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".
