NYCC commissions

Here's Thor taking a selfie for Edward from Toronto:

and here's a Superman/Batman coffee date for my new fan from Quincy!:

I forgot to snap the punk Storm I did but here's a failed commission of "Asian Calvin" with Hobbes:

Call for art!

While traveling with Xavier, he reminded me about the site comicartfans.com. I knew about the site, but I had no idea people had actually posted art by me there! It was fun to see a few convention pieces that I forgot I did...including a pencil sketch of Kitty Pryde I did in 2006. Apparently, on my old blog I was going on about how I liked Kitty.

That got me thinking about all the other con pieces I've done that I didn't scan or take pics of. Sometimes fans send me scans, sometimes they don't.

Special request time: If you have a piece by me, and don't mind sending me a scan of if, please do! Or even a camera pic of it. the list on the sketch is very, very incomplete.

Soooo if you do this for me, I'll be your best friend. I promise. :-)

I have the power...

I drew this He-Man piece for a charity show/silent auction, Skeletor Saves.

Skeletor Saves is a collective charity show with work from top artists based on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, benefitting The Ali Forney Center.

Thursday 4/7/11 from 6-10PM at Headquarters Studios at 385 Broadway, NYC.

The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. AFC is dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations, and the LGBT community.

If you are in NYC next Thursday, definitely check out the show and bid, bid, bid!

http://skeletorsaves.tumblr.com/
http://www.aliforneycenter.org/

Things I Drew For Other People Week: Excalibur

Here's a long-time coming ditty. Was tough to get my hands around...I've drawn Nightcrawler plenty, and some Kitty, but otherwise pretty unfamiliar with the UK super-team Excalibur.

They're pretty funny...Kitty wearing that super-baggy jacket and boots; another version of Phoenix whose dykes-on-bikes mullet transforms into a flaming mohawk when she dons her S&M/dominatrix gear; Captain Britain, whose costume I admit was a challenge for me to draw; the captain's lover Megan, with her bare feet; plus Nightcrawler. Add in Lockheed the dragon, and there you go.

I only thumbed through some of the old comics to study up on their enemies, the Warwolves, which were the villains in my Northstar story earlier this year. Alan Davis' art is yummy, for sure.

I drew this during the summer, one of the first things drawn on my new (used) drafting table. Love the line weights. Just finished coloring on Painter.

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.

Things I Drew For Other People Week: Kitty Pryde

Welcome to "Things I drew for other people" week!

I was attempting my quarterly back up of my files to my external hard drive, which is now full. So, I scanned through my folders, looking for duplicate files or what-not that I might be able to purge and find some extra space. No luck, but I did find some old gems that I either forgot about or never shared as they were made specifically for other people. I will now share!

There will be some gift art, some actual commissions, but all stuff I don't think you've seen before. I'll start with some Kitty Pryde art.

My primary exposure to Kitty was in the X-Men/New Teen Titans cross-over from the '80s, where she appeared in an X-Men training uniform. I was only minimally conscious of X-Men, Excalibur, New Mutants, as I was a fan X-Factor during the Simonson run. During this period, she wore a near-ridiculous outfit. A super-baggy jacket, and—I'm not sure how this is even possible, except in the '80s—super baggy BOOTS.

For Shadowcat fan Matt, I really toned down the bagginess. I printed the dot pattern onto the original page, and inked the figure over it. I wasn't quite pleased w the result, but I do like that the dots are on the page and suitable for framing.

Months later, Kitty on the brain, I drew Kitty in her training uniform, as I was gearing up to draw my Northstar story in Nation X.

Lilith & Gnaark

Here's another commission I did a little while ago for a fellow early '70s Teen Titans fan. After I finished the line art, the commissioner added some nice colors, appropriate from the series. I was then inspired to play with Painter and add chalk-y colors. I try to purist but I still prefer these alternate colors for Lilith and Gnaark. The original Titans' jumpsuits were grey for the boys and Lilith sometimes wore green or pink. I think not until the series was revived in 1977 did Mal wear an orange jumpsuit. Anyway, Lilith and Gnaark are among my favorites, and I liked my brushwork on the figures.

I've sketched Mal with his girlfriend, Bumblebee, but nothing I am yet happy with. Maybe someday I will capture their relationship as well as I have captured Lilith and Gnaark's here. Time will tell.

New Mutants commission

Not too much to say about this one...just a little 3"x6" commission I decided to color for fun. I have so much free time on my hands since I finished my book! Just kidding—between my class, and two short stories with Marvel due by Thanksgiving, I shouldn't be playing with Painter now. Anyway, this was an on-the-spot sketch, and since I'd only ever read one issue of New Mutants (in preparation for my Cannonball story for Marvel a few years back), this is what you get.

Psylocke commission

I drew this commission some time ago, but with the work on "Trust/Truth" complete, I have some artistic free time and felt in a color-y mood.

I was a DC kid growing up; you can probably tell this because there are so many more "DC" entries here than "Marvel" ones. So it took me a while to get my hands around "Psylocke" but here we go. It was made clear to me that she should be a long-legged, small-breasted kick-ass bitch.

The only story I'd ever read with the character was before she was Asian. Yes, that's right, she started off as a English lady with purple hair and her power manisfested itself as a glowing butterfly.

The original line art has a lot of zip-a-tone directly on the 11x17 Bristol board, which doesn't show up so well scanned, colored, and shown here @ 3x5. But take my word for it, the line art looks pretty alright.

Before I delve into the long-awaited completion of my GN "Baby Makes Three" I have to produce some pitche art. No rest for the weary :-D