Self Portrait

Here's a self-portrait I did that I'm submitting to a community self portrait exhibition at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. No, I don't live in Greenwich, but a colleague of mine who lives there demanded I enter it. So, perhaps I'm considered an honorary member of the community. All submitted portraits must be a 6x6-inch square format.

Election Mayhem at the Lexington Courthouse—Colored

A Yeoman and His Wife Visit Wealthy Kentuckians—Colored

Kentucky Farm Raid—Colored

The Ku Klux Klan Retaliates—Colored (revised)

Compare with the previous uploaded image. I went in, lightened the image and added some highlights...to good effect, I think. The sunrise orange reflecting on the KKK men gives them a bit more of a demonic appearance.

The Ku Klux Klan Retaliates—Colored

Even though it's supposed to be set at dawn, I might have to lighten it a bit because some of the detail is getting lost.

Slaves Harvesting Hemp—Colored

I realized as I was coloring this that on the line art I had inadvertently drawn the scene with two light sources. So, I had to take some time to correct that. It's not perfect, but it's much less noticeable now (however, since I just told you, it will be more noticeable now).

13th Amendment Passes—Colored

Henry Clay Argues Before the US Senate—Colored

Morgan's Raiders Attack—Colored

Union Soldiers Battle Line—Colored

First finished colored scene for the KHS Civil War project.

Colored Version of the KHS Team Portrait

Election Mayhem at the Lexington Courthouse

Getting the right to vote didn't always mean you were able to vote. Fights and gun shots are the order of the day as pro-slavery citizens and private militias attempt to keep blacks from voting.




Detail of previous image.

The Catwoman

Today's inking warm-up sketch.

Civil War Team Portrait

I've been working on this Civil War educational project for the past six months and was recently asked by my contact at the Kentucky Historical Society, for whom I'm doing the work, for a portrait of the team there who are also involved in this particular project. It's been a real pleasure working with these guys. They've been great.

Here's the pre-colored version.

The Ku Klux Klan Retaliates

Just because slavery had been abolished, "freed men" weren't exactly free. Prejudice remained. From unfair state and local laws to physical violence and intimidation through groups such as the KKK, the end of the Civil War merely denoted the beginning of the long struggle for freedom, equality and integration into the larger society.

13th Amendment Passes

This Civil War-era scene shows the confusion and range of emotions as citizens learn of the passing of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution that outlawed slavery in the United States and wherever it has jurisdiction. You can see that many of the whites aren't happy about the news, but the black slave just outside of the immediate circle is overjoyed. However, slaves further in the background can't hear (and might not be able to read it) and thus look more apprehensive and inquisitive.

Confederate Sympathizers Led Away by Union Troops

Line art for my Civil War educational project.

Batman Colored Sketch

Kentucky Farm Raid

Part of the Civil War project. Most of the image was digitally inked except for the sky. It was inked on paper using a brush pen and scanned. I could get a better smokey effect by hand.

Another Black Widow Sketch

Why not...(and this time with the more curly "Scarlet Johansson" hair).

The Black Widow

I saw the Avengers movie recently which was really good. I thought I'd loosen up my inking arm for today by doing a sketch of the Marvel Comics character, Black Widow.

A Yeoman and His Wife Come to Rent Slaves

Another inked background in the Civil War series.

This is a detail of the above image.

Civil War Character Designs

Below are finalized designs for my current Civil War project for the Kentucky Historical Society. These figures will be produced life-size as standees and will be part of a traveling exhibit targeted to elementary school-aged children. The exhibit will teach them about Kentucky's role in the Civil War and the choices confronting these six historical characters. The comic book/graphic novel visual approach is carried through-out the exhibit and serves as a visual language that children will be immediately able to connect with. The art for other Civil War scenes I've posted are also part of this same exhibition. A take-home comic book incorporating many of these same images will be made available to the children who visit the traveling exhibit.

Batman Sketch

I thought I'd post a little warm-up exercise from this morning. Once I finished it, I noticed it had a very "Don Newton" vibe to it (for those of you who remember Don Newton's Batman art from the early to mid-eightees).

Slaves Harvesting Hemp

This was really fun to ink. I've also included a couple images of detail in order to provide a better look at the line-work.

Slaves Become Union Soldiers

Here is another inked scene from the Civil War project I'm working on. It's inked in Photoshop using a Cintiq 21UX. I'm having some pen recognition issues that I haven't resolved—but overall, I love inking with the Cintiq. Being able to undo an ink line is wonderful and very freeing.

Going Digital

I recently purchased a Cintiq 21UX and am converting to all-digital inking. While I'm still working on getting it set-up for my specific preferences, it's also increasing my productivity by reducing steps. It's nice not to have to scan, piece-together and clean up original art. Here's an example of some inking-in-progress on a commercial project I'm working on. I'm really digging digital inking.(The jaggys are the result of the low-res uploaded image rather than the original.)

A Medical Graphic Narrative

I've been working with a professor of medical ethics at Penn State who teaches a class to third year med students about graphic storytelling in medicine. He basically has his med students draw a comic. Why? I asked the same question. It turns out that he (and a handful of other people around the world) are onto something interesting. In a daunting world of illness, medical science and the all-to-frequent gulf in understanding between patient and physician, comics can help. They can powerfully allow the creator and the reader to grapple with emotional issues in an immediate and easily accessible way. Whether it's physicians taking the rare opportunity to explore their own emotions surrounding the pressures of their vocation or patients coming to terms with illness and relating to those who seek to help them, sequential art, or medical graphic storytelling, can aid in that process. Below is a sequence I drew that illustrates an incident that occurred during a young physician's residency and which still haunts him to this day. (Click on the individual pages to enlarge.)

Civil War Project: Period Scenes Pencils

Here are some pencilled versions of some period scenes I'm working on for a Civil War educational project for a state historical society.

Civil War Project: Character Designs Inked

Here are a few of the inked versions of the previous characters.

Civil War Project: Character Designs Pencilled

I'm currently working on a long-term project with a state historical society involving a traveling exhibition about the Civil War. It's supposed to have a graphic novel/comic book look to it. These are the penciled versions of six characters that will be reproduced life-sized (inked and colored).