So What? So There!

Rage is Coming October 4th!

2011-09-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

I'm always working, so it's hard to find time to post. But I worked on this, so I had to take time out to post about it! I'm so looking forward to this game. And I'm not even a hardcore gamer. From what I've seen, it looks like it will set the bar for first person shooters. Absolutely incredible.
I was lucky enough to work with art director Stephan Martiniere and design a lot of in game assets, mainly posters, billboards and graffiti. Each faction or clan has their own style of tagging and visual iconography, so it was a blast getting to design a lot of that.
I'm already addicted to the ipad app that came out to preview the gameplay, but I can't wait for the full version.
The user plays as a survivor of the 2029 Apophis meteorite impact who has just awoken from an Ark (a world-wide movement which took scientists and other significant people, and froze them underground in cryo-pods so they could rebuild Earth). Soon, the player comes to realize that his Ark has malfunctioned and that he is the only survivor.
The Game hits stores Oct. 4th, so check it out. You can see more here. I'll be first in line!

Hero Time Part 5: New Avengers #1 Sketch Cover

2011-06-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger. Blogs should be updated in a timely manner, but my time has been short and my manners non-existent! So I'm sorry about that (see, my manners are coming back already, I just apologized!). I should have thrown this up sooner, since the auction has come and gone, but the good news is that the final bid was over $450.00, thanks to everyone who took the time to place a bid! It all went to my favorite charity, The Hero Initiative. Marvel Comics printed 100 blank-covered copies, and Hero had 100 stellar artists (and me) do original New Avengers covers on the special edition books which were auctioned off to benefit Hero and needy comic book artists, the late, great Gene Colan among them.You can see them all here.
When I was a kid, one of the first back issues I ever saved up and bought at a comic con was Giant-Size X-Men #1. I paid $20 for it, which was a lot for a little kid like me at the time! The iconic Gil Kane cover is forever seared into my mind, and since New Avengers #1 centers around introducing a new team, that was all the justification I needed to swipe-- er, "pay homage to" the late, great Gil Kane!

"In brightest day..."

2011-06-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

	In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight Let those who worship evil's might, Beware my power... Green Lantern's light!
—Hal Jordan

Haven't seen the movie yet, but I did get to work on some early packaging comps for the action figures from Mattel. Fun job! Haven't seen the action figures yet, so I don't even know if any of my comps made it through the approval process to the final packaging design or not. I really need to get out more!

My initial sketch was based on Hal Jordan from the comics, and then when we found out Ryan Reynolds had been cast, I tried to make it look a little more like him in the color comp.

Art for A Good Cause

2011-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

If anyone in the LA area is looking for something fun to do tonight, may I recommend Art for A Good Cause: “Auction 9” Fundraiser for Public Arts HS #9 . You can read more about it here.

Featuring works by David Lynch, Shepard Fairey, Clayton Brothers, Betye Saar, from Luis Buñuel Archive, Eames Office, hundreds more.  Benefits Downtown LA's Under-Served Youth attending LAUSD's HS #9  @ HS for the Visual & Performing Arts / LAUSD #9   You can see a slideshow here.

The theme of the show was La Lotería, and the idea was to reinterpret classic Lotería cards with a modern pop culture twist. So I couldn’t resist drawing Homer Simpson as El Borracho (The Drunk) in front of Moe's of course! Now if I had the time to do an entire set of Lotería cards Simpsons style, I would do Barney as El Borracho, but Homer is the much more popular character, and the goal of the auction is to raise money for the kids, so I figured Homer was the way to go!

Anyway, it’s tonight, Thursday, June 2, 6-8:30 pm. Hope to see you all there!

With Great Power Premiere

2010-11-05T17:30:00.001-07:00

I was interviewed for the documentary WITH GREAT POWER-THE STAN LEE STORY. No idea if which, if any, of my scenes will make it into the final movie, but it will be screening on Sunday 11/7/2010 at 5pm at the:

Aero Theater

1328 Montana Avenue

Santa Monica, CA 90403

The screening is part of the American Cinematheque program and following the screening there will be a Q&A with the film makers including:

- Terry Dougas

- Nikki Frakes

- Will Hess

And Now For Something Completely Different...

2010-11-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a job comes along that you would never imagine yourself doing. Not to say that it's not a fun job, just totally unexpected. The Discovery channel came to me (okay, strictly speaking, they came to my agent) and asked if I would like to do designs for the MythBusters bobbleheads. Yup, bobbleheads! I'm actually a big fan of the show, so of course I jumped at the opportunity. The red and white checkered pattern on the rocket that Adam is tied to is a nod to my favorite Herge Tintin story when I was a kid, Destination Moon! Unfortunately, they changed the colors on the final painted sculpture to yellow and black, probably to save money on paint. Oh well!

Also, the logistics of sculpting the clear glasses on Jamie turned out to be too problematic, so we changed them to his mountain climbing sunglasses. All in all, a very fun job! Hope Jamie and Adam like 'em! If you need more toys in your life and are so inclined, you can buy a set for yourself here...

Long Beach Comic Con!

2010-10-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

Off to the Long Beach Comic Con. Come meet Norm Rapmund, Scott Koblish and me at our panel in room 301 at 3:00 pm on Friday October 29th. The panel is How to Survive as an Artist with Scott Koblish. Scott is headlining, Norm and I are just there for moral support and comedy relief!

Come out and say hi if you're in the area!

Dark Void Storyboards

2010-09-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

I got to storyboard the some of the cinematics for the Dark Void video game which finally came out earlier this year. I haven't had time to play it myself, but the developmental game footage I saw when I was working on it was really cool. It reminded me a bit of Dave Steven's Rocketeer, and any game that simulates flying with a jet pack, count me in! You can see the trailer here, or embedded below.

The animation for this sequence was done by Blur. Always great to work with those guys, they do killer work as you can see!

What if... Jack Kirby Drew Archie?

2010-07-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

My favorite charity The Hero Initiative is at it again, this time with Archie #600. Archie Comics has printed 50 blank-covered copies, and Hero will have 50 stellar artists do original Archie covers on the special edition books to be auctioned of to benefit Hero and needy comic book artists.
I grew up on Archie comics and I love the characters, so I wracked my brain to come up with an appropriate cover concept that would do the event justice. I drew a couple of sketches in my style, then in the Archie style and nothing really seemed to click. Then it hit me: what if Jack Kirby, The King of Comics himself had drawn Archie? That would have been great! Kirby is so distinctive, he would have made the characters his own.
The more I thought about it, the more I liked it! After all, Jack drew Jimmy Olsen for DC. And his take on Archie might have been close to that. So I attempted to pull off a reasonable facsimile thereof. Dunno how successful I was, but it was fun paying tribute to The King for a great cause.

