The “DEADLINE DOOM” is really upon me now– so today’s sketch, and probably for the rest of the week, will be without much commentary. This is something I was working on for a possible eBay auction some time ago, but never got around to following through with. SERRA from TELLOS– being just a bit risque’.
More tomorrow.
Mike
I was talking with my buddy Jamar Nicholas the other day and he was telling me that he has a sketchbook that he’s having filled by various artist buddies– and the subject matter is a “big girl” or “chunky” version of WONDER WOMAN. I was working on a warm up sketch at the same time that had started out with an old man with a startled/bemused look on his face. After talking with Jamar, and getting a big laugh out of thinking about all the big ol’ WW sketches he’d be getting, I thought I’d add one into the warm up for the old man to be gawking at.
I’ve made it pretty clear that I’m a huge fan of the pet community. There’s nothing greater than having a companion animal living with you– always willing to offer their love unconditionally. Well– with cats, maybe not ALWAYS. It’s mostly on their terms, but they have ways of letting you know that they love you without always being overt about it. Anyway, I’m always doing GOOGLE searches for sites with pictures of cute pets to look at, and I found a fun one this morning. Check this site out— it’s chock full of cute and cuddly looking animals. Some of the pictures are funny– but they’re ALL wonderful.
See you tomorrow.
Mike
Today’s offerings are from an illustration I did for a feature that WIZARD MAGAZINE used to run called “LAST MAN STANDING”– in which they would speculate about theoretical battles between characters… usually from different companies… and who would be victorious. They asked me to illustrate one of these matchups between ANT MAN from MARVEL and THE ATOM from DC COMICS. I worked up three sketches for them– but I’m only showing the finish of the one they picked and the sketch for the one that -I- liked the best. The third sketch is not much to look at, and I only included it to give them more of a choice (although I REALLY had to cross my fingers that they wouldn’t pick THAT particular one– which has led me to stop sending “filler” sketches to give editors more choices. If I don’t want to finish it, I’m not going to suggest it).
So here’s the finished piece:
And here’s the sketch that I liked but WIZARD didn’t choose:
And now– I’d like to introduce a new feature that I’ll be presenting from time to time (hopefully once per week) here in my blog:
I spend a LOT OF TIME on the web. One thing that I’ve learned by spending all this time on message boards and art forums is that there is a massive WEALTH of artists out there that have their own sites who either work full time in comics, or do their own comics on the side while holding down outside jobs (mostly art related– like illustration and animation). There are so many incredilbly talented folks out there who are producing exciting work that I find so much more thrilling than the vast majority of what’s being published by the “BIG TWO”. So I’d like to highlight as many of these folks as I can for those of you that might not be familiar with their work. So, without further ado– today’s feature artist:
EVIL SPACE ROBOT is the site of artist Les McClaine. I first saw Les’s work in a book he created called HIGHWAY 13 published through SLAVE LABOR GRAPHICS. His work immediately struck me as amazingly accomplished– full of life, movement and character. HIGHWAY 13 was about a young man named Rick Rogers and his werewolf sidekick Garth on a road trip through supernatural territory. It was a lot of fun– but I only saw a couple of issues. I don’t know if he ever continued the book or not– but I was thrilled when I discovered Les’s web site. He updates almost daily, and runs various strips he does– usually about 4 times a week. Some of them are kind of autobio strips, some just funny stream-of-consciousness commentary on pop culture; and one in particular called JOHNNY CROSSBONES is amazing. It’s done in Herge’s TINTIN style– which Les captures almost perfectly. There’s a ton of great content to check out– so please do. It’s a wonderful site, and Les is an amazing artist and writer.
All for now.
Mike
Today’s sketch post is a page of various sketches for a morning warm up that are of a more cartoony nature. My work is naturally cartoony– but I usually have to struggle day-to-day to pull in the reins on that natural tendency. Or maybe to put it another way– I have to push hard to add as much “realism” into my work on a daily basis to try to keep my work as “mainstream” as I can for working on superhero comics for the majors. But my natural, fall-back tendency is toward really cartoony work. This is just an example of that.
And a couple of folks suggested in yesterday’s comments section that they might like to see some of my drawings from when I was a kid. So– I thought it would be a kick to do that occasionally. Thanks to Brian and JPK for the suggestion. I was (and still am, really) a HUGE Jim Starlin fan when I was a kid– and his work on WARLOCK in particular. His cosmic comics really blew my mind, and he was a big influence on my passions in the realms of comics and writing. So– here’s my “homage” to Jim Starlin from probably around the time I was 14 or so.
See you tomorrow.
Mike
Today’s first sketch is of Sue Storm… better known as THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. It was one of a couple of ink and grey marker sketches I did for Andrew Neal at SECOND FOUNDATION COMICS as sort of “tipped in plates” to be inserted in two FANTASTIC FOUR hardcover editions he was giving away in a drawing (I think for FREE COMIC BOOK DAY). The other one is of THE THING, which I’ll post another day.
The second sketch is one of two that I did for an upcoming cover for Robert Kirkman’s INVINCIBLE comic. I wanted to give him a couple of ideas to choose from, and Robert decided to go with the other sketch I had provided (which will be the cover to INVINCIBLE #16)– but I thought it would be fun to put this one up to show you.
See you here tomorrow.
Mike