Monday, November 30, 2009

HARLEY QUINN

The above sketch of Harley Quinn was inspired by a marathon bout of Lego Batman where Laura and I finally managed to win a game!! Take THAT, evil-doers!!

This sketch as well as a Robin sketch are up for bid on Ebay!

The Harley Quinn auction is HERE.

The Robin auction is HERE.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Black Friday!

Happy Black Friday! Free shipping on all orders placed in my Etsy Store today until 10 pm central!

THE TICK


Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving filled with overeating, families and pies! Well... those of you in the states anyway. Have a great weekend folks. Time to eat some of those leftovers!! :D

Thursday, November 26, 2009

THE SHADOW


Happy Turkey Day!! This year I'm especially thankful for all of your support, both of my comics work and the stuff I've been posting here on the blog.
You guys are the best!!
Be safe out there.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

KID FLASH


Kid Flash here was a recent suggestion from the überkind Evan "Doc" Shaner via my Twitter feed.

I have a pile of sketches to post that came straight from the hive mind that is the Twitterverse. So keep your eyes peeled in the weeks to come.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

NIGHTCRAWLER

I LOVE X2! For reals like LOVE it, love it.

That said, why the Hell didn't anyone in that movie mention the stink of Nightcrawler's teleportation?! It's supposed to smell like fire and brimstone right? That'd be godawful to be around... especially over and over again in a small hallway!
If I were in the editing bay I'd have had them put in at least one shot of a couple of those White House security guards making faces like they just caught a whiff of big ol' fart.

BAMF!! Indeed.

Aren't you glad I'm back to the old schedule so I can post words of wisdom like this five times a week? ;P

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Monday, November 23, 2009

ROBIN, The Boy Wonder!!


After a few weeks of catching up on deadlines it looks like I'm starting to amass enough sketches to get this blog away from the measly 3 posts a week and back to it's regular schedule of 5 days a week. That's every Monday through Friday, folks!
Well... for the time being anyway. Fingers crossed ;)

Oh, and that's Dick Grayson up there. Nightwi... er... Batma... um... Robin? Yeah!! ROBIN!!!

See you all back here tomorrow, right?

Friday, November 20, 2009

HELLBOY


I'd been itching to take another shot at Hellboy lately... and apparently he'd been itching to take a shot at somebody himself!! I imagine they're soaring through the air several feet off the page here :)

Anyway, have a great weekend, folks. I'll see you all back here on Monday.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20 (anatomy of a cover)


Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20, which I posted the solicitation info about yesterday, will be my first cover work work for Marvel Comics, and hopefully not my last, so I thought I'd post a bit of the process that went in to making it today.

Here is the first pass at a rough layout. My Editor Nate Cosby had asked for a shot of the Vision tearing a car in half. Sounds easy enough, right?

After it was decided that neither of the first two thumbnails were working I took another shot and came up with these two.

I guess you can tell which one we went with because below are my finished pencils. These are considerably tighter than I generally prefer to work since I wanted this to be JUST right. I even went out and took a bunch of reference photos of my car since I wanted to, though it may not all be 100% correct, make the car parts as believable as possible in each stage.
And here are the finished inks.

I was a little worried, after taking a step back from the finished piece for a bit, that the Vision's cape could easily be mistaken for the car door, not to mention the amount of confusion that could be caused by the number of times I made the decision to leave lines open, so I worked up this quick little color comp.
Obviously it's crudely simple but it's main purpose was to help separate objects on the page.


All this piece needed now was some killer color work by Veronica Gandini, which you can see at the top of this post, and the final logo and design work.
I was afraid I may had gone a bit overboard on the dramatic lighting here. Vero really made it all work though by using bold colors to help sell the moment, without making it too creepy.

All said, I'm pretty dang happy with how it turned out. And it was a ton of fun to work on to boot!! Be sure to pick up a copy when it hits stands on February 10th. The issue is written by
Paul Tobin after all, so I'm sure it'll be a hoot.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

HAWKMAN!!


