Current work in progress

 I haven't really been wanting to draw or paint lately. I have a lot of stacked up artwork that's going nowhere, and no commission work or sales. But I did feel like just doing some watercolor portraits of comic book characters. This one's a work in progress I just started today, about half an hour in. Still working on it and not using any reference material:

After seeing the photograph of it, I see that I've got quite a bit of work to do.

Figure attempt

 I've struggled my whole life with drawing figures. I can fake it when I'm looking at reference material, but when I try to draw picture-free, I'm reminded how little I know. This drawing was inspired by the "Black Widow" movie, but I'm drawing the comic style. Just... don't judge too much. I'm a7 delicate friggin' flower.

Something Sinister This Way Comes

 I started on a new drawing of my favorite group o' villains: the Sinister Six!

This is my take on what SHOULD happen when some of Spidey's most dangerous enemies teamed together and worked on him at the SAME TIME! The first 3 iterations of the Six had them as clumsy buffoons, really. And I love the 1st 2 versions of the team! I liked Hobgoblin as Kraven's replacement. After that, writers just threw in whoever into the group. Meh. Anyways, this is 14"x11" roughly. I'll probably keep it black and white or make a copy and colorize the copy.

I also have a video on TikTok HERE 

EXCLUSIVE ART!!!

 I did a watercolor painting exclusively for my upcoming comic book convention appearances!

10"x14" watercolor on watercolor paper, Monica Rambeau, aka Captain Marvel (the ORIGINAL female Captain Marvel!), aka Spectrum, aka Photon, and a couple other names. She has always been a favorite of mine. She was the first chairwoman of  The Avengers (or 2nd, after Wasp). 

The image here doesn't do the painting justice, but you get the idea. I wanted to do a gentle style and a simple moment in a superhero's day: suiting up! 

This will be available at the Great Lakes Comic Con in Warren, Michigan Feb. 25-26. NO prints made of this! 

Prints Available soon!

 I don't usually have prints made of my artwork because I'm...well...cheap, but decided to make this series of drawings specifically to have prints made of them. I wanted to make a series of pictures of Marvel Heroes over time starting with the Silver Age of Marvel comics. It's somewhat chronological. I don't have EVERY hero, but I have the important ones and then some. I'm also working on Marvel Villains in the same fashion. 

Marvel Hero Heads

 I started a project that is inspired by the floating heads used on Marvel Comics covers through to the 2000s, specifically by John Byrne.

This series is kind of a history of Marvel heroes starting with the Silver Age, in (somewhat) chronological order. I have one page to do to finish the heroes. Then onto the VILLAINS (Oy, there are a lot!!)!!

I will have prints available for sale once the series is done. 

Coloring the Archies as the FF

I was inspired by the Archie artwork of Fernando Ruiz, a more recent Archie Comics artist, to do a little mashup of Archie's pals and the Fantastic Four (since The Thing is my favorite superhero character). I chose to film the coloring of the drawing. I used watercolor. I tried to speed it up so boredom wouldn't set in for viewers, but my abilities with technology are limited. Let me know what you think!

Day 5 of #STANUARYLEE2019!!!

Continuing with the tribute to Stan Lee, STANuary Lee 2019, I've created a video of me coloring the drawing of Daredevil for the Day 5 challenge:

Stan Lee tribute, STANuary 2019 drawing challenge

     Ok, so as most of the world knows, Stan Lee passed away in November, 2018. His 96th birthday was December 28th. To celebrate Stan Lee's work, someone created a drawing challenge online called STANUARY Lee. Each day of January, artists are to draw a designated Marvel character in honor of Stan Lee. For example: January 1st was Spider-Man, January 2nd was Kingpin. The 3rd day was Black Widow. I chose to draw her in the Archie Comics style. The video is of me inking the 2 I drew. Enjoy!

Paying the Cost to Read

Ok, I'm going for it.
When I was a wee lad, my brothers left their collections of comics when they moved out (being 12 and 15 years older than me), so I was basically born addicted to comic books. When I had my appendix removed in kindergarten (or 1st Grade. Can't remember)my dad brought me comics he and my mom bought for me. I then started using my allowance to buy comics on my own, starting with GROO THE WANDERER #7 from Epic. The comics then were 75 cents. I'd get $5/wk for allowance and would buy at LEAST 3 comics a week. It was just before the industry hiked the price to $1. Well, what's a quarter, you know?
I walked into a comic shop recently and the printed price on most of the books I wanted to pick up (being a semi-regular collector, I'm behind on story arcs right now but I'm still a full-time comic geek), only to find the high-priced $2.99 had risen to the ABSURD $3.99!!! I used to buy ANNUALS for that much! 90-120 page books!! These are 30 page (including ads)monthly books, and SOME weekly or bi-weekly, whose print quality seems no different than the $2.99 days of old. I know that when prices went up a few years ago, the reasoning was because the quality of the paper being printed on was better and more expensive. I don't remember many comic fans complaining about the paper quality before, though. And the quality THEN is the same as NOW, but more expensive! If I want to buy, let's say, GREEN ARROW #2-3 off the shelf, it costs me $8. For 60 pages! And not even FULL story pages! Ads take up a few of those 60 pages! I have been picking up trades lately, but mainly because I live so far away from a comic shop that I can't get my monthly (ok, weekly) fix. Now, I have to wait for storylines to finish, then wait another couple months for the trade of said storylines to come out, then wait for the price to drop to a number I can afford. I also feel bad for the creators who bust their asses to get a monthly book out, only for the fans to have to wait to read what they did for months after the creators finished.
Ok, rant over.

What Dreams May Come (and go)

I had a dream last night of my dad telling me I can't make it anywhere here&should go to a bigger city to be an artist.I told him I'd be a little fish in a big OCEAN if I went to a big city to be an artist. Right now I'm a medium fish in little pond. Am I trying to convince myself to go to a big city, or convince myself why I don't move? I don't like big cities. I like this community and this is where I've built my family. It is limited in opportunities, but I'm hoping to be part of West Branch growing. I love the idea of local success stories, such as Daniel Way, who came from West Branch and is now a writer for Marvel Comics. There's also Dita Von Teese, who's from West Branch. The difference is that they built their careers after leaving West Branch. I want to be successful IN West Branch.

Support for a local?

I've been directed to a gallery in New York in hopes of getting interest in my work and maybe exhibiting in said gallery. I contacted the gallery owner and he said that my work is "cool, unique and good shape". Having said that, he gave me the info on his next exhibit in December, which to me means he likes my work enough to have me show in his gallery. However, he requires a fee of $400 to cover advertising, reception and other expenses. Now, here's the glitch: I have no money. Zero. Zilch. So that opportunity slips through my fingers.
It's been suggested that maybe I can ask the West Branch community to show their support for one of their own in his pursuit of making it as a successful artist. I'm not looking to move to New York or California, mind you. I would want to stay in West Branch because it is my home and I've always loved this small community. I want to be a success story from West Branch, as West Branch natives Dita Von Teese and Marvel Comics writer Daniel Way have become. The difference being, I don't want to leave!
That same suggestion recommended having a fundraiser to get me exhibited in New York, or even Chicago or California. But the thought comes to mind "What if I throw a fundraiser and nobody comes?"