Artwork © Gene Gonzales

Just a little sketch for a character I came up with for my Space Jungle Girl strip. I would really love to be able to jump on my own projects, but for now, my time is for others. The last four months of this year are going to very busy. The busiest I have ever been professionally.

Hang on folks, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. :)

This is Post #1061

Sketchbook Monday

Green Lantern © DC Comics

Just a sketchbook monday folks.

This is Post #1060

Panel to Panel - Pencils

Artwork © Gene Gonzales

Just a couple of panels from the story I am working on with writer J.C. Vaughn. I hope everyone had a good weekend!

This is Post #1059

Karate Kid - Canson Gray

Karate Kid © DC Comics

Here is the second and last of the gray paper portraits commissioned by Travis. This is the Legionnaire Karate Kid in his attire from the Cockrum/Grell time period of the Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. Thanks again to Travis for all the commissions!

This is Post #1058

Colossus - Canson Gray

Colossus © Marvel Entertainment

This Canson gray paper portrait was commissioned by Travis. He commission this and an upcoming Karate Kid portrait. I really like doing these pieces so thanks Travis!

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1057

Devil Girl

artwork © Gene Gonzales

I've had a really rough day with computer woes that has completely made work come to a grinding halt. The need for a second full set up is becoming apparent. Ah well. I still managed to do a bit of sketching while loading my wife's laptop with all the drivers and software I need. Maybe today's hassles brought about the subject and temperament of the piece. :)

This is Post #1056

Sketchbook Wednesday

Elektra © Marvel Entertainment

Just a another Sketchbook Wednesday folks. Been busy, busy, busy!

This is Post #1055

Starfire

Starfire © DC Comics

While talking to my friend Tom, I asked him to come up with a few suggestions for the sketch today. He had a few good ideas but this character stood out. Many of you might not remember this Starfire. She did have her own short-lived book in the early 1970s drawn by Mike Vosburg. Fun stuff folks!

Above is the pencil sketch done on 11" x 17" bristol board. The bottom grays were done in Photoshop.

Starfire © DC Comics

This is Post #1054

The Wasp - Rough

The Wasp © Marvel Entertainment

I like the original costume for The Wasp. Even though it was designed in the 1960s, when drawn right, it works today. This is just a sketch I did today on an 11" x 17" sheet of Strathmore Bristol Board and drawn with a Col-Erase Tuscan Red pencil. Not sure if I will ink it or paint it on some Canson Board. I do know it won't be anytime soon.

I have been overly busy between commercial work and commissions. Though I spent time on commission work yesterday and today, I can't show any yet. Soon. Very soon.

This is Post #1053

Little Heroes Mix Bag

I have a full day of work ahead of me and I don't have time to color the two pieces I finished inking this morning. Instead I thought I would attempt overwhelm you with both inked pieces and two pieces that never made it past the rough stages. This was a fun theme that I may revisit in the future. Even though these are lacking in color, I hope they let us end this theme with a bang.

Lady Blackhawk © DC Comics

Swamp Thing © DC Comics

Green Lantern, Sinestro, Carol Ferris © DC Comics

Justice League of America © DC Comics

This is Post #1053

Cloak and Dagger

 Cloak and Dagger © Marvel Entertainment

For this series I am trying to do characters that I don't normally get requests for but are fun to draw. I enjoyed the first  Cloak and Dagger series and loved Rick Leonardi's artwork. And I really liked the design of the characters. The tough part with this one was little Dagger and that costume. I downplayed it but I could have probably made the dagger shape of her costume white. Ah well, at least I didn't go all cheesecake with her pose. :) Below is the original line art before I got all wacky with Photoshop.

Cloak & Dagger © Marvel Entertaiment

Have a good weekend everyone.

This is Post #1052

Etrigan - The Demon

 Etrigan The Demon - © DC Comics

My friend Tom mentioned The Demon when he saw The Creeper from yesterday and I took off with that. The Demon lends itself easily to this kind of treatment. The top image is colored in Photoshop and the original line art is below.

