The Man of Steel

If breaking news hasn't changed things, I should be on WTAM-1100 radio in Cleveland on the Wills and Snyder show talking about Superman. if any of you have met me in person, you know that's a topic that's hard to get me to shut up on.

Inspired by the new trailer, I decided to do a Superman and Lois piece. Click the below image to enlarge it, or "biggimized" as the kids say.

Aw Yeah Comics with a Dash of Thom!

I was part of the Aw Yeah Comics Kickstarter! I did a four page story all about Cell Phone Guy. It's not locked down when or where it will appear, but as soon as I know, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, I'll be at C2E2 at the end of the month, home of Aw Yeah Comics! I'm sure fun will ensue there, too!

Beach Ball Comics, MLP and Me!

This Saturday I'll be appearing at Beach Ball Comics along with Heather Nuhfer and Amy Mebberson! The fun starts at 1:00pm. We'll be signing and selling tons of stuff. I'll have the original art for my My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle issue with me, too. It should be a lot of fun.

More details here if you're interested.

WonderCon this Weekend! My Commission List is Open!

This weekend is WonderCon, Anaheim-flavor. I'll be there again, set up in Artist Alley at table 184. I'll have all the normal stuff, as well as a full stock of the brand-new fourth Love and Capes collection! I'll also be signing and chatting and doing commissions.

I'll also be on the Kids' Comics Panel at 11:00am on Saturday in Room 210A, along with Neo Edmund, Heather Nufer and Barbara Kesel! And I'll be signing at the IDW booth at 2:00 on Sunday.

As a warm-up for sketching at the show and for figuring out a style for my next project, I've been messing around with doing some trading card headshots. Just because I like a theme, I did the original seven members of the Justice League. Click and embiggen!

My commission list is open for the show, too. Drop me at line at tz (at) thomz.com and we can talk specifics. I'm discounting prices for pre-ordered commissions. My normal rate is $25 per character (black and white), $50 for color. Today and tomorrow only, pre-orders will be $20 and $40 for black and white and color.

See you at the show!

Many Things I Have Drawn This Week

I've been drawing up a storm in preparation for Emerald City Comic Con. I've had people request commissions, people who won t-shirts and commissions as part of the Valentine's Day promotion, and a couple of ones to have in my portfolio to sell. I've been posting these on Twitter (which is why you should follow me there, too) but if you don't, or if you missed them, here they are.

All of these are purchased except for the Twilight Sparkle/Spike one, which can be bought at Emerald City.

My Little Pony: About the Coloring

This week my Twilight Sparkle story appeared in the first issue ofthe My Little Pony micro-series, published by IDW. I'm happy with the reaction I've seen, and while I'm trying not to read too many comments, I have seen a lot of people commenting on the animated style of the art. Specifically, the colored ink line effect.

I have to say right here, that wasn't me. That was the colorist, Ronda Pattison. Not only did she have to color bookshelf after bookshelf (and, if you've read the story, you know just how many books I drew in that issue) but she colored the ink lines. I couldn't be happier with the result, and I want to make sure she gets the credit for that.

I've only really had my art colored by someone who wasn't me twice. First was in the installment of The Gutters that I drew last year where I was colored by Rus Wooton. The other was when my good friend Sean Tiffany colored the cover for the second issue of Love and Capes: What to Expect.

It's a very different experience to have your work colored by someone else, at least for me. For the past five years of Love and Capes, I've been coloring it myself. I can see the colors while I'm pencilling it, and I don't have to convey that to anyone, because I'm everyone in the process. I'm lucky that my My Little Pony had such a good colorist on it. It's very different than what I would have done, but I think it's much truer to the show than I would have done.

For instance, in my head all those bookshelves were browns and golds. Ronda colored them in cool blues and purples. It works very well, but it's not the way I saw it. I also didn't say anything because it wasn't "true to my vision" or whatever nonsense artists often say. You hire people who can do the job and then you trust them.

So, when you see my heavy brushy cartoon lines converted to color, that's all her, and I couldn't be happier. It really punched up my art.

What would it have looked like if I'd colored it? Different, that's for sure. I drew all those crazy books, I certainly wouldn't have colored all those lines.

You can click on the artwork here to embiggen the image and see the difference.

Process Post: Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld

This was the last Kickstarter reward I had on my list: An Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld commission. I decided to go all in and add her pegasus/unicorn.

Like previous pieces, I started out digitally and did an extremely rough sketch. I wanted to give her a strong, confident pose, the kind of note she might have struck at the end of the original miniseries. I worked and which I tightened up.

I printed that out and did a final pass with pencil on a sheet of tracing paper. I'm still learning the Cintiq, and I haven't hit a comfort level where I can do things to the level I want. I hope to get there soon, and that's why I keep pushing.

I then scanned in the tight tracing paper art and printed it out as a blueline on a sheet of bristol which I inked with brush and a little bit of Micron in the detail. Then I scanned that in and colored it. I tried converting the ink lines to color, too, but not getting too carried away with it. I think it softened the image, but not too much.

Couples Commission: Phantom and Diana

Con Season will be starting up soon, which means I am starting to tweak my portfolio with some new pieces that can be bought. At the advice of the wise Amy Ratcliffe, I've been doing the theme of "couples" and I'm continuing that with this fine pair: The Phantom and Diana from the classic Lee Falk strip.

I love the Phantom. I became a fan of the strip from the first comic I read in the News-Herald's Sunday comics section. The Phantom was learning about a stegosaurus that he'd found and I was hooked.

I tried to get a little more stylized and a little more Shane Glines on this one. I like the way it came out. And, as with all the stuff that appears here, it's available for purchase.

I'm going to keep doing couples, but I will also be doing some My Little Pony stuff, too, now that I'm a Pony artist.

New Emerald City Comic Con Print

Emerald City Comic Con is coming up, and I promised a second con print for the show. The first one almost sold out, so doing a second was a no-brainer. Being the first time I've done a second, I went away from the art deco, white border print that has defined the con print series. I don't know that this black-bordered print will start a new series, though. We'll have to see how this one does. I am toying with the idea of adding a quote about coffee to this. We'll see how that goes.

As usual, click and embiggen!

Also, there's an interview with me up at the Talking Comics podcast site. I discuss Love and Capes, My Little Pony and more. Check it out!

Postcards from the Edge

For the last year and a half, I've been doing these local con prints with my Love and Capes characters in the city hosting the show I'm at. Each is limited to only 25 pieces, signed and numbered, and they've been pretty popular. For those of you who wonder such things, the best sellers among the sixteen existing ones have been the Columbus and Seattle ones. Seattle was, in fact, so popular that I'll be doing a new print for them this year. I'll also be adding Denver for my appearance at the Denver Comic Con this June.

This year, I'll be introducing a set of postcards that include each of these prints. I haven't come up with a price yet, but when I do, I'll let you know. But seventeen seems like such an odd number. (Well, it is… and prime to boot.) Eighteen would be a little better. Maybe I'll do a chase card only available in the set.

Any suggestions for where?