Poe Dameron (x2)

Poe Dameron! BB-8! I love them. I love them both. Here are two variant covers I did for Marvel's new comic about our ace Resistance pilot, the first issue of which is out today. Written by the great Charles Soule and drawn by the amazingly talented Phil Noto, it's well worth reading. Check it out!

Marvel's STAR WARS, no. 1

Star Wars!

I LOVE Star Wars, you guys. 

So you can imagine how excited I was when Marvel asked me to do a variant for issue one of their aptly named new series. They'd wanted some sort of Marvel homage for my cover, so I decided it might be fun to reference this famous cover to Amazing Fantasy #15, by Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko.

The cover also references a scene from A New Hope where Luke carries Leia across a divide aboard the Death Star. Thought it'd be neat to flip that dynamic, showing Leia carrying Luke instead.

Anyhow, hope you like!

Original Art For Sale on Splash Page

I am very pleased to announce that as of today I am now selling my original artwork online via splashpageart.com. It’s a fantastic site that hosts many of my favorite artists, so I was a little more than excited when Mark, the owner of the site reached out to me about joining their ranks.

There’s a ton of my originals already on there now, and more coming soon. Check them out by clicking below, or on the link to the right. 

http://www.splashpageart.com/ArtistGalleryRoom.asp?Details=1&ArtistId=253

Charles Darwin: JEDI

One of the stranger and more enjoyable commission requests I’ve gotten. From New York Comic Con, 2012. Pen & ink on 9x12” board.

HOLT! Who goes there?

Okay, I know I missed out on posting on 'May the 4th', but here's some Star Wars art anyway--

Kerra Holt of Dark Horse's Star Wars: Knight Errant series! The above was a commission from Boston Comic Con; created on 9x12" bristol board with Copic markers, and watercolor. It was really fun to revisit the character.

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!

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.

Green Lando

New York Comic Con is OVAH! It was a crazy busy and successful show this weekend. Boy howdy am I tired. Thanks so much to everyone who came by my table to say hello and/or purchase some of my wares. It was very much appreciated.

Above is a look at my auction piece that I did for the show. A reaction to Ming Doyle's recent 'Flashbacca' drawing. I calls it 'Green Lando'.

I did lots of sketches over the course of the 4-day convention - all of which were great fun to work on. I'll post more over the coming weeks, but for now here's a picture of Maris and I and our friends Ming and Alexa in costume:


Maris' costume was loosely based on my recent Poison Ivy redesign which was neat. I think she made an absolutely stellar Ivy.



There's lots more pictures, which I'll likely post in the near future. For now however, I'm goin' to bed.

New England Comics Signing

Howdy all. Apologies for my internet absence of late. I had a rough summer, and have been playing catch up a bit. I'll try and do better. Promise!

Anyhow, this came out today:



Cover 2 of Knight Errant: Deluge hits comic stands today. Please do scoop it up.

As a bonus, here's a look at the two other cover ideas I had for this issue:



I had decided early on that I wanted to do a Rockwellian piece, so I kept using the circle motif as I pitched sketches throughout the five issue run. Eventually this one got through.

Outside of that, tonight this is happening:



A signing at New England Comics! I'll be signing at their Harvard Square location from 5-7 this evening. There I'll have original art on display and will be selling prints and sketchbooks. Please do stop on by.

Knight Errant, Deluge No. 5

Apologies for my prolonged blogging absence y'all. Here's a Star Wars cover.

San Diego Comic Con EXCLUSIVE

Hey all,
Above is a look at an exclusive print that will be (was already?) available at SDCC this year. It's a variation of the main cover I drew for my next Knight Errant cover - an homage to Norman Rockwell and his Saturday Evening Post illustrations. It was being handed out during the Star Wars panel on Friday, but there may still be some extras available if you make your way on over to the Darkhorse booth...

Excelsior!

Knight Errant: Deluge, No. 3

Coming in October...

Knight Errant: Deluge, No. 2

Just saw the solicits online for this, so here it is, cover two of Star Wars: Knight Errant's second miniseries, 'Deluge'.


Hitting comic stands this Septemeber!

Regarding the execution of this cover - recently, a few of my artist friends had been singing the praises of the versatility of Copic brand sketch markers both in their sketching and professional work. I decided to finally pick up some of these markers, and took them out for a spin on this here cover. Below is a look at the piece pre-digital color, rendered with Copic sketch markers, and inked in Dr. Ph Martin's Bombay Black India Ink:


I gotta say, they're a lot of fun to draw with.

Shaak Attaak

That's a terrible pun. I'm sorry.


Shaak Ti, from Boston Comic Con, 2011. Watercolor, pen and ink on 9"x12" board.

Photobooth Fridays, no. 27

Today we'll be looking at the first cover of Star Wars: Knight Errant, series 2, starring none other than the jade saber wielding Jedi, Kerra Holt.


