My Favorite Mutants part 2: Nightcrawler

This came together pretty fast:

I should mention why I like these particular mutants so much. Part 1: Angel is, I think, part of my obsession with winged humans. Possibly due to my much too early exposure to Barbarella and the fantastic Flash Gordon film. Both of which had winged humans.

For Nightcrawler I guess it's that I always like the weird ones. Also, as a kid I grew up with the John Byrne/ Paul Smith penciled X-Men and you always love the comics you read when you were ten or so.

My Favorite Mutants part 1: Angel final-final

Alright. That's it. Been drawing this guy for a week now and in much need of new material. Part 2 coming soon.

My Favorite Mutants part 1: Angel re-do the do-over

Once more I needed to re-do Warren Worthington III. This time in an easier costume.

Still not happy happy. But closer. Think I over-worked the wings a bit. Will move on to part 2 soon. Finally.
This theme is in no particular order. But there will be 10 in all (not including the do-overs).

My Favorite Mutants part 1: Archangel re-do

Had to re-do. Slightly better.

My Favorite Mutants part 1: Archangel

You can tell it all fell apart with the wings. Oh well. I'll try again later.

Archangel head abort

Trying to draw Archangel. Didn't succeed. Liked this one tiny bit as inked except for the expressionless features. Will try again soon. Stay tuned.

DJ Poster Sketch part 2

Still working it out.

DJ Poster Sketch

A quick poster sketch for a DJ I know:
Just some thoughts on a design.

Need to color and clean things up a bit.

Forgotten Mutants part 10: Kiden Nixon

Don't know much about Kiden Nixon except the spectacular Joshua Middleton covers for NYX. She can apparently do something time-y wime-y. She's a club-kid and ecstasy user, hence the binky on a string. This was a very quick sketch but I think it came out all right.

Forgotten Mutants part 9: Peepers

Peepers has eye powers. He was eaten by a mutant predator recently. Peepers was often a bad guy. But did he deserve to get eaten?

Forgotten Mutants part 8: Anne-Marie Cortez

Who mourns for Anne-Marie Cortez? One of the very first of Magneto's Acolytes, she died 2 issues after her introduction in the flaming destruction of Asteroid M (M is for Magneto—yeah he's like that). Another casualty of the nineties extremely hard to draw (or find reference for) costume. I had to make most of it up. And don't ask about those boots. I draws 'em likes I sees 'em. Damn you Jim Lee!

Oh yeah. She had, I kid you not, this is according to Marvel's own Wiki, she had the power of empathy. She could sense your emotions. I guess that's a side effect of her also having some form of mind control.

Forgotten Mutants part 7: Adam X the X-Treme

Oh the 90s. Everything was so extreme. Ok. Adam X is a Mutant/Shi'ar hybrid with the power to ignite the electrolytes in the bloodstream, causing a person to burn from the inside out. You know, extreme. This guy was hard to draw with all those blades. You don't want to be standing next to him in a crowded subway car.

All those blades? Whatever. It's the backwards baseball cap that makes Adam X so X-Treme. To the max!

Forgotten Mutants part 6: Tempo

Much better. Now I can sleep. I removed the older one. It was embarrassing. She looked part sea lion. Now she's acceptable. Anyway, Tempo can control time and fly. She was designed by Rob Liefeld so she has a bucket on her head and a "painted on" yellow uniform. Her main feature is that bucket.

Forgotten Mutants part 5: Lifeguard

Lifeguard? Really? I don't know this one very well. Never read the comic. Getting reference on-line was a pain so her uniform is probably off some. She's some sort of adaptive mutant. She changes given the situation. Mostly into some kind of super strong golden girl. Fun to draw though.

She's part Shi'ar too.
I'm really digging drawing mutant women. Especially the forgotten ones.

Forgotten Mutants part 4: Skids

Oh, 80's. What hath thou wrought? Thou hast wrought Skids. She has a "slippery" forcefield. And leopard skin tights.

I just realized that these last three forgotten mutant ladies could all be in an Eighties band. The Wolf could be one of their roadies.

Forgotten Mutants part 3: Lila Cheney

Bit of a cheat here. Just traced over a Joan Jett image and photoshopped that import CD label. It works though. Lila Cheney is a teleporter and intergalactic rock star. She dated Cannonball from the New Mutants. She's totally Joan Jett. So I just made her Joan Jett:

Hopefully you don't know Japanese or you'd find out that label was totally stolen. I'm having tracer's anxiety now. Though I do like how it came together. Plus I love Joan Jett!

Update: Re-did her right hand and re-did photoshop of her fake CD.

Forgotten Mutants part 2: U-Go Girl from X-Statix

Yeah. Who could forget poor Edie Saywer? Not me. I loved that comic. You go girl!

Update: I fixed her right hand.

The Wolf one more time

Hated my last post. Here it is again.

Slightly better. I don't know. You decide.

