Have a DARING Christmas!

 

And a new year filled with JUSTICE!

INKTOBER REVOLUTION

Hey there! I've decided to do Inktober this year, and as my chosen specialist subject, I've picked the 31 FOES OF SPIDER-MAN. Spidey has a great rogues gallery, easily up there with Batman's, I'd say, so I think this is going to be fun. Lot of weird dudes coming up.

 I'm up to Day Five, and here's who I've done so far:

In Living COLOUR

A smattering of some recent colour sketches I did using some old watercolour pencils I found in my studio space. These were a ton of fun to do, and a nice departure from my ink stuff (my "real" job). I used the watercolour pencils for the colour bits, then added some black ink and gouache white to help with the values. Nice.

STRETCHING CREDIBILITY

To my astonishment, that new Fantastic Four trailer looks incredible. A genuinely unexpected take on the classic Marvel family. It's portentous, ponderous and bloviated, but undeniably rich and intriguing, with surprising horror overtones. Similar in style to X-Men Days of Future Past. So similar, in fact,  I'm expecting a post credits teaser featuring Magneto.

This is all just preamble for me to post this, of course:

Mini-sketches: THOR

Cap! Jumping!

I've always struggled with how to draw Captain America, trying to assimilate the "black, blobby mask" look of 70s Byrne and 80s Zeck, the inky, muscular approach of Jack Kirby... and the underrated, energetic style of Ron Garney. Man, Ron Garney... what an underappreciated talent. Anyway, it's never really clicked for me. But...!

I did this today, and I'm super-pleased with it. I felt like I'd subconsciously worked a hefty slice of Mazzuchelli into the mix, but someone on Twitter pointed out this has a Calvin and Hobbes vibe. Which wasn't deliberate, but is definitely on the money...

So there you go. Cap! Jumping! Thinking I might draw in a Bucky to complete the pic...

Kirby

Happy Birthday to Jack Kirby, who would have been 97 last week. An endless source of inspiration and energy. Here's his comics avatar, Ben Grimm AKA the Thing

F-F-Fantastic!

This is an unfinished, partly coloured, not quite there yet Sue Storm/Doctor Doom piece I did. Why do I keep calling her Sue Storm, instead of Sue Richards? She's been married or about 40 years, fer crying out loud. Sue Storm just sounds cooler, I guess.

This is her in her Future Foundation duds, which I really liked.

POW!

My Sandman vs Spider-Man piece, now with glorious colours from Jordan Boyd.

JUST HOW GORGEOUS IS THIS?? Thanks, Jordan!

D

INHUMAN!

A recently finished commission piece. The commissioner in question asked for the Inhumans fighting some central baddie, and offered me Ronan the Accuser or Thanos as two options. Looking back, I have NO IDEA why I chose Ronan over Thanos (considering Thanos is about to break out, profile-wise). Maybe it's just cos Ronan has a hammer and hammers = pretty cool in my book.

Anyway, I think this came out pretty well.

Diagnosis: MAGIC!

Dr Strange!

Wolverman! Luthortooth! My eyes!

I have a weird job.

Mr Latveria 1962

A pencil sketch for a recent commission. I ended up going with a different approach, but I like this a lot, especially the mystical sigils on his armour. Doctor Doom rules!

Thor vs. Karate Kid

Another recent commission piece. Not shown: Mr Miyagi, Ralph Macchio, that blond kid who always plays toughs in eighties movies, the dude from Cagney and Lacey or Elisabeth Shue.

Does Whatever an Iron Can

Here's Iron Man!



I don't think I'm alone in finding Iron Man a bit of a bugger to draw. His armour is either too baroque and fiddly (as in the Ultimates version) or just kind of... dull. So this is a halfway house between the modern version and imperial phase Iron Man (ie. the Bob Layton model). I hope you (whoever you are) like it.

Bye!

FFed!

And here's the rest of yesterday's picture. I get a huge kick out of drawing the Future Foundation, especially Spider-Man. Only when sitting down to draw the character, do you realise how cleverly they've stuck to the original design AND inverted it. Really smart stuff - and I love the integration of the hexagons into the spider motif-thing.

Fun.

Hercules - After Dark!

Hercules doing what he does best.

D

Big Green Love Machine!

When I was a kid, my go-to character for doodles was Batman. I've got that pretty much out of my system these days, and prefer to draw big-ass, hulking green buggers in purple trousers. This means NOTHING, Dr Freud!

Savage? Moi?

Nailing my colours to the mast here: She-Hulk is the best female character in superhero comics, and if she doesn't turn up in Marvel's forthcoming live action Hulk show, then there ain't no justice.

D

All A-Quiver!

I have literally never drawn Hawkeye before. I am 34 years old.