Saturday Sketch: Tundra

In their first series, Tundra was Alpha Flight's first big nemesis.  Pun intended.   A member the pantheon of dark gods, The Great Beasts, Tundra and his brethren were continual adversaries of Alpha Flight.  I've always enjoyed the simplicity of Tundra's menace: vaguely humanoid in shape but he could grow large enough to crush a city, if Alpha Flight wasn't there to stop him.  All apologies to John Byrne.


{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Happy Birthday Mike Mignola

Mike Mignola has been one of my favorite artists since I first picked up the Rocket Raccoon, Incredible Hulk, and Alpha Flight issues he drew in the early Eighties.  His work has a mystique and mystery that no one else was creating at that time or in my opinion, since.  His style has changed much from his early eighties work with his later work at DC Comics, the Bram Stoker's Dracula adaptation,  and the advent of Hellboy.  I have enjoyed the journey through every stylistic iteration of his art.

His work has been hugely influential upon my artistic style and process.  I send this out in thanks for the literal years of entertainment and joy I've received from his work.  Thank you Mr. Mignola and Happy Birthday!

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Saturday Sketch: Moon Knight

Here's another Moon Knight sketch.  This one from is from no particular time period.  I was looking at Bill Sienkiewicz's run (in the later issues) and some of Keith Giffen's work for Marvel Comics from the mid 80's (Nightmask, Justice, Daredevil).

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: The Spectre

Here we have the grim visage of DC Comics' Spectre.  My first encounter with The Spectre was in his super-cosmically powered aspect in Crisis on Infinite Earths.  It was not until much later that I began to appreciate his darker occult aspects.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: Doctor Destiny

John Dee, Doctor Destiny, has always been one of my favorite DC villains.  Destiny was one of the earliest enemies of the Justice League of America.  I've always found his hooded skeletal visage especially creepy.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: Jude the Entropic Man

Jude the Entropic Man first appeared in Giant sized Man-Thing as Yagzan, leader of the Cult of Entropy.  He was later transformed by the Cosmic Cube into Jude, a living embodiment of Entropy.

{8 x 5.33, 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.

Saturday Sketch: Blackbriar Thorn

Blackbriar Thorn is a transformed druid priest who first appeared in DC Comics Presents fighting against Superman and Etrigan The Demon.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: The Interloper

Here we have the Interloper, an Eternal who appeared in the last issues of the New Defenders run.  After he first appeared, he spent several issues traveling across the world to get to the New Defenders.  He literally walked across the ocean from the Russia to North America to help stop the Dragon of the Moon.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: The Wizard Shazam

Here we have the Wizard Shazam on his throne inside the Rock of Eternity.

{8x5.33,  created in Adobe Photoshop}

Sorry for the delay on this one.

 
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.

Saturday Sketch: Dakimh the Enchanter

Here we have Dakimh the Enchanter.  Although he first appeared in Adventure into Fear, I did not encounter him until his appearance with Man-Thing in Marvel Team-Up.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: Kirby's Merlin

Here we have Merlin the Magician from the first run of The Demon.  I had a blast doing this piece!  Every time I study Jack Kirby's work I learn something new about the man's genius.  

With this piece, I learned that the heavily designed aspect of Kirby's style subtly forces the viewer to work at understanding the image.  Kirby's visual language is simple and direct, but his stylistic presentation forces the viewer to work a little harder to understand exactly what it is that they are seeing.  To me this comes across as a learning tool.  His style teaches the understanding of art simply by being what it is.  It requires the viewer to translate.

While I was researching for this piece, I also noticed that there is something oddly psychedelic about Kirby's artwork.  It may have just been that I had taken too much cough medicine while fighting off my recent sinus infection, but all the pieces I was looking at seemed to have a similar quality to psychedelic posters from the sixties.  I noticed it specifically in his later work:  The Demon, Machine Man, The Eternals, New Gods, Captain Victory.

I must offer my apologies on this piece as it is not the usual sketchcard size.  I got into the groove while doing studies of Merlin's costume, then that turned into sketching and before I knew it I was finished.  At that point I realized I had been drawing the wrong size.

I may permanently go to the larger size.  Both sizes takes about the same amount of time to complete and I can get more detail in the larger image.  The whole point of the Saturday Sketches has always been more about the time limit to complete the drawing.  I do enjoy the extra detail.  I'll have mull that one over.

{8x5.33,  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.

Saturday Sketch: Bloodwynd

Here we have Bloodwynd, from Dan Jurgens' run on Justice League.  I've never had much interest in the character, but he is a magic user in the DCU and I did have fun drawing him.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Original Dagger

Here we have Dagger casting her purifying light knives.  I drew her partner Cloak earlier in 2014. Although Cloak and Dagger first appeared in Peter Parker the Spectacular Spiderman, I first read them in there own series.  I've always loved the tragic duo.  Despite the exact origin of their powers, there is something magical in in the manifestation of their powers and the themes the two characters represent.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Silver Age White Witch

Until I began doing research for this piece, I was unaware that Mysa Nal, the White Witch from the Legion of Superheroes, had a different appearance previous to her early 80's albino look.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Original Moon Knight

Here we have the original Moon Knight as he first appeared in Werewolf By Night.  I've always enjoyed how Moon Knight looks a bit like the iconic American ghost image.  With his covered face and mostly white costume, he has always had an otherworldly aura to me.  This version of his costume was fun to research as before I drew this piece I was mostly familiar with the version from the Bill Sienkiewicz run in the 80's.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Nicholai Apocaloff

Wrapping up my November werewolves is the serial killer mercenary, Nicholai Apocaloff from from Malibu Comics' Nightman.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Bronze Age Man-Wolf

The Man-Wolf first appeared as a villain / supporting character in Amazing Spider-man, but went on to appear on his on in Creatures on the Loose and Marvel Premiere.  I haven't read many stories with Man-Wolf in them, but I love Marvel creatures and werewolves in general, so here we are.  I had a really difficult time bringing this piece to completion.  I'm not sure what made Man-Wolf so difficult to draw but I'm glad he's all done.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Bronze Age Warren Griffith

Continuing with the theme of werewolves for this November, here is Warren Griffith from the Creature Commandos.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Bronze Age Werewolf By Night

During this November I'm going to focus on comic book werewolves.  November has always been a kind of werewolf-y month to me.  The extremes of hot and cold as we all try to find balance within winter's approaching chill have always reminded me of the traditional werewolf transformation.

Here we have Werewolf By Night from Marvel Comics.  I never read much of WWBN's book but I always enjoyed his appearances elsewhere.  I've also always had a soft spot for Marvel's supernatural characters.

{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.

Saturday Sketch: Bronze Age Samhain

Sorry for the delay on this one.  Things kind of got backed up this Halloweekend.

Here we have the druid form of Samhain from the first Vision and the Scarlet Witch limited series.  His spirit has been trapped in the Druid Tome and was released on All Hallow's Eve.  The Scarlet Witch destroyed the tome and banished his spirit.

{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.