Canson Cutie Doodle

Art © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Today I finished the last (hopefully) revisions for the Health Department job and I only have time for a doodle before I take a quick nap. Got some New Years celebrating to do.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy New Year's Eve. I will see you on the other side.

This was done in ink and Copic markers on 9" x 12" Canson paper.

This is Post #1561

Sketchbook Friday - The Joker

The Joker © DC Comics

After yesterday's Batman, this was a natural.

Today was to be a deadline on a project but last night (the client is in Los Angeles) I got an email that we would be extending that deadline to Tuesday. No one was going to be in the office today so I decided to take the day off too. I still have a few hours to put into the project, but I will finish it tomorrow while Deena is running errands. It was nice to just relax today, have some lunch with my lovely wife and wander around a mall in Tampa. A beautiful sunny day off in Florida. What more could you ask?

Today marks the unofficial anniversary of my blog. Sunday being the official day. I will post about that on Sunday. Reflect a bit and of course post some art.

This piece was done with ink, Copic markers, and white Prismacolor pencil.

This is Post #1560

Sketchbook Thursday

Batman © DC Comics

Just a warm up sketch this morning. I'm concentrating on a Friday deadline and using "free" time to work on the BIG commission.

This is Post #1559

Wolverine

Wolverine © Marvel Entertainment

This is just me messing around. I took an 11" x 17" sheet of bristol board and smeared a mixture of acrylic paint on it with a paper towel. After it dried I just started sketching. Ink, Copics, acrylic paint and white ink were throw in for the final. I may play around with this process some more in the future. Nice to mix it up a bit.

This is Post #1558

Sketchbook Tuesday

Art © 2011 Gene Gonzales

In between working, I am still playing around with the paper I bought the other day. I just started doodling and throwing Copic markers, paint, colored pencil and ink at it until this happened. I have been looking at a lot of different artwork over the last week or so and have probably been influenced. Deena saw it and thought of a chicken hawk. We now have a name for it.

Mixed media on brown rough sketch paper.

This is Post #1557

Christmas Commission - Black Canary

Black Canary © DC Comics

It's the day after Christmas so I get to show another holiday commission. Brian, aka Batmite, commissioned this for his friend Jim. I know Jim (and Brian) from years of attending the Pittsburgh ComiCon. Jim has this cantankerous persona he puts on when dealing with me, and others I suppose but I like to think I'm special. We toss friendly insults back and forth all during the weekend. But the truth is he is a softy and it's always nice to see when I am there. So when Brian asked for a holiday themed Black Canary for his friend Jim, of course I said "Hell, no!" ; )

Thanks for the commission Brian and I hope Jim liked her.

I believe that is the last of the Christmas themed finished commissions. I am still working on the BIG commission for Royce featuring the Superman Family of characters. Be nice to Royce, he has been patient and encouraging. And if he uses the art for a Christmas card next year, you will want to be on that list. :)

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1557

Merry Christmas

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Merry Christmas from all of us at Casa de Gonzo!

This is Post #1556

Christmas Commission - Muppets!

Characters © Disney

I have a few Christmas commissions I will be able to share over the next few days. Mostly after Christmas of course. But this one just the okay to post from the person who received it...

Little John commissioned this for his lovely wife Patwicia (love the story behind this spelling of her name). This is the second Muppets piece I have done for them and I find it fun to stretch my skills with a completely different style. Thanks to both of you and Merry Christmas!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1555

Sketchbook Friday - New Paper

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

I didn't want to show the latest progress on the BIG commission so today is a sketchbook day.

I had to go to the art store today for a few things and while there I picked up a sketch pad with brown rough paper. I thought it could be fun to play with so you will probably see it here from time to time. :)

This is Post #1554

Work in Progress Thursday - Commission

Characters © DC Comics

I have had the strangest end of the year. I am swamped with work. This is not how it normally works out during this season. On top of some work that I was already committed to, I got two more rush jobs, ones that need to be done before the end of the year. Whew.

