Things I Drew For Other People Week: Northstar

Since I drew the Northstar story in Nation X, I've been asked to draw Northstar a number of times—both in the actual books, as well as commissioned pieces.

I mentioned sweetheart Suzene earlier—I really couldn't refuse when she asked me to draw Northstar "as naughty as [I] would be willing."

Naughty art is a rarity for me, as I am less skilled in drawing certain anatomy, and it really should be saved for more "special moments."

So, I went down the humor pathway here, with Nstar's BF Kyle swiping the uniform off his partner as he flies by, leaving the hero in his birthday suit.

The character of Northstar is Quebecois, so I thank Adam for his inspiration here.

Things I Drew For Other People Week: Long Live the Legion!

With the Legion of Super-Heroes' strong gay following, I get asked to draw Legionnaires frequently at cons. Sadly, I don't have photos or scans of most of them. If you have one—particularly the Cosmic Boy or Tyroc—email me!

Just after I did a REALLY nice Ultra-Boy at Comic Con 2006, my pal Andy Swist asked me to draw (I think; again, fuzzy memory) the Legionnaire of my choice. I dunno...whether it was my choice or his, I drew Matter-Eater Lad.

The original was a bit off center on the page, and therefore missing a foot. Andy cleverly added the "chomp marks" when he colored it, to compensate for the lack of foot. Love it!

Please don't accuse me of any Liefeld action—I CAN draw feet!

Things I Drew For Other People Week: Fan Creations!

I love it when I am asked to draw the creations of fans! These are both from Comic Con International in San Diego, 2007. Sometimes I forget, but I try to take photos, or beg scans from the people who have hired me on to execute their vision.

The first image is of a sexy kind of androgenous (as I tried) couple created by my lovely fan Suzene. I'm sorry, I don't recall their names!

The next drawing is of the heroic gay couple Dulcet and Caterwaul. My memory is fuzzy, but I think they were created as a vocabulary teaching thing, and were since gayed-up. I just LOVE their uniforms and symbols. I took some artistic license with Caterwaul, exposing his thighs. The creator like that, and I believe was going to incorporate it into the character design moving forward.

Comic Con Report

A few weeks back, I made my not-quite-annual trek to my old stomping grounds of San Diego for the giant crazy-fest now known as Comic Con International.

Ah, the good old days when I would hop in my Jeep and park a few blocks from the convention center in the abandonned factory district and walk up to a short registration line and into the con are so long gone. Long lines, packed floor, and visual/audio overload these days. But still a fun fest of all things dork.

On Friday, I did a signing at the Prism booth, and explored the con floor, and saw many old friends. That night I made it into Oni's Scott Pilgrim party.

Saturday morning was my big shopping spree: super fun t-shirt from the I Heart Guts booth, at long last I bought Kevin Dart's Seductive Espionage as well as Scott Pilgrim V6 and Super Pro K.O. from Oni. I tracked down some Sekowsky early '70s comics, too. I caught up with some self publishers who I admire and bought their latest work. Oh yeah, I went to Mistress of Halloween Elvira's pay-for-autograph booth, too. My friend Ryan harasses me every time I go to CCI to do so. She's SO NICE. For some reason, no one was talking to Matt Fraction at the Marvel booth so I introduced myself. He's the main X-Men writer, and he knew my story in the Nation X mini series, complimented me and thanked me for writing it. I was flustered and didn't give him my card. Way to go, Tim.

In the early evening, I felt honored to be on a panel alongside Dan Parent, Geoff Johns, and more. It's always easier to have professional conversations and interactions with people once they've been forced to listen to you on a panel. :) That evening I attended a pre-dinner and then a dinner, both lots of fun.

Sunday, I had another signing at the Prism booth alongside Will O. Tyler (who colored half my OGN Trust/Truth). I insisted we have a draw-off. It took us some time to agree on a topic, but in the end it was "lesbian with a tool." We randomly awarded and retracted points from the other, and ultimately ended with a tied score. His completed drawing was a vamp with a chainsaw surrounded by some body parts. Mine was inspired by my dear friend Paige Braddock...I envisioned her chopping wood. Will and I donated our drawings to Prism for some future charity auction or something. Then I spent time queued up at the Capcom booth to buy a Mega-Man "Proto-Man" toy as a gift.