BNS: Race to Target Field

2010-06-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

This was a fun animated short for the Minnesota Twins and Target Field Stadium. I got to storyboard it for director Rob Bisi and the fine folks over at Brand New School. The ultra-talented Tuna Bora did concept designs and we all had a blast. I think the level of fun we had shows through in the final product, see for yourself here. There are actually 3 different endings, one with each character winning the race!

Loss of a Legend: Dick Giordano

2010-03-28T14:57:00.001-07:00

I was so saddened to read on CBR that comics legend Dick Giordano passed away yesterday. I knew he had been ill, but I had no idea how bad it was. I'll leave the eulogies and tributes to the professionals, Dick's peers and close personal friends who knew him best. But when you see the massive list of lives he touched, it's a true testament how great of a man he was. I'll just relate one small personal story about how he touched my life.

I was 18 years old and trying to break into comics as a penciller, sent my samples off to Marvel and DC and all the rest. Sometimes I would get a rejection letter, sometimes not even that. Rejection letters are form letters, since the sheer volume of submissions makes individual replies impossible. So imagine my surprise when I got a rejection letter with a hand written note from Dick Giordano himself! He actually took the time to give me some tips and pointers and most of all encourage me. I was floored! I grew up on the man's work, admired him immensely and here he was taking time to write me? He actually inspired me to concentrate on my inking, which I hadn't considered before Dick encouraged me. I broke into comics shortly after that. And I'm not the only one. Apparently Dick did this all the time. Jim Lee even recounted a very similar experience on CBR.

Years later, I got to work with Dick on a project that he pencilled and I inked. The project was never finished, but I got to talk to Dick on the phone and tell him how much his letter meant to me and what a fan of his I was. Some people advise not to meet your heroes because they will only let you down. Dick never let me down. In fact, he picked me up (out of the sea of submissions) dusted me off, and sent me on my way. I'll never forget that.

Thanks again, Dick.

Iron Man 2 Sketch Cards

2010-03-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

Time for another round of sketch cards for the fine folks at Upper Deck. These are for the Iron Man 2 set, I got to do all my favorite variations of Iron Man's armor, and of course, M.O.DO.K.! The Beetle and Stingray were always great costume designs, so I threw them in there too!More Iron Man armor variants, The Iron patriot, a couple versions of Titanium Man, Blizzard, the super cool Iron Man Space Ninja Stealth Armor!
Some more villains, Force, Boomerang and Doctor Spectrum! That's right, Doctor Spectrum! With the crystal and the Rainbow Brite rainbow waves! The Mandarin is my favorite Iron Man villain so I did the Acts of Vengeance armored version, the I'm Too Sexy For my Shirt version, The GQ Jim Lee version, a couple of the emperor looks and classic original flavor!Hawkeye, Doctor Doom, The Ghost, Grey, Red and Green Hulks and a whole lotta Hank Pym! Ant Man, Yellow Jacket (loved that goofy costume!) and Giant Man.

Ed Hannigan Tribute

2010-01-09T17:19:00.000-08:00

Ed Hannigan's covers all but jumped off the spinner rack and into my ten year old hands. The innovation, design and heightened sense of drama promised an earth-shattering story inside every month. Especially memorable to me is Mr. Hannigan's run on Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man. His Cloak and Dagger covers were pure genius. Looking at them now, makes me feel like a kid all over again. Thanks, Ed!

The fine folks at The Hero Initiative are putting out this tribute to Ed Hannigan's amazing art and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. You can see previews on CBR or Newsarama. The solicitation info is below:

ED HANNIGAN: COVERED
Artist: Ed Hannigan
Contributors: Mark Millar, Mike Oeming, Jim Valentino, Herb Trimpe, and more
Cover: Ed Hannigan
Publisher: Marvel/Hero Initiative
Cover Price: $5.99
Release date: Wed, January 13, 2010

Master artist Ed Hannigan did many of Marvel's cover layouts of the late '70s and early '80s. Over that time, Ed created some of the most innovative cover designs ever. His covers for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man still stand today as some of the finest of all time!

 Today, Ed is 58 years old and has multiple sclerosis. Through special arrangement with the Hero Initiative, Marvel is offering Ed Hannigan: Covered, a massive 48-page collection of Ed's covers, designs he created for other artists, and even rare glimpses at licensing and merchandising art Ed did. Best of all, proceeds benefit Ed Hannigan directly! 

This volume also features a new cover by Ed, and new tribute pieces from Michael Avon Oeming, Jim Valentino, and more! 

NOTE: There will be ONLY ONE PRINTING OF THIS BOOK EVER! Get it now so you don't blow your chance! 

48 pages full-color $5.99 UPC: 5960607056-00111

SOLD for $338.33! Thanks for Bidding!

2009-12-17T04:10:00.001-08:00

The Hero Initiative finally put my original art cover for the Wolverine Weapon X 100 Cover Project up for action on ebay. You can bid on it here. Just 6 days left! Ends Dec. 23rd!

Please bid if you can, it's for a great cause!The Hero Initiative has granted over $200,000 to comic book veterans in need... they deserve it!

UPDATE: December 5th Signing at Collector's Paradise

2009-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

If you are in or around the greater Los Angeles area, please try to make it out to the The Wolverine 100 Project in store signing at Collector’s Paradise. You can see some of the covers up on Marvel, Newsarama, IGN and CBR. Lots of the LA based artists will be there (I'll try to update the names as they confirm) doing sketches and signing books and it all benefits my favorite charity, The Hero Initiative.

The book signing event takes place on December 5th form 7-10 PM at:
Collector’s Paradise
7131 Winnetka Ave.
Winnetka, CA 91306

Guests include Len Wein, Joe Benetiz, Danny Miki, Bill Morrison, Christian Gossett, Dave Bullock, Scott Koblish and Chris Moreno! Plus: FREE BEER!

The original art will be auctioned off as well to support the charity!

Hero Time Starts Right Now!

2009-08-07T16:47:00.001-07:00

In the words of Henry Rollins, "I'm talking to you: hero time starts right now!" The Hero Initiative is at it again, this time with the Wolverine Weapon X 100 Cover Project. They picked 100 comic book artists to do an original, one of a kind sketch on a blank variant sketch cover of Wolverine Weapon X #1. I think only 100 variant covers were printed especially for The Hero Initiative. A rare collectible if you can get one! They will be actioning them off a few at a time on ebay. I'll try to post a link when mine goes up for auction. Please bid if you can, it's for a great cause!

The Hero Initiative (Formerly known as A.C.T.O.R., A Commitment To Our Roots) has had the good fortune to grant over $200,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. They are a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping comic book creators in need of emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It's a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

I recreated the cover to Ballistic Wolverine #1 by my good friend Joe Benitez. It's one of my favorite covers ever, in fact it's framed and hangs in my studio! Since I would never sell the original, and I've been offered serious cash for it on a few occasions, I thought this would be a good way to raise some cash for a great charity!