But I still made time to rough in the "photos" on the wall of the BIG commission. A few favorites and a couple of history photos. Fun, Fun, Fun! I'm holding back from showing the other side of the wall. Gotta keep some stuff close to the vest.

This is Post #1553

Work in Progress Wednesday - Commission

The Kents © DC Comics

Another progress "report" on the BIG commission. In case you hadn't noticed in some of the other posts, there are blank squares and rectangles on the background wall. All of those will be framed "photos" and will be filled with illustrations. All part of the fun for me. And I hope for you when you see them. Today I drew the big framed family portrait of young Clark and Ma & Pa Kent.

This is Post #1552

Work in Progress Tuesday - Commission

Superman, Lois Lane, Supergirl © DC Comics

I cannot begin to explain how much fun I am having with this commission. And a big THANK YOU to Royce for allowing me to share it as we go. I won't give all the secrets away though.

This is Post #1551

Work in Progress Monday - Commission

Krypto & Streaky © DC Comics

Let sleeping super-pets lie. Another detail of the commission I am working on.

This is Post #1550

Work in Progress Sunday - Commission

Jimmy Olsen © DC Comics

Another detail of a large commission work in progress.

This is Post #1549

Work in Progress - Commission

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This is a detail of a work in progress. A very small detail of a very complicated piece, I might add. But when it's done, it will be super, man! :)

This is Post #1548

Canson Cutie: Xanadu - Kira (Olivia Newton-John)

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Let me start off by saying I am a fan of Olivia Newton-John. There. I said it. As a matter of fact, my first concert ever was seeing her at the beautiful outdoor Greek Theater in Los Angeles on August 27th 1976. I was 13. England Dan and John Ford Coley ("I'd really love to see you tonight") opened for her. My mom dropped me and my friend off at the Greek, by ourselves and when the show was over, she came and got us. Fighting all that traffic to get back to the Greek had to have been fun. In the pre-decades of cell phones, she just had to guess when the show would end. We almost had a chance at going backstage and meeting Olivia. At a side door, there was a man who was picking random people from the crowd there to come backstage. We weren't picked. Probably jumping up and down waving my hand and my ONJ scrapbook might have discouraged him from picking me. Anyway, it was a very memorable night and it has stayed with me all these years. (Her opening song was "The Air That I Breathe").

Which in a long way brings me around to this piece. See Little John is a fan of Olivia Newton-John as well. Something that came up at HeroesCon I believe. Well, us ONJ fans have to stick together. So John has wanted a piece featuring ONJ in her role as Kira in the musical Xanadu and who better to get it from than another ONJ fan. He selected the cowgirl costume she wears near the end of the film and we were off. Now this was a tough piece to do. There are no good references on the internet. Thankfully NetFlix has the movie and I watched it and made screen shots to get some kind of idea how the outfit works. Bad thing is, all the shots are blurry because she is too busy dancing and not standing still. But I think it worked out.

Thanks Little John, I hope I did Olivia justice. :)

Mixed media on 11" x 17" purple Canson Paper.

This is Post #1547 

Sketchbook Thursday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This is a detail of something I was working on today. :)

This is Post #1546

Sketchbook Wednesday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

A couple of digital sketches to work out the piece I am doing for the 2-Pt Perspective blog.

This is Post #1545

Ron Weasley

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

This was commissioned by Brian as a Christmas present. The recipient does not visit this blog so I was told it was safe to share it early. Thanks for the commission Brian!

This is done in black ink, white ink and white Prismacolor pencil on 10" x 8" Canson paper.

This is Post #1544

Conventionless Convention Sketch - The Flash

The Flash © DC Comics

This is an image I have been holding on to since September 13. Right at the beginning of the Conventionless Convention Sketch run. It was commissioned by Brian as a gift for Carlos. Seems there has been a back and forth discussion about who would win in a battle of Batman versus The Flash. This is Brian's idea of how his hero, Batman, would defeat The Flash. Carlos just recently got the gift art and now you can see it too. Thanks Brian, and I hope you like the art Carlos, if not the outcome. :)

This is ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1543

Sketchbook Sunday - Severus Snape

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

I'm not one to waste time if I can avoid it. So I doodled this at the laundrymat while a gigantic comforter tumbled away in first a washer, then dryer. It's not perfect, but then I was distracted by the smell of detergent, bleach and fabric softener.

