deviantART: gallery:thecreatorhd/14213111

Red Sonja PCC

Wed, 29 May 2013 16:36:07 PDT

And the last of three Phoenix Comic Con commissions I finished at home. This one for . Had a blast and I like how it turned out. Need to get a wand scanner so I can upload more of the con commissions I do.

Rogue and Gambit X-Men Evolution PCC

Wed, 29 May 2013 16:34:19 PDT

Another commission that I finished just after the show. Rogue and Gambit from X-Men evolution. Just started doing some marker commissions this time. This was one of the larger ones (and if I could just figure out how to scan these so they look like they do in person).

Three Wolverines PCC Commission

Wed, 29 May 2013 16:32:40 PDT

So, this is a commission I did at (and after) Phoenix Comic Con. I had to take home three commissions, and this was one of the most time-consuming (and fun) that I did.

Barachiel Stained Glass

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:07:56 PDT

I was contacted by Paul Leone earlier this year about doing a septet (seven-piece) stained glass/art nouveau piece for his website (featuring characters from his "Vatican Vampire Hunters" book series). The pieces were very labor intensive, but after about 6-8 weeks, I had them all done.

Here is one last piece - Barachiel, the chief guardian angel - you can see the full set here.

Sariel Stained Glass

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:06:45 PDT

I was contacted by Paul Leone earlier this year about doing a septet (seven-piece) stained glass/art nouveau piece for his website (featuring characters from his "Vatican Vampire Hunters" book series). The pieces were very labor intensive, but after about 6-8 weeks, I had them all done.

Here is another piece - Sariel, the angel of death - you can see the full set here.

Michael Stained Glass

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:04:47 PDT

I was contacted by Paul Leone earlier this year about doing a septet (seven-piece) stained glass/art nouveau piece for his website (featuring characters from his "Vatican Vampire Hunters" book series). The pieces were very labor intensive, but after about 6-8 weeks, I had them all done.

Here is the main piece - Michael, the archangel - you can see the full set here.

Nemesis JLA 18 Cover Homage

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:40:42 PDT

This was a commission for that I did a month or so back. He wanted a recreation of JLA 18 (I believe) with Mark Millar's Nemesis standing over JMS' version of the Squadron Supreme. Was a blast to do as I loved both of these series!

X-Men SDCC 2013

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:37:30 PDT

Did this bad boy for the San Diego Comic Con 2013 Souvenir book. Hoping to get in. I'd better - I spent SO much time on this darn thing. The coloring alone... Hope you like. To me, the X-Men will always be their best in their early to mid-90s glory. Jim Lee and co designed the BEST costumes ever. In fact, I haven't drawn most of these suits in years and years (and years) and I had to look up almost no reference. Just had them off the top of my head.

MAJOR shout out to for his AMAZING flats. Totally saved my butt (have SO much going on right now).

Dr Modokhattan

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:28:55 PDT

And some fun with MODOK Madness week on TLIID.

The Walking Dead Birds

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:27:32 PDT

Had some fun with the Angry Birds themed week over at CBR's The Line It Is Drawn.

Playlist Anthology Wip 2

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:03:28 PDT

So, we funded our project via Kickstarter (much thanks to all of you out there!!!!!), so I wanted to post a part 2 about my work process for the book (and give you a sneak peek at a completed page).

Step 5: Scan and clean up. I drop any blues from my print guides and darken my inks, while doing any clean up/editing touchups.

Step 6: This is where my time with the project changed my goal of the final look as I went along (if that sentence makes any sense). Initially, I was going to just do straight black and white. I’ve been changing my artistic style lately to only have black areas on my figures, leaving my backgrounds more open and clean. There are ups and downs to that, but I really like how it looks and it feels more natural for me. This is also something I noticed with some of the artists I was looking at for inspiration. They left room for the colorist to add contrast and shadows and what not. But, as I got going, I realized by not having the contrast, my pages started to feel flat (knowing there was not going to be an amazing colorist to come save my butt). So I decided that I would use grey tones on the pages to enhance the dimensionality and contrast.

My first pass was more flat. I added some textures to the greys, but things still felt flat for me. So I went back to the drawing board again and came up with the process that I ended up using for the final pages.

I created a layer in Photoshop for each plane I was going to render (foreground, midground, background and all the in-betweens). Each layer I would then render by building up shadows (using a brush set to Multiply) and adding highlights (using a brush set to Screen). Additionally, I’d use the same type of brushes to add light sources to the environments and still throw down the occasional textures.

