Couples Commission: Flash and Dale (and Aura)

Not DC or Marvel this time (though I think they've been published by both) it's Flash Gorden and Dale Arden… and Princess Aura.

I know it's not a great film, but I really love the 1980 Flash Gordon, complete with Queen soundtrack. There's a lot of earnest goofyness to it, and I still quote chunks of it. "Hah! Tricked ya, Barin!" And, of course, anything Brian Blessed says.

The designs here are largely based on the Filmation series, which was also pretty good… until they added that pink dragon character, but that's a story for another time.

This time out, I did digital roughs, a tight pencil pass, transferred via lightbox to bristol and Copic marker color. I did the lightbox to make sure I could erase everything that wasn't ink, and nothing would be reactivated by the alcohol markers.

Couples Commission: Dr. Strange and Clea

Switching from DC to Marvel couples, here's one of Dr. Strange and Clea. Both of them have costumes that are just way too much fun to draw.

The original rough was done digitally, printed as a blueline on Canson bristol paper, inked by brush, and then colored on computer. I wanted to take the color digital so that I could play around with the embroidery on the good doctor's cape, and those cool Ditko circles on Clea's arms and legs.

Couples Commission: Hawkman and Hawkwoman

I'm continuing on with making the couples commissions, at least until Valentine's Day. Then I might switch to something more of, well, a pony nature. That way I'll be well stocked up for Emerald City and beyond.

Today's subject is Hawkman and Hawkwoman. I always liked them as a couple, especially when my friend Tony Isabella was writing them. (If you haven't checked out Shadow War of the Hawkman, especially the miniseries, go find it on eBay or something. It's worth it.) The pre-angry reincarnated version was my favorite.

He just looks cool, and those masks… well, as a kid they drove me nuts. I couldn't figure out how to draw them right. Probably why I have an affinity for the Earth-2 much easier to draw hooded version as well. Here, I think I did pretty good.

I drew this in pencil on tracing paper, no digital first. And it was really only one pass at it, too.As well as learning the Cintiq, I'm also trying to hone my live sketching skills so I can properly draw in your sketchbook when the time comes. Then transferred to blueline and inked with brush.

Commission list is still open, just sayin'.

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.

My 1st My Little Pony Commission

Next month, my issue of the My Little Pony micro series makes it's debut. I've written and drawn the inaugural story featuring Twilight Sparkle. I think it's a good one, and I hope you do, too.

This means, of course, that I'm officially a Pony artist and I've started taking Pony commissions. Here's the first one that I did featuring Nightmare Moon.

I'll also be offering the original art from my issue, as well as the cover, for sale at conventions and online.

These Rhinos are Done Bowling

Here it is, the last of my Kickstarter rewards, this being a Stephanie Brown Batgirl piece. Stephanie Brown seems to have been terminated with prejudice from the DC Universe. I always thought she was kind of cool, and certainly an interesting character design. So here she is. As usual, click for biggimization!

Now, everyone reading this should have recieved their Kickstarter reward (with the exception of my Aunt, who told me I could deliver it personally the next time I see her). So, if I've missed you, let me know.

I loved my Kickstarter experience, not counting the hell that was dealing with Active Images media. More on that some other time. I've got a couple other ideas in my head for what to do next, so expect me to Kickstart something else soon.

Moon Knight Commission

Here's another commission off the list. This one is one of the Kickstarter rewards I owed a backer. He picked Moon Knight, which was an interesting choice. I like it when people pick a more obscure character because there's so much new to play with. As always, click to embiggen!

Love and Capes Goes Hawaiian

Among other things I've been doing, I've been catching up on my commission list. This one was one of the rewards for my Rhinos Bowling Kickstarter project. (Which, by the way is finally in the United States, no thanks to my printer.)

The task on this one was to draw the ladies of Love and Capes in Hawai'i. I really like this one because of the characterization. Amazonia is looking for action, Abby is reading a book, and Charlotte is drinking. Each of them is summed up perfectly.

I've got a couple more I'll be showing soon, too.

Click and embiggen!

Also, not for nothin', but I am available for Free Comic Book Day, comic shops of Hawai'i.

My First Step Into a Much Larger World

This past weekend I took my first step into a much larger world. I went to Star Wars Celebration VI. I went at the urging of the awesome Amy Ratcliffe, Star Wars fan of the highest order. Plus, since I’ll be a Star Wars sketch card artist as of the release of September’s Galactic Files card set, I wanted to do some recon for possibly setting up at the next one.

(Well, the next domestic one. The next Celebration will be in Germany. The week after Comic-Con. That might be pushing it, even for me. And I drove from Orlando to Atlanta to follow up Celebration with Dragon*Con.)

  I have to say, it was pretty awesome. The people are great, and some of the costumes were just out-and-out amazing. There was a great feeling to the whole event. And it’s amazing how Star Wars has continued to find fans through the years. Kids who couldn’t have been old enough to see Phantom Menace in the theatre still get hooked into the way first-time fan who lived through the craziness of premieres and toy lines did.

It’s also cool to see what a unified show can do. The three main stages each had their own specific host. The large theatre had a DJ and warm up act keeping people energized. You can’t really do that at Comic-Con with their universal table and chairs setup.

I was really impressed by the displays that the fans set up. I got to be in a Bacta tank, run from Roxy the Rancor, get rousted by Stormtroopers. stop a trash masher, and even sit in a snowspeeder… my favorite Star Wars vehicle.

There were more than a few things to buy, too. I kept myself from buying the Cup O’Jawa coffee mug and the Mos Eisley Spaceport glass, but, um, I did get them on t-shirts. There was an incredible amount of art at the show, too. Lucas really created a visually enticing world. There’s always something interesting there that’s begging to be drawn.

I got to see some pretty incredible stuff, too. There was the premiere of the new season of Clone Wars (the second premiere of the show that I’ve seen). I saw the 3-D trailer for Attack of the Clones and even a minute of Revenge of the Sith, which really does look great in that format. I got to see Carrie Fisher on stage talk about… okay, well, it’s probably best not to dwell on one that too much. Still cool.

And for one brief moment, I got to be in the same room with George Lucas. Okay, it was an auditorium, but it was still something I never really thought would happen when I first watched Star Wars those many years ago. That was kind of awesome.     If I had to pick a highlight, though, it would be James Arnold Taylor’s one man show.

His show’s about an hour long, and he does over two hundred voices for the first fifty-eight minutes or so. It’s interesting and funny and amazing. He dissects the process of doing impressions person by person along with a video presentation and it’s just amazing.

But the last two minutes are the thunderclap. That’s when he tells you about being exposed to toxic mold at the apex of his career and how it killed his voice, and how it took two years to make a comeback that no one thought he could. It’s one of the best “follow your dreams” moments since Kermit the Frog sang Rainbow Connection. 

I’m a sucker for passion. It’s what fuels me and gets me out of bed in the morning. Well, that and coffee, but mostly passion. And I love being among passionate people. Celebration was definitey the place for that. Amazingly crafted costumes, detailed reproductions of sets and ships, dioramas and Legos like you wouldn’t believe, it was all on display.

So, next time they throw one of these Celebrations in America again, or even Canada, I bet you’ll find me there.