JAM DVD Cover

2009-02-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Since I tend to specialize in storyboard and concept design, I usually get involved in films before anything has been shot, my art is used in the production of the film, but rarely seen by the public (and I have the NDAs to prove it!). So it was fun to get to do a finished illustration for the DVD cover after the film has been made. Especially a film as special as this, a documentary about never giving up and believing in your dreams.

JAM is the story of the American Roller Derby League, a group of veteran Roller Derby stars now in their 50’s that are determined to make a comeback.

In the 1970’s, they were the most popular sports stars on TV, a bigger draw than Major League Baseball. And then, virtually overnight, they disappeared — until now.

For seven years, award-winning filmmaker Mark Woollen chronicles league owner Tim Patten as he pours his heart and entire life savings into a revival of this uniquely American entertainment. JAM takes you on an epic journey filled with unimaginable drama, bitter rivalries, heart pounding action and an incredible cast of characters you’ll never forget. Hilarious, heartbreaking, inspiring, JAM is an amazing story about the lengths people will go to achieve their dreams.

You can pre-order it here.

Dec. 10th at The Comic Bug

2008-11-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

If you are in the Los Angeles area, please swing by The Comic Bug on December 1oth to celebrate the release of the Hero Initiative's Hulk 100 Project hardcover book! I will be there signing and sketching with a bunch of great artists! Hope to see you all there!

WED., 10 DEC
6 PM-8 PM, signing with six artists: Joe Benitez, Scott Koblish, Bill Morrison, Tone Rodriguez, Aaron Sowd, Joe Rubinstein
At The Comic Bug
1807 1/2 Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
310-372-6704
http://www.thecomicbug.com/

Then from 8-10 PM, if you wanna hang loose, it's the Comic Bug's Christmas party w/DJ, drinks, snacks, etc. Some other local artists (Richard Starkings, Mike Mignola, Josh Dysart, etc.) will likely show up as well if ya wanna hob-nob.

CNN Overload

2008-10-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

I usually only get my news from reliable sources such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or The Onion, but lately I've been addicted to CNN. Really addicted. And it's starting to worry me. I may need to cut back on my CNN viewing because every time I look at Ali Velshi I see this:Do you see it too? Dr. Honeydew! Thank God, I thought it was just me! No wonder I can't take him seriously. No one in real life has skin that orange! He's gotta be a Muppet, right?

Then there is the lovely Dana Bash. Every time I look at her I see:

The bird from Pixar's For the Birds, right? I'm not trying to be mean, maybe I just watch too many cartoons. Or too much CNN. So there!

Last Round of Card Commissions

2008-10-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

If you still want a sketch card commission, you can get on the list for the Marvel Masterpieces Series 3 Artist Proof cards. I can also do plain old sketch cards as well if you want one of those. Email me for details at aaronsowd@mac.com. The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards are very limited, they only give 10 to each artist.

Hulk Smash! Last Chance!

2008-10-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've already mentioned The Hero Initiative and their Ultimate 100 Hulk #1 Cover Project. My first cover raised over $700.00 for a great charity. But that is nothing compared to these two! The legendary John Romita Jr. donated two killer sketches which I was asked to embellish and color. What an honor, I grew up on John's stuff, I never thought I'd get to touch his original art! The first one below sold for over $1,000.00! The one above is being auctioned off now and ends soon! Please bid here if you can!

Variations on a Theme: Iron Man

2008-10-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Aw, Iron Man... my favorite character when I was a kid. Here are the last of the sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3! I could have done all 20 cards of just Iron Man, but I burned out after 7 and decided to mix it up a bit! Wish I would have gotten to the cool JR JR "big ass boots" armor and Iron Man 2099. Those are both great designs! Here is the first suit of armor designed by Jack Kirby or Don Heck?

And again in gold circa Avengers #1.

I actually kind of liked the old pointy head version of the red and gold armor. Jack Kirby's design?

The "classic" version without the pointy head helmet.
Then the silver centurion armor designed by Mark Bright, I think...
And the badass black and silver War Machine armor...go Raiders!

And the most recent Ultimates armor designed by Bryan Hitch!

Variations on a Theme: Spider-Man

2008-10-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the original classic Spidey. The key to a good Spider-Man is the armpit webbing! Don't forget the armpit webbing! It's the secret ingredient that is often overlooked!

My buddy Sean was complaining that I never update my blog. It's true, I get on a deadline which is replaced by another deadline (or three!) and yet another deadline. They multiply like Gremlins (don't get them wet!)! It never ends! But I can't complain, I'm getting paid to draw, how cool is that? So this post is for Sean: quitcherbitchin'!

Now back to my deadlines, be they many and unrelenting!

More sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3 done in hurry... I did simple variations on each character I drew to save time! Who can forget the spiffy black costume from Secret Wars? Was that a Mike Zeck design? Zeck rules!

And the more recent costume from Civil War. It's not officially a Major Crossover Event until Spidey gets a new costume!I always loved me some Rick Leonardi. Severely underrated artist, IMO. The Spider-Man 2099 costume was the shiz-nit. Very, very cool and fun to draw!

Variations on a Theme: The Hulk

2008-09-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

More sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3 done in hurry... I did simple variations on each character I drew to save time! Here's the original classic gray Hulk as designed by Jack Kirby.
And the green Hulk we all know and love!
And the lesser known Mr. Fixit Hulk from his time as a mob enforcer in Las Vegas! Seriously, I'm not joking! From Peter David's run, look it up!

The new red Hulk from the recent Hulk #1 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. Who is he? What does he want? Why is he red? What about the rest of the Hulk Rainbow Army? Oops, I've said too much... spoiler alert!
And we can't forget World War Hulk, the baddest Hulk of them all! He's like Hulk crossed with Conan if he was raised by Spartans and trained to fight by Russell Crowe. The Russell Crowe from Gladiator, not the Russell Crowe from A Beautiful Mind. Forget "Hulk Smash!" Now it's "Hulk crush enemies, see them driven before Hulk, and hear the lamentations of Hulk's women. Also, Hulk might like to be governor one day..."

Variations on a Theme: Wolverine

2008-09-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I had to do a lot of original sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces 3 in a short amount of time, so I decided to do variations on each character I drew. Hey, it's easier than coming up with new poses every time! And think of all the cool costumes that Wolverine alone has had! Here's a few of my personal favorites. First, the John Cassaday costume from Astonishing X-Men.

Then there's the costume he took off of Fang, one of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, during the Dave Cockrum or John Byrne run on X-Men when I was a little kid. I love that Claremont just added apostrophes to names to make them sound alien. Aa'ron S'owd. Sounds exotic!Then the Jim Lee take on the classic Kirby X-Men basic training suits. This was circa Uncanny X-Men #275, I think. Jim added a lot of belts/straps everywhere that served no purpose I could see, save looking really cool in an S&M kind of way!