For the figures, I wanted to keep the contrast and distinction different. So I used a simple cell-shading rendering with only two different grays – that way the backgrounds had a look that enhanced the detail I drew originally, yet faded back from the characters – whose simple, stark look made them stand out (as was my intention). The trick with sequential storytelling is focus. This was how I chose to create a focus on the focal points (mainly, the characters).

Step 7: Add the words in and call it good.

Hulk vs Thor Page 4

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:52:27 PDT

That first panel was one where I went "I sure hope this turns out as awesome as it is in my head." I guess you can be the judge...

Hulk vs Thor Page 3

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:51:41 PDT

And who doesn't love a fun throw down/build up page. I loved doing this one, actually. Let me play with a lot.

Hulk vs Thor Page 2

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:50:19 PDT

And a splash page, cause why not?

Also note, while I use a lot of digital reference (sketchup, blender, etc) for my backgrounds, these pages are almost entirely all done out of my head.

Hulk vs Thor Page 1

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:49:07 PDT

Another short sample I just finished. I've been playing a lot with my style and really enjoy where it's going (feeling like I've finally broken free of the rut I was in for a long time).

Rose Asics Page 3

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:47:23 PDT

And the last page. I know comics today are big on the 3 - 5 panel per page rule, but I just enjoy a bit more meat on my pages if the story calls for it. This one did.

Rose Asics Page 2

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:45:53 PDT

Second page of three. This set was fun to play with because of the storytelling (and I love to run - so it combined another element I enjoy).

Rose Asics Page 1

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:44:53 PDT

Just a quick set of sample pages I did just the other week (about time I posted something sequential here). Hope you dig!

Hot for Emma

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:45:46 PDT

Song lyrics mashup to help promote Playlist. Did Emma Frost with Lyrics from Van Halen. I love the terribly impractical and impossible Frank Quitely design.

Nemesis ala Eisner

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:13:54 PST

And my second piece. Nemesis. Love drawing this dude. It's killing me that the sequel is so delayed. Oh well, you have to wait for Steve McNiven art sometimes and that's okay. His GOTG stuff right now is amazing.

Promethea ala Eisner

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:12:21 PST

This week on TLIID we're doing Eisner tributes in the way he incorporated the name of the character into the background (like The Spirit). I thought this week would do me in - as I'm not a design-y person - but I actually loved doing it! I had four I wanted to do but could only fit in two.

And trying to be 3% as clever and design-oriented as JH Williams was on Promethea about broke my brain, but I'm okay with how it turned out.

Xfast Club

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 14:59:53 PST

Doing album cover homages over at TLIID on CBR this week. Loved doing this one. Love the new All New X-Men comic.

Playlist Anthology WIP

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:23:10 PST

So, as we move further into our Kickstarter Campaign, we wanted to post up some WIP images and other behind the scenes things. I'll post more as we go, but I wanted to show a quick Process pic for the first panel of page 1 (and about all panels are this dense/time-consuming).

Step 0 (which I haven't scanned or added here): I came up with a quick thumbnail for this shot. I wanted a cool establishing shot of a very sci-fi city that's a bit dirty. I wanted a deep perspective shot (with one VP in the frame) for just about every panel.

Step 1: Starting in PS on a full-size file (11x17), I sketched out the layout of the city. It's so much easier to start with a guide.

Step 2: Adding a perspective grid (using a simple file I created a bit ago), I started outlining buildings using the Line tool. It was a bit tedious and arduous, but I wanted to skip as much traditional pencilling as I could once I printed the board. I knew I'd have to ink all these tiny lines with tech pens, and mine tending to lose their opacity if I erase over them a lot. I used three or four varying line widths with the Line tool to separate my depth of fields.

Step 3: I drop out all my sketch lines and add basic holders for vehicles and what not. At this point, we're ready to print. I have an action I created that compresses all the layers and turns the lines into a non-photo blue. Ready to print now.

Step 4: Print this bad boy out and start inking. All the inked lines (with the exception of the panel borders) are freehanded. Being that the lines from PS are straight, I have a guide that will keep me relatively in the right path, but I wanted the organic-feel of freehanded lines. I've been looking a lot at Jose Landronn and his amazing work in Hip Flask and Final Incal. I inked the panel with Copic Multiliners (a whole range of sizes) and it took me a good few hours. The best part? That was just the first panel and I had a few more after that.

As I get farther in the process (I still have tones and letters to add), I'll post more in-progress pics of this panel (and maybe a few others so you don't get so bored of this one shot).

