Heroes on My Mind

 

Here are some recent super hero themed sketched - you know, what with the San Diego Comic Con fervor and all.

The Superman and Supergirl sketch was done following the weekend I watched the DVD movie “Superman: Unbound” (2013), the one based on the Brainiac arc by Goeff Johns and  Gary Frank. The storyline was solid enough. However, my enjoyment of the story was hampered by the distraction of the frequently poor draftmanship of the elongated character designs and other odd choices in art direction. In effect, the sketch is my 10 minute response.

[details @ tumblr]

Superman - 75th Anniversary

“Look Up.”

Digital color with India Ink.

2013.

This year, Superman is celebrating his 75th anniversary (DC Comics). In recognition of this event, I composed this piece and submitted it for publication to the souvenir book that San Diego Comic Con International issues (happening this week).

India Ink on Bristol Board.

Per my training in commercial art and consumer products illustration, I drew and inked the base art on  27.9 x 43.2 cm (11 x 17 inches) board. This layout was done knowing that I would be cropping in tightly for the finished piece. Meaning, there wasn’t any more of the Metroplois sky line planned than three generic buildings and the Daily Planet.

Carmine red pencil on Bristol Board (detail).

Not having fully accepted the his modern uniform design (Jim Lee), I feature the hero in his classic uniform design. Anyways, for argument sake, that’s kind of more appropriate for the anniversary.

It is perhaps very evident that my idea of what he looks like is how Neal Adams drew him in the 1970’s - it certainly became evident to me, at least, after finishing the pencil stage. The thought did occur that I should try to draw Superman with the features of Christopher Reeves as Gary Frank has done on his run. Expedience, more than any thing else, made me move forward with the drawing I had.

By the way, the piece was in fact selected along with many others to be in the souvenir book.

[detail @ tumblr]

Tiki Fifty Tiki Room

Happy 58th birthday to Disneyland

Celebrating Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room’s

50th anniversary.

[detail @ tumblr]

[detail @ tumblr]

Lions, Sharks and Bears

Here are some recent sketches, all ink pen on paper.

[detail shots @ tumblr]

Tiny Teen Titans

sketch cards

Color pencil and ink on Bristol Board.

2012

I'm not especially fond of big-headed character design (also know as “super-deformed” in Manga circles), at least not to the point where I’d make it my primary style. I’ll admit, however that what looks good on 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" cards are big heads, either as portraits or Charlie Brown proportioned folks. As I prefer to draw full poses over portraits or busts, I started to draw this style for cards.

Here toward the end of one of last year’s conventions I drew the Teen Titans of the 2002 animated series’s designs. This was before I’d seen any thing of the DC Nation shorts and much before the new, yet-to-be-announced Teen Titans GO! series.

I was hoping to sell the cards as a set, but later Robin and Raven would be sold separately breaking up the set.

[bigger @ tumblr]

TAGS July 04 & 05, 1994

07/04: That’s What Sneeze Said

07/05: Polly Alley Sniffle All Day 

July 04: Polly (penguin) suffers from the symptoms of seasonal allergies, and yet manages to conduct herself for a positive guest experience by stifling it just long enough. This certainly is derived from my own struggles with pollen season. It’s been almost a dozen strips since Monster had been placed in a prominent roll in TAGS. This was an effort to develop the cast of character more. There’s not particular reason that Polly was chosen to have hay fever. If anything, I must have felt it was her time to by featured in a couple of strips which converged with my want to try some allergy gags.

July 05: If it isn't the sniffling and sneezing that comes with hay fever that gets you, then it’s the drowsiness and other potent symptoms of the counter-acting medicine. Carolyn (raccoon, 6th appearance) is the front-of-house lead doling out breaks. In her hands is an over-sized break sheet which are really more pocket-sized. One would think the size was necessary to contain the word “BREAKS”, but it just reads better that a tiny scrap of paper. Polly (22) has has marks on her nose which if successful stands in for a red, irritated nose. If not so successful, Polly looks like seagull. Oh for the want of color.

This second strip in particular is another example my fascination with using sound effects as visual elements. The joke structure there may require a fourth panel payoff. Sara at what is referred to as “bevees” has had two previous appearances, but obviously doesn’t need to bee seen (i.e. take up valuable panel space) here. See, there’s a reason for almost everything?

Off of the top of my head, I think my technical pen must have been clogging up or some thing. That’s the only reason I can think of for the scratchiness of the art. 

Mini Heroes

Ink on paper

17.78 x 16.193 cm (7" x 6.375")

I definitely had the Heroes Convention on my mind when I did these steam of consciousness doodle during a morning meeting.

[Robin detail at .tumblr]

Red Capes

HEROES CONVENTION, Charlotte, NC June 7-9, 2013 — I had another spendid time a Heroes Con this past weekend. It’s encouraging to get a few folks looking for new adventures of Tuff-Girl, which I had with last year’s issues number 2 of Unstoppable Tuff-Girl.

I did plenty of commissioned convention sketches too.

And when not busy doing that, I did some speculative sketches, often featuring my go to subject, Supergirl.

At one point on Sunday, I sketched up Big Barda of Jack Kirby’s New Gods. If I didn’t sell it by the end of the Con, it was something that a friend of mine might like to have. Well, my friend is going to have to wait for another time for me to draw Big Barda.

[bigger images at monotonae.tumblr]

SUPERGIRL, SUPERMAN and BIG BARDA TM and © DC Comics.

Heroes Convention - 2013

The Heroes Convention folks only this week had up dated information including table assignment information.

This year the convention has grown to about twice its size of the past few years! That means twice the fun!

Heroes Convention
Charlotte Convention Center
501 S. College St.
Charlotte, NC 28202

Fri. June 7 - Sun. June 9, 2013

Visit me at the Monster Enterprises table, Artist Alley: AA-430

Cartooning Mondays

(clock-wise from top-left: Dash the Dachsund, a Chihauhau, Marbols the Cat, intern bird, a pig, Hilarity Hare, Hilarity (again), a sheep dog).

Sketches. ink on paper, 2013

Have I never discussed Cartoon Mondays on Monotonae? Well, then this is going to be a poor introduction to it. My apologies.

Above in the mix of anthropomorphic critters are Dash, Marbols, Hilarity and an intern bird. They were created for my attempt to make a weekly comic strip at work after I was hired at Cartoon Network in 2001. You see, I thought I’d be able to find a few free minutes at days’ ends here and there. I thought I’d be able to do a little work satire to blow off steam or deflate some of the ridiculous aspects of the job, much as I had with BackSTAGE and STAGElights when I worked for Disneyland’s French Market Restaurant, Second Hand Comics at Disneyland’s New Century Timepieces, and mini-poster series at Disney Consumer Products. It turned out that free minutes were hard to come by. The strip died after, I don’t know, maybe two dozen irregularly posted installments.

A few years later, I pitched it to the Network as an idea for a series of two-minute shorts.

Now it only lives in my repertoire of things I sketch at work, I think largely because there’s something about a character by the name Hilarity that just shouldn’t be allowed to fade.