This is Post #1542

Sketchbook Saturday - Hagrid

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

One of my favorite characters from the Harry Potter movies is Rubeus Hagrid. And I was suddenly compelled to sketch him after I was commissioned to do a Canson piece of Ron Weasley from his first year at Hogwarts.

Oh, I probably shouldn't have said that. ;)

This is Post #1541

Sketchbook Friday - Batgirl's Back!

Batgirl © DC Comics

Yeah, I know, dumb joke. :) Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1540

Sketchbook Thursday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Here is one of the ideas I was playing with for the military girls theme over on the 2pt Perspective blog. Done in Blue Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1539

Sketchbook Wednesday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Quick sketches today. Still have a lot of work to do. So much so that I didn't have time to finish my piece for the other blog. I will do that later this week. So I shall post here, nap, and start again in a few hours. Woohoo? Zzzzzzzzzz.

This is Post # 1538

Sketchbook Tuesday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Just a little femme fatale art from this morning in my sketchbook. No idea where this idea came from. Scary sometimes. :)

I added color this afternoon. You can see the unaltered sketch below.

This is Post #1537

Sketchbook Monday - Dejah Thoris

Dejah Thoris © ERB - Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Since I did a Warlord of Mars yesterday, I thought a Princess of Mars would be an appropriate follow up.

Terra cotta Col-Erase pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1536

Sketchbook Sunday - John Carter, Warlord of Mars

John Carter © ERB

I am quite excited by the release of the newest trailer for the JOHN CARTER movie. So I was inspired to sketch the title character. For fun I slapped some color on it in Photoshop. Below is the unaltered sketch.

Blue Col-Erase pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad.

This is Post #1535

Sketchbook Saturday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

A warm up sketch from this morning in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1534

Sketchbook Friday - Jungle Priestess

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

The next few weeks will probably be filled with sketchbook days. I won't be spending too much on them, mostly morning warmups. But I will try to make them interesting and not just a bunch of random lines. My commercial work load is filling up (couple of tough deadlines next week) and I am booked solid on commissions. BUT, what a great bunch of commissions these are. I will be so happy when I get to share them with everyone. The ideas are beyond fun! To those of you who commissioned the projects in progress, thank you! You know who you are. :)

This piece was done in pencil in a 9" x 12" Canson Drawing Paper pad.

This is Post #1533

Black Queen - Conventionless Convention Sketch

This one is for Gary, a companion piece for the White Queen I did for him earlier in this run of sketches. Thanks again Gary.

If this post looks odd it's because I am trying to use the Blogger app on my iPad 2 to post. I will reformat this when Bloggers web interface is working again.

This is Post #1532

Sketchbook Wednesday - The Girls

Characters © DC Comics

Wednesdays are tough on me as far as blogs go. With two blogs requiring new art plus my work load, I'm afraid this blog takes the hit with a sketchbook post. Tomorrow I will be winding down the last of the Conventionless Convention Sketchs. Two more on the list and only one that I can share. The other is a gift. :)

On the subject of Conventionless Convention Sketches, once again I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who got on the list. And in most cases, got on the list multiple times. I think it has run it's course now. I'm amazed and grateful at how many requests I received. And not one duplicate request in the batch. That is really incredible when you consider there were 59 requests!!! That's right, 59 sketches requested and done since September 4th. Thank you all again for the requests and all the fun!

This is Post #1531

Sketchbook Tuesday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Lots of work today. And catching up on other matters. Being sick really threw a wrench in the works. So for today I have some doodles to work out tomorrow's post over at the 2pt-Perspective blog. Black Canary is the subject matter that Joe Pekar and I agreed upon. Check it out tomorrow.