Etrigan The Demon © DC Comics

I have two more of these cartoony versions of characters I want to do and then we will leave them for a while. Don't want to over stay the welcome. I will have to put the piece that features the entire Silver Age JLA in the drawer. There was just no time to finish it right now.

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1051

The Creeper!

The Creeper © DC Comics

Continuing what has become this weeks theme, I have done another little hero. This time the Creeper. He has been on my mind lately because I am reading the THE CREEPER hardcover collection that DC published not too long ago. I thought I had read most of the stories but it turns out I have only read a few. So far I have been amazed at how good the stories are. If you have even a little bit of interest in the Creeper, you might want to check out this collection.

Looking at the image now that it is done, I probably should have added some "HA! HA! HA!" to the background. :)

The top image was colored in Photoshop. And the line art below was done with Copic Multiliners on a sheet from a Canson Comic & Manga 9" x 12" Drawing Pad.

The Creeper © DC Comics

This is Post #1050

Martian Manhunter

Martian Manhunter © DC Comics

I was up a bit too early this morning. (Just an FYI, a bulldog pacing back and forth on hardwood floors sound like castanets at 4am). The plus side of getting up early is drawing early, so here is a warm up piece. After doing the Mxyzptlk and Batmite, I was still in a cartooning mood. I hope no one minds. The original line art is below.

Martian Manhunter © DC Comics

This is Post #1049

Worlds Funniest

 Mister Mxyzptlk & Bat Mite © DC Comics

Here is a quickie for this morning. This is my take on the mischievous imps. The line art was done in ink in a 9" x 12" Canson Comic & Manga Drawing Pad. Colors in Photoshop.

Mister Mxyzptlk & Bat Mite © DC Comics

This is Post #1048

Superman

Superman © DC Comics

Work, work, work today. Only time to sketch a Superman and play with some color in Photoshop. Very quickly done, so be kind. :)

This is Post #1047

Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie Painting

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

Here is the finished Shrinking Violet painted with Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Steel Gray Mat Board. I had a great time painting on this board. I love the texture and the way the paint moved on the board. The paint layered nicely and the board really held up to all the water that was put to it over the course of painting. The best complement I can come up with is I will be doing more on these boards in the near future.

I was curious about this board so I checked the Canson website and found the board listed under Mi-Teintes Art & Framing Board. I suspect this is actually the same Mi-Teintes paper I use for Canson Cuties mounted on a board. If that is the case I am very excited at the possibilities. I will be checking with Canson this week to find out more. This was a fun experiment and I am very happy with the results.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. See you tomorrow.

This is Post #1046

Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie Painting (In Progress)

Today has been a working Saturday. But then, what other kind is there. I got a priority project last night for DC that is due Monday. Knocked out 85% of that today and will finish it up tomorrow morning. And I lettered part of a story I am working on with writer J. C. Vaughn.

Then I took out another sample board that Canson sent me a while back. The person at Canson had seen my Canson Cuties and sent me several boards to try. One of them is a mat board. I wasn't really sure what to do with it. But the texture is not unlike the rough side of the Canson Mi-Teintes paper I use so it got me thinking. A very dangerous pass time, I know.

I thought I would try painting on it using Golden Fluid Acrylics. The board should be able to handle more than the paper can, I thought. The subject matter would be the Shrinking Violet idea that wasn't selected for a commission. It's not finished but I thought I would show the progress, if not the process. I really wish I had thought to take pictures when I started. Sometimes I get in the flow of painting, everything else is forgotten.

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

The board is Steel Gray and is 16" x 20". I measured out an 11" x 17" area in the center for the painting. After setting that up I did a finished drawing right on the board. I don't do that on the Canson Cuties because the paper is a bit to delicate. But this board is rigid, the tooth seemed solid, and the color didn't change when I erased a test area. So I starting with my rough idea and did the finished drawing. Then I inked it with a Copic Multiliner 0.3 black pen. I didn't want the graphite in the painting and I knew I would paint over the black line so I didn't do any thick and thin lines. Then it was time for painting.