Head on over to Kickstarter to check out the entire project, back it, or spread the word! It's going to be great and we need your help!

Playlist Anthology Preview

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:10:30 PST

So, I know I haven't posted anything sequential in a while but it's because I've been tied up doing a lot of secret, cool work that you'll see upcoming. First up is a short story I'm doing in the PLAYLIST ANTHOLOGY. It's a great anthology with work from a TON of great artists.

The above image is just a little taste of the work I'm doing on my story. It's intense! But you'll love it - guaranteed!

We just went live on Kickstarter moments ago - so there are still some great incentives available. Check it out [link]">here, then donate and spread the word!

Valentine's Day 2099

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:26:17 PST

Valentine's Week over at CSBG's The Line It Is Drawn - and who can pass up a chance to draw X-Men 2099 characters? I LOVE 90s comics no matter what you say. They got me into comics and I will forever cherish their hologrammed, embossed, foiled, trading-card-included, sealed-in-a-bag comic gimmick craziness.

Blink in Blink

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:09:24 PST

Mashing Bands with comic characters this week on The Line It Is Drawn. Love me some Blink 182 so why not.

Rick O'Shae vs More-Man

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:29:06 PST

My piece for the "Pun-Tastic Peter David Week" was a lot of fun to figure out. I mean Gun-Bunnies and Mormons - can it get better than that? I submit that it cannot.

Post Apocalyptic Powerpuff Girls Black and White

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:54:14 PST

So, I love to color but I wouldn't consider myself all that good. So, I wanted to put just the B&W art up so you can see what it looked like before I ruined it - ha!

Post Apocalyptic Powerpuff Girls

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 12:55:42 PST

For The Line It Is Drawn this week we got to do Post-Apocalyptic characters. This was a total blast. Used it also as practice to try out some new techniques I'll be using on an upcoming short story that should be pretty epic.

Hulk Transformation Color v2

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:50:37 PST

Here's the other color version I did. Kinda like it more cause it's more graphic and what not.

Hulk Color V1

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:49:56 PST

Piece for The Line It Is Drawn this week - my version of Hulk's first transformation.

Hulk Transformation BW

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:48:58 PST

B&W Version of my Line is Drawn entry this week. I think I prefer this to the colored version.

Daredevil 2 Page 6

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:17:03 PST

Another page that took a while to figure out, but most people seem to like the sequence of events.

A fun sample to do that stretched me harder than I have before. Let's hope it finds its way into the right hands.

Daredevil 2 Page 5

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:16:06 PST

The second panel is a flashback panel - which is terrible for a sample script, as almost no one can understand what's going on unless they've read the script. Oh well, I didn't pick it, it was sent to me. Tried my best to make it stand out.

Also tried really hard on the action/transition of the other panels on this page.

Daredevil 2 Page 4

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:14:27 PST

The staging and choreography for these next few pages were an absolute beast. I like how they turned out, but I'm sure there are always better ways.

Daredevil 2 Pages 2-3

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:13:14 PST

Instead of doing the standard Marvel DPS they've been doing since Bendis and Bagley, I went a different way, a bit more old school, but I liked it better.

Daredevil 2 page 1 Sample

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 16:11:48 PST

In between CO projects, I got around to some sample pages. From DD 2 by Mark Waid.

Christmas Cards

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:10:07 PST

I try to do original art Christmas cards for people I know in the industry who've helped me out this year. This time, running short on time, I decided to do trading cards.

See if you can name all the people I drew.

It ended up being a ton of fun and well-received.

Merry Christmas (Atom) Eve

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:42:53 PST

Did this one on the quick for The Line It Is Drawn. Completely digital (just to see if I could).

Marvel NOW Sentry

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:41:14 PST

Marvel NOW Covers to lesser known characters week over at CBR's The Line It Is Drawn.

Christmas Commission 9

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:50:26 PST

Had to draw this one twice. The first one was just a catastrophe. In the end, I'm cool with how this one turned out.

Christmas Commission 8

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:48:36 PST

Something about the yellow/orange/purple skyline that makes me all tingly inside. I can color every picture that way and it wouldn't get old.

Christmas Commission 7

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:47:15 PST

Had a blast with these. Got to draw the greats and at a smaller size than the previous ones (so they were a tad faster to do - only a tad though - ha!).

Christmas Commission 6

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:45:47 PST

A fun round of 4 commissions for a friend - each of her cousins and husband.

