Newts!

Illustration for Kevin Anderson's story "Newts" in Starship Sofa Volume 3. 

On sale now.  Chock full of great sci-fi stories.

You know what to do.

Snow Queen

New commission done for Ben, adding to his awesome Fables collection. Seems appropriate to post this on the day that the northeast is getting snowed in before Halloween.  A pensive Snow Queen contemplating her next move...

Insects and Automatons

Or is it the other way round?  The latest in my series of Insect portraits.  Recent paintings that I did to show with my friends and co-workers Joseph Drust and Jeff McFadyen at Davenport and Winkleberry's in Pittsboro, NC.  I'll try to get some close-ups posted soon. All acrylic on canvas.

"We Don't Do Quests."

Illustration for Dale Mettam's amusing short story, "We Don't Do Quests", as it appears in the sixth issue of Bull-Spec magazine.  Unfortunately, published in grey tones, so color seen for first time here! 

Once Upon a Mattress

Just finished an illo for the program cover for local production of "Once Upon a Mattress", featuring my kids, Brendan and Kaitlin.  Opens in a couple days, so if you're local, rush out to see it!

Heroes Con- 2011

Another great Heroes Con in the bag.  Had a great time as always, catching up with old friends, making new ones, and sketching up a storm.  Here's a shot of my new pal Carlos with the Rebis drawing I posted recently.  Another happy customer.

Light Lass

Another commission for Heroes Con.  Light Lass from the Legion of Superheroes.  Will soon accompany the Phantom Girl from last year.  Like PG, I did the Cockrum designed outfit from the 70's that I grew up on,with the nod to her current design with the arrows in the boots, which I thought worked surprisingly well in creating a retro feel.  Watercolor and ink, with some photoshop touch-up. 

I've always thought that Light Lass wouldn't be all that effective in a fight, what with her powers to make things light as a daisy and all.  But she sure is cute! 

Rebis

Another commission for Heroes Con.  Rebis.  Playing with hir dolls.

Copic markers and Tombow brushpens.

Amethyst

Commission to deliver at next week's Heroes Con.  Amethyst of Gemworld.  Watercolor and ink. 

Don't know this for fact, but I think that Amethyst was DC's attempt to attract young girls to start reading comics in the mid-80's.  Some great art by Ernie Colon on the series, especially when he inked himself.  One of those artists who captures so much energy in inking their own work.

Little Green Men

Finally getting around to posting this:

Shot from the Little Green Men show at Wootini gallery in Carrboro, NC. My mantids placed nicely between curator Andy Foltz's great epic pieces.  The opening was a great success, and much fun was had with most all of the contributors on hand, and a good many Red Storm employees past and present milling about. 

Bonus!  Good eats from some of the local food trucks that were out and about that night.  If I could only remenber the name of the truck serving Grilled Cheese with Guacomole sandwiches, I'd give 'em a plug. Instead, fond memories of a tasty snack/meal.

ohyeah, one more link:
High rez pics of the paintings at the gallery can be found here.  Click on the pics for tighter shots.

Portrait of a Mantid Lady

The counterpart painting that I recently finished for the Little Green Men exhibit at Wootini that opens tomorrow evening, April 15th.  If you're in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, come on by from 7-11 pm.

They make a cute couple, don't you think?

Acrylic on Canvas- 11x14"

Portrait of a Mantid Gentleman

Painting I recently finished for the Little Green Men exhibit at Wootini that opens tomorrow evening, April 15th.  If you're in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area, come on by from 7-11 pm.

Acrylic on Canvas- 11x14"

Bull-Spec 5 cover

Cover of Bull-Spec No. 5, a local speculative fiction magazine for the Bull City, Durham.  Tried to work a couple local touches in there, including the Sun Trust building downtown, and gave a nod to Richard Dansky, for introducing me to Samuel Montogomery-Blinn, editor extraordinaire. The piece is an illustration for Rebecca Gomez Farrell's short story, "Bother".  My first published cover with digital inks! 

Victorian Mantid study

Study for a painting- WiP.  Working in acrylics for the first time in years, will post pics soon!

Delirium a la Ariel

While not my original intention for this commissioned sketch, this one kind of developed into a strange sort of homage to The Little Mermaid's Ariel.  I think it started when the fish on Delirium's string started reminding me of Flounder...  I don't know.

Also of note- this was done in a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, and I loved the feel and texture of the paper.  Note to self- get me one of those!

DP 63 Cover

Cover to Doom Patrol No. 63, Grant Morrison's final issue, as well as Crazy Jane and Rebis's.  One of my personal favorite issues.  From 1992, nearly 20 years now.

Looking back on these reminds me how much building of texture I was really into exploring in my inking work then.  Drybrush, litho crayons, spatter and liquid frisket to preserve the white of the paper are all on display here.

Doom Patrol-Who's Who!

Posting my latest DP piece got me all nostalgic to look over some of the old work, some of which I still have in its original state.  Thought that it would be interesting to post some of the old stuff while working on more new stuff so that this site didn't sit quite so empty this year like it did this past year.

So, this is the piece I did back in 1991 for Who's Who in the DCU #15.  This issue turned out to be the "Vertigo" issue of Who's Who, before there was a separate Vertigo imprint.  It featured characters from books like Sandman, Hellblazer, Shade the Changing Man, Swamp Thing, Animal Man and Doom Patrol, that went on later to become the core monthlies that at the time were branded as the "darker" mature titles at DC.  Within a year or two the Vertigo imprint was created.

Anyway, I finished this piece just before Heroes Con that year, and knowing that editor Michael Eury was going to attend, brought it along to give him to take back to New York with him.  As I handed it to him he thought about the idea of using it for the cover of the issue as well, and sure enough, it was the image that was used.

PS- Can anyone name all of the characters in this shot?

New Doom Patrol commission

Recently finished Doom Patrol commission featuring Cliff, Jane, Rebis and The Chief.  Pen & Ink and Watercolor, 11x17"