It Takes a Hero

 Just got an email reminder about Hope:  The Hero Initiative.  They've sold out of half the print run and looking to push the rest out the door. The full color, 188-page softcover has a cover price of $19.95 and can be ordered from retailers with the Diamond Order Code DEC101038.

Jeff Telofski and Keith Brett wrote a charming little story and it was fun to draw, colour and letter a story again -- I think it's only the second time I've done that.

A Colour Vampirella Sketch

I guess drawing all these Vampirella cards has played on my affection for the character to the point i'm drawing her for warm-ups as well.  I mentioned I did a Vampirella sketch based on the Black Cat card-puzzle -- this is it, but coloured a bit in Pshop.

Now I'm tempted to redraw this as a two-card Vampirella sketch card -- I think if I draw this pose enough I'll get good at it!

Sometimes Things Don't Work Out II

Here's a few cover roughs for another recent H. P. Lovecraft-inspired project that fell apart.  Entirely my fault as I didn't clarify my contractual requirements  before digging in, but I enjoyed the little I did for what it's worth.  

~R

Jeffrey Catherine Jones

Jeffrey Catherine Jones 

(born January 10, 1944 in Atlanta, Georgia, died may 18th 2011) 

I read the news on Facebook earlier;  Jeffrey Catherine Jones had fallen seriously ill and passed away shortly after.

She maintained a web presence though Facebook, sharing many paintings and sketches and often discussing process and technique in response to comments from the justifiably appreciative audience.  Even through the cold filter of the internet, it obvious she was a warm and giving person and she would be greatly missed even without the volume of beautiful works left behind.

I first encountered her work in The Studio.  I'll admit to buying the book for the Wrightson and Barry Windsor Smith contributions, but later grew to appreciate the works by Michale Kaluta more and Jones's pieces most of all. His (at the time) paintings seemed like N. C. Wyeth painting Alma Tadema's subjects with Frank Frazetta acting as art director.

As I matured and grew as an artist, so did my respect and admiration of her work.

You can look through her website here http://www.jeffreyjones-art.com/

~R

Sometimes Things Don't Work Out

Over the years I've started work on a number of projects that never progressed for a variety of reasons.  Some of them are bound by NDAs and so the work I produced will likely never be shared, but every once in a while I think I'll scroll through my files and share some of the bits.

Below are some developmental sketches for a public service comic out of Australia that became unworkable due to the work involved compared to deadline and compensation.

Not sure why the client wanted the nude teen figures when no one would be nude in the project.  

Thor Damn It!

Blogger hasn't restored the Thorsday Threesome and I wasn't able to upload anything yesterday so I'm posting five cards today and hoping they stay up.

Marvel Beginnings - Reed Richards

 Mister Fantastic!

And the last batch of the Marvel Beginnings cards . . . I think this is all of them, anyway.  I'll have to double-check later.

Blogger seems to be having a few issues; the Thorsday Threesome I posted yesterday is gee-oh-enn-eee gone.

~R

Marvel Beginnings - Elektra

~R

Five Times the Thor! FCBD

Seeing Thor today and it's Free Comic Book Day, so I thought I could go a little goofy and put five of the Thor cards up instead of the usual one.

Looking forward to the movie and taking a look at how things are going at my local comic shop during FCBD.

~R

Marvel Beginnings - Kraven

~R

99 Thor Heads 70

~R

Massive Marvel Beginnings Monday!

 Completely forgot to post one of the sketch cards yesterday!  Oops!

Here's yesterday's card along with the usual three I post from the set on Mondays!

Marvel Beginnings - Hogun

Who isn't a sucker for the Warriors Three?

It's pretty easy to guess who's coming up next after running Thor, Sif and Hogun, yeah?

~Richard

Marvel Beginnings - The Leader

Jiffy-Pop head hisself!

And the last eight cards as I worked on them in a batch.

~R

Red Sonja Inks

Inked!

Gonna try and colour it tonight to have at the con this weekend.

Red Sonja Pencils

Decided to do something more finished with the Red sketch.

The tree with skulls is based on a memory of a really cool water colour sketch of Red by another artist -- possibly Dan Panosian.  If I can dig it up I'll add a link here.

Yup -- it's Dan Panosian and you can see the gorgeous piece here

Red Sonja Sketch

Another woman with a sword and no pants.

I sense a developing trend. . .

Pants! NSFW

Why, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed SUCKERPUNCH.

Why do you ask?

Marvel Beginnings - Thor

Thor.

I know, right?!

Right in the middle of the 99 B&W Thor sketch cards I actually did a colour Thor card for Marvel Beginnings.

Actually, I did two

I like Thor, obviously.

~R

WizardWorld Toronto Sketches

Some people are great at taking photos of their con sketches;  I'm not one of them.  I usually end up never seeing the sketches again, however, at times, I get scans sent to me or end up finishing the work outside of the con hours and can get a scan made before I give it to the fan (like the Green Lantern/Sinestro sketch I posted over the weekend).

I met Marc Wolfe at the Toronto Fan Expo last year. He's a helluva great guy and a damn fine artist -- as you can see here. He started a sketchbook for his very young son, Ronin, and I got to be among the first to contribute to it!

And CONAN!

Did this one in the studio Sunday morning before heading in for the final day.  I think I hit all the usual Conan expectations with this one.

~R