Willow Rosenberg - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Okay, I admit, this is really not very Witch-ay Woman in it's appearance. But of all the witches I have presented, Willow is by far the most powerful. Come on, 1) She would have destroyed the world when she went all Dark Willow if Xander hadn't talked her down. 2) She created an army of Slayers. And 3) she scored the highest SATs in Sunnydale High history! Well, they never said that on the show, but I'm sure that is the case. Plus she was played by the very cute and very funny Alyson Hannigan. And one big power that Aly brought to the part of Willow was her ability to cry in such a way that she could bring the audience tears. I think Joss Whedon said something like, if you want to break the audiences hearts, just pull in close on Aly crying.

So this is the last of the Witches for now. I tried to keep the posts varied and surprising. And not alway the stereotypical looking witch either. The only one I left out that I would have liked to draw was Samantha from Bewitched. But Brian Stelfreeze recently posted a beautiful watercolor painting of Elizabeth Montgomery on his blog and I am not following that. :)

Happy Halloween folks!

This was sketched in my sketchbook and painted in Photoshop.

This is Post #742

The White Witch

So if you thought yesterdays characters were obscure, today we have The White Witch. (I never said these would be your conventional witches) :)

The White Witch is the sister of Dream Girl of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Later she joined the Legion herself. I never cared for her look in the series by that point. Something about the eyelash antennae was disturbing to me. So I drew her, more or less, as Curt Swan did when she first appeared in 1966. And I threw in a little tribute to Mr. Swan in this sketch. Hardcore Curt Swan fans should find it. :)

This was drawn in my sketchbook with colors added in Photoshop.

This is Post # 741

It's 12 o'clock...The Witching Hour!

And so with that title, I present my take on the sisters of The Witching Hour comic, Mildred, Cynthia and Mordred.

This was drawn in pencil on 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper.

This is Post #740

Wendy, The Good Little Witch

I bet none of you saw this one coming. :)

Penciled in my sketchbook, color and composition in Photoshop.

This is Post #739

Wicked Witch of the West

Continuing the theme of Witch-ay Woman, (think of the Eagles song when you read that), today we have my take on Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. That movie was released 70 years ago and is still a big part of pop culture. Amazing. Personally I think the poor witch was misunderstood. Her sister died because of someone new dropping into the neighborhood. And when she comes to grieve, this new girl takes her sister shoes, the only thing of her sisters that wasn't smashed to a bloody pulp. Frankly, Dorothy had it coming. And her little dog too. ;)

Drawn with a Micron and Pitt Brush in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad. Colors with pencils and Photoshop.

This is Post #738

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

A theme idea came to me today. Not a surprise considering that Halloween is this weekend. So here is my take on Sabrina.

This was done with Micron Pens, a Pitt Brush Pen and a mix of Copic and Prismacolor Markers in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Pad. Colors in Photoshop.

This is Post #737

Royce the Shark?

Looks like Royce the Crab is getting back at Tiki for the scary stories. Tiki is so worried about the shark getting his martini, he doesn't notice he has lost his olives. :)

This ends a full week of Island fun. Maybe I will come up with a new theme for next week. Or maybe it will just be random. I hope everyone enjoyed this last bit of warm weather fun.

This was penciled in my sketchbook and colored in Photoshop in about 30 minutes.

This is Post #736

Island Pals

The picture I imagine our trio would have on their Facebook page. :)

Drawing from my sketchbook. Photoshop for color.

This is Post #735

Shaken. Not stirred

Happy Friday, everyone!

I was up a little earlier than usual so I spent a little more time on this one. This was about 45 minutes, no more than that. Mostly spent the extra time defining the lines a bit better. Still a quick one.

The drawing was done in my sketchbook and colored in Photoshop. The watercolor paper is a scan dropped behind it.

Enjoy!

This is Post #734

Diary of Night - Digital Comic

I am very excited by this news! We just went live with it today...

Diary Of Night, the four issue mini-series by writer/creator Will Allred and myself is now available for download for the iPhone and iPod Touch through Comixology.com and the iTunes Store.

A duel between vampires leaves both crumbling into dust. In the aftermath, a plot is hatched and a trap is laid. And Catherine Morrison, a 927-year old vampire, is smack in the middle of it all! Diary of Night is a creator owned series © 2007 Will Allred and Gene Gonzales

The first issue is free! That's right, F-R-E-E! If you enjoy it and want the rest of the story, the other issues are 99¢ each. A four issue, full color mini-series for under 3.00? Yup!

