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.