Wizard World Chicago Comic-Con

It's that time of the year again! I will be in Artist Alley with my friends from General Jack Cosmo Productions at the Chicago Comic-Con presented by Wizard World. Please stop by my table (3110-3112) and say "hello". I'll tell you all about what I've been up to as well as showcasing my recent Sketchbook: A Fistful Of Lead. Plus, there is also an extremely limited edition introduction to "New Dreaming Men" created by me and writer Aaron Shaps (General Jack Cosmo, Zeroids, Phantom Detective). More on NDM later, but Aaron and I will be offering 100 signed and numbered copies of NDM with the first introductory prose story, and black and white character paintings all behind a brand new full color card stock cover. It's a rip roaring, all ages pulp adventure to be published by Olympian Publishing.

In the Works

In between deadlines I've been able to experiment a bit with mediums and trying new things. It's come down to the images shown. I was able to use my new method of working on a few recent projects with nice results and nice compliments from the clients. I tried watercolor, then gouache and then ink. I wanted something immediate and I've been having great fun simply painting these spot illustrations. There are no preliminaries beyond a rough sketch. A quick, loose pencil drawing is placed on the board and then I paint in acrylics. These are just the beginning....

Pyroman: Origin

A recent addition to the Origins for Project Superpowers... Pyroman! I was not very familiar with the character. I really didn't connect with him in the PSP series as much as some of my favorites, aside from a cool looking costume design. But I was really inspired by the origin details, time period and a wonderful layout to work from. And with a busy month of deadlines, this was a nice project to focus on during the hectic work days. The final grey panels were converted to a green/blue hue in Photoshop. Please pick up issue #10 of Project Superpowers Chapter 2 to see the final printed piece!

C2E2: The Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo

I will be in Artist Alley at C2E2 at the McCormick Place Convention Center on the Chicago lakefront, April 16, 17 and 18 (Friday-Sunday) 2010. The excitement is building for the new Chicago show and I will have original art: paintings and drawings, prints and books, including a brand new "Sketchbook" featuring unseen drawings, roughs and preliminaries. Table E2.

Batman: Over Gotham. A recent private commission. It was a straightforward assignment, paint my version of Batman! A thumbnail was approved after discussion and once a tight pencil was approved, I painted in Acrylics on medium weight illustration board.

Mr Face: Origin

It has been approximately a year since I started painting the Origins featured in the back pages of Project Superpowers for Dynamite Entertainment. It's been an incredible learning experience as I worked (and continue to work) with Alex Ross as my art director and writer. In fact the past year was a big collaboration year for me as I also teamed with artist/sculptor Ruben Procopio on a series of Phantom : Generations covers for Moonstone. I love being part of a team as it is a great opportunity to grow and sharpen my craft. I did learn though- that my main focus quickly was shifting more towards the Origins and taking over my schedule. And for a few months I was illustrating two Origins while I was trying to find shortcuts and/or quicker solutions in rendering the spreads.

It really came down to what each script had to offer. Some panels were jam packed with origin elements, while others were straightforward and less involved. Needless to say, I never really found a quicker way to illustrate any of them but tried to devote the same amount of time for each one (sometimes more if time was available). There are favorites among the 12 that have been finished to date but more important to me was the fact that I was able to study and really familiarize myself to some truly great heroes from the golden age of comics. One that caught my interest as much as The Black Terror and the Death Defying 'Devil is Mr. Face. I would love to do another piece on him and definitely fits in with my pulp character interests.

The Origin of Mr. Face is published in issue #7 of Project Superpowers Chapter 2. The process shown is the pencil stage for approvals and then the finished piece with any adjustments that were added to the art. When printed in the book, the black and grey panels are converted to green tones with all dialogue in place. I would also like to say "thank you" to my good friend Mike Beazly for helping me scan the originals as well as help me prepare the digital files for print. He's great friend for moral support while I raced up against the deadlines. Mike is also a part of the General Jack Cosmo Productions team and is currently preparing the next issue of his awesome comic, "The Grimm".