In a masters shadows

I decided to try my hand with inks over someone I greatly admire. This panel is penciled by Kevin Nowlan and inked by me. I had to see if by doing a piece over his pencils if I could learn some of his magic. I don't know if it worked or not but I had a fun time trying something new.
And at the end of the day, I guess that's all this whole blog is about.

Archie and the babes

So last week I was contacted by my good friend Matt Hebb to help him out with some sketch cards he was doing for March of dimes. This was a collaboration with Archie comics and part of an ongoing charity drive to earn money to help keep babies healthy and safe. I loved the idea and the fact that I got to try my hand at some Archie characters was great too. So I did a couple of warm ups (the top image of Jughead is my first shot at it) and then started on the cards. I did 8 originally but in a failed coloring attempt I only ended up with these 7. But I had a good time doing these and hopefully I will get a chance to help again in the future. To find out more about the Archie sketch cards go here

Shady character

I've been working on my inking portfolio for the SDCC again. This time I am going to try something a little different in how I set it up. But I will elaborate on that as I get closer to the show. This is a panel from one of the sample pages I have been working on. I added the zip-a-tone to give it the more finished look I had in mind when inking it. I guess in a more finished version you could easily go with color to do the same effect. But you know me and my love for the zip.

yo ho, yo ho,... a viking life for me?

Another skull for fun. I decided to go with our marauding friends of the northern seas this time. Not too many differences between pirates and vikings, except the accessories. Both love beards, swords, ships, bad teeth, pillaging, and mayhem. Can't go wrong with that.

Birds of a feather

Yesterday I did this falcon for a demo at work. I had a great time sitting out at a table just inking away and answering questions about what I was doing or what supplies I was using. I started this sketch with a Tombo H pencil for layouts. I then used with a Pentel brush pen for most of the ink work. Then I used a Sharpee-like marker by Steadtler to do all the fills. And to finish it off I used a ball point pen with a Copic warm gray marker for the light feathers. All in all I think this took about 3 hrs with a lot of breaks to talk with students. A great way to spend a day at work.

Creeping along

I have definitely been sketching a lot lately. But with very little to report. I have been trying out some different things and seeing where that leads me. Plus it's that time of year were I get started for the SDCC. So I have been trying to get that going as well. I will do my best to keep stuff coming at least once a week. I think thats a schedule we can all live with.

Believe it or not...

A lunch time sketch.
Que Bonnie Tyler

Comparing apples too.....apples

First try.

Second try.

It seems like I work more in the traditional style of illustration more than my fare share lately. I have been meaning to get back to doing colors in PS. So I did these apples a couple of days apart. The first I had limited photo reference. The second I did with an actual apple for reference. I guess this proves the thought that painting from life is always better than a photo. I'll keep trying to work with PS painting for a bit and see if I can get back into doing more colorful work. But I do love black and white ink work, so we will see if I can resist the temptation.

Working out my demons

I know it's been a bit since the last post, but I have been working on a few things off blog on my own and for other people. I have a few things coming up that will keep me busy for a while. But with luck it will set up SDCC for a better showing this year.
This is Etrigan the Demon from the DC universe.I am always a fan of the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde types, and Etrigan is their version of that. I guess I love the duality of types in each of us. What we hope to be and what we fear we are, all in one. Makes for great character development and a fantastic story.

Power Man to the people!

Here is the other half of the Heroes for Hire duo, Luke Cage aka Power Man. Luke Cage is one of the coolest cats in comics. He is continued to grow as a character since his creation. He has progressed in story line, evolved in his costumes, and developed in his personality. But I prefer his 70's Dolemite look. He just looks bad ass and feels like he would put you in your place if you give him back talk. So watch what you say about his metal headband...
Sweet Christmas!

Move like silk, strike like iron!

