Day 17: Black Adam#tzadvent

Day 17: Black Adam

Ask me what DC property I'd love to get my hands on, and it won't be Superman or Firestorm, it'll be Captain Marvel (Shazam-flavored). I think the book needs a fun and light touch, and probably to be in its own universe where talking tigers and evil worms can work. One day, I hope to get the opportunity.

I didn't do too much new in the technique or Nostromo commands. I have figured out how to get the zoom-scrub to work off the dial in both Photoshop and Manga Studio, which is nice. And I inked the reflections on his arm bands with a brush tool on its own layer. Normally, doing something like this wouldn't be worth the effort if I were working traditionally, but creating the piece in Manga Studio makes that stuff pretty effortless.

I still have a couple of more commands I want to link to the Nostromo, but I'm not sure that I want to give up any of the other keys. At least not yet.

Day 13: Storm #tzadvent

so no time for notes on this. It's done, and I'll do another one tomorrow. See you then.

And congratulations to Robert and Sunny!

Day 12: Loki #tzadvent

Day 12: Loki

Recently, I read the Walter Simonson omnibus and, man, is that pages upon pages of cool. There's so much story there. It's great classic comics storytelling and it still holds up. I'd love to see someone bring a lot of his Thor approach to Aquaman, actually. The book is a great balance of fantasy kingdom stuff and superheroics.

He also tended to draw characters draping themselves in their throne. That was in mind when I drew this.

Art-wise, I finally figured out how to make custom rules for objects. I wish Manga Studios had bezier curves and a little better control, but I'm sure that fine-tuning will become natural to me as I practice, and that's what this whole December project is about, right? I used the custom curve rules for Loki's horns and some of the chair.

The costume is a combination of the Simonson costume redesign and the cool horned helmet. I couldn't not draw that helmet.

My December Project

For November, I tried to do a drawing a day. I managed to make that threshold. So, I think I want to come up with a Drawing-A-Day project for December. Adding to this is that I just got a new Mac. So. Much. Faster. So I now I feel like I can really start playing with Manga Studio and learning that program. So, I want to have a project that will be done solely on that system so that I can force myself to use that program and really become comfortable in it.

What I want to do is this: I want to draw a different super hero or villain every day. I'm going to keep them black and white, and possibly collect them as a sketchbook. We'll see about that. One character a day is the right amount of work is to play in Manga Studio and still keep my workload going.

I'll post them as they get done. I may take a day off here and there. After all, Christmas is December. But, what I'll do is either work ahead or get caught up. So, if you don't see one every day, you'll know why.

Here's where you come in: I need suggestions for this kinda-Advent Calendar of characters. Give me a shout on Twitter with the hashtag #tzadvent and I'll pick and choose whatever moves me from the list.

Illegitimates and their Logo

One of my first jobs in comics was lettering, and I still do a bunch of it. I letter Deadbeats for Claypool, Skyward for Action Lab, and now I'm lettering Illegitimates for IDW. The book is by Taran Killiam and Marc Andreykoand involves a cool spin on the James Bond archetype.

I also designed the logo for the book. Here it is…

I thought maybe you'd like to see some of the process of the creating that logo. The basic starting point I was given was to turn the double-L's into guns. I tried a few different variations on that before we locked in the final. I think they've all got some cool aspects to them. Click to see them embiggened.

Heroes Hanging Out, Drinking Coffee

One of the more interesting New York Comic Con commissions I had was this one: Draw Power Girl and 80's Disco Collared Nightwing hanging out the way Crusader and Darkblade do in Love and Capes. It was a lot of fun to figure out the staging. Power Girl, for instance, wouldn't hover or have the same standard pose as Crusader does.

A lot of you know that Love and Capes is on a break right now. I'm trying to get some new stuff out into the world this year. But there's something about this piece that makes me think "Wouldn't a Darkblade and Amazonia series be pretty cool?"

Happy Halloween with a Ghost Hunter Commission!

I've had a couple people come up to commission me at shows to draw an actor or actress who is appearing at the show and have them sign the art. They're certainly more unique than just the standard publicity shot. And it's been a blast for me, too. I got to meet Ian McNiece, who played Winston Churchill on Doctor Who because of it. At Wizard Ohio, I drew Ghost Hunter Grant Wilson hunting a different kind of ghost. Mariann, who commissioned it, loved it, and so did Grant.

Happy Halloween!

Pinkie Pie! Enemy of the Republic!

I was at New York Comic Con, and a gentlemen came up with his very Star Wars son in a stroller. I think he saw my Han and Leia piece in my display portfolio. He said that his son loved both Star Wars and My Little Pony and wanted a drawing. Immediately, my artist brain starting thinking of ponies with lightsabers and so on. "Who's your favorite Pony?" he asked his son. Pinkie Pie. "And who's your favorite Star Wars character?" General Greivous. He then turned to me. "Can you do a combination of Pinkie Pie and General Grievous?

Suddenly, the cute little Jedi ponies I had in my mind exploded. Pinkie Pie? Grevious? That's not a chocolate and peanut butter moment, that's a chocolate and wood varnish moment. How do those go together? But, I like drawing and I like money, so I said "Yes, I can do that."

What happened was not the drawing I expected, but it might be my favorite drawing of the show. When you get things thrown at you like that, the creative solution is something original and something you weren't capable of just a few minutes ago. So I figured out how to combine everyone's favorite party-obsessed wacky Pony with a killer four-armed droid with a breathing issue. And I loved it.

So did the boy. Look at how happy he looks!

Of Beetles and Busy-ness

If you've been following me the last couple months, you know that I've been doing an epic amount of conventions. And by "epic" I mean "crazy". I just did a two-fer of New York Comic-Con and then GeekGirlCon back to back. But, because I'm living life on the road, I haven't been posting as much stuff here as I'd like. It's a little clunkier to post from my iPhone, plus, you know, general busy-ness. So, as things are quieting down, I'm going to post some of my favorite art, commissions and photos from my convention season. First up, well, it's not any of those. My friend Tim Wallace is the brain behind the Kord Industries blog and part of the well-oiled machine that is the Baltimore Comic-Con. I've owed him a Blue Beetle piece for a couple months now, and I've finally managed to get it done. And now, I share it with you. Click and embiggen!

Twinkie Ads for the Next Generation

This thing called Comic-Con is coming up, and I feel like I should have something new for it. I mean, it's not like the complete run of Love and Capes isn't enough, right? Not to mention the chance to meet me. But yeah, I think we need something new, too. So, in conjunction with justJenn Recipes, whom you may remember as baking me some Twilight Sparkle cookies back when I helped launch the My Little Pony Micro-Series, we have created a Love and Capes print in the style of the old Hostess ads. Ads which are so awesome that they have been collected by Seanbaby into this fantastic web archive.

Today, all you get to see is this preview image. On Wednesday, head over to justJenn's site and see even more details. We'll both have them for sale at our booths at Comic-Con, so drop on by!