your dime. I keep thinking how great it would be to be able to work on Athena Voltaire full-time for 4 months, or 6 months, or even a year. Seriously, those really are my daydreams.

So thanks for contributing to my book. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

Athena Voltaire: The Kickstarter Campaign!

For the past few years, I've been working on Athena Voltaire in my downtime. Along the way, the comic earned an Eisner Award nomination (2005, Best Digital Comic), released two trade paperbacks and earned me a nomination for the Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award. I'm grateful for the reception of the book and the supporters we've had along the way.

I'm appreciative of every fan I meet at a convention or every email I receive from a reader who wonders when the next mini-series is going to be released. And I hate to tell them, lamely, that I'm working on it and I hope to release it soon.

That's the downside to producing something that's a labor of love—it always takes a back seat to paying work. Don't get me wrong—I'm not complaining or asking for sympathy—it's just frustrating to not be able to give someone a definitive timetable for the next mini-series' release.

Instead of doing the same thing over and over (and getting the same results), I'm trying something different. I've started a Kickstarter campaign for our favorite globetrotting aviatrix. Kickstarter is a terrific site where creative folks can get funding for their projects by offering special incentives (like original art, deluxe editions of books, etc) to folks who pledge their support. Think of it like PBS, but instead of tote bags, you can get an AV cover, interior page, a sketch from me, and more!

Please visit the Athena Voltaire Kickstarter campaign site and see if there's a level of support that works for you!

Commmission: Anna Mercury

Commission: Doctor Who

This piece was a joy to do. I inked it with a brand-new, fresh out of the tube, Winsor-Newton Series 7 #2 brush. I previously had been using a #1 (for years) and finally decided to move up to a bigger size. Talk about lush, flowing lines! Makes me wish I'd also sprung for a #3, but maybe next time. I have a lot of friends who have had hit-and-miss luck with W-N brushes (myself included), but this one was a winner from the word go.

Commission: The Shadow

Commission: The Punisher

Commissions featuring specific characters seem to come in bunches, and it looks like there's a run on Punisher commissions this week.

Rocketeer and Betty pencils

This week's theme over at Comic Twart is The Rocketeer (yes, I'm the one responsible for the theme). My finished inks can be found here.

I initially wanted to do a scene with Betty lunging with the helmet and jetpack, with Peavy, Cliff and Butch the bulldog somewhere in the scene. Additionally, I wanted to do a second drawing, spotlighting Cliff in uniform, flying (and maybe montage elements from the two series in there, like Jonas, Marco, Ham & Monk, the flying wing, etc). However, it was waaaaay too ambitious to think I could do both images, so I added Cliff flying as a vignette in the Betty piece and the problem was solved.

Commission: Punisher Max

A commission in the spirit of the Punisher Max series...intimidating because I love Tim Bradstreet's moody work...still, the end result looks okay.

Summit City Comic Con promo piece

Here are the pencils to a promo piece for te upcomic Summit City Comic Con.

Jim Nelson will be inking and coloring the piece. I'm excited about the collaborative effort!

Commission: The Kingpin

It's like Bring on the Bad Guys week here in the studio! Today's entry is Daredevil's nemesis, The Kingpin.

Commission: The Joker

I didn't push the distended chin as much as others do, but I still think he cmae off as creepy. I hope he did, anyway!

Gentlemen, The King! part 2

Here's another image from the Gentlemen, The King! pitch.

Also, be sure to check out Comic Twart, a collective art blog that I'm participating in. The project had its origin via Twitter, and that's where the name came from: TWitter ART. So get your mind out of the gutter.

Every week, Comic Twart will focus on a character and each of us will draw that character. This week's star is Zorro!

I'm humbled and flattered to be a part of it, but I'll still be posting a bunch of stuff here, of course.

Gentlemen, The King!

My lawyer represents the Damon Runyon estate and asked me to work up a couple of pages of samples for a pitch for Runyon's story, Gentlemen, The King! Here's the first page.

The scene takes place in jail(s), but for the purpose of the pitch, the characters' faces have to be visible, so when Jason has time to color this up, I'll have him drop cast shadows of prison bars across the faces.

Sketchbook Fun, part 4

Over the summer, I noticed how lifeless my work was becoming and recommitted to working on gesture drawings.

You can never work too much on gesture drawings.

Never.

Sketchbook Fun, part 3

I tend to draw a lot of back views and side/back views when I'm drawing live.

New 2010 goal/resolution (goalution?): to be less self-conscious when sketching strangers!

Sketchbook Fun, part 2

During the summer, I took my sketchbook with me when my son and I went swimming. Here's an example of what I did. I see a bunch of flaws, but it was still good to be able to get back into the swing of life drawing--especially since my schedule (or bank account!) didn't permit taking a class or a workshop at the time.

Interestingly enough, when you have a sketchbook at a public pool, every woman will think that it's her you're drawing.

True story.

Sketchbook Fun

Messing around in my sketchbook (summer/fall 09, maybe?).

Happy New Year, everyone!