Ah, the classic brown costume designed by Dave Cockrum, I believe. Is there a better costume designer than Dave Cockrum? Maybe Jack Kirby, but Dave has to be in the top tier!
Lastly, the Weapon X costume from the Barry Windsor Smith mini series. Can you really call this a costume? He's pretty much naked with a cool helmet and a few boxes hanging off him. I love the way BWS used color in that story and all the wires and pins sticking out of him are great (hard to draw on a tiny little card, though)!

Blitz: The League II Trailer

2008-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

The trailer for Blitz: The League II is now online in HD. The game comes out from Midway at the end of September. I got to storyboard the trailer and a lot of the cinematics for the actual game. The animators at Midway went all out in bringing it to life. It's going to be kick-ass (if I do say so my own self)!

The First Five

2008-07-12T12:02:00.001-07:00

Whew, that was fast! The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards sold out in less than two days! If you still want a sketch card commission, you can get on the list for the Series 2 Artist Proof cards which I should be getting soon from Upper Deck. I can also do plain old sketch cards as well if you want one of those. Email me for details at aaronsowd@mac.com. The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards are very limited, they only give 10 to each artist. Here's the first five of my commissions:

Thor for Thorsten in Germany!A recreation of Uncanny X-Men #141 for Kevin in California. I grew up on Byrne/Austin X-Men, so this was fun. Hard to fit all that detail on a tiny card, though!
A double shot of Wolverin and the Hulk for Billy who is stationed in Iraq. Hope you like them. Come home safe and sound and soon!
And a recreation of my recreation of Hulk #1 by Jack "King" Kirby for Paul in Maine. That's a lot of recreational recreation. OK, I'll shut up and get back to drawing now...

We'll Miss You Michael

2008-06-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just heard Michael Turner died last night. He was only 37. CBR reported that Mike passed away Friday night at 10:42 Pacific Time at Santa Monica Hospital in Calfornia after a long battle with cancer. The only thing that cheers me up is I know Mike lived more in those 37 years than most people do in 73 years. Ever since the first day he walked into Top Cow as Marc Silvestri's background assistant, we all knew he was destined for big things. Needless to say, that only lasted an issue or so, and Mike was soon off penciling books on his own, then co-writing and co-creating Witchblade and onto super stardom, going beyond Top Cow and creating his own company, Aspen Comics. All this before the age of 37. It's like he knew exactly what he wanted to do and made sure he had time to do it all. Mike always had a smile, a joke and contagious energy. He was so enthusiastic in everything he did, just tackled it head on. Even when he got sick, we all thought if anyone can beat it, Mike could. After all, he had overcome every other obstacle in his path with ease. We'll miss you, Mike. Thanks for the friendship and inspiration. Your time with us was too short, but you made it to heights most people only dream of.
UPDATE: I found this photo of the Top Cow gang from our first big signing at Golden Apple. Must be circa 1996 0r 1997. From left to right, the back row is boy wonder and editor Tim Hernandez, J.D. Smith and Nathan Cabrera. The front row Peter Steigerwald, Duy "D-Tron" Tron, Michael Turner, Brandon Peterson and Matt "Batt" Banning. I'm not in it because I took the photo! Damn, we look young! Those were good times. We'll miss you, Michael.

Accepting Commissions

2008-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

OK, I usually don't have time to do commissions, but Upper Deck was nice enough to send me 10 Artist Proof cards (see above) for just that purpose. So what the heck, it'll be fun. But I only have 10 cards, so first come, first serve. Email me at aaronsowd@mac.com with your request. There's also a few rules I have to follow (see below) before emailing me. Thanks!

IMPORTANT NOTE on the AP (Artist Proof) cards- they must be scanned and sent in for approval before sale. They have both the Marvel and Upper Deck logo on them, and are considered licensed material. So the same rules as to what can be drawn on the regular sketch cards will apply to the artist proof cards. The last date these cards can be sent in for approval is November 20th. If for some reason your requested sketch is not approved, I will refund your money in full.

Rules* for the cards :
NO Nazi symbology (this includes Iron Crosses, Iron Eagles, swastikas, etc.)
NO zombie iterations of any Marvel character
NO nudity
NO gore or over the top violence
NO licensed characters (Rom, G.I. Joe, Transformers, or any other licensed property)
NO shots of any Marvel character smoking
*Marvel's, not mine!

Hulk Cover/Kirby Tribute

2008-06-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Hero Initiative is putting together The Ultimate 100 Hulk #1 Cover Project. They picked 100 of the best comic book artists like Neal Adams, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlene, Dale Keown, Jae Lee, Bill Morrison, Joe Benitez, George Tuska, Bob McLeod, Sean Phillips and many more (yeah, I don't know how I got on that list, either!). Each artist did an original, one of a kind sketch in pencil, ink and marker (or some variation thereof!) on a blank variant sketch cover of Hulk #1. I think only 100 variant covers were printed especially for The Hero Initiative. A rare collectible if you can get one! They will be actioning them off a few at a time at comic conventions and on ebay. I'll try to post a link when mine goes up for auction. Please bid if you can, it's for a great cause! You can see a bunch of them on Marvel's site.

The Hero Initiative (Formerly known as A.C.T.O.R., A Commitment To Our Roots) has had the good fortune to grant over $200,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. They are a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping comic book creators in need of emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It's a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

I decided to go old school with my sketch, I love the original gray Jack Kirby Hulk most of all. He was huge and more of a creepy Frankenstein's monster than a straight-up super hero. I went back and looked at Kirby's original cover and decided a homage to The King was in order!

Thanks to Jim McLauchlin for getting me involved! It was a blast!

Woo-Hoo! The Simpsons Ride Opens Today!

2008-05-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

Woo-hoo! The Simpsons Ride opens today at Universal Studios Hollywood! I think the one in Florida has already opened! I got to storyboard this amazing motion simulator ride. It was one of the funnest animation projects I've worked on to date, and a dream job to draw The Simpsons! If you live in California or Florida, go, go, go! It's going to be some much fun!

More Marvel Masterpieces Series 2 Sketch Cards

2008-05-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell by this batch of sketch cards, I grew up on the classic Chris Claremont & John Byrne X-Men. I still love looking back over that run. Amazing stuff! Wait, how did Iron Man get in there? I just saw the movie and I loved it so it must have been on my mind. I sketched these out really quick in water color and ink. Tried to keep them loose and sketchy, but I always ruin it in the inking. Must sketch more!

This is post #100! Whoo-hoo!

Marvel Masterpieces Series 2 Sketch Cards

2008-05-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wildfire

2008-04-16T19:48:00.001-07:00

I dunno why, but Wildfire was always my favorite member of the Legion of Superheroes. I just liked the way he looked when I was a little kid, I guess. Timber Wolf was cool, too. And Cosmic Boy just plain sucked. Tough to look butch in pink tights!

