Saturday Sketch: Belasco

I first heard about Marvel's, Belasco in New Mutants 14 volume one and later saw the demon lord later in the Magik limited series.  He's always kind of freaked me out for his ability to corrupt.  I've never read the Ka-Zar issues where he first appeared but I do enjoy him as a demonic villain.

Exhumed: FEAR

Here we have explorations of an older sketch for a fear logo.  Whereas most of the other Exhumed pieces have been about simply adding color to develop the image further, here I've taken the idea from the original sketch and constructed an entirely new design. 

{8x5.33,  Created in Adobe Photoshop}

From the Archives: Unused Ghost

Here's a rough graphite sketch that was being developed for the Night of the Cauldron stories from the 2013 Halloween Outbreak.  Everything about this one was a little too whimsical and not quite creepy enough for me so I went back to the drawing board and multiplied the ghosts.

{Graphite}

From the Archives: Primordial

Here's a sketch of some monstrous primordial tentacled thing.  You'll probably see something along these lines again as I'm not completely satisfied with how this image turned out.  It is supposed to be gigantic, but this has no scale to it.  As it is here, it seems kind of cute.

{8.5x11,  Ball Point Pen}

From the Archives: Lapine Suspicions

Here's a recent quick emotional graphite sketch.  I wanted to do something more with this piece, but it never expanded beyond this simple image.

{8.5x11,  Graphite}

Bristol 

Saturday Sketch: Classic Cloak

Here's one of my all time favorite Marvel Comics characters, Cloak.  Though generally inseparable from his partner, Dagger, I always like it when they present the occasional one off Cloak on his own story.  Although the surface gist of his powers is cool, I've always enjoyed the underlying supernatural quality to his abilities.  Also for superhero drama, what's more dramatic than a giant shadow filled cloak that blows around in the wind all the time and sucks you into a shadow dimension?

{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio purposes only.

Featured Creature: The Room Under the Bridge

Ken had been struggling with the key for several minutes.  The metal door and lock were very old and a patch of rust had accumulated around the keyhole.  He wiped the sweat away from his eyes and scraped at the rust again with his screwdriver.  He tried the key once more. Finally the blockage gave way and the key slid in with a loud click.

He had to press hard to get the key to turn at all.  It felt as though it were going to break off in the lock, but the inertia within the lock slowly relented and the key turned.  Once the lock released he tugged at the door and it opened with an audible gust.  The air within was stagnant and musty.

"Finally!"  He took a swig from his water bottle and placed his tools back in his belt.  Ken returned quickly to his truck to get a flashlight and double check the paperwork for the site: #PDOTA13  Tertiary Water Interchange under South Highway Fourteen and Old Mason road bridge.  The commission director wanted an inventory of all the older pump sites in the county before funding could be approved for the new waterworks construction next year.  Everyone in site management was working extra shifts until all the pump sites had been checked and cataloged.  This particular interchange was the oldest on his list: it had not been accessed in over seven years.  He clipped his flashlight onto his belt and pocketed a filter face mask just in case the air was worse inside.  Clipboard under one arm, he returned to the door.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Etrigan

I've always been fond of DC Comics Demon, Etrigan.  I was first introduced to him in Matt Wagner's limited series in the early 80's. It wasn't until much later that I read some of the Kirby stories.  It is always a dark treat whenever Etrigan shows up.  He's nothing but trouble.


{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio purposes only.

Psyche Delectus: Church of the Burden

Minds shut tight like maidens of iron,
their bodies were only ever formed
to service the dissolution
of their God's hunger.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Hellcat

Marvel Comics Hellcat, Patsy (Walker) Hellstrom, was one of the first female heroines I read as a kid.  There was something about her simple design and bright primary colored costume that called to me.  Her later marriage to the Son of Satan and connection to demonic forces also made her very intriguing.

{2.5x3.5,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio purposes only.  

Exhumed: Dark Magus

This piece was originally posted on EXP3 back when I was still posting artwork there.  In the original sketch the character was a villain from a fantasy story.  In the color rework, I feel like he has taken on a more mythic quality.  Now he seems more like the dark magus of the plains of sorrow or some such title.  For this rework, I added elements from another older sketch that this seemed to echo in tone. 