Forgotten Mutants part 1: El Lobo (The Wolf) from Team America

That's right. Team America the Marvel comic. This guy was one of five members whose collective mutant power was as a "projecting gestalt" according to Professor Xavier. This meant that any one of them, when needed, could become the combined abilities of the rest of the group in one person known as the "Dark Rider" or "Marauder". Since they were each bad-ass motorcycle stuntmen, the "Dark Rider" was an even badder-assed super stunt cyclist. The Wolf was the surly one. You can tell by the side burns and 'stache.

Digging deep here folks. Starting a series of forgotten mutants for the next month or so. Gonna have ta prove my geek bona fides for this set.

Zed one-page revision

Replaced the 3rd panel as promised and cleaned up some very minor bits here and there. Already hate it.

The next one will be better. I have to believe that.

Look! I finally downloaded images from my phone! part 2

Here's me and my baby shutting down the port of Oakland on November 2nd I believe.

With some help from these guys I guess.

OWS my feets were hurting after that!

Look! I finally downloaded images from my phone! part 1

I won a pumpkin carving competition at work. Got our whole office a catered lunch. You'd think they'd treat me nicer. By "nicer" I mean like a king.

Zed one-pager

Been working on this for a bit now. You'll need some knowledge of Zardoz the movie to know what's going on and why what's being said is being said. I plan on changing the 3rd panel soon as it bores me and I have another idea for it. Will post again once it's done.

I got the idea from a friend who was doing a 5 page sequel to an old exploitation movie. Each page was to tell an entire scene as well as be an experiment in using more panels than a typical modern day comic. So with that idea I did a Zardoz prequel. What can I say. That movie preys on my mind. I even bought the novelization recently. Hopefully with this I have finally exorcised it from my fragile psyche.

Stuff I'm Working On

Here's a panel from a one-page story I'm doing. Rough pencils only so far.

Should be done by this weekend hopefully.

Random Thoughts

I had this line running through my head yesterday. Decided to add an image to it. This was done old school with paper and pencil and pen (and some photoshop cleanup).

Doodling in a meeting

Here's a nice doodle from a long meeting I just attended. 

It's also something I'm actively working on as a sequential project. Not sure if I got the Zardoz mask right as I was reference free during the meeting. But close. Obviously done on a note pad with a ballpoint. I tried to clean it up as best I could.

Jonah Hex from "All Star Western" DC's New 52 part 18

Looks a bit crooked. Oh well. Better next time.

Aquaman DC's New 52 part 17

Always liked this guy:

Decided to do another super-quicky before bed. Just one more to go!

Shade the Changing Man from "Justice League Dark" DC's New 52 part 16

I love the re-integration of the Vertigo characters to the DCU. Some years back I came up with a way to reconcile the two versions of Shade if ever I was given free reign at DC. But alas, it did not happen. One version was last seen working with the late great Suicide Squad before going missing in a swirl of ambiguity. The other version was tooling around in the Vertigo hinterlands guided by the great Peter Milligan. Now Milligan is back guiding Shade once more in this new book and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be happier. But this is good too.

Another quicky. I bought three more DC's New 52s today and the month ends in just a couple of days. Will need to accelerate if I'm to keep to schedule.

Batman DC's New 52 part 15

Looks okay. Gotta sleep now.

Wonder Woman DC's New 52 part 14

I like Wonder Woman. I like Brian Azzarello and I like Cliff Chiang (the new creative team). So I should like the new #1. Which I do. Still not a fan of the new duds. Though it is better than almost any of the Legion of Superheroes re-designs.

Nightwing DC's New 52 part 13

My favorite DC character bar none is Dick Grayson aka Nightwing aka the first Robin. I was a big fan of the New Teen Titans back in the day. That's probably where it started.

Plus: I don't even mind his new costume. Unlike nearly everyone else's in the New 52.

Phantom Girl from "Legion of Super-Heroes" DC's New 52 part 12

A quicky just to catch up. Trying to be as minimalist as I can. Think her head's too big. I like my Kirby-guy getting punched though.

I've drawn her before, too. Way early in the first month of this blog.
I love the Legion of Super-Heroes. But the recent ones, included these new number 1s, have been kinda crap, hate to say. Don't particularly like the art. And the writing, even though it's coming from the guy who put the Legion on the map for me, the writing has been just bad. Too rushed. Trying too hard to be hip maybe. I keep coming back though. Like the addict I am.

Frankenstein from "Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E." DC's New 52 part 11

I loves me drawing Frankenstein. The girl with the gun is his boss: Father Time.

I know this one is late. It was from last week's haul. I bought 4 more titles this Wednesday. So, more to come!
I totally forgot! I drew this guy last year in my 5th post.

Sinestro from "Green Lantern" DC's New 52 part 10

One more before bed-time. Then tomorrow: the last post of this week's DC's New 52 buys. Then Wednesday's new comics and another batch. Whew. What the hell was I thinking?