This was a quick sketch for the San Diego Comic Con souvenir book, I inked it up just for fun! Every year CAPS does a jam piece and this year we picked the 50th anniversary of the Legion of Superheroes. Wow, 50 years? Isn't the 30th century here yet? I want my Legion flight ring already!

Woman's Work

2008-04-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

I just wrapped up work on a great little independent movie called Woman's Work, directed by Chad Benton. It's a short film about a housewife who accidentally discovers she is a superhero, and how she balances the life of a superhero with being a mother and a wife. It was a ton of fun! It should soon be making the film festival circuit and hopefully showing at San Diego Comic Con this year! You can find out more on the movie website here.

Loss of Inspiration: Dave Stevens

2008-04-02T20:45:00.001-07:00

It's been almost a month since I heard Dave Stevens died, and it still hasn't quite sunken in. Dave was one of the nicest and most talented artists I've had the pleasure of meeting. I didn't even know he had Leukemia. He was only 52. He always seemed happy and healthy. I didn't know Dave that well, but we took a painting class at Associates in Art together. I was shocked to see Dave in a class he easily could have been teaching! He was always learning and looking to take his talent even further which is a hallmark of a great artist. His paintings where gorgeous. After an hour or two, he would have what to my eyes was a finished masterpiece and I had barely finished my lay-in! We always talked at conventions whenever we saw each other. Dave was always inspiring and encouraging. I'm really going to miss that. I'll treasure his art always.

His webmaster offers a great suggestion that I hope you will consider:
For anyone attending the San Diego Comic Con this year, please wear a Rocketeer shirt or pin as a way of remembering Dave at the Con. You don't have to say anything, or do anything, just represent Dave's memory with an image of his best-known creation.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

2008-02-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is pretty cool, I didn't even know it existed until it showed up in a box on my doorstep. A whole box full of them, actually. Thanks to the fine folks at DC for thinking of me. I've worked in comics off and on since I was 18 and I think this is the first time I've had any of my work collected into hardcover form!* Lots of trade paperbacks and softcover reprints, even prestige format, but never bookshelf quality hardcover! Sweet! They even put my name on the cover! Which is rare, since inkers in comics hardly get any press unless it's being the butt of a joke in a Kevin Smith movie! Rodney Dangerfield got more respect than inkers! So this was a big deal! If you want your own copy, you can buy it here.

The sad thing is that I can't look at the Joker now without thinking of Heath Ledger. That's a real shame.

Heralds of Galactus Cards

2008-01-21T22:04:00.001-08:00

Last year I did a few of the Heralds of Galactus cards for Upper Deck's VS card game. Fun stuff! I hardly ever get to see the finished cards, but I found a few of them online. They turned out great, mostly due to the masterful colors of Dean White. Damn, that boy's good! He even makes me look like I know what I'm doing!

Happy Hulking New Year!

2008-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Hope you're having a great 2008!

Sketch cards are all the rage with the kids these days! They're more popular than POGs! Hmmm... wait, POGs were never popular. But you get the point, sketch cards are big. Fun to do, too! Unlike a full sized commission which can get put on the back burner and then back up for months and become daunting simply because of the time involved, you can crank out a little sketch card in an hour or so. I try to put a little more work into them then a con sketch. These were for collector Mike D who has a cool gallery you can see here.

Sometimes they turn out pretty cool. The main thing I have to do is loosen up on my inking! Having been an inker for so long, I immediately gointo inking mode with a pen and try to make lots of pretty lines! I need to knock that off! Sketchy and loose is the way to go! That's my #1 New Year's resolution for 2008: forget everything I know about inking so I can draw better! Resolution #2 is to actually draw better! What's your New Year's resolution for 2008?

Aces: Curse of The Red Baron

2007-12-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick pin-up I busted out for my buddy Shannon Denton. His comic book Aces: Curse of The Red Baron is being collected into trade paperback and this will be part of it. Ever since I was a little kid, I loved The Red Baron (mostly due to reading Peanuts) and then there was the song, Snoopy vs The Red Baron, which I would sing ad nauseum and drive my parents nuts! Remember this?

After the turn of the century
In the clear blue skies over Germany
Came a roar and a thunder men had never heard
Like the scream and the sound of a big war bird
Up in the sky, a man in a plane
Baron von Richtofin was his name
Eighty men tried, and eighty men died
Now they're buried together on the countryside

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The Bloody Red Baron was rollin' out the score
Eighty men died tryin' to end that spree
Of the Bloody Red Baron of Germany

It's by a band called The Royal Guardsmen. I must have had the record; I'm not sure how else I would have heard it. Takes me back! I had a more ambitious Mike Mignola type layout in mind with more characters and a castle and everything, but I had to get it done in less than a day. I squeezed in a very Mignola-esgue crow, though! Too much work! But it was fun!

Still The Man!

2007-11-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

CAPS, the Comic Art Professional Society, held our annual banquet to honor the great Stan Lee last night. Each year, our guest of honor receives the coveted Sergio award. It's a statue based on Sergio Aragonés, legendary artist of MAD Magazine and creator of Groo and one of the founders of CAPS. Bill Morrison and Mark Evanier presided over the ceremony with speeches from Scott Shaw! and Marv Wolfman.

Stan was then presented with a beautiful leather bound book of original drawings from all the artists of CAPS in his honor. Above is my contribution to that book.The event was organized by Stephen Silver who did an amazing job, as well as the cover to the program! Thanks, Stephen! Love you, Stan!

Be Smart, Don't Start!

2007-10-18T20:15:00.001-07:00

So why do skunks stink? Because they have a two and a half pack-a-day habit, of course! More unused character designs which went right into the trash and onto my blog! It's the same thing really...

I just post all my stray ideas, throwaway sketches and broken dreams on this blog in hopes that someone will see them, someone will love them, someone will give them a hot meal and a good home.
So please, adopt an unused character design today. Unless you're Ellen Degeneres. They make great pets, they're good with the kids and don't fuss too much if you buy them smokes.
But remember kids: smoking is a filthy, filthy habit. Right up there with heroin by the way society treats it. So be smart, don't start!

Character Design: Puff The Magic Dragon

2007-10-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

So where do unused character designs go to die? The web, of course! Here's a few unused character designs for a project that never got used. Poor Puffy. He never had a chance. He's addicted to sweet, sweet nicotine. You see, he's covered in nicotine patches but but he can't stop smoking! Silly dragon! Maybe that's why dragons are extinct. Like the Gary Larson Far Side cartoon about how the dinosaurs really became extinct!

Anyway, they wanted a twisted take on the classic Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons. Cute, but twisted! The bunny with the oxygen tank cracks me up. The juxtaposition of cute and sad is so perfect. I also like the tough guy cupid. He almost has a John Kricfalusi vibe to him. I love John K. He's a genius. I'm a hack. So there!