I'm starting to get really jazzed about Hawkman's appearance on the upcoming episode episode of Smallville entitled "Society".
The fact that this episode will also showcase Dr. Fate and Stargirl, is being written by Geoff Johns AND is now being planned as a two hour movie event is almost too much after seeing this first shot of ol' Carter Hall in the flesh.
Anyway, this sketch is just a spillover of that excitement:)


Also, when I try to channel Kubert it comes out looking more like Bernet...

February Shopping List

Goodies by me in the February issue of Previews:


AREA 10 HC
Advance-solicited •On sale April 7 • 184 pg, B&W, 5.5” x 8”, $19.99 US • MATURE READERS
Written by Christos N. Gage
Art by Chris Samnee
Cover by Lee Bermejo
“An exquisitely creepy crime story loaded with twists. Gage and Samnee make one hell of a team. Thanks to them I’ll forever be uncomfortable around power drills.” – Jason Aaron (SCALPED)
“A moody, compelling thriller superbly told. AREA 10 is a breakneck ride. Time after time, I thought I had it figured out, then got thrown at the next bend of the road.” – Mike Carey (THE UNWRITTEN)
In New York City, a killer known as “Henry The Eighth” leaves a trail of decapitated corpses — keeping the severed heads to use for unknown purposes. NYPD Detective Adam Kamen leads the investigation, until a seemingly unrelated freak incident leaves him with a brain injury in the section known as “Brodmann Area 10.” When he recovers, Adam’s perceptions of time are altered. He becomes slowly convinced that his bizarre condition could be tied directly to the “Henry” case — and that the key may lie in the ancient, mystical practice of trepanation.


SIEGE: EMBEDDED #2 (of 4)
Written by BRIAN REED
Penciled by CHRIS SAMNEE
Cover by ADI GRANOV
SIEGE BLOCKBUSTER TIE-IN!!
As Norman Osborn's siege on Asgard heats up, there is one god missing. But not for long, and he's got company. The true face of Norman Osborn stands to be revealed, and this may be the god to do it!
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99
In Stores: Feb 3, 2010


Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20
COVER BY: Chris Samnee
WRITER: Paul Tobin
PENCILS: Ig Guara
The Story: Diablo is back, and as an alchemist who can control earth, air, fire and water, he’s one of the most deadly threats the Avengers have ever faced. But, who is controlling Diablo, and will the captive Iron Man learn the answer in time to save his life, and the lives of his teammates? All Ages …$2.99
In Stores: Feb 10, 2010


MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN/SPIDER-MAN DIGEST
The Story: The all-ages, all-action fun continues with four stories starring two of Marvel’s most famous heroes! First, it’s up to Spider-Man to save the day when a werewolf terrorizes Midtown High. And if that’s not bad enough, Tombstone and the Torino crime family have put a price on his head! Then, learn the terrible secret from Tony Stark’s past that forced the billionaire inventor to become the Golden Guardian known as Iron Man, the world-renowned symbol of mega-conglomerate Stark International! And finally, our heroes battle together in two titanic tales of Marvel past, facing the twin terrors of the Radioactive Man and Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man! Collecting MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN #57, MARVEL ADVENTURES IRON MAN #1, IRON MAN #234 and MARVEL TEAM-UP #9. All Ages…$9.99
In Stores: Feb 24, 2010


DAREDEVIL BY ED BRUBAKER & MICHAEL LARK OMNIBUS VOL. 2 HC Written by ED BRUBAKER with GREG RUCKA & ANDE PARKS
Penciled by MICHAEL LARK with CLAY MANN, PAUL AZACETA, DAVID AJA, LEANDRO FERNANDEZ & CHRIS SAMNEE (edited due to lack of credit)
Cover by MARKO DJURDJEVIC
The critically acclaimed, award-winning creative team of Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark continue their take on one of comics’ most enduring legends! Featuring the threats of the Owl, the Kingpin, Lady Bullseye, and the Hand, plus Matt’s unlikely new ally, the Black Tarantula! With one of the most surprising endings in Daredevil’s history! Collecting DAREDEVIL (1998) #106-119 & #500, DAREDEVIL ANNUAL #1 and BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA. 464 PGS./Rated T+ ...$75.00 ISBN: 978-0-7851-4520-2