The series is published by Bloodfire Studios and is being released digitally by them and Comixology.

I hope you will check it out. Thanks!

This is Post #733

Island Ghost Stories

Ghost stories on the beach. Another warm up from my sketchbook and colored in Photoshop. This one took 30 minutes from start to finish. There are some sloppy colors and lines, but this is all about warming up, speed, and getting faster. :)

This is Post #732

Wipe Out!

A full day of work ahead of me today. Here is a quick 20 minute sketch drawn in my sketchbook and colored in Photoshop. Same watercolor paper texture added in PS also. I seem to be on an island kick lately. I hope no one minds.

There will be more sketches on the blog for a while as I am kinda busy. The only finished pieces will probably be the commissions on my list. There are only three people waiting right now so it's not bad. I am planning on having all of them done by the end of next weekend (Oct. 31 -Nov. 1). I'm apologize to those that are waiting.

This is Post #731

Island Sunrise

Just a quickie for this morning's warm up. This took about 30 minutes. I added a scan of my watercolor paper to the image for a bit of texture. If you have my latest sketchbook, you have seen me do this effect before.

The sketch was done in my sketchbook with a red Col-Erase pencil and the colors were added in Photoshop.

This is Post #730

Island Party!

Just a little 20 minute sketch today. No color this time, it is too complex to do quickly. Plus I like the energy in the lines and didn't want to obscure them.

This is Post #729

Arisia - Green Lantern

I spent the some of the day working on the same project I mentioned a few days ago and with any luck it is finished. I will submit it tomorrow for feedback and direction. I felt I did a good job, though really slow. But I was told that is to be expected and each project is pretty complex. I was told that after I get through a few I will be moving pretty quick. I'm hoping that is an indication of more work to come. :)

Above is a 20 minute sketch, combining a color pencil sketch in my sketchbook and Photoshop colors. It has a lot of problems but the goal was to see how quick I could do a sketch piece in color. It didn't come put too bad and it was fun. :)

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

This is Post #728

Illustrator Brushes Exercise

The project I am currently working on has me digitally inking in Adobe Illustrator. Normally I use Photoshop for that so I am learning some new tricks. I did this little pin-up girl in order to practice with some custom brushes that were given to me to help with the project.

The top left drawing was done in my sketchbook with blue Col-Erase pencil and Pitt brush markers. I scanned it and placed it in Illustrator. From there I used the brushes that were supplied to me. They mimic a thin to thick to thin brush stroke. They are really quite handy. The colors were added by creating a shape and filling with color. Nothing terribly exciting but fun nonetheless. :)

The is Post #727

Sketchbook Friday!

Lunch time sketches for today's post. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

This is Post #726

Sketchbook Thursday!

I have a job I started today that I am really enjoying but got a late start because I needed some additional information. So the morning was spent getting artwork packed up and sent off and poking around in Adobe Illustrator, learning to use some tools and processes that I haven't used in this particular way. The funny thing about these programs is there are a dozen ways to do any single process or effect and everyone does it different. So I spent this morning familiarizing myself with some new ways of doing things. And I also did a little sketching in my sketchbook.

This is Post #725

Paging Dr. Fate!

After I posted that The Warlord piece I put up yesterday started out as a Dr. Fate, Little John tweeted (that's what you do on Twitter) that he liked it and he would still love to see Dr. Fate too. Here ya go Little John, hope you enjoy!

This was done with Col-Erase pencils and Copic Markers in my sketchbook. Colors added in Photoshop.

This is Post #724

Travis Morgan, The Warlord

This has been a very interesting day. Filled with lows and highs. All within an 8 hour period. Whew! I can't take too many of these types of days.

Today I only did some sketching. What started out as a rough head shot of Dr. Fate, turned into The Warlord. I was a huge fan of the first appearance of the character when he first appeared in First Issue Special #8. I was already of fan of Mike Grell so this just blew my young mind. Then he gets his own book!!! And then after the second issue comes out...nothing. Back in those days of newspaper stand comic buying, you could miss an issue. I assumed that was the case. After a while I figured it was canceled, but then out of no where, the third issue comes out! Again, happiest kid you could find.