Wonder Woman Day 2007

2007-10-02T15:52:00.001-07:00

Has it been a year already? Last year, Wonder Woman Day raised over $15,000.00 for the two shelters: The Raphael House of Portland Bradley-Angle House. Andy Mangels masterminded the event to be a part of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month. You can bid here. Lots of great original art by Adam Hughes, Jim Lee, Steve Rude and lots more! Even if you're not in the area, you can bid online. It's a really good cause.

WONDER WOMAN DAY II
Sunday, October 28, 2007 -- 2pm-6pm, FREE
Excalibur Comics, 2444 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, Oregon
A part of national Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

SPECIAL GUESTS SIGNING:
Phil Jimenez (Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Infinite Crisis)
Gail Simone (Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, All-New Atom)

Teaching at Art Center

2007-09-27T18:28:00.001-07:00

I'm teaching the Storyboarding for Filmmakers class this semester at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Having never gone to Art Center as a student, I was honored to even be asked and jumped at the opportunity. With past instructors and graduates like Ansel Adams, Ralph McQuarrie, Bob Peak, Drew Struzan, Burne Hogarth, Syd Mead, Michael Bay, Craig Mullins, Ryan Church, Feng Zhu, Scott Robertson, Stan Sakai, Zack Snyder and Michael Whelan to name but a few. Whew! What a list! It reads like a Who's Who of art and film. All guys I've admired and studied their work more often than my own. How they worked their way down to me, I'll never know!

Storyboarding for Filmmakers is Tuesday evenings from 7-10 if anyone is interested.

Mini-Size Man-Thing!

2007-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

You've all heard of Giant-Size Man-Thing? I guess that would make mine Mini-Size Man-Thing since it's on a tiny card. I'm so ashamed...

Spider-Man 2099 Sketch Card

2007-09-24T08:40:00.000-07:00

Thing and Mr. Fantastic Sketch Card

2007-09-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

Thor Sketch Card

2007-09-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

Classic Iron Man Sketch Card

2007-09-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Destroyer Sketch Card

2007-09-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Power Man Sketch Card

2007-09-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Moon Knight Sketch Card

2007-09-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hulk Sketch Card

2007-09-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Iron Man Mark 1 Sketch Card

2007-09-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

Havok Sketch Card

2007-09-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

Cyclops Sketch Card

2007-09-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Doctor Strange Sketch Card

2007-09-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Daredevil vs. Stiltman Sketch Card

2007-09-17T08:31:00.000-07:00

Galactus and Silver Surver Sketch Card

2007-09-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

Captain America Sketch Card

2007-09-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Spider-Man Black Costume Sketch Card

2007-09-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

Abomination and Leader Sketch Card

2007-09-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Wolverine Sketch Card

2007-09-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

Nightcrawler Sketch Card

2007-09-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

Silver Surfer Sketch Card

2007-09-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

Human Fly Sketch Card

2007-09-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Iron Man Sketch Card

2007-09-09T13:11:00.000-07:00

M.O.D.O.K. Sketch Card

2007-09-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hawkeye Sketch Card

2007-09-08T00:39:00.000-07:00

Supreme Intelligence Sketch Card

2007-09-08T00:37:00.000-07:00

Iron Fist Sketch Card

2007-09-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

Doctor Doom Sketch Card

2007-09-07T15:19:00.001-07:00

Black Bolt Sketch Card

2007-09-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Spider-Man Sketch Card

2007-09-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Back From the Burn

2007-09-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

I survived another year at Burning Man and this was the best year yet. Much love to every one at Camp Esperanza (you know who you are!). I was going to write a long blog entry about everything that happened this year, but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep! Which is a fancy way of saying I have a shit load of work to dig myself out from under before I can even think about things like blogging. And sleeping. So there!

Make Mine M.O.D.O.K.!

2007-08-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

It has begun!

I've sketched out 30 of these little bastards, now I have to ink them and send them off to Upper Deck, who will then randomly pack them in with their 'Marvel Masterpieces' collector sets. They've got some great artists contributing original art sketches. Guys like Travis Charest, Eric Canete, Chris Bachalo, Andrew Robinson, and Ryan Ottley just to name a few! How I wormed my way onto that talented list, I'll never know! I was just going to do little head sketches (do you know how hard it is to draw on a tiny trading card? I'm used to working 10"x15"!), but Eric has set the bar so high, that I'm going to try to step it up and do full body shots! Damn you Eric! You are way too good! He packs enough energy and detail into every card, it looks like a full sized cover shrunk down!

Everyone seems to be doing the mandatory Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc. sketch cards. So I'm going old school with characters like M.O.D.O.K., Blackbolt, Man-Thing, The Destroyer and all the off-beat characters that I love but no one remembers! Remember The Human Fly? That's right, you heard me, The Human Fly AKA The Greatest Superhero in the World.

I only wish Marvel still had the licenses for ROM and The Micronauts! Damn!

Elvis Has Left The Building...

2007-08-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

30 years ago today, on August 16, 1977, Elvis Aaron Presley died. He was many things to many people. "Who built the pyramids? Elvis! Who built Stonehenge? Elvis!" Mojo Nixon understood, in his classic song Elvis is Everywhere.

A few of my favorite verses from that song:

When I look out into your eyes out there,
When I look out into your faces,
You know what I see?
I see a little bit of Elvis
In each and every one of you out there.

Lemme tell ya...
Weeeeeeeeeellllllll...

Elvis is everywhere
Elvis is everything
Elvis is everybody
Elvis is still the king

Man o man
What I want you to see
Is that the big E's
Inside of you and me!

Soon all will become Elvis.
Everything everywhere will be Elvis.
Why do you think they call it evolution anyway?
It's really Elvislution!
Elvislution!

Long live the Elvislution!

Loss of Inspiration

2007-08-13T12:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up Monday morning to stumble into my studio with a cup of coffee and answer emails while waking up. The first one was from Tim Townsend, and it carried the report from Newsarama: "The comics industry lost a luminary this weekend - Mike Wieringo passed away Sunday of a sudden heart attack. Details are still sketchy as of this time, but according to close sources, the acclaimed artist had chest pains at some point during the day and called 911, but the responders did not make it in time." I was stunned. Unbelievable. It felt wrong somehow, like I was still half asleep or hadn't read the news correctly. He was only 44.

I had only known Mike through emails and conventions, but he was an inspiration to all of us in comics and the kindest person to talk to. His personality shown through in his art; innocent and playful, dynamic and heroic, passionate and stylized in such a way as to make it all look effortless. So much so, he posted a sketch a day on his blog. A sketch a day! He inspired me to do the same. I lasted maybe three days. He loved what he did, and it showed through in everything that he did. His drawing looked fun.