Monday, November 16, 2009

Batman Beyond




This is from a few months ago but after watching Batman Beyond (as well as G.I.Joe Resolute and episodes of Super Friends, Plastic Man & X-Men) over the weekend I realized that I never got around to posting this sketch of our pal Terry McGinnis.

Thanks again to all of you who left birfday wishes. You guys are just the best!! :D

Talk to you again on Wednesday!

Friday, November 13, 2009

It's Mah Birfday!!

Tomorrow will be my 30th birthday, making this my 15th anniversary of being in comics. I guess I've been doing this professionally for half my life now. Huh.

Anyway, to commemorate this joyous occasion I thought it might be fun to look back on some of the stuff I did from when I was a kid.

And yes this is a plea for birthday wishes. Feel free to leave them here or on Twitter ;)

Oh, and don't make fun of young Chris's drawings. He didn't know any better.





Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Confounded by Fantasy



One of these sketches is of a character from the movie Legend, I believe, and may be a man or a woman... I dunno.
The other is a sketch of some sort of giant or something... and is from a book, I think.

Talk to you all on Friday!! I may be a tad bit more informative by then. No promises though ;)

Monday, November 09, 2009

Batman: A Death in the Family


I recently got the galley forArea 10, the Vertigo Crime graphic novel I did with Christos Gage, and was struck by the smell of the paper. Weird, right?

I don't know what paper stock they'll be using for the finished product but the copies I got smelled exactly like the Batman: A Death in the Family trade that I've had in my collection since 1988.

So... yeah. Long story short, I've had that Batman yarn stuck in my head for a week or so now and just had to get this sketch of the Joker, post Robin beat-down, on paper.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Cap & Black Widow


Just found this over at ComicArtFans the other day. It was actually done during Heroes Con back in June.

Have a great weekend, folks. Talk to you all next week:)

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

X-Men vs Agents of Atlas: Day Seven


The second issue of X-Men vs Agents of Atlas is out TODAY!! Be sure to pick up a copy or twelve, okay?
Hope you all have as much fun reading these two issues as I did working on them with Jeff Parker. Here's hoping this won't be the last time we get to make some funnybooks together.





While you're at the shop be sure to also grab yourself a stack of The Mighty #10.

There's lots of great new comics out in stores today... but these two are the only ones with my name in 'em:)

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Black Manta... Wilson-ized!!

When I recently raved about The Anchor I completely flaked on giving the colors their proper due. An unfortunate side-effect of little sleep and composing blog posts too early in the morning.
The colors really helped to sell the mood of the book and give everything that extra push into the realm of super-crazy-awesomeness that made my reading experience so enjoyable... and that's all thanks to the über talented Matthew Wilson.
Matt has bowled me over with his ability to work in/with a number of different styles and artists. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he does next. Be sure to check out his work in everything from Wolverine and S.W.O.R.D. to Die Hard or End League.

Matt was even kind enough to take ask if he could take a stab at coloring the Black Manta sketch I posted a while back.
Looks great, Matt! Thanks a bunch!

Monday, November 02, 2009

X-Men vs Agents of Atlas: Day Six



Since the second issue of X-Men vs Agents of Atlas is out this Wednesday I figured we'd crack open the ol' sketchbook again and post a few early stabs I took at some more of the characters, that appeared the flashback sequences I drew for the issues, this week.
I'm still sticking with the 3 posts a week schedule so be sure to check back on Wednesday and Friday for more!!