Normally I trim the board to 11" x 17", but in this case I didn't. I liked having the space along the edges to test the paint on instead of having a scrap piece of the board on my table. Lighting would be different for both, and so the color could look different.

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

The top picture shows the progress I made this afternoon. The bottom is just a detail. I will have the finished piece tomorrow and I will talk a bit about my thoughts on painting and drawing on this board.

This is Post #1045

Mary Marvel

I just couldn't help myself. After doing the Captain Marvel piece yesterday, I had to do a Mary Marvel companion. And yes they do fit together. :)

 Mary Marvel © DC Comics

Below is the line art I scanned and messed with in Photoshop. The line art was done on a sheet of 9" x 12" Canson Comic & Manga Drawing Paper.

Mary Marvel © DC Comics

Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1044

Captain Marvel

I have an early post today. I am working on comic pages today and tomorrow and I felt the need to "stretch" those drawing muscles before digging in. Of course I got carried away and what was a 45 minute inked piece on the new 9" x 12" 150 lb Canson Comic & Manga paper, turned into a 90 minute color piece in Photoshop.

For this piece I wanted to make every color subdued with the exception of Captain Marvel. Maybe even a bit drab. But the good Captain? I wanted his colors bright. He is magic based and I thought the idea that even in the dirtiest, darkest battle, he is a bright beacon of good and to a degree, innocence. I did play around with the saturation of his colors. Dropping it down so he is not quite a bright and more balanced with the surroundings, but I didn't think it had as much of an impact.

Captain Marvel © DC Comics

Below is the original line art. The only Photoshop work done on it was adjusting the levels to get a nice solid and balanced black. This is normal procedure after scanning and cleaning up. I was right about the Canson paper I used for this and the piece yesterday in that a regular graphite pencil would work better than using a Col-Erase pencil. And the graphite erased cleanly. I didn't realize that the paper is a smooth finish and I usually use a vellum finish. The vellum having more tooth, or texture. Still the ink flowed nicely. No bleeding or fuzzy edges. Nice quality paper.

Captain Marvel © DC Comics

This is Post #1043

Mister Freeze

Mister Freeze © DC Comics

Today I got a FedEx package of goodies from Canson Paper. I received a pad of Comic Book Art Boards, a Comic and Manga Drawing Pad, six bottles of Talens drawing ink in various colors and three large bottles of Talens liquid watercolor.

I did the above artwork using the blue Talens drawing ink on a piece of 9" x 12" 150lb Canson Comic and Manga paper. I haven't worked in colored ink before but I just treated is as if it were black. After doing my initial sketch using a Blue Col-Erase pencil, I applied the ink with a Rosemary & Company Kolinsky Sable #3 brush. I like the paper but I think Col-Erase pencils are not the best choice to use on it. There was a bit of smearing when erasing. I had to put a bit more effort into erasing to get it all, but if I had drawn a bit more heavy handed, it might have been a mess. The ink laid down pretty nice though. I will be doing more with the paper in the weeks ahead.

One big positive about the Canson line of paper for comic book work is that they have changed a part of their brand that I never liked. While they still have the FANBOY brand on their boards, they have dropped the nerdy fanboy face in the name and the tagline "Get out of the basement." Though I'm sure it wasn't intentional, both came off as disrespectful to me but now it seems like they are branding the paper for professional use. That's good because I like the product and I'm sure others will too. As a matter of fact I am currently penciling and inking two projects on the paper that I purchased myself.

This is Post #1042

Marvel Girl! - Canson Cutie

Marvel Girl © Marvel Entertainment

I finished this Marvel Girl Canson Cutie today. I did this one for fun, it's not a commission. I chose to use the rough texture side of the paper when I noticed that the color pencil and the texture almost made the type of dot pattern that you would find in the printing of old comics.

This was done on Canson Mi-Teintes paper in mixed media.

This is Post #1041

Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

Here is the finished Shrinking Violet Canson Cutie. Thanks again to Travis for his commission request. This was done on green Canson paper in mixed media.