I was lucky enough to ink him on one occasion, on this Batman and Robin commission. I don't really have time to ink comics much any more, but when I was asked "wanna ink Ringo?" I jumped. Of course I did! And I'm glad I did. I got the chance to touch a piece of his art, one page in a huge body of work that has touched us all. Thanks Mike. You were one of the best.

Someone once said of Mike, "he draws like we all wish we could draw." That sums it up perfectly for me. The only consolation is the work he left behind. It's bound to continue to inspire artists and amaze children for generations to come.

Transformers Teaser Trailer

2007-06-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Below are the storyboards for the first Transformers teaser trailer. You can see it here if you missed it. A lot of stock footage was used to give it a realistic, documentary feel. As if NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) had really discovered something on Mars!

Fun With A Ruler: Super Simple Supes

2007-05-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

I almost never have time to just draw for fun (I know, I hear you playing The World's Smallest Violin) so I sat down yesterday and messed around just for fun in my sketchbook. I've been looking at a lot of Shane Glines and Kyle Baker lately, and it amazes me how effectively they can break a character into simple shapes. They boil the character down to its core elements and lose all the extraneous details. I figured I'd try it with Superman, since he's so iconic to begin with, how hard could he be?

Taking a cue from his classic "S" logo inside a diamond type triangle, I thought I'd try to use only triangles or straight edges. I had to cheat a little bit, but it was a fun exercise and forced me to think in a different direction than I normally do. I inked almost all of the big shapes with a ruler. I'm a huge fan of the old Fleischer Superman cartoons so I used that costume, from his very first appearance in Action Comics. I even threw in the logo just or fun. It works well since it's triangular too.

You can see in my initial sketch I had to revise some things, most notably the legs by foreshortening them a lot more! Just a quick warm up exercise, but it forced me to draw and think off the beaten path and that's important. So remember to have fun and try something different!

Boogeyman

2007-05-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

My friend Scott Rogers co-publishes Shooting Star Comics where he writes and draws the feature Bedbug - the single father superhero. One of the main villains is the Boogeyman. I did this pin-up for him in an animated style. The book should be out in time for San Diego Comic Con. Fun stuff!

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut

2007-04-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

"Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck in time."

My favorite author of all time, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., died on April 11th in Manhattan. He was 84. We was a humanist and a humorist of the highest order. He had fallen at his Manhattan home several weeks prior an suffered irreversible brain injury. So it goes.

He was most famous for his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, but I've read and treasured all of his 14 plus novels. Cat's Cradle, Mother Night, Breakfast of Champions and The Sirens of Titan are among my favorites. If you haven't read any of his novels, do yourself a favor and pick one up. They are a pure delight in every way to read.

My favorite quote from Mother Night is "we are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be."

And from The Books of Bokonon in Cat's Cradle:

Tiger got to hunt,
Bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder why, why, why?

Tiger got to sleep,
Bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand

His epitaph for the human race was "we could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap." And for himself:

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut.

I Grew up on Groo

2007-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

Every year the San Diego Comic Con publishes an official program book with tribute drawings for various characters celebrating milestones and anniversaries. This year is the 25th anniversary of Sergio Aragones' "Groo" one of my favorite comics as a kid. You could say I grew up on Groo...

As a member of CAPS, we did a "Group of Groos," a jam piece with each artist drawing Groo in their own style! Since my take wasn't going to be exact, on-model Groo, I thought I'd draw an actor in the role of Groo on the set of Groo: The Movie. Fun to do! Viva El Groo!

More Monkeys

2007-04-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

More monkey designs for an upcoming children's book. A cute lil' chimp and a big ol' gorilla.

R.I.P. Marshall Rogers

2007-03-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite Batman artists died Saturday. Marshall Rogers was only 57 years old. He had a groundbreaking run on Detective Comics , including one of my favorite stories (issue #475)"The Laughing Fish." The cause of his death has not been reported. Very sad to lose such a talented artist...

Funk Soul Brother

2007-03-09T14:48:00.000-08:00

"Right about now, the funk soul brother. Check it out now, the funk soul brother" - Fat Boy Slim

Anyone besides me remember Soul World from Jim Starlin's classic run on Strange Tales? The world of Adam Warlock is about as cosmic and crazy as any in comics. The guy had a cigar chompin' troll for a sidekick. Yes, you read that right: a cigar chompin', talking, space troll. Pip The Troll to be precise. Who, according to his official Marvel Universe entry "was famous for his carnal prowess." Seriously. I'm not even making that up!

But enough about that poon-hound Pip. He's got nothing to do with this piece. The purple guy on the left is Grape Juice Guy or something, I completely forget his name at the moment. The big green guy on the right is Judge Kraytor, a former judge of the Universal Church of Truth
which I think is the Marvel Universe version of Scientology. So that makes L. Ron Kraytor here their version of L. Ron Hubbard. He's a just giant head with arms and legs! No torso! L. Ron Kraytor laughs at silly humans and their need for torsos! He's evolved beyond that. He's OT XV! So there!

Ogres Need Love, Too!

2007-02-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Here's some rejected character designs for an animated commercial I recently worked on. They were "too scary," so I ended up toning him way down so as not the frighten the whiddle kiddies! I thought that's what ogres were SUPPOSED to do! Isn't that in their job description? They are so misunderstood. Ogres need love too!

Common Foe

2007-02-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

My good friends Shannon Denton and Keith Giffen wrote a great little comic set in World War Two called Common Foe. During the Battle of the Bulge, a besieged squad of American GIs and a platoon of German infantry do everything in their power to wipe each other out. But as darkness falls, these two groups find they must unite if they are to survive the night. The combined units have now become the prey for an ancient evil and it will take everything they have to survive against the common foe.

If you missed the mini series from Desperado/Image Comics, don't worry: the trade paperback is coming out this summer. They asked me to contribute a pin-up for the collected edition. I thought I'd try to do a Mike Mignola style piece, but failed miserably. The simplicity of his rendering and power of his compositions leave me in the dust. Two of the reasons on a long list of reasons why he's a master of his craft and I'm a hack. So much to learn. So little time!

Ma Ma Monkey

2007-01-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

Fa Fa Flunky!

Happy 2007!

2006-12-23T21:10:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a great year, here's wishing you all an even better 2007!

For Love of Death

2006-12-17T14:51:00.000-08:00

In the Marvel Universe, Death is portrayed as a person, sometimes as a beautiful woman, sometimes as a skeleton in a purple cloak. All she is missing is the scythe. And nobody loves death more than Thanos. Thanos is probably one of the greatest bad guys ever, created by (I believe) Jim "Cosmic is my Middle Name" Starlin. Thanos is always trying to impress Lady Death (TM & copyright Brian Pulido) by killing people for her. In this case he is about to sacrifice the Silver Surfer to her. But she's not impressed. Poor Thanos, he can never find a love connection. He should have just used J Date. Or eHarmony. Colors by Dean "Spunky" White.

