Happy Halloween with a Ghost Hunter Commission!

I've had a couple people come up to commission me at shows to draw an actor or actress who is appearing at the show and have them sign the art. They're certainly more unique than just the standard publicity shot. And it's been a blast for me, too. I got to meet Ian McNiece, who played Winston Churchill on Doctor Who because of it. At Wizard Ohio, I drew Ghost Hunter Grant Wilson hunting a different kind of ghost. Mariann, who commissioned it, loved it, and so did Grant.

Happy Halloween!

Pinkie Pie! Enemy of the Republic!

I was at New York Comic Con, and a gentlemen came up with his very Star Wars son in a stroller. I think he saw my Han and Leia piece in my display portfolio. He said that his son loved both Star Wars and My Little Pony and wanted a drawing. Immediately, my artist brain starting thinking of ponies with lightsabers and so on. "Who's your favorite Pony?" he asked his son. Pinkie Pie. "And who's your favorite Star Wars character?" General Greivous. He then turned to me. "Can you do a combination of Pinkie Pie and General Grievous?

Suddenly, the cute little Jedi ponies I had in my mind exploded. Pinkie Pie? Grevious? That's not a chocolate and peanut butter moment, that's a chocolate and wood varnish moment. How do those go together? But, I like drawing and I like money, so I said "Yes, I can do that."

What happened was not the drawing I expected, but it might be my favorite drawing of the show. When you get things thrown at you like that, the creative solution is something original and something you weren't capable of just a few minutes ago. So I figured out how to combine everyone's favorite party-obsessed wacky Pony with a killer four-armed droid with a breathing issue. And I loved it.

So did the boy. Look at how happy he looks!

Of Beetles and Busy-ness

If you've been following me the last couple months, you know that I've been doing an epic amount of conventions. And by "epic" I mean "crazy". I just did a two-fer of New York Comic-Con and then GeekGirlCon back to back. But, because I'm living life on the road, I haven't been posting as much stuff here as I'd like. It's a little clunkier to post from my iPhone, plus, you know, general busy-ness. So, as things are quieting down, I'm going to post some of my favorite art, commissions and photos from my convention season. First up, well, it's not any of those. My friend Tim Wallace is the brain behind the Kord Industries blog and part of the well-oiled machine that is the Baltimore Comic-Con. I've owed him a Blue Beetle piece for a couple months now, and I've finally managed to get it done. And now, I share it with you. Click and embiggen!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Whew! Five shows in five weeks! Toronto, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Columbus. It sure seemed like a good idea at the time, and they were certainly fun. But man, that's a lot of travel. At the most recent Wizard show, I did a panel on body language and expressions. I recommended a couple of books, and I wanted to link to them. The Drawn to Life books are absolutely fantastic. They are the best art books I've read post-art school. I'm also linking to the Kuratake brush pen that's become a staple of my convention toolbox. It has a great tip, holds it well, and doesn't bleed when you hit it with a Copic marker.

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.

Soarin My Little Pony Commission

I've always been impressed with how the My Little Pony cosplayers manage to graft the design of the ponies to different kinds of costumes. Here, I was hired by a Soarin cosplayer to do a commission of the person and the pony. This was a ton of fun. I tried to grab the confidence in both characters as well as match the colors without duplicating them, just so there was a little visual difference between the two.

This is another fine example of someone preordering a commission, too. This will be picked up at C2E2. And yes, I still have space on my list for that show.

Also, this is a fine time to announce to all the Bronies and Pegasisters that I will be at C2E2, but I am not grouped with the Pony Artists. Amy Mebberson, Tony Fleecs, Andy Price and Katie Cook will all be in the L section. I will be at E11. (I figure I'm most identified with Love and Capes, not My Little Pony, hence the distance.) But I will have original art, commissions and all that coolness. Just six rows away.

My Little Pony Sketch Card

Last summer, I participated in the Topps' Star Wars: Galactic Files sketchcard series. As a result, I've been doing a lot of these, including this My Little Pony card. I'll be making a batch of them for my appearance at Captain Blue Hen in Newark, Delaware for Free Comic Book Day this year. That doesn't mean you have to make it to Delaware to get one, though. (I do encourage that, of course, Joe holds a great event at his store!) I am taking orders and pre-commissions for cards, too. They're $15 in black and white, $20 in color!

My Little Pony Sketch Covers

IDW does a lot of variant covers for their My Little Pony books. They did sketch covers and, something I haven't seen before but really dig, sketch back covers. They print them on something that's effectively bristol board, takes pencil and ink really well, and people can commission us to draw on them. Coming out of last week's My Little Pony event at Beach Ball Comics, I got a series of four covers, two fronts and two backs to draw. I'm pretty happy with how these came out. I do have some blank covers in my box of comps from my Twilight Sparkle issue, so if you're interested, drop me a line and we can talk price.

Either way, here are the covers I did. Click and embiggen!

Book Covers Project

For the past year or so, I've been designing cover artwork for the Laina Turner's mystery books. The design is by the excellent 801Red who saw fit to bring me in on this project.

They've been a lot of fun to do. I have a lot of flexibility once I get the title, and I've used it to expand my capabilites, too. The art is drawn in Adobe Illustrator on my Cintiq, so I've learned how to bring brush-inking techniques to that indispensable vector program. It's a skill I've been able to use in other projects, including the red Love and Capes shirts I did earlier this year.

Beach Ball Pony Party Preparations!

Tomorrow I'll be appearing at the Beach Ball My Little Pny event. I'll be doing sketches, selling books (including Love and Capes), selling original art, and best of all, meeting and talking with fans.

To prepare for it, I did a few advance My Little Pony commissions. All of these will be for sale tomorrow.

By way of explanation, these are hand-drawn and inked originals with a digital color print. I don't mass produce prints of other people's characters, so each one of these pieces is the only one. I won't print another.

Take a look at the links here, too. Click on any of them to embiggenate.

I'm looking forward to seeing all of you tomorrow.