Thursday, August 7, 2008

SHADOW LASS

Mr. Steve Saaf, son of the great comic artist, Art Saaf contacted me a couple of days ago. He thanked me for mentioning his dad in a Supergirl post. Mr. Saaf has a website dedicated to his father's life and work. Here is the link: www.artsaaf.com. Go check it out, I'll wait here.

Pretty cool, huh? We had exchanged emails a couple of years ago and I offered to scan any pages I have of his fathers work for his site. Then I moved. And things didn't get done. Well, today I dug in there and found a page from NEW ROMANCE. The publisher was Standard. This is a beauty of a page. Twice up on some really thick board. When I scan it I will share. I have sent a digital image to Mr. Saaf to find out what story it is from. Hopefully he will know.

What does this have to do with todays post, you may ask. Well, while digging I came across some Canson charcoal paper I bought with some intention to use on something. I don't remember what. But I pulled that paper out too. After drawing a couple of Legionnaires a week or so ago, I decided to revisit the Legion. So we have Shadow Lass, ink and white Prismacolor pencil on 11" x 17" Canson Steel Gray charcoal paper.

3 comments:

Gary M. Peiffer said...

Gene,

I like this! The character seems well fitted for the charcoal background! I also like the fancy signature and "box". Seems like you had fun with this! Glad that you have connected up with your friend!

Gary

LUD! said...

I don't know if you remember this, Gene, but Shadow Lass was originally a throwaway character in Jim Shooter's "Adult Legion" storyline from the old Adventure Comics. She was only seen as a statue, commemorating her death as a Legionnaire. Curt Swan designed her with a strapless swimsuit look with a cape. Even though Jim eventually had her join the Legion, she really didn't have much going for her until Dave Cockrum got his hands on her. I always loved the funky bracelets he gave her!

Lud Hughes

Gene Gonzales said...

Thanks Gary. The tough part is figuring what character would go with the paper color. The Bat-Family was the easiest, but I've done a few of those lately. :)

Lud - Yep, I remember. Though I think Jim Shooter did give her a distinct personality, especially in the story that introduced Mordu and the story when the female Legionnaires rebelled. A lot of ground work was established in both. No denying Cockrum's redesign really made her pop visually too. Thanks for sharing.