Mike Grell's creations have always pulled in people I know that never read comics. My mom would read Warlord and even named one of her dogs, Travis, after the character. My girlfriend in high school, who never read comics, read my Warlord comics. Jon Sable was a favorite of another girl friend. My wife Deena liked Shaman's Tears. I find it interesting that Grell's characters seem to reach out to a wider audience. Too bad about the Sable TV series though. That could have been great. Seemed to work out for Rene Russo who was part of the cast of that short lived show. Ah well. :)

This is Post #723

Sketchbook Monday

Today I've been busy going through files to put together some sample art for a potential client & working on penciling stage of three commissioned paintings for Vincent. The samples were sent and the penciling went along nicely but all I have to show today is some sketches in my new book. I love a new sketchbook. :)

A couple of other things to mention. I have four auctions running right now on eBay. All of them are Legionnaires I have shown here over the last several days. If anyone is interested you can find them here.

I am still taking inked commissions at this time. So if anyone is interested just send me an email. No paintings though. I am booked up on those until the end of November.

I don't express it enough, but I just want to say thanks to everyone who keeps dropping by here to see what I am up to. I hope everyone is still finding it all interesting or at least a fun time-killer. And thanks for everyone who came out to a convention and said "hi". Convention season is over for me, for the most part, and this year was really great. I had such a blast catching up with everyone and meeting some new people. Good times! Thanks!!!

This is Post #722

Phantom Girl - Legion of Super-Heroes

I like this costume. I really do. One of the earliest Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes I ever bought was issue 203. In that issue Invisible Kid dies. Phantom Girl was in quite a bit of that story and I really liked her hair, the costume, and her personality. And she has her hair in pony tails! C'mon! :)

This is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. I will be putting up this one, Wildfire, and Duo Damsel on eBay tonight for anyone interested.

To everyone at the Baltimore Comic Con, have a safe trip home. I hope everyone had a good time!

This is Post #721

Chameleon Boy, Proty II & uh,...Captain America?

This was a fun one, folks. Jordan asked me if I was interested in doing a commission with Chameleon Boy (Legion of Super-Heroes), any version of him I wanted to draw, changing into any hero, villain or anything I want.

So I decided on the classic Chameleon Boy, with his pet Proty II, changing into Captain America. Proty II was added so "Cap" would have a shield to throw. And I left Cham's antennae in place of Cap's "wings" on his head. :) Great fun!

Below is the initial sketch I did in my sketchbook, it is only 3.5" x 3". Pretty small. The final art is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. Thanks again Jordan!

This is Post #720

Sketchbook Friday

It has been a crazy and exciting day today. Conference call about an exciting new venture I hope takes off, then talking with two potential new clients and then getting about 90% of the Chameleon Boy commission done. I had planned to be able to share that one today. While I could have finished it, and may still do that tonight, I want to be able to send the image to the person who commissioned it before posting. It would have been a lot later. So instead some more sketchbook material.

The Brainiac 5 on this page was the first one I sketched. Even though it is rough, I still like this figure. I was going to put his force field around him and have gun blasts bouncing off. But then I went with the somber version featuring Computo. Not sure that was the correct choice. The other figures are of Duo Damsel as I was working out her pose.

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #719

Deadman & Rama Kushna

I had planned to put up another Legionnaire today, but the race was between Chameleon Boy and Deadman. Deadman was finished up first. This Deadman piece was commissioned by Steve after he won the Phantom Stranger pin-up on eBay. He also owns a Spectre Canson piece I did, so this makes it into a nice DC mystery trio.

Above is the rough Deadman figure I did in my sketchbook. When working on Canson paper, I really have to work out all the details before transferring the art. It's not a good idea to sketch it out on the paper as it doesn't take much erasing to destroy the tooth of the paper. Once Deadman was worked out, I scanned him in and worked on face of Rama Kushna in Photoshop. I put the two together and positioned them the way I thought worked best and printed it out at full size on a piece of 11" x 17" copy paper.

I was happy I could use the my light table to transfer the drawing to the paper. With dark paper I would normally have to use a transfer paper or a projector. Once the pencils were transfered I went through the process of inking it. I used colored pencils and markers to get the look I wanted for both characters. Once it was done, I scanned it and sent it to Steve, who was very happy with it. And now we share it with everyone else.

Thanks again Steve!

This is Post #718

Sketchbook Wednesday

Hello all. Another late post but better late than never, right! I haven't shared any sketchbook stuff in a while so that's what we have here. I could scan pages and pages of the stuff but I will limit myself to just a couple of pages. I am almost done with the sketchbook I have right now. Another 6-8 pages and it is full. Time to buy a new one!

I will be resuming my Legion pieces tomorrow. Since I have come this far, I plan on doing them all from the Cockrum/Grell issues. I know, I know, you are all just dying for my version of Tyroc. Patience folks, patience. :)

Good night.

