Daily Special #8 - Elektra

Out of all the "traditional" superheroes, Daredevil is by far my personal favorite- So when I found out there were new DD sketch covers coming to Dynamic Forces, I flipped! I wanted to do several different covers (Elektra, Black Widow, even Ol' Hornhead himself), but I could only get my hands on enough books for one design.

I went with Elektra, a lady ninja who is as lovely as she is off her rocker! Daily Specials only remain on the Dynamic Forces website for 24 hours, so go check it out now!

(click here to read the article after it has expired)

Upcoming Events:

This October is going to be a REALLY busy month for me!

Last weekend was the Collingswood Book Festival and already there's another outdoor art festival looming on the horizon!

I'll be setting up my table again on October 8th for The Barrington Harvest Festival, which takes place in downtown Barrington (along Clements Bridge Road) from 10pm to 4pm. If you're going to be in the area, stop by and say hello!

After that, it's off to the New York Comic Convention on October 14th and the Mid-Ohio Comic Con from October 21st 'til the 23rd. I'll be there with the usual Stormwatch crew, splitting my time between working for The 'Watch and showing my portfolio to anyone who stands still long enough.

Elektra Evolution

The black & white version of the Elektra pin-up was ready in time for Wizard World, but I didn't have a chance to render it in color until now. Here's a look at steps it took to finish this piece:

Starting with the inked version, I transferred the image onto colored paper. I prefer to use Canson Mi-Teintes and Prismacolor pencils. I start by putting on some of the most extreme highlights and lowlights. This early in the game, I need to be careful to keep my pencil work light, so I can map out the important shapes without really committing to anything.

After the values have been mapped out lightly, I can go in and pull out some of the highlights. At this point I'll usually revisit my reference photos and use them to figure out where the brightest lights and darkest darks are located.

Now that I've pushed the values on the figure just about as far as they'll go, I use photoshop to figure out what I should do with the background. After I've found something that looks good with the foreground, it's just a few more minutes of colored pencil work and it's ready to sign!

Comic Book Pin-ups

In order to make my booth more enticing to the comic crowd, I churned out a few last minute super heroine pin-ups before the show. I plan on making color versions of both of them eventually.

I didn't found out that I was going to have my own table at Wizard World until the last minute, but I am still quite pleased with how they came out. I'm hoping these two lovely ladies will be the first of many.

Another pre-convention project was the Julie Newmar portrait.

I'd heard that she was going to be one of Wizard's special guests, so I made sure to turn out a headshot of her to sell at the show. Some friends of Julie's who were traveling with her came by the booth and were really excited about it. I'd wanted to give her the original at the end of the day, but unfortunately,

she had to leave early and

I missed her. I will simply

have to wait until the

next time Ms. Newmar

comes around.

Finally, I used Wizard World as an excuse to cash in on an idea I've had for sometime now. I've got five words for all you Joss Wheaton fans out there:

Felicia Day Adult Novelty Cards

I won't hide the fact that I have a HUGE girl crush on Felicia Day and since a good handful of my friends feel the same way about her, I figured it was time to give the world what they wanted. To receive Miss Felicia Day as a present, sent by a thoughtful friend, through the mail.

But since actually sending that package is rife with legal and medical complications (there's nothing more worse than receiving a Box-o-Felicia that has gone bad, damaged in transit by careless postal workers) sending one of your Felicia-loving-friends one of these adult novelty cards is a much better option for all parties involved.

By the way, if you're interested in prints of any of these images,

all of the items I've described here are also available for sale on Etsy.

CORRECTION: After receiving a Cease & Desist letter from Felicia Day's lawyers, I will no longer be selling the Adult Greeting cards.