C.H.U.D. and Another Happy Customer

The C.H.U.D. convention on Sunday was much more productive than I was expecting it to be! I was originally supposed to set up my art on the corner of the Stormwatch Comics table, but when I arrived I was informed that there were some spare tables where I could lay out all my work. I wasn't expecting to have such a nice setup, it was GREAT!

While I was there, I met Gabriel from KING Comics. I'm almost certainly going to be creating a custom pinup for some the characters from his comic and I may even end up doing a custom t-shirt design for him in the near future!

I'll post more about that project when it gets closer to coming true.

Also, Tom located another place on the internet where strangers are talking about my stuff, which is always a wonderful pick-me-up in the middle of the day!

The Scarlett Johansson sketch cover I'd done for Stormwatch Comics finally sold, and the man who bought it is apparently quite pleased with his purchase. I'm looking forward to doing more sketch covers in the future- definitely for Stormwatch and hopefully for Dynamic Forces *crosses fingers*

I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

Wish me luck!

EXCITING NEWS!

I just finished my first real

freelance illustration job!

Oh sure, I've been commissioned to do portraits and even some t-shirt design work, but I've never worked on a national publication before! I was contacted by Bluewater Productions to do the cover for one of their "Political Power" comic books and I am so psyched about the project!

I'm really pleased with how the piece came out and even more happy about the amount of time it took me to complete it. When I first got the call, I wasn't 100% sure that I'd could to finish it by Monday without pulling an all-nighter, but apparently I was underestimating myself! I slept well each night and still got it scanned in by Sunday afternoon.

I met the man from Bluewater while I was working as a booth babe at Wizard World 2010. We spoke about the possibility that I might illustrate the cover of another book in their Political Power series, but when I didn't hear from him for months I started to lose hope. A few weeks ago, I heard that the comic book we'd discussed would be hitting the shelves soon and I figured I wouldn't be hearing back from him.

Then I get this email, out of the blue, saying that he may have a job for me!

I had already planned out my weekend- Hang out with Tom, paint some eggs, silkscreen some geeky t-shirts to sell at the Collingswood Book Festival, meet up with the gallery owner I met at my last show and talk to him about selling giclée prints. I canceled all of that immediately as soon as I got the details. I locked myself in my studio all weekend long, with St. Thomas of Mitchell keeping me company. I'm extremely excited about the possibility of working more projects like this.

UPCOMING ART SHOWS:

I will be sharing a booth with Stormwatch Comics on October 2nd

from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm as part of the Collingswood Book Festival.

I plan on selling my comic book themed artwork there, so that means Julie Newmar portraits, comic book heroine pin ups, and the Avengers sketch covers with Black Widow as played by Scarlett Johansson. I'm also making some t-shirts just for the occasion. If you're in the area, stop by! It'll be a great time!

Also, the Barrington Harvest Festival is coming up.

I will be there on October 9th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Sketch Covers Complete!

I've just completed both covers and I'm extremely pleased with them!

The Scarlett Johansson portrait came out quite nicely. It doesn't look as much like her as I would have liked, but it's very close. I'm thinking about spraying her with some fixative, so the pencil won't smear, but I'm afraid of ruining the whole thing. Everybody cross your fingers!

In spite of all the trouble I had with it early on (i.e. spilling water on the first version and having to draw the web over again) The Widow's Web was a joy to work on. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I've decided to make several versions of these in different colors.

Both of these covers will be available for sale at Stormwatch Comics and eventually on my Etsy store as well.

Stormwatch Comics

(856) 768-8186

449 Route 73 N

West Berlin, NJ 08091

Avengers Updates

A quick progress report on the sketch covers: Both images have been transferred to the actual comic covers and are in the process of being inked.

The red image below is actually the second version of that cover. The first came in contact with water and was completely ruined. After inking it twice, I've got that web in the background almost memorized by now.

I must admit, it's been extremely frustrating to have to work on these pieces so slowly. If circumstances were normal, both of them would be done by now, but my home life as of late has been messy and spilling over into my creative life.

The transition from school to freelance has been rough, however I finally have a studio space at home that is functional and I'm well on my way to being organized enough to juggle my artwork, social life, and family obligations.

Scarlett Johansson, pt. 2

An update on the Scarlett/Black Widow image I've been working on:

I've been tweaking the face and working on getting it reattached to the

rest of her body. I haven't transferred it to the sketch cover yet, so here's hoping that the details don't change all that much when I copy it over.

I've also started laying out an image for another Black Widow sketch cover.

Although it's also based off of a reference photo of Miss Johansson, I'm not going to worry about capturing her likeness this time around. I just enjoy the pose she's in. Here's a preview of that one before I get to work on it.

The Trouble with Likeness

I'm finally back from California and I'm getting back into the swing of things with a portrait of Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow.

And I'm discovering that capturing the undefinable Johansson-ness of her face is incredibly difficult. I've drawn her face over and over and

only a few have turned out even remotely successful.

Now I have dozens of images of lovely women who look nothing like Scarlett Johansson...

...and a handful of sloppy looking heads that somehow resemble Ms. Johansson far more than the more carefully modeled sketches do.

Picking out the minute differences is careful and tedious work. For example, here's one face in particular that I like very much, but which looks like someone else. And here's the reference picture I'm working from.

Some careful observations and a little more shading improves things slightly, but it still isn't quite there.

A little bit more work gets us closer, but I'm still not sure it's really recognizable as Scarlett. Try as I might, the lips still need work.

I want to make sure that someone how doesn't know who it's supposed

to be can look at it and recognize it without being told. I'll post updated sketches as the project progresses.