This is Post #1040

Marvel Girl! - Canson Cutie rough

Marvel Girl © Marvel Entertainment

After working on Crystal, I thought for fun I would do another Marvel girl. But who to do? Oh yeah, Marvel Girl. This is a digital sketch I worked up today. I originally had all blue areas black but then I looked at Jack Kirby's art from the earliest X-Men issues and noticed the costumes were mostly blue with black. A quick digital change and I think it is ready to go. :)

I also finished the pencils for the Shrinking Violet Canson Cutie commission and was ready to light table the line art. But it is just too darn sunny in my studio, even with the blinds closed, to try and light table the art on a piece of green Canson paper. So I will wait for the evening. :)

This is Post #1039

Crystal - Canson Cutie

Crystal © Marvel Entertainment

Here is the finished Crystal Canson Cutie. I showed the roughs for this piece a few days ago. And she is already heading to a good home. :)

This is Post #1038

Shrinking Violet - Canson Cutie - Roughs

Shrinking Violet © DC Comics

I am starting on another Canson Cutie. This one is for Travis and he asked for Shrinking Violet of the Legion of Super-Heroes in her green and black Dave Cockrum designed costume. (Yeah, he knows what Legion time period to bring up to get me extra interested).

For the three ideas I wanted to involve different body language and attitude. I hope they look that way in the roughs. After much consideration, we are going with idea #1. I think this really is the best representation of Violet, her abilities and her Legion membership. More to come. :)

This is Post #1037

Sketchbook Thursday

Today I did layouts for a 20 page specialty comic. Worked on a couple of panels on another comic and at the same time I had a couple of guys installing hardwood floors in our master bedroom. I also managed to sketch a bit while eating lunch too. I am wiped out.

The floor looks great too. :)

This is Post #1036

Sketchbook Wednesday

Artwork © 2010 Gene Gonzales

Just a little sketchbook Wednesday folks. All done today during my lunch break. Ink in the sketchbook and colors in Photoshop.

This is Post #1035

Black Widow - 30 minutes

Black Widow © Marvel Entertainment

First the good news: My A/C is working again and it was a very productive day. I did this sketch rather quickly today. The pose just flowed out of the pencil without any effort. And I did the inks in a choppy sort of way. I put this all down really quick and added some color in Photoshop. This all took about 30 minutes. After I was done, I looked at it again and wondered "Have I done this pose before?" It seems familiar and it may be similar to some other pose I have done. I'm not worried about it though. After so many years of doing this, I am bound to repeat something or get close to repeating something. This was for fun and I am not searching through my files for a similar piece. :)

And my A/C is working again. It's all good. :)

This is Post #1034

Harley Quinn - Canson Cutie Finish

Harley Quinn © DC Comics

Still no A/C. Service is scheduled for tomorrow but they were going to try to get to us today if they could. I imagine it's a busy time for that type of service. I was using my local Starbucks for my studio today. The folks there know me well and said to make myself at home and stay all day if I want. Very kind of them. I did spend a few hours at a time there working and then coming home to throw the dogs in the pool to cool them off. Dakota went with me to Starbucks, setting up her laptop and looking like she is a professional writer. :)

I also managed to finish up that last 10% of the Harley piece. I think Harley picked too big of a mallet to try an wallop the Bat. Thanks to Adam for the commission!

I have a new Canson Cutie on the commission list. It will be a Shrinking Violet in her green Dave Cockrum designed costume. I'm looking forward to that.

This is Post #1033

Harley Quinn - Canson Cutie Progress

Harley Quinn © DC Comics

Not a good day.

I started work on this and got most of it done when I had to go out for an hour or so. (I won't bore you with the all-day hassles of having furniture delivered but not when they said they would) When we got back the house was warm. I was going to sit and finish Harley but thought I better crank the A/C up a bit before I start. See, hot sweaty hands on color paper does not work well together. But once again the a/c is not working. Gotta call service in the morning but for now it's 85° inside. Oy.

So I post a progress photo I took. Since the piece is almost finished, I didn't want to show more.

This is Post #1032