Back in '12

Things get pretty busy this time of year, and while it hasn't been that long since my last post, I know that I won't have anything new up until early next year. My next project will not focus on an established comic character, but instead an adaptation of a short story into a webcomic. I came across one written by my friend Chris Wichtendahl and felt inspired to draw it. Designing new characters and a world for them to live in is a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. Hoping to have that up in a couple of weeks. I also have plans to sell original watercolors and prints from this blog next year. Keep an eye out for that too. See you in 2012!

Miss Martian

Thundercats

One of my favorite after-school cartoons growing up. More 80's cartoon ideas in the works, but they'll follow my next solo character piece.

Office Space

Every month or so TLM, the ad agency where I work, spotlights an employee's creative talents outside of work. I was recently given the opportunity to display my artwork in our common area. Here's the poster and some pics of my gallery that went up, all brought together by the talented people I work with every day.

Inside the window display are 3 of my black and white projects. 

1. Pangaea, a children's book I wrote and illustrated in college for my senior thesis.

2. The L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Anthology, Volume 22, which I have my first published illustration in. Also shown are 2 of my contest submissions.

3. One Night on Halloween Street, co-written by Chris Wichtendahl, and available at Hemispherestudios.com

Elektra

Experimented with a much looser style in all stages here and it turned out to be a lot of fun. I like to challenge myself with different ways of working from time to time. Keeps things fresh and helps spark new ideas. 

Superman

Thanks to everyone who came out to support The Red Door Gallery. The next show is on October 7th. Although I won't be showing this next go 'round, I was asked to design their new invite. I was in the middle of creating this Superman drawing and thought it would be great to use it somehow. The final 5" x 7" invites are below and will be available at the show.

 

Batman/Red Door Gallery

I was invited by my friend Harry Good to display some work at The Red Door Gallery so I've been busy prepping for it. C'mon out to see (and support!) work from 20 NJ artists.  

The Black Cat

Getting back into the swing of things after a much needed break. The Black Cat, post-heist.

Ghost Rider

Zatanna

The Mistress of Magic.

Batgirl

Barbara Gordon's gettin' ready for a night out. Inspired by one of my favorite stories—Batgirl Year One.

The Incredible Hulk

Smashing $#*! up. For Phil.

The Joker

This one was inspired by my friend Scott Sisti, who's got a thing for creepy clowns.

Sandman

Ok, so this one didn't quite turn out like I had planned. The textures from the sand I scanned in captured the look I wanted, but the illustration itself lacks the fluidity of the original thumbnail. It was a fun experiment though, and one that I'll try again someday.
• pencil, watercolor, sand, digital

Kitty Pryde & Lockheed

I originally planned to post a variety of characters from different books week to week, but when this idea for another X-Men themed image popped up I decided not to put it on the back burner. In this illustration, I wanted to keep Kitty's phasing to a minimum, and thought this was just the right amount to show a quiet moment between her and her pet, Lockheed. I'd also wanted to experiment with floor tile patterns so I used the X logo as a starting point and worked around it to pull the composition together.

The X-Men...

vs a Sentinel. I went with the classic Giant-Size X-Men era costumes for this one. Same process as the others, but with lighter watercolor work, so the heavy lifting came from Photoshop. Also added in the Sentinel hand to add balance (and a more solid concept) when I changed Wolverine's position from the original thumbnail drawing. Some things I'd like to improve on with this one, but it's an evolving process and I'm comfortable with the direction it's heading in.

Poison Ivy

Poison Ivy is a great looking character who's gone through quite a few changes over the years. Even with the many costume choices available, I went with a simpler look here to match the minimal background elements.
• pencil, watercolor, digital

Spider-Man

Anyone who knows me will tell you Spider-Man is my guy. Aside from being a character I identify with (the somewhat nerdy school kid, not the radioactive-spider-bite-turned-superhero part), he's been drawn by some of my favorite artists including Todd McFarlane, John Romita Sr., Humberto Ramos, Erik Larsen, Steve Ditko and J. Scott Campbell. In this piece, I wanted to capture Spider-Man in a high-flying moment.
• pencil, watercolor, digital

TMNT

Here's my take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a group of characters that had a big influence on me growing up. Admittedly, my 1st exposure to them was the 80's cartoon and toys, with their early comic appearances following much later, so I combined elements from both here. I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Eastman, co-creator of TMNT, a couple of years ago at the NY Comic Con and he was one of the coolest guys you'd hope to meet. He signed some of my stuff, and gave me a free signed copy of his book Artobiography. Pick it up to see the great behind-the-scenes work of his from the comics.
• pencil, watercolor, digital

Welcome!

Hello and thanks for checking out my blog. Although I currently work as an art director in an ad agency, I enjoy having a creative outlet outside of my professional duties, so I illustrate children's books, webcomics, etc. whenever I have the time. This blog will be focused on pin-up illustrations of the comic book characters I've loved since I started reading comics way back when. My goal is to post new illustrations, along with sketches and insights into my evolving creative process, every week (or as often as possible) so check back often.