Christmas Commission 5

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:24:05 PST

Next commission up was my friend and his wife and daughter on Platform 9 3/4s ready to board the Hogwarts train with his daughter's favorite stuffed animal in the owl cage.

Took some work, but we got it and he loved it. Said it was the only family portrait he's ever been excited about.

The Prophecy preview

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 12:28:32 PST

Just a preview of a creator-owned book I'm working on called "The Prophecy." It's going to be pretty good cause I'm working with AMAZING collaborators including the incomparable Jen Hickman doing gorgeous digital painting over my humble lines.

The pitch is just about together (with perfect lettering by lettering superstar Patrick Brosseau) and will be sent around the beginning of next year. I'll keep you updated but for now, here's a peek at some of the art.

"The Prophecy" copyright 2012 Untitled, LLC. All rights reserved.

Christmas Commission 4

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:03:57 PST

Next up is an entire family (mom, dad, and two sets of twins) for a friend of mine. This was one was a lot of fun with their specifically requested heroes and a major challenge to draw a bunch of child likenesses (which are the hardest).

Had a blast. Loved all the buildings.

Christmas Commission 3

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:01:48 PST

And the final daughter (which was his oldest, but was the last to get done) as a cheerleader killing vampires ala Buffy. Could I get a better set of commissions?

Was a ton of fun to do and fell more into the groove of what I normally do.

Christmas Commission 2

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:00:09 PST

Another daughter, still soccer and zombies. Again, a blast to do - though the tiny stadium people (which, the way I colored it, you can hardly see) took HOURS to draw.

Spared no expense.

Christmas Commission 1

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:58:22 PST

For a good friend of mine, I did commissions of all three of his daughters, each involved in their favorite sport. It was fun because he wanted cool stuff. Hence zombie soccer.

Spent forever and a day on this, but was really pleased with the final product.

Conan, Tarzan, and Red Sonja

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 10:55:47 PST

A fun week over at The Line It Is Drawn had me drawing, based on the suggestion, "Tarzan meets Conan and Red Sonja."

I thought it was funny to do the literal interpretation of that suggestion. Some people caught it, and I'm sure others were like "This Sevy guys sucks. SO unfunny compared to everyone else on here."

True. Ha!

Disney Princesses in Jabba's Palace

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 18:48:33 PST

So, crazy news and all about Disney and Lucas. So, instead of Leia as a princess, why not all the princesses as Slave Leia's?

X-Men Animated Bruce Timm Style

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:51:16 PDT

For TLIID this week, I threw my hat into the ring, trying to emulate Bruce Timm's style.

Yeah, it's SO not easy, but I had a fun time trying to reimagine the 90s animated X-Men in his style.

Sarah and Tom

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 11:44:51 PDT

My best friend is getting married this weekend and she's asked me to walk her down the aisle. I'm extremely honored. I drew a portrait of them as a wedding present.

Portraits aren't my trademark, per se, but I love doing them. This one was quite tough, but I feel it turned out decent.

Arkham Empire

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:53:48 PDT

Did up the whole cast of Boardwalk Empire (one of the best shows on TV right now) as Batman characters for The Line It Is Drawn.

The rest (and insanely good) can be found here.

Joker Black and White

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:51:08 PDT

And here is the black and white (which I really liked, as well).

Joker in Arkham Empire

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:50:03 PDT

Mashing up comics with the Emmy nominated TV shows was the theme this week. I had to do a Batman/Boardwalk empire piece.

In fact, looking through Boardwalk Empire images, I found this image of Nucky Thompson that screamed Joker. So I did two. And yeah, this one ended up pretty solid. Looks just like a joker pic if you remove the text.

All of them here.

Cloak and Dagger Noir

Thu, 05 Jul 2012 14:51:23 PDT

Did this for Noir Week at The Line It Is Drawn and man, oh man, I freakin LOVE noir stuff. Don't even get me started.

These two lent themselves to Noir so perfectly, I would kill to draw this comic.

Mignola Avengers

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:13:09 PDT

For "The Line It Is Drawn" this week, we did "What if X designed X" and I fought for the chance to draw this one. Little did I know, I'm not Mike Mignola and to draw and design like him is HARD.

Luckily, I just unpacked 6 trades of Hellboy, so I had a lot of reference.

Batman in Star Wars

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:17:21 PDT

To honor Ralph McQuarrie's passing, The Line is Drawn is doing a "Comic Book Characters in Star Wars" theme this week.

I jumped at the chance to draw Batman, Robin, Harley, and Joker in the roles above. Can it get much cooler? I submit that it cannot!