THE PUNISHER

Pencil on Standard Stock
Original Creation Date: May 20, 2014

The Punisher, in all his vigilante glory.

TRUE STORY: Those are actually Charlie Manson's eyes. And why shouldn't they be? Somewhere in the 90's Frank became some sort of blue collar good-guy hero, but lest we forget the lessons taught us by Amazing Spider-Man #129... The Punisher is a villain, and probably a deranged one at that.

Dude is nuts, and should be. Look for this to get inked at some point as well.

BEACH CLOSED BY ORDER AMITY P.D.

Pencil on Standard Stock
Creation Date: May 12, 2014

I once was in a band named Chief Brody. So whatever expression of reverence for the character and performance I can possibly muster here will obviously fall short of that.

This will go in the "work up to a higher level of pencil and/or ink" pile.

MEANWHILE, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN...

Pen & Ink on Standard Stock

Inked on Date: May 7, 2014

Really enjoyed throwing this thing together. Like so many other kids from the 80's who watched and loved the SuperFriends but ultimately became a Marvel reader... I've always had a thing for Black Manta. But I don't know much about him at all.

This will definitely be inked.

NEMESIS

Pencil on Standard Stock, Digitally Colored

Original Creation Date: May 6, 2014

Thought I'd have a go at Mark Millar's contest over at MillarWorld. To be honest, outside of Kick-Ass I'm not very well versed at Millar's characters... but this guy Nemesis seemed like a fun little draw. He was once described as "what if the Batman was really the Joker." Which explains the bloody head.

Experimented pretty heavily with the vector technique applied in the Joker Madness piece posted not long ago, with some more traditional coloring thrown in over top for good measure. Lots of Illustrator, and lots of Photoshop at play here.

Also worth noting is that to achieve some of the textures and random lines throughout this piece, I actually took the original sketch and, well, crumpled it up a bit. Heresy, right?!

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

Pencil on Standard Stock

Original Creation Date: May 4, 2014

Happy May the 4th aka Star Wars Day! I was a kid during the heyday of the original trilogy, and like so many men my age today, it had a profound influence on the development of my imagination and creativity.

Technically speaking, I'm really looking forward to inking this one. This was also my first official reintroduction of the Blue Prismacolor Non-Repro pencil into my process-- And I don't know what I was thinking not grabbing it before! As wonderful as advertised, and I plan on using them heavily moving forward.

WOLVERINE RAMPAGE

Pen & Ink on Standard Stock, Digitally Colored

Original Creation Date: May 2 2014

What started out as a quick pose sketch of Wolverine quickly evolved into a full-blown partial background, with the intent of providing a full environment to continue my inking experiments on top of. Lots of fun to draw him all ripped up like that.

However, I also went against my own usual method and put some heavy, soft graphite into the pencil drawing itself, and ultimately decided to try and flesh it out enough to attempt a direct digital ink job. I've already done some digital inking on my Michigan comic strip in the past, but with mixed emotions on the results. In some ways, penciling for direct ink seems to be more work, since I always seem to spend more time trying to recreate the graphic quality that inking lines naturally possess. It just seems less spontaneous, less authentic.

Digital Inking Attempt 1

Digital Inking Attempt 2

Digital Inking Attempt 3

As seen above, I took several passes at this, both in Photoshop and Illustrator, to achieve the final look I have in my mind.  Unfortunately, all of these are too loose, too muddy, or too sparse to satisfy my aesthetic sensibilities. I just see it differently, and probably won't be happy with this until I get it there.

In this particular piece, the lesson learned is that if I am going to do direct pencil work, I'm going to have to spend more time refining the background lines, drawn in a tight 3H as opposed to the figure's  bold 5B marks. As a result, several elements in the background-- the tree, some of the ninja fodder, even the pagoda-- just aren't tight enough.

I think I may sit down and ink this guy after all. Although it's sure to be a great big mess now with all that graphite all over the place. Still, some great lessons learned, and it's still likely to be my best take on a very popular character.

PORTRAIT OF THE YOUNG MUSICIAN

Pen & Ink on 50lb Stock

Original Creation Date: Feb 22 2005

This was to be the cover image for my first manuscript, a work of historical fiction centered on a rock & roll band in the 60's. This central character, singer Tim Quinn, received a seemingly supernatural inspiration for his music in a series of bizarre, lucid dreams... and he was forced to live with the consequences of having no pride in or control over his seemingly genius creativity.

Of course, to develop a story's premise is one thing, and to craft it into a worthwhile novel is something entirely different. "The Evergreen Dream" was in fact finished but wasn't really all that good, and the whole thing pretty much fizzled out from there. However, this sketch, fittingly unfinished, has always seemed to have a more permanent legacy in my creative catalog than the book itself.

NOOTOO

Pencil on 50lb Stock, Digitally Enhanced.
Original Creation Date: Apr 29 2010

I've often said that if I were to live in another era, it would undoubtedly be in the colonial times. The French-Indian War. Something
about seeing the Eastern United States woodlands, which I call home, in a wilderness state just calls to me in inexplicable ways.

This is actually an illustration for an original story that never quite got off the ground. But the
character may turn up elsewhere some day.

THE EMERALD ARCHER

Pencil on Bristol.
Original Creation Date: Jun 20 2005

Gravity.

I learned a valuable lesson from this piece about how to pose a figure from memory... and how NOT to.

Green Arrow in the woods. The woods in question are actually a part of the Hawk Mountain Raptor Sanctuary
in Pennsylvania, a favorite hiking destination of mine at the time. Oliver was added later.

A few years later, then-DC inker Rich Faber was looking over my stuff and remarked about how the character was
incredibly, hopelessly off-balance. And he was right-- I was so caught up in having him appear to rest on the bow that
I neglected the placement of that foot. A lesson worth learning... Chin over feet, and always remember gravity.

BRAVELEIN

Pencil on Standard Stock, Digitally Manipulated and Toned.
Original Creation Date: Mar 15, 2013

Michigan Head Basketball coach John Beilein rallied his troops,
and after failing to win the Big Ten title, marched all the way
to the National Championship game. Win or loss, it was
a magical year for the Maize and Blue.

SANTA'S FLIGHT

Pencil on 25lb Stock
Original Creation Date: Dec 11 2004

This original composition was created to be dissassembled into pieces and used as a puzzle promotion for the
newspaper I was working for at the time. When finished, I actually framed the drawing and presented it to my
grandmother, who helped in many ways to foster a love of Christmas in me when I was a boy.

THANK YOU DENARD

Pencil on Standard Stock, Digitally Colored & Manipulated.
Original Creation Date: Jan 11 2013

This "Thank You" card to graduating Michigan QB
Denard "Shoelace" Robinson was widely circulated on
Twitter and other social media sites as symbol of
gratitude for the star player's dedication to Michigan.