All in all, another fun and crazy con!

Comic Con 40

After I moved to San Diego in 1995, I began attending Comic Con. I’d drive my orange Jeep downtown and park just east of the Gaslamp and walk into the con on free passes handed to me by a friend of a friend who worked at the convention center. At that time, I was used to shows about as big from Boston and New York—about 40,000 attendees. I remember looking at the displays, looking at the indie comics, attending a panel or two. But mostly I was buying old back issues. It was definitely the place to complete my 60s/70s Legion and Teen Titans collection.

Over the years, I started getting into the portfolio review lines, trying to meet “famous” creators and publishers, to a frustrating end. Frustrating, but led to good things: turning Arche-Lady into portfolio-level work, and ultimately embarking on a serious self-publishing career. Once I began publishing, Comic Con became “serious business” for me to recup exhibiting fees and networking for new deals.

Years later, the publishing seems to take care of itself, and I seem to get more attention by simply doing my thing rather than active networking. So this time around, I went to Comic Con to see old friends and have fun. And it was indeed very fun! These days Comic Con pulls in 125,000+ attendees—it's crazy!

Thursday, I flew in from Boston. En route, I met an Image artist Christian Ward coming in from London and killed time chatting in Logan airport. When I arrived in San Diego that night, I met up with my hotel-mates at the Gaslamp Westin. After a shower (solo), we went to the infamous Hyatt for industry chit-chat and a few drinks. Friday morning, Aman and I hit the hotel gym and made our way to the convention. After registering, we walked around a bit and went to the DC green room. Spent time in the big exhibits of DC, Marvel, Image, etc, and then through artist alley. Met Seth Estrada, who is making a documentary about his dad Ric (who I knew best for drawing war comics). I then had a signing @ the Prism Comics booth (where my books were on sale) with a steady stream of guests. After a little relaxing, we grabbed some food and then back to the Hyatt for more industry chit-chat.

Saturday, once again, Aman and I hit the hotel gym, though I had to hot-foot it to the con to be on time for my Saturday signing. This one wasn’t advertised, so it wasn’t nearly as busy. Chatted with Andy Suriano a bit and bought his book. Walked through the smaller publishers and gushed over Chynna Clugston a little. We left the con for a drink and then I went back to appear on a panel about romance comics. The panel turned out to be really good. The moderator tailored questions for the panelists, who in turn gave some quality answers. No one dominated the panel either. I think it turned out to be the best panel I’ve ever been on! That night was the BGD gathering and ultimately was back at the Hyatt again.

Sunday morning, friends held a spot in line for me to get into the Doctor Who panel. David Tennant (who looked like he sexily just rolled out of bed) graciously gave us an extended look at his happy trail. That was one weird panel. While I like Doctor Who, and David Tennant is definitely hot, I was surprised by all the girl-squealing going on. I mean, the crowd was crazy-silly. I started watching the show because I am a fan of Catherine Tate (see my post “Doctor, Donna, and kitty”); I was tempted to get in line to ask if David would deliver my drawing of them to her. :P I bolted back to the hotel to check out and headed out of town.

A bit of a whirlwind, and I spent a bit too much money between comics, t-shirts, food, and many drinks…but a very fun time!

Comic Con International

Yay, Comic Con! I haven't been since 2007, so I am eager to go and see many old friends. Comic Con is the largest comic con in the US... 100,000 + attendees. I have been going most years since I lived in San Diego more than a decade ago. When I began self-publishing seriously, I started exhibiting. This year, I will not be exhibiting, only attending as a "professional" and will do a few booth signings and also will be on a romance comics panel. Exhibitng is fun, but exhausting for a large 5 day show. It can be sensory overload. So, very excited to just go for mostly fun.

I drew this little Superman on some scrap Bristol board during TCAF in May. I love goofy monsters and aliens, and here Supes is getting blasted by this one's fire breath. I quickly colored it in Painter to use as a homepage update-y thing for my Comic Con schedule for my site. I purposefully colored Supes in a short sleeved uniform, but I'm not sure if I like that.