{8x5.33,  Graphite with Color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: Gift of the Pyxis

Sigurd and Donna were fighting again.  Behind me, at the second table of artifacts, they stood over the ancient box that had been found at the new dig site and all but spat in each others faces.  An inscription translation was the item of contention this time.  I tried to concentrate on translating the runes on the sword in front of me, but they continued to escalate.

Professor Lincoln wasn't at camp today and in his absence they always went after each other.  They had not liked each other from the moment they had met.  A week in the cramped quarters of the base camp had not helped their temperaments at all.  Any professional courtesy had quickly withered until only venomous disagreement remained.  All common ground was lost.

"The inscription clearly calls this chest the Pyxis of Union!"  Sigurd said with derision.  Donna sighed heavily and flipped several pages in her notebook.  She read from her notes and glared back at Sigurd.

"The rune for death and transfiguration is clearly displayed at several key points on the chest.  It is the Pyxis of Death!"

Psyche Delectus: Red Wizard in the Grey Temple

In that forgotten place,
he became the flickering flame
at the heart of the lantern.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Mephisto

I always found something very unsettling about Mephisto whenever he'd show up in a classic Marvel Comics story.  Beyond the fact that the implication was that he was THE Devil, his presentation was always creepy.  All these years I've never been able to put my finger on it exactly.  

Exhumed: Searching The Stars

This piece was always about vastness and immensity, so with the color, I tried to push the depth of the space within the piece further.  Also I feel that with the color I was able to give the figure in the foreground a bit more substance and form as opposed to the heavily designed shapes in the black and white version.  I apologize for the lack of darkness or horror here.  Exhumed is about previous posts and as much as I try to keep Zombie Bites completely dark, sometimes the light just slips in.

{11x14,  Ink and white acrylic with color added in Adobe Photoshop}

Featured Creature: The Shard

"Nick.  I've found something, something amazing."

Tony looked ill.  His skin was very pale and his eyes had dark circles beneath them.  His hair was disheveled and he had obviously been wearing his wrinkled tee shirt and jeans for several days.  As we walked across campus, he developed a slick sheen of sweat on his face and neck.

"When was the last time you slept?"

"That doesn't matter.  What I found is gonna change everything!"  He raised his arms up as danced around euphorically.

We turned the corner of the mathematics building and moved around the backside, a shortcut through the faculty parking lot to the cafeteria.  The building butted up against a large grassy field at the edge of the university property.  Birds chirped and danced in the sunlit grass. I enjoyed the warm afternoon air despite Tony's cryptic euphoria.

Psyche Delectus: In the Bloodlands

Even the soil weeps
for the imperative horror of life
on those blighted plains.

Saturday Sketch: Classic Man-Thing

I've always had a fondness for Marvel Comics' Man-Thing since I first saw him in Marvel Teamup #68.  Something in this simple guardian of the Nexus of All Realities appealed to me.  That particular issue was also the first appearance of D'spayre, one of my favorite Marvel concept entities.  I've drawn Man-thing before here and D'spayre as well.  Although Morbius got posted first, this piece was actually the first Saturday Sketch I did.

{2.5x3.5, created in Adobe Photoshop}

I claim no copyright for the properties represented in the Saturday Sketches.  All copyrights and trademarks are retained by their respective owners.  I make no money from what I am presenting here.  It is presented for portfolio and appreciation purposes only. 

Featured Creature: A Room at the Alta Viso

Rocco waited until the last car had passed before he slid under the plastic tarp and into the building.  The sun was almost set and in the long shadows he was sure no one could see him.  He moved quietly through the dust and darkening rooms.  On cold nights, the Alta Viso building was his secret spot, at least for now. 

The second night he'd slept here, Rocco overheard two contractors discussing the pending renovation of the Alta Viso.  The old business plaza had approval pending as an historical landmark.  This meant that any renovations were on hold until the approval passed. From the way the contractors had talked, it sounded like the process would take months.  Rocco had slept here every night since.

As he snuck through the lobby and past the scaffolding he noticed the doorway to the basement hung ajar.  The fetid odor of rot and sewage drifted up through the open door.  No renovations there yet, he thought.  He rushed up the stairs.

Psyche Delectus: Red Satyr

He is the throne of his own desire.