Day 17: Black Adam#tzadvent

Day 17: Black Adam

Ask me what DC property I'd love to get my hands on, and it won't be Superman or Firestorm, it'll be Captain Marvel (Shazam-flavored). I think the book needs a fun and light touch, and probably to be in its own universe where talking tigers and evil worms can work. One day, I hope to get the opportunity.

I didn't do too much new in the technique or Nostromo commands. I have figured out how to get the zoom-scrub to work off the dial in both Photoshop and Manga Studio, which is nice. And I inked the reflections on his arm bands with a brush tool on its own layer. Normally, doing something like this wouldn't be worth the effort if I were working traditionally, but creating the piece in Manga Studio makes that stuff pretty effortless.

I still have a couple of more commands I want to link to the Nostromo, but I'm not sure that I want to give up any of the other keys. At least not yet.

Day 16: Two-Face #tzadvent

Day 16: Two-Face

Two-Face is probably my favorite of Batman's rogues gallery (with Riddler and Poison Ivy pretty close).It was fun to play around with the patterns on the suit and shirt here.

I think I'm finally comfortable drawing in Manga Studio. I'm going to have to work to really get the background and panel thing down, but laying out and drawing is kind of locked in. That's good. I think this Advent project is doing exactly what I hoped.

Day 15: Matter Eater Lad #tzadvent

Day 15: Matter Eater Lad

I love the absurdity of some of the Silver Age characters, and that's no more prevalent than in the 60's Legion of Super Heroes. Matter Eater Lad had the power of super-eating. He could chomp and digest darn near anything because his stomach was essentially a nuclear reactor.

He's also an example of how the absurd can still work. In the 80's, he ate the Miracle Machine and went insane for a while. It was a cool scene in a more modern story using a character with a ridiculous power.

I'm starting to think about a second set of commands on my Nostromo for Photoshop. I will frequently ink the white highlight lines in a black field (like Matter Eaterr Lad's gloves) as black lines and then do a quick mask, select and invert them to white. I don't have that as a easy key commands yet. I'm thinking through having it be a second set because I think I use those commands when I'm in a different coloring mindset.

The Nostromo is becoming an extension of my process now. So, just about halfway through this project, it seems to be doing what I wanted it to.

Day 14: Starfire #tzadvent

Day 14: Starfire

It's time for another color piece, this time, Princess Koriand'r, Starfire!

I learned even more about ruler/guides on this one, building specific ones for her armbands. I'm getting much better at it, and that's going to make me more productive as I go forward.

Tomorrow, back to black and white. Remember, if you have any suggestions, tweet them at #tzadvent or send me and email or message me on Facebook!

Day 13: Storm #tzadvent

so no time for notes on this. It's done, and I'll do another one tomorrow. See you then.

And congratulations to Robert and Sunny!

Day 12: Loki #tzadvent

Day 12: Loki

Recently, I read the Walter Simonson omnibus and, man, is that pages upon pages of cool. There's so much story there. It's great classic comics storytelling and it still holds up. I'd love to see someone bring a lot of his Thor approach to Aquaman, actually. The book is a great balance of fantasy kingdom stuff and superheroics.

He also tended to draw characters draping themselves in their throne. That was in mind when I drew this.

Art-wise, I finally figured out how to make custom rules for objects. I wish Manga Studios had bezier curves and a little better control, but I'm sure that fine-tuning will become natural to me as I practice, and that's what this whole December project is about, right? I used the custom curve rules for Loki's horns and some of the chair.

The costume is a combination of the Simonson costume redesign and the cool horned helmet. I couldn't not draw that helmet.

Day 11: Darkseid #tzadvent

Day 11: Darkseid

This doesn't always happen, but I really like this one. I wanted to see if I could get the full range of brush effects I could with an actual brush. Darkseid has rocky textures and craggy skin and a metal helmet, lots of stuff to play with.

Plus, I admit I'm a latecomer to Kirby. Curt Swan, Kurt Schaffenberger and George Perez were the first artists I really liked. They're all slick in one way or another. Kirby isn't slick, he's raw and powerful. As I've gotten older, I like his stuff more and more. And the more I learn about what Kirby did, Kirby the creator and innovator can't be touched.

So, I tried to get some Kirby in this. Some of it is the Kirby-esque textures on Darkseid's skin. And some of it was combining Kirby's range of Darkseid. In the original stories, he was a little more a stony monolith with glowing eyes. Later, he was a little more animated and wild eyed. I love the glowing eyes thing, but I wanted some of that anger and energy in the character,

And, of course, Kirby dots.

Day 10: Firestorm

Day 10: Firestorm Well, this one was inevitable, wasn't it? Firestorm the Nuclear Man, one of my favorite characters.

Firestorm was DC's version of Spider-Man, if Spider-Man could have a bad day. He's never been as fun as the Fury of Firestorm run in the Eighties. What, you want to know why? Let me tell you: The core of the book was the mentor/mentee relationship between Professor Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond. And just as important, Ronnie, the least qualified guy in the pair, is the guy driving the boat. It's that dynamic that makes the character so interesting to me.

He's gone through different iterations, and had a strong finish in his recent New-52 version, but honestly, the classic version will always be the one for me.

Day 09: Doctor Strange #tzadvent

Day 09: Doctor Strange Okay, look, I know this is going up today, but it was totally done yesterday. I just forgot to post it after the Alter Ego post. As further proof, Day 10's drawing will go up a little later today, too.

Doctor Strange is just cool. He's so powerful that it's hard for writers to keep him in line. Magic stories are tough, because you can arguably do anything. Creating a believable set of rules, or at least guidelines, is important to give the story an internal consistency.

Not only is the good Doctor a great character, with one of the better origins and personalities, but he's got an awesome costume. Drawing the embroidery in his cape is just fun. It's a great combination of colors and style.

I'm sure he'll be getting the movie treatment soon. Let's hope it's a good one!

The Alter Ego Comics Holiday Special

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of being a guest of Marc Bowker's Alter Ego Comics as part of Lima's downtown Christmas celebration. Marc was a great host, as always. He introduced me to the tasty food and great people at the Met. If you're ever in Lima, I can't recommend it enough. I was doing sketches for a $5 donation to the Our Daily Bread soup kitchen. They do a lot of good, and in my four hours at the store, we managed to raise over $250. I'm proud to have been able to help.

The best part, though, is the people. Working on My Little Pony has brought me a new group of fans. It's wonderful to see so many kids excited about comics. It's the best part of doing these appearances.

I was also interviewed by the local TV station and taught a class on drawing MLP. There should be pics of the class and (shudder) even the video should be posted at some point. When it does, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, here are pictures of some of the happy customers as well as Marc's Holiday Display, celebrating the Star Wars Holiday Special.