Angels on the Wing

Some recent concept work, which is actually the first of my concepts I've posted.

Dr. Strange ('s) Love

I figured after drawing Doc Strange that it'd be fun to sketch up his lady love Clea. Now, should I follow these up with Doc's trusty man-servant Wong, or his arch-enemy Dormammu? Hmmm...

A Strange 20 years

I realized the other day that this spring marks the 20th year anniversary of me landing my first professional comics gig, pencilling a story of one of my favorite characters, Dr. Strange. One of those moments that I'll always remember, painting the bedroom of the house my girlfriend (and future wife) was renting when the phone rang. Carl Potts was on the line, and wondering if I'd be interested in pencilling an 11 page fill-in featuring the good Doctor for an issue of Stange Tales. I tried to keep my cool, and sound professional in my response, but as soon as I was off the phone I couldn't contain my excitement and call friends to let them know I got this awesome gig.

So, in remembrance of that moment, here's a new rendition of the Doctor. It's been a strange 20 years.

Girl and her Dragon

Another sketch I did a while back in my sketchbook, and recently painted up in Photoshop. Created a custom "scale" brush for the dragon's scales that saved lots 'o inking time.

Not totally happy with the composition, largely the result of it being just a sketch and running out of room, so the cropping seems awkward to me, but it is what it is in the end, a sketch.

Tarzan

Recently finished commission piece of Tarzan and Jane. Also throwing up the original sketch I started with.

Hope to work up a color version real soon as well.

Spidey

Was asked recently to do a sketch of Spider-Man for a friend who works with Clubs in the City and Building Together Ministries- Christian, non-profit organizations that serve in Raleigh's inner city. Their After School Academy provides after school care for children in grades k-5th. In this cool program the kids get to participate in various arts activities- visual arts, dance, and music in addition to getting help with homework & tutoring. It turns out her most disruptive student is a big comics fan, so hopefully Spidey here can help in keeping the peace.

For more information check out http://www.btministries.com

For me it was a nice opportunity to revisit drawing Spidey for the first time in quite a while. I had think back for a bit on just how that darn webbing of his works on his costume, but it came back eventually. Might have to do some more now that I've gotten bitten by the bug. uh--sorry...

I was...Trying to Think.

Even doing an illo about a creative block can lead to a creative block...

Just 'cuz

Haven't posted in a bit thanks to a busy busy month, so I've got to post something just to flex my bloggin' muscles. You know how it is... you don't use it you lose it. And so, I present TurnipBoy.

Now, that I've got that over with, maybe I can get back on the blog train easier next time!

Happy Groundhog's Day

My buddy Dean started the time-honored tradition of sending Groundhog Day cards some 20 years ago, as either a rebuttal to the Xmas card fad that just won't go away, or as a way to buy himself a little extra time to get greeting cards out to all his friends. Anyway, I thought I'd finally give it a shot... with apologies to him for stealing his idea.

More studies of Bim

some fresh studies of Bim I did this past weekend to re-familiarize how I draw him,


...along with this wonderful sketch by my daughter Kaitlin...Pretty impressive for a six-year old I think! She was particularly proud of the curved line of Bim's belly that she made. Also, Easter eggs are really in with her right now, so Easter eggs we shall have!

Death becomes her

Copy of an image of Death (from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series) commissioned for a tattoo that I did recently...

Arachnastasia

Recently finished sketch of another character from Lorelei's Library of Curiosities, Arachnastasia. Along with another of the original pages...

Lorelei

Quick sketch of Lorelei from the "Lorelei's Library of Curiosities" story I did a couple years back, published in Negative Burn's Summer 2005 issue. For those that never saw the story, here's a page from it as well...

A Walk in the Woods

As a boy, I always enjoyed a good solitary walk in the woods from time to time. Nothing was more relaxing or captured the imagination quite like it. Happily, I think I've passed on the same sentiment to my kids... which was the inspiration for this sketch.

SNOW!

A couple of old sketches (of a much older Zozzle than I draw these days) in honor of the first snow to hit our area in about 2 years. Didn't last long, but lasted long enough for the kids to make snow angels, build a snowman and of course, have a snowball fight. Yay, snow!

New sketch for a new year

Here we are 11 days into a new year, and I've been too slack to post anything. So, here's a sketch I did last year and colored this year, just to get things going again. Kind of cute variant of Kalesh from the Hunter series I illustrated years ago...

oh, and a Happy Belated New Year to all!

Happy Holidays!

Here's hoping everyone has a great holiday season! Seeya in the new year!

Water Colors

I've finally started painting landscapes from life again, taking the watercolors out with me for quick lunch breaks. Fortunately the weather has been most agreeable lately... I'd forgotten how relaxing it can be to go out and paint what you see, making choices what to show, finding patterns in the colors... Here's the latest...

Modigliani

a quick hommage to one of my favorite painters... with the way he exaggerated proportions and experimented with different cultural styles, I would have loved to seen how he would have drawn comics...

For the uninitiated, here's a link to some of his work and a brief bio... here