My plan is to announce on Tuesday a new convention and commission based product. I'm getting a bunch of things in line to roll it out, but I think it'll be something fun for everyone. So watch for it, because some of it might be time-based. And that is what the pros call "a tease".
All I'm Gonna Say
When your special lady asks you to draw a tauntaun, you do two things:
1. Thank your lucky stars that you've found a lady that likes tauntauns and Star Wars.
2. Draw the hell out of that tauntaun.
Justice, Like Lightning
When I was young, I created my own superheroes. Now that I'm older, well, I still do. But way back when, Young Thom came up with the name for a crime fighting duo named Black Thunder and Black Lightning. Then, just a couple months later, DC must have sent someone into my bedroom, because they stole my idea and created their own Black Lightning.
Years and years later, I'm good friends with the creator of Black Lightning, Tony Isabella. I've gotten over our parallel ideas (or was he the one DC sent into my room?) and we've had all sorts of adventures together. At Wizard World Mid-Ohio we sat next to each other and Tony asked if I could do a commission featuring his character and mine, Darkblade.
I was glad to. It was fun to draw Black Lightning in his classic costume, and there were some cool lighting effects to play with. I pushed myself with Darkblade, too, interacting with his cape a little more than I usually have opportunity to draw.
Tony got the piece and pronounced it good. I wanted him to post it on his site first, which he did, and now I'm sharing it with you.
And incidentally, my commission list for 2012 is very much open. If you've been thinking of getting a piece done, now's a great time!
Cover Recreation Double Punch (pt. 2)
Here's the second of my classic comic cover double-punch!
This is a recreation of the classic Man of Steel #3. Crusader and Darkblade are replacing Superman and Batman, but the wildcard here is the DC villian Magpie who's been replaced by the villianous Fearleader. She's often mentioned (and is Chris Sims' favorite never-seen character) and one of these days may actually appear in a comic. We'll see.
I tried ti keep with the older, flatter coloring style where possible while still keeping some of the Love and Capes coloring style as well. I think it turned out pretty well. Click here to see it biggimized.
Too lazy to scroll to yesterday's link for how to order commissions? Here it is again.
Cover Recreation Double Punch (pt. 1)
I've had two recent commissions that have involved recreating classic comic covers with Love and Capes covers. There must be something in the air.
First up is this recreation of Birds of Prey #8 with Darkblade and Amazonia substituiting for Nightwing and Batgirl.
This was done for two of my biggest fans in Baltimore, who have even bought copies of my book to give to other pros. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.
I'm not sure, but you might see this cover again, too.
Click to embiggen the cover, of course.
Wait, you want a commission? Why contact me here and we can make that happen.
The Girl Who Waited
It's an irritating truth that it's easier to place your friends and family behind other concerns. I've been working on client stuff and traveling and all that, so when my friend Jesse asked me to start off his new Doctor Who-themed sketchbook, it took way too long for me to get to it. But, three-and-a-half months later, I did.
There's part of the chain of events that works out, though. I felt I'd taken so long that I really had to up my game on the sketch.
The subject, which should come to no surprise to anyone who knows me, was Amy Pond.
I got to break in my new Copic markers on this one. I haven't done much with them in previous sketches, and I find I really like them. It gives them a lot of pop. I'd always had the idea of making Amy's hair the only color on the piece, but since the Doctor did such a great job describing how vivid a blue the TARDIS is, I scanned a rough and did a rare color test, to see if I should make the time traveling box blue. The tests are below. I leave it to you to decide if I made the right choice.
Click on anything for embiggimzation!
Run For Your Life!
I've been running late on my commission list. But how can you run late on a commission that involves the Tardis?
This commission, from New York Comic-Con, is of Amy and Rose from Doctor Who running into action.
And, because this can't be linked to enough, the Craig Ferguson Doctor Who Cold Open.
Bride of Sketchapalooza
The last wave of my commission madness. Now's a great time to remind you, too, that I've got three shows this October: New York Comic Con (where I'll be set up with the Comic Book Diner guys), Mid-Ohio-Con, and Long Beach Comic Con. I'll be doing commissions at all of those, but if you want to get on the sketch list early, especially if you want something color and/or reference-heavy, pre-ordering is always a good thing. Send me an e-mail at tz (squiggly-at) thomz.com to get on the list early!
Son of Sketchapalooza
Here's the second of three waves of commission sketches from my recent travels. The Cyclops one was done on one of those Marvel sketch covers. I don't do many of those, and they're always a challenge because the surface of those covers can be a little challenging.
Sketchapalooza
I'm getting back in the swing of things after six trips in six weeks. In those trips and conventions, I did a ton of commissions. Over the next couple of days, I'm going to share the bulk of them with you. The black and white ones were snapped with my iPhone, and the color ones were art that I scanned and colored. Click to embiggen, as always!