Photobooth Phridays, No 39

VenoM.J. edition


For starters, here's a look at my two cover ideas for the 'M.J. as Venom' cover.


I knew I wanted to reference some iconic Spidey imagery here, hence the two choices above. The sketch on the right of course being a reference to the ol' web heads first appearance in Amazing Fantasy, no. 15 - but with a bit of a role reversal. Once Marvel decided to opt for the Romita tribute, I got to work pencilling, then toning the piece in Copic marker:


During the initial drawing, I used a bit of photo reference for the hands-- (using Photobooth)


And that about does it. You can see the finished piece (sans text) here. Have a good weekend everyone!

VenoM.J.

Above is my contribution to Marvel's month of 'Venom Variants', featuring several staples of the Marvel universe 'Venom-ified'. I was tasked with joining Mary Jane Watson with the infamous symbiote, and thought it'd be fun to reference her iconic first appearance from Amazing Spider-man no. 42, by John Romita.
Mistakenly, I thought this issue came out today, but the internet has informed me that it, in fact, it hit comic stands last week. It's also a variant, so it might be hard to find, but keep an eye out the next time you find yourself at your local shop.

Avengers: Art Appreciation

It seems I'm on an Avengers kick this week.

Today Marvel announced a series of variant covers they will be releasing this April under the banner "Avengers Art Appreciation". Throughout the month, "fans will have the opportunity to see their favorite super hero team in the styles of the world’s greatest artists like Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Monet, Pollock, Schielle and more!" I was asked to participate in the fun, with a tribute piece to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, for which I decided to reference his famous litho, Moulin Rouge: La Goulue. Hope you like!

Avengers: The Punk Band

It’s your favorite punk band! The Avengers!*

Here’s a collaborative piece Maris Wicks, Liz Prince and I were commissioned to do at a recent mini-convention held by our local shop, Comicazi. Our initial thought was to draw the Avengers as a rock group, but then Liz took it a step beyond, and suggested we reference this famous Ramones album cover. We totes agreed.

--I should note who did what here — Liz drew Cap and inked Ant Man. Maris drew Thor and pencilled Ant Man and the background. I drew Iron Man and rendered and inked the background. True.

G.I. JOE's

Recently I've been drawing some G.I. Joe characters --

First, Scarlett--




And Second, Roadblock--


From the recent con held by my local shop, Comicazi. (For those not getting the "massage" reference, see here)

Photobooth Phridays, No 38

Hey there, kiddies! Welcome to another installment of Photobooth Phridays! Today we'll be looking at my fifth cover to Star Wars: Knight Errant - Deluge, which just hit comic shops this week--


Above is a side by side comparison of the initial inks and finished, digitally colored piece. Here I experimented with using a china marker for the rendering on the Hutt's face, rather than my standard dry brushing technique. It was nice for some of the nuanced areas, but on a large scale like this, I don't know that it was all that more efficient. Anywho, here's a look at my hilarious photobooth reference shot --


A Maris Wicks photobomb is becoming the standard with these things.

Eagle eye's might have noticed that Kerra's face is somewhat different in the final finished illustration, versus the initial inked piece - and you'd be right. My editor thought Kerra looked a little off model at first (and I couldn't really disagree with him --hey, I'm only human!), so I went back into her face and altered it slightly. Check it!





Above are my initial sketches for the cover. The middle one, my personal favorite of the bunch, was meant to harken back to old James Bond novel covers. I like the idea of it, but can see why they didn't go with this one. Still, an idea to revisit perhaps for some future piece.

Alrighty, that about does it for now. Happy Holidays, every body!

Batgirl!

Above is a long overdue commission I received at Heroes Con last year that I only just got around to. It's also my entry for Hub Comic's (my local shop) winter solstice 'Dark Knight on the Darkest Night' gallery show. The opening already happened today, but the show itself will be up at least through the next week. So if you're in the area, please do check it out.

Go Babs, Go!

Whose Bright Idea?

Broken Fuse. From NYCC, 2011. Copic markers, pen and ink on 9 x 12" bristol

As it turns out, my local comic shop, Comicazi is hosting a 1-day convention today here in Somerville, MA. All four of the 'Four Squares' crew, Tim, Liz, Maris and myself will be tabling there. I'll be again selling prints, sketchbooks, t-shirts and taking on commissions (not unlike the Madman piece above).

The show runs from 10am-4pm at the Dilboy VFW Hall in Davis Square.

Hope to see you there!

The Girl and The Paper Crane

Above is a commission I was asked to do by a fellow collecting sketches of or relating to Sadako Sasaki - A young Japanese girl who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the nuclear bombing in 1945. Most are familiar with her story, though if not, you can read more here.

Miss Martian

From NYCC, 2011. Pen and ink, Copic markers on 9x12" bristol board.

Photobooth Phridays, No 37

So I had a couple covers come out this week, and thought I might show off some of the reference for one -


Cover four of Star Wars: Knight Errant - Deluge.

Above is the original Copic marker drawing I did before adding colors in Photoshop. And below is a reference photo Maris graciously allowed me to take:

She has the patience of a Jedi.

While I'm here, here's a look at the black and white art for the other cover I had come out this week, issue 165 of Marvel's Thunderbolts series.

Click here to see the final colors by Rico Renzi!

Have a good weekend, every body.

X-23!

As far as I understand this character, she's a female clone of Wolverine - so I wanted to make her as Logan-esque as possible.

From New York Comic Con, 2011. Watercolor and gouache, pen and ink on 9x12" watercolor board.

La Femme Natasha

A.K.A., Black Widow


From New York Comic Con, 2011. Pen and ink on 9x12" bristol board.

Dr. Victor Fries

Happy Halloween, kiddies. Try and stay warm out there.


Copic markers, pen and ink on 9 x 12" bristol board.

Photobooth Phridays, No 36

A new Photobooth Phriday!

This week I thought I'd highlight another panel from my (eventually to be announced) Batman story --


I'm a big wus a lot of the time when it comes to drawing hands, so.... reference!


Here also is a look at some of the reference I was looking at for all the flora I drew adorning Ivy's Plantcave--



Have a good weekend, y'all!

Har Har

It is to laugh.


Harley Quinn. From New York Comic Con, 2011. Watercolor, pen & ink on 9x12" bristol board.

-- In my mind, I was thinking of this commission as a sort of counterpoint to this Joker sketch from last year --

http://joequinones.blogspot.com/2010/11/smile.html

Legionnaire: Andromeda

A.K.A. Laurel Gand, from the Legion of Superheroes.

From NYCC, 2011. Pen & ink, Copic markers on 9x12" bristol board.

It's a Mad, Mad world.

For those of you who haven't already seen this, (it was posted online a couple days ago) here's a commission I did of Harry Cane (Rich Sommer) from the 'Mad Men' tv series.


From New York Comic Con, 2011. Pen & Ink on 9 x 12" bristol board.

--I've been a big fan of the show for some time, so when this fellow came by with a tv character themed sketchbook, giving me the choice to draw Harry, I was very much excited to put pencil to paper. Hope you all like!