Happy New Year all. I hope you all had a great holiday and are looking forward to the new year. I am planning on doing more sketches and getting back on track artistically. Hopefully these head shots will help me out with that. This one is of Iron Fist. Just one of the duo in Heroes for Hire that are a lot of fun. This guy has a very 70's ridiculous outfit which harkens back to the days of Karate and Kung fu action movies. The costumes color doesn't help out either, since it is green and yellow. Not very stealthy if your trying to catch the bad guys at night. But who needs to worry about that when you have to put the hammer down on some jive ass turkeys!
Solid!

RASL-Dazzle

Hope you all had a great holiday and are planning a fun and safe New Year. This will most likely be my last post for this year, and I am pretty happy with the amount of work I have been able to produce for the blog in this last quarter of the year. I hope to continue on to draw and ink a lot more.
This one is a character from Jeff Smith's new series RASL. I don't know that name of this villain yet, but he has such an eerie appearance I had to give it a go. RASL is a really great book that I would recommend to anyone wanting something different in their comic library. Such a stark jump from his Bone series, but still maintains that great visual appeal.
Have a great New Year and I will see you on the front end of '09.

Sentinel-mental feelings

I love combing through old comics to find the characters that just seem to pop out and cry for me to do a head shot of them. The Sentinels are the most recent to be penned to bristol. The classic "Kirby-esq" shape to their square heads and the ridiculous flower petal collar make them an easy choice for me. I always thought the Sentinels could be played up much stronger just as in the Days of Future Past run on the X-men. But sadly they were always played down.
Now that I look at them again...don't they look like that old Scooby Doo villain from the opening credits??....hmmm...

Skydrawl

Looking through my collection of head shots I saw a theme that needed to be changed. All the sketches were of men! So to rectify the problem I decided to do a female character I really enjoyed. So here is Noa, from Sky Doll. I really love how this one came through. I feel sometimes I struggle with getting the image to come out on the page just as I see it. Or I only getting a hint of what I want to draw and then it seems to all fall in place when I sit down with the pencil and ink. But this one came through exactly as I had envisioned. I might even spend some time later doing a color version of this. But for now, I am happy with the ink!

Red Right Hand

Still sticking to the head shots for a bit. I guess I took the month of November off. Funny thing is, I was so busy I didn't notice. Well I guess I will have to do better this month. I was looking through some collections of Helllboy and got the bug to give it a go. And it wouldn't quite be Hellboy without the red skin. Back inna bit with more.

Boning up on ink

Did these real quick the other day when I was trying out a new brush and re familiarizing myself with F&W acrylic ink. I really like the way this ink works when doing line work. But when it comes to doing fills of larger areas I think I would rather stay with the W/N 951 Black India. It may be harder to clean out of my brushes, but the color is always stronger and has the finished shine I like. If any of you use ink out there let me know what types you like and I'll give them a try. Hope you like these scurvy dogs. They are a fierce lot!

Day of the Undead

My friend here wanted to give his greetings on his favorite holiday. They say the freaks come out at night, and they are coming out tonight in droves. So I hope you all have a safe and very Happy Halloween!

Here today...Goon tomorrow!

If your not really that familiar with Eric Powell and The Goon, you should check it out. I really like Powell's work and his sketchbooks are a great source of motivation for me. It also helps that he draws a damn fine zombie too. The ink wash he adds to the sketches are fantastic and if I had a little more time, I would try my hand at doing some of those. But for now... I'll stick with my zip-a-tone process.

It's a Mad Mad Madman world!

Continuing my stream of head shots, I give you Madman. I just love the simple design and clean way that this character is done. Even when I have seen other artists take on him, the style of the character always seems to remain clean and easily identified. I guess that goes a long way in saying how well Mike Allred created him. So in that vein... I happily throw my hat into the ring.

Dead head

I decided to switch gears here and do a DC character. Deadman has been on of my favorites for a while now. So I decided that if I was going to do a DC character it had to be him. I know I should go with one of the big heroes at DC, but I just have a love for the more obscure or D-list heroes. Maybe that is just me always rooting for the underdog.