The inked piece card. I blow up the rough thumbnail and lightbox it with pencil onto bristol board to ink. Sometimes if the thumbnail is really tight I just go directly to ink.
Here is the rough thumbnail idea. It was approved with no changes! Easy!

The Cosmic Cube!

2006-12-11T21:41:00.000-08:00

'Nuff said.

Except maybe to add that I'm proud to say I drew this all by myself without looking at any reference material. Because it's a cube. And it's cosmic. The Kirbyesque cosmic space was fun to do, but I probably messed it up in the coloring.*

*Note: the thumbnail above is not the actual colors, click on it for a larger version with the proper color scheme. For some reason, Blogger compressed or corrupted it into a weird negative image. Looks like Christmas in the Negative Zone!

Hooked on Crack (or The Death of a Blog)

2006-11-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

I'm hooked on crack.
WarCrack, that is. It's like a drug (don't start, kids!) and it'll eat up your life in small increments (if you're lucky). Massive increments if you're not. I've had friends who have lost hours, days, weeks and entire months of there lives to this insideous drug-- um, I mean, game. It's just a game and I can quit any time I want.

Now I don't have a Playstation. Never bought an X-Box. No video games at all. Oh, I WANTED to, but I stayed strong. No video games for me, because I know how I am, addictive personality and all. I would never get any work done, so video games stayed out of my house and my studio. It's like a recovering alcoholic who removes every drop of alcohol from their house ,(don't forget the cough syrup) I kept my home pure. Clean. Amish, almost.
I resisted the entire MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) concept. It's evil. Evil, I tells ya! My "friend," we'll call him "Chris," has been after me for two or three years to play WarCrack. I said no every time. But I finally gave in and played a demo (a 10 day demo, what could it hurt?) because I had some free time on my hands and was bored out of my mind in a small town. Now I'm hooked.
The Five Stages of Warcraft cartoon by Dave 'Fargo' Kosak sums it perfectly. I think I'm already in Stage 4, God help me!

So if I never post on this blog again, you'll know why! So there!

Lost on Chaos Island

2006-11-29T16:00:00.000-08:00

So you think those guys on Lost have it tough? Survivor not tough enough for you? Try surviving on an island with Velociraptors! That's the goal (I think, I never actually played it) of this PC game from Dreamworks Interactive. I did some cover concepts and this was a sketch that never got used. Any day I get to draw a dinosaur is a good day for me, though! So there!

The Thing About Doom

2006-11-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

I recently got to contribute a few cards to Upper Deck's The Heralds of Galactus booster set. What a fun gig! The set features all of Marvel's cosmic beings like the Silver Surfer, Dr. Doom, the Watcher, and of course, Galactus himself! You can check out a sample gallery of the set here.
The colors are by good friend and master debater Dean White. I was expecting your average blue sky, an orange Thing and your garden variety green Doctor Doom. But Dean is never satisfied with "average" and that's why I love the guy! He brought a whole new sense of drama and doom to the scene with a blood red sky and by making the sparks from the Doombot that the Thing is ripping in half into the strongest light source. I was floored. Dean is a genius.

2006-11-09T18:00:00.000-08:00

The New Yorker

2006-11-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Just an old commission I found in my archives. The original was done in pencil, ink and watercolor. It's a parody of The New Yorker's famous first cover. But instead of a snooty aristocrat, I made him a chimpanzee. I forget why exactly, but I'm sure it was very funny to me at the time. So there!

The Work I do When I'm Not Working

2006-10-31T15:51:00.000-08:00

I hardly ever accept commissions because I hardly ever have time to do them. I'm always on (multiple) deadline(s) it seems and when I finish one job, two more take its place. I'm just lucky/cursed that way, depending on your point of view. So like many artists, commissions always end up being the last thing to do on my list. Right after alphabetizing my CDs or changing the batteries in my smoke detectors. But they always get done. Eventually.

Here's a Hulk cover/commission I recently completed. It was actually a lot of fun to do. I started trying to find a style I liked for the Hulk since this was my first time drawing him believe it or not. I love the Jack Kirby design, the original look that was loosely based on Frankenstein's monster:
Bruce Timm does a great take on the Kirby version which I also love. There might be a little Art Adams influence in there in terms of the Hulk's head shape and his body's build. So I set out to do a Kirby/Timm/Adams style without copying any one artist too blatantly. I wanted it to feel like those old classic Marvel covers. Since he's fighting the Fantastic Four, I figured that was the way to go! So I worked up this rough sketch in blue pencil and regular old plain #2 pencil: I then tightened that up in the pencils. Why I pencil so tight when I'm inking myself, I have no idea. I should really loosen up! I tried to indicate all that "Kirby Anatomy" on the Hulk, without actually copying Kirby anatomy because I couldn't figure it out if I tried! Kirby became almost a genre unto himself with all those cool little squiggles and graphic shorthand he developed. That's why he's The King and I'm not even apprentice to the court jester! Then I inked it using a Hunt's #102 nib, a Windsor Newton Series 7 brush and some markers. I hate inking myself for some reason. Maybe it's because I've already worked everything out at the pencil stage and I'm sick of the drawing by the time I get to inking it. It's like drawing the same thing three times! I wanted to give it a little Joe Sinnott feel, he was always my favorite Kirby inker and since the FF are in it, I kind of have to! I was pretty happy with the hair on the Hulk (that's one Arthur Adams detail that snuck into the finished piece!). Also, I probably put a little too much detail into the rubble; I even went so far as to brake out the old black crayon for texture! The reason I feel the detail is a bit much is that you wouldn't see that much rendering in the classic era of Marvel comics that I was going for. Aw, well. So what!

Vader vs. Maul

2006-10-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

It's Darth versus Darth to the death! I get asked to do quick little sketches on 3 x 5 cards from time to time. I did this sketch on two cards that connect to form one image for a "13 year old Star Wars fan." At least he said in his letter that he was 13 years old. In the back of my mind, I always dred that it's a 40 year old comic book collector (think Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons) who will then sell my free sketches on ebay, but I force myself to give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm not that jaded. Not yet. Not until I start seeing my sketches on ebay, anyway!

Quick tip: if you're an actual fan and you write me a handwritten personal letter or note, you'll probably get a sketch. If you send me a form letter with my name filled in that you printed out of your computer and mass email to everyone, I probably won't take the time, because you didn't take the time.

In any case, this sketch was fun to do, I've been looking at a lot of Shane Glines' work lately, and this was my attempt to do a cartoony, animated Star Wars. Kind of like Clone Wars, but done more in my style. I'm pretty happy with Darth Maul, I wanted to make him all pointy and sharp edges, playing up his whole Kabuki demon look. Darth Vader probably could have been simplified even more, but his design is do damn cool there's not much I could bring myself to take awat from it. So there!