This is Post #717

Brainiac 5 - Legion of Super-Heroes

It's been a bit of a crazy day so I only had time to ink this piece featuring the brains of the Legion, Brainiac 5. Behind him, never too far from his thoughts is his first real failure, Computo. I think it was his greatest failure, considering what it did to poor Triplicate Girl.

I'm a bit exhausted today but I will fill in the blanks on this characters history when I post the color version. :)

This is Post #716

Duo Damsel - Legion of Super-Heroes

I bet I know something about today's featured Legionnaire that no one else knows. :)
But first, today's Legionnaire is Duo Damsel. Now I'm sure the Legion fans here know that her real name is Luornu Durgo. And that she originally had the power like all those from her planet, to split into three bodies. And that one of her bodies was destroyed by Computo, making her code name changed from Triplicate Girl to Duo Damsel. And that she married Chuck Taine, aka, Bouncing Boy. And that Dave Cockrum redesigned her costume to be an important part of the story where it first appeared. Yes, there are dozens of details about her that I'm sure we all know that come from the time period long past the Cockrum/Grell period of the Legion. But I know one thing more:
Today is her birthday. At least according to the 1976 SUPER DC CALENDAR that hangs in my studio. :)

The top image is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. The bottom is colored in Photoshop.

This is Post #715


* Correction added 01/15/2011: Duo Damsel's costume was designed by Legion fan Nick Pascale.

Wildfire - Legion of Super-Heroes

Hey gang, we have traveled back to the 30th century (or 31st Century depending on your preference). Today we have Wildfire. Drake Burroughs was a astro-engineer who received a lethal dose of antimatter energy. But instead of dying his body transformed into anti-energy. He "body" was put into a containment suit and he became a energy release generator. Which was the basis of his original code name: ERG. After his first attempt at joining the Legion didn't pan out, he followed and saved three Legionnaires during their mission. But "died" doing it.

Being made of energy, he didn't die. He just left his containment suit to create the blast to save the Legionnaires. It took a while for him to pull his energy particles back together but when he did he saved the entire Legion from a threat. Not bad for a rookie.

Wildfire's personality was pretty average when he first appeared but he was quickly portrayed as a hot head with a quick temper. Wildfire became my favorite Legionnaire when he appeared the second time. I had missed his original appearance when it came out and it took a long time to track down that comic. His costume was always cool, but I liked Dave Cockrum's original look. The visor actually went under the area that would have been a chin. Later Mike Grell simplified it as a "window" on the front of the helmet. Easier to draw, but not as cool looking to me. :)

The top image is done in ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board. The bottom image was colored in Photoshop.

This is Post #714

Colossus - X-Men

A change today from our Legion run of the last several days. Colossus from the X-Men done in ink and Copic Markers on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

He will be one of the auctions I am putting up tonight on eBay.

This is Post #713

Timber Wolf - Legion of Super-Heroes

Another Legion request for today, Brin Londo, also known as Timber Wolf. I think someone requested him but I don't remember who. The first image is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

Followed by the image colored in Photoshop.

This is my favorite look for Timber Wolf. And again, a Dave Cockrum classic. Brin didn't always look like this. He did look more human back when he was Lone Wolf and did revert back to a more human look after this particular design. You can see another version of him that I did a while back right here. And because Brin's history is pretty complicated (and because I am exhausted) here is a link to the Wiki about him. :) How lazy can I get?

For anyone interested, I will be putting the line art of all the Legion pieces I have been doing over the last several days on eBay tomorrow evening. If there is a piece that you are interested in, let me know before tomorrow night. Thanks!

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

This is Post #712

Princess Projectra - Legion of Super-Heroes

Sometimes you ask for something and you get it. The request from LUD! and Carlos for a Projectra pin-up was one I could not pass up. Jeckie, as she was sometimes known, was from the planet Orando. And really was the Princess. She could create realistic illusions. The kind that were so real your senses would be screaming that the illusion is real even though you knew that was her power. Jeckie was always romantically tied to Karate Kid. They actually joined the Legion together along with Ferro Lad and Nemesis Kid. The latter turning out to be a spy and betrayed the Legion. Years later after Jeckie took the throne as Queen of Orando and married Karate Kid, Nemesis Kid killed Karate Kid. As Queen, Jeckie defeated Nemesis Kid and killed him herself. Claiming royal privilege in doing so. There is more to her story but that really sums up quite a bit.

For this piece I inked Jeckie on an 11" x 17" sheet of Strathmore Bristol Board and did the Validus (of the Fatal Five) illusion in markers.

This is Post #711