Cool Customer

I can't say I know if she's a good guy or bad guy anymore, but Emma Frost is still pretty cool. Cold, even. Her costume is pretty impractical, but when I was reading X-Men, she wasn't much of a combatant, either. Artwise, I tried a lot of different coloring techniques and textures by coloring it in Corel Painter. It's a little more painterly than some of the other pieces I've done, but I think it suits her.

I have to say, I also really dig the expression and her right hand, both of which took a lot of redrawing to get just right.

Both Work for a Magazine

Kids today don't understand things. They complain that Juggernaut was wasted in the "X-Men" movie and that Constantine wasn't British (which bothered me too, I admit, but I actually liked the movie overall). They don't know rough. When I was a kid, the only superhero stuff we had was Superfriends, the Adam West Batman, the George Reeves Superman, and stuff like Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. And we liked it, by gum.

Yeah, in retrospect, with retrospect being when I turned eleven and saw them rerun in syndication, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl doesn't hold up. I don't think I ever thought it was "good", but just that I didn't know better. Still, it's a part of my childhood that's made me the relatively well-adjusted guy that I am, so I have a soft spot in my heart for this silly Diedre Hall/Judy Strangis show.

So, since I'm doing these illustrations, I decided to turn my focus on them. The Kitty Pryde illustration had no line weights in it to speak of. So, on this one, I decided to really crank up the line weights and see what happened. I have to say, I kinda like it. Heck, I'd love to do a whole book like this. Maybe even about them.

Just a Phase

When Jesse asked me to do Duo Damsel, the other suggestion he had was Kitty Pryde from the X-Men. Kitty was my favorite character back when I started reading the book in the Claremont/Paul Smith days. So I decided to try my hand at everyone's favorite intangible mutant.

I did this one a little differently, inspired by Carlos Megalia who worked on Superman: Infinite City (the book is okay, but the art is phenomenal... thanks for turning me on to it Sean). I also blurred the drawing a little bit, just to get that phasing effect.

This one shows part of why I keep doing these: to try something new and get a new tool in my bag of tricks. You have to keep challenging yourself.

If you like it, it's available for purchase.

Double Your Fun

The commissions are pouring in now. My friend Jesse Jackson asked me if I could do a Duo Damsel for him. Ah, Duo Damsel. The walking Penthouse letter, and she married Bouncing Boy, giving hope to pudgy guys all across comics.

It seemed obvious to do something digital with her, duplicating her and changing the colors to be her other self, but since all the purchased commissions come with an inked original, I couldn't do that. I wound up sketching out the right figure, flopping it, and inking both of them on the original. The costume was also a hard call, since Jesse and I are big fans of the Cockrum/Grell era, but she barely appeared in that run. I managed to find a couple of shots of this uniform, and the only modification I made at his request was to give her her current hairstyle.

This one was a lot of fun!

What Better Way to Say "I Love You?"

A couple weeks before Valentine's Day I was contacted by a lady I met last year at the always-excellent Baltimore Comicon about doing a commission. Here's the thing, it wasn't for her, it was for her husband as a VD Day present. I just think that was so sweet. She asked for Batgirl, and I was glad to provide it.

Better yet, I received an e-mail from her that not only did he love it, but it's now on a wall with a Kubert (still trying to find out if it's Adam, Andy or Joe) and Adam Hughes sketch. (Edit: I'm told it's an Adam sketch.) Wow, that's heady company. The only pictures that he has any higher are those of their kids.

(Stupid DNA always getting in my way!)

And, just as a reminder, you can order your very own commission here.

Far Out, Man

The art director of the Fort Worth Weekly sent up the ThomSignal and let me know that he needed a cover for this week. The story was about a scientist and musician who has ALS, and they wanted to have a cover of nature kind of "reclaiming" him. It gave me an opportunity to try something in a very different style. Something kind of trippy.

My first attempt tripped a little too far, so I reigned it in and did a second, which went over pretty well. It'll be printing this week.

I've posted both of them here so you can see the original version and the final.

The Maid of Might

One of the great things about this gig and this blog is the people I get to meet. One of them runs the excellent Say It Backwards blog, which focuses on Superman. Thomas, the Guy in Charge of it, asked me to do a commission of Supergirl circa her first appearance. Taking that literally, I drew her waving with a bouquet of flowers, just like she did when her presence on Earth was revealed by her cousin. In original history, at least.

Anyway, I think this captures the colorfulness and the innocence of the original Maid of Might.

Incidentally, you can get a Thom Zahler commission of your own by clicking here.

The Mr. Bill Show

I was contacted by Mr. Bill's Roadhouse Tattoo to design a new logo for them that would also be used on their t-shirts. They wanted something in tht "Big Johnson" style, and it was fun to play with a new look. Most of the design and even the colors were their direction. This went through quite a few revisions along the way, but I think it turned out pretty well.

Faster Than an Auto Loan

I did some animation for Brown and Miller advertising recently. I had to animate a superhero named "Captain Credit" for their client Spitzer Auto. You can download the spot here, as a Windows Media file. I did just the main figure animation, the rest was done in post. It turned out pretty well. The spot is running in the Pittsburgh area, so if you live in the area, you might see it.

Gang of Six

I've been messing around with a couple of side projects lately. One of the things I'm thinking about required six iconic images from Love and Capes. So, I drew six black and white illos of the main characters: Mark, Abby, Charlotte, Amazonia and Darkblade, and needing a sixth, I added the Arachnerd. Click on any of the previews below to see them embiggened.

I also drew these on bristol board, as opposed to layout paper, which is how I do most of my work these days. So maybe down the road I'll offer these for sale if there's any interest. I might color them and post them here, too. I'll let you know.

Happy Valentine's Day!