Or is that Maris Wicks? It is! Thankfully Ms. Wicks was once again gracious enough to model for me - this time with props!


Above you can see a comparison of my initial thumbnail sketch for the cover, as well as it's proceeding finished inks. Looking at the final cover, you'll notice there weren't really any major changes from its initial composition, save for minor tweaks in the pose, anatomical correcting, detailing, etc. Lucasfilm did however think that Kerra's smile looked a bit goofy in the thumbnail, and asked me to get rid of it altogether. Having intended the piece to be a bit of a throwback to 1940's WWII propaganda art, I thought it essential that it be as blindly optimistic as possible. I toned down Kerra's smile hoping they would let me keep it, which they thankfully did.

Here's a pencilled drafting of those pearly whites:


Which you can compare against the final finished cover here.

And as a final bonus, here's a look at the two unused concepts for this cover:


Have a good weekend!

"Where Is Padme?"

Senator Padme Amidala. Gouache, watercolor, pen & ink on watercolor board, 2011

The above depiction of everyone's favorite Star Wars character, portrayed by Natalie Portman, is a left over from this year's Emerald City Comic Con. The fellow who had commissioned it was very patient, allowing me to take the piece, which I'd started in Seattle, home with me to finish up. I finally got around to doing just that. John, I hope you like it!

And while we're on the topic of comic conventions, Boston Comic Con is only a few short days away! I will be in attendance there this Saturday and Sunday, where I will be selling originals, prints, and t-shirts, as well as taking on commission requests. You can find me at table 502 in Artist Alley, seated beside super rad comic artists, Maris Wicks and Liz Prince (at table 503). There's a huge list of artists slated to attend, including Mark Chiarello, Stéphane Roux, Frank Quitely, Neal Adams and more! It's an exciting lineup, and promises to be a really fun con.

Here are my sketch prices for the show for anyone interested --

Head Sketch --

Black and White (pen and ink, possible gray toning) - $60
Color (painted in watercolor, inks laid over top) - $150

Partial 3/4/ Full Figure -- (As seen in the image above)

Black and White - $100
Color - $250

All sketches will be drawn on 9" by 12" bristol or watercolor board. If you're interested, check out the 'commissions' tab on the side for more samples of what my con sketches look like.

Okee Doke, that's all for now. Hope to see you this weekend!

Photobooth Fridays, No. 25

I just can't get enough Madman! Hopefully you feel the same, because today we'll be looking at a pinup I did in 2009 of Madman's main squeeze, Josephine Lombard--


--As portrayed by longtime pal 'o mine (since high school!), Kayleen. Kayleen did an awesome job modeling here, lending just the right amount of womanly-ness to Joe.


And speaking of 'womanly-ness', check out these AWESOME reference photos taken by classic pinup artist, Gil Elvgren. The photos are shown side-by-side with the finished illustrations they were taken for, and it is fascinating to see. Always nice to be reminded that artists have been utilizing photo reference for a good long while. Thanks to Spectrum for pointing it out.

Annnnnnd speaking of Spectrum, I'm in! I am honored to have been included once again in the forthcoming 18th edition of the series of sci-fi & fantasy artist books - my fifth year running. Here's a look at the piece that was accepted this year:


Cover four of Star Wars: Knight Errant!

Okee Doke. That's all for now. Have a good weekend, folks!

Knight Errant Returns

This here was just announced at C2E2 this past weekend--


It's the next installment of Star Wars: Knight Errant! The series, which premiered last fall, showcases a new era in the Star Wars universe set 1,000 years before the events of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It'll be hitting stands this August, and I'll be returning as cover artist for its run. I'm psyched.

Photobooth Fridays, No 15

With comics and illustration, often an artist is required to produce several sketches or thumbnails depicting various takes on an idea. Here I was tasked with designing the cover for the last issue of Dark Horse's Knight Errant series. My editor and I discussed two basic approaches to the cover; one focusing on a particular scene described in the book, and the second being more of a montage image, showcasing events and characters seen throughout the series' run. I preferred the later idea for the cover, so I ended up sending two 'montage' sketches, and one 'scene' sketch. One of the montage sketches went on to become the final cover, the other is seen above.


It's meant to highlight the opposite dynamic between Odion (the big bad guy on the left), and Kerra (the smaller Jedi on the right). Evil vs. Good. Oppression vs. Hope. Sith vs Jedi.... yada yada.
While I don't usually take photo reference when drawing thumbnails like this, I made an exception here as I really wanted to nail the poses, to sell the image as much as possible. Anywho, hope you like.

Have a good weekend, fellas.

Photobooth Fridays, No. 8

Happy Friday everybody. Today we've got a look at some reference I took for a recent Star Wars: Knight Errant cover. Elements I was looking at in particular were the posing of each hand, as well as the leg/foot foreshortened. And yes, I used an actual lightsaber as a prop for a Star Wars cover (see blog heading).