The Demon from "Demon Knights" DC's New 52 part 9

Good book so far. Another over-complicated new costume though.

Still working on the inking. Starting to get a little more confident. Looking at it now I should have been bolder with the blacks. Still some ways before bold black strokes. Don't google that phrase.

Dawnstar from "Legion Lost" DC's New 52 part 8

Wings are hard.

Animal Man DC's New 52 part 7

Here he is. All comin' at'cha. Not a huge fan of the new costume. Looks very much like the old Angel duds. Maybe that's why I was channeling Neal Adams with this pic. Animal Man had a great design! Oh well. Another escapee from Vertigo. The book was surprisingly good.

So. Another 13 titles of DC's New 52 came out today. I bought four. So this coming week shall see just four more posts. Then next week's new titles and the week after that. I expect a grand total of 18 posts this month based on projected buying habits of DC titles (don't get me started on Marvel–maybe that'll be next month's exercise).

Swamp Thing DC's New 52 part 6

I was most looking forward to the Vertigo characters return to the proper DCU when this new initiative from DC was announced. And here's the big gun himself:

This was done super quick. I'm a bit behind on my self-imposed schedule. I wanted to get all 7 of the titles I bought this past week done before the new books came out. Alas, I have one more to go before Wednesday-new-comic-day tomorrow. Oh well. Pretty damn close. Also, getting better on the Wacom.

OMAC DC's New 52 part 5

I'm a big fan of Jack Kirby. Especially the crazy Kirby. And OMAC is a prime example of crazy Kirby. Here he is re-designed by another favorite of mine–Keith Giffen!

Giffen turned him into a Techno-Hulk guy. OMAC SMASH!!!
Don't know if I got the look right. Had to piece his costume together from several different panels. Fun to draw though.

Superman from "Justice League" DC's New 52 part 4

Superman will have to represent the whole Justice League for this post. A contrast to the "Action Comics" Superman from that earlier post (and also "Action" is the only Superman title I'm gonna pick up of the New 52 so I decided to focus on his newish look–no "S" curl). This was a quickie. Done in a couple of hours.

Not a fan of the new look. I hid the parts I really don't like: his new boots and lack of red undies (though this is black & white so whatevs).

Batgirl DC's New 52 part 3

Babs is back as Batgirl.

I'm not fond of the body armor look everyone now has in the new DC. I feel this look will be dated and the classic iconic uniforms will eventually come back anyway. Sorta like Superman's mullet from the '90s. Or the Jim Lee X-Men buckles that appeared everywhere back then too. Remember the Jean-Paul Valley Batman?

Superman from "Action Comics" DC's New 52 part 2

Here's Supes as he looks in his first outing as Superman as per Grant Morrison and Rags Morales' brand spanking new Action Comics #1:

And here's me cross-hatching like crazy 'cause it's so easy on the Wacom. This took about 2 plus hours and I'm happy about most of it. I think he looks short or something. Maybe it's his big head. My inking style is very different using the tablet that's for sure.

Jack Hawksmoor from "Stormwatch" DC's New 52 part 1

I'll be posting something from each of the new DC 52 titles that I buy. This past week I bought 6 of the 13 titles released. Including last week's Justice League I'll have 7 new posts hopefully before next Wednesday when a new batch of titles comes out. I can't buy all 52 and I wouldn't want to anyway. But I will be buying a lot ('cause I'm a sucker) which means I'll be posting a lot this month. Also, I'm gonna try and do most of these on my newly repaired Cintiq tablet. Thus: Jack Hawksmoor from, the newly integrated into the DC Universe, "Stormwatch":

Did this in just over an hour. I'm a big fan of Warren Ellis' Stormwatch and Authority and Planetary comics and I'm hoping Paul Cornell will bring his A game. This first issue was a bit disappointing but I'm willing to give Cornell the benefit of the doubt. Not a fan of the art though.
I know my background sucks but I was getting tired.

Power Girl

Drew this last night. Inked by pro-inker Al Gordon. I' m guessing what led him to want to ink this, my humble sketch, was her boobs. Her massive boobs.

Con!!!!

Here's me drawing at the Cartoon Art Museum Booth:

I'm pretty sure I made them ten bucks for my hour there. I had a spiffy new iPhone on this last trip and found that I suck at taking pictures with it. So, unfortunately, no cool-ass pics of the cosplay. But here's me and Xander:

Freakin' Xander (aka Nicholas Brendon)!!
Wow. I'm fat.

BROCK!

Did this while at the San Diego Comic-Con!!!! After years spent trying to get into the Venture Bros. panel they moved it to a much bigger venue and I finally got in! It was all I could ever wish it to be. So, thusly inspired, I did this. And I still like it! Wow.

There's more to post from the Comic-Con. But I'm still recovering. So, patience. Suffice it to say, a great time was had by all.