This is Post #1530

Witchy Woman - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Gary saw a rough drawing on a page from my sketchbook, posted on Halloween, and asked if I could do a finished piece for his Conventionless Convention Sketch. Not a problem! Thanks Gary!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1529

Matter-Eater Lad - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Matter-Eater Lad © DC Comics

Another Legionnaire for Michael. This time up is Matter-Eater Lad from the "Five Years Later" run of the Legion. A run that I really enjoyed. If you don't know, Matter-Eater Lad's name explains it all: He can eat almost any matter. Seems silly but it's a power that got him in the Legion. He was almost replaced by Calorie Queen, also from his home planet of Bismoll (Let that sink in a moment) where everyone can eat almost any type of matter. Thanks again Michael for the visit to the 30th Century! Always a place I like to visit.

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1528

Sketchbook Saturday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Just some stuff I am working on that I really can't talk about. But out of context, it makes no sense. :)

This is Post #1527

Dream Boy - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Dream Boy © DC Comics

Another Legion request from Michael. If I remember correctly, Dream Boy joined the Legion after Dream Girl died in the line of duty. He was from the same planet as Dream Girl and shared the same ability to have visions of the future in his sleep. He was introduced during the Mark Waid/Barry Kitson run of the Legion. Thanks Michael!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1526

Sketchbook Thursday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Sorry for this particularly weak page of doodles I did while curled up sick on the couch watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

This is Post #1525

Sketchbook Wednesday

X-Men © Marvel Entertainment

I am under the weather right now so I'm afraid it is another Sketchbook day. Above are some doodles in my sketchbook for an X-Men theme that Joe Pekar and I are doing for this weeks 2 Point Perspective Blog. You can see the finished pieces over there. Other than that, I've been feeling so lousy that I didn't get to anything on my to do list. Didn't work on any commissions today. Results would have been questionable and no one wants that in a commission. :)

This is Post #1524

Sketchbook Tuesday

Marvel Girl © Marvel Entertainment

A rough idea for tomorrow's 2-Point Perspective Blog. The subject being the 1960s X-men. This is only one idea I have, not sure what the final piece will be.

This is done in non-photo blue pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1523

Computo (Danielle Foccart) - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Computo © DC Comics

We are revisiting the Legion again thanks to the next batch of requests from Michael. This is Danielle Foccart, code named Computo. Drawing her made me realize how much I miss the SW6 Legionnaires that have been re-rebooted or forgotten. It's too much backstory to go into here, but it was a fun time for this Legion fan. Thanks Michael!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1522

Gidget

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

I always try to do something special for the first page of a new sketchbook because it could all be down hill from then on. So for the new sketchbook I started today, I rendered Gidget, our English Bulldog.

This is Post #1521

Eskimo (Cutie) Pie - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Keeping with the "bare midriff"theme of his requests, Vincent asked for something completely different from the super-hero fare: A pin-up of an Eskimo cutie. He left it wide open for me to come up with whatever I wanted. I hope you like her Vincent, and thanks for the commissions!

Below is the rough sketch idea for this piece.

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1520

Sketchbook Friday

Superman © DC Comics

Still more work ahead of me tonight. Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1519

Ms. Marvel - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Ms. Marvel © Marvel Entertainment

Vincent is continuing his requests for midriff baring characters (see yesterday's Satana) with Ms. Marvel in her original costume. I like this one with the 1970s hair. I also thickened up her eyelashes to complete the look. :) Thanks Vincent!

Ink one 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1518

Satana Hellstrom - Conventionless Convention Sketch

Satana © Marvel Entertainment

Today's Conventionless Convention Sketch is for Vincent. He asked for Satana Hellstrom. I have to admit I was not familiar with the character but I like the look. :) I hope I did her justice. Thanks Vincent!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1517

Sketchbook Tuesday

Artwork © 2011 Gene Gonzales

Almost finished a Conventionless Convention Sketch this afternoon, but other things got in the way. So rather than rush it, it's a sketchbook day. :)

This is Post #1516