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).

The Woman and the Dragon

This is the front cover for the Revelation study guide I mentioned in the previous post. This image is taken from the narrative in chapter 12. Being that the final cover was only about 8 inches tall, I would approach the drawing a little differently if I had to do it again...perhaps more of a flat, graphic approach instead of all the detail...perhaps a bit more art nouveau perhaps even hinting at stained glass. Anyway, both drawings were very well received.

John the Revelator

The image is based on the book of Revelation chapter 1 where John first hears the voice behind him and turns to see a bright light. The illustration is being used for a study booklet corresponding to a sermon series. It will be used for the back cover. The front cover will be posted as soon as I'm finished with it.

The Palmyra Initiative

I just finished this commission for a couple my wife and I are friends with. The husband got me a great deal on a new paint job for my Trans Am, and said he'd knock even more off if he and his wife could have a piece of art done by me. I immediately agreed. Their kid was all-to-willing to be the villain in the piece. They haven't even seen it, yet. I hope they like it.

It's brush and ink on watercolor paper. The star field and some highlights are white gouache.

Back from the San Diego Comic Con

I recently returned from the San Diego Comic Con—my first time attending. I had a great time. Highlights included a half-hour sit-down conversation with Neal Adams about my art, being introduced to a lot of creators from a variety of companies and publications, seeing a bunch of really crazy costumes, and spending some time enjoying the wonderful architecture and food in the Gas Light District of San Diego.

I also met some online acquaintances from my last project and some future projects including Elton Pruitt (a fine writer who's appeared in "Negative Burn" and "Popgun"), Caleb Monroe (writer of "Remnant"), and James Powell (my editor on a recent story I drew which is appearing in his latest anthology project). These are some great guys. We had a lot of fun.

"I Saw Mommy..."

I recently sent off the inked pages of the short story I was working on for a future Christmas anthology. The working title of "Another First" has been changed to "I Saw Mommy...." The pages should now be in the hands of either the colorist or letterer. I'll post the publishing schedule as soon as I find out when it is.

Above are some pages from the story. I'm not including any that give away the plot.

Back at it again!

After a long hiatus from drawing comics (since last spring and the advent of the arrival of my and my wife's first child and all the business and crazy schedule that it brings), I'm at it again.

I'm picking up the story I starting before the hiatus (the first page of which is posted just previous to this one). The Christmas anthology in which this story will appear was put on hold, and is now "off-hold" and the editor is out pitching the concept to publishers once again.

Here is a loosely pencilled frame from the story. The mother and daughter are in the kitchen wrapping gifts.