Disney's Avengers!

I've worked on this piece for a few months now in between everything else and now have a second, pop culture full illustration (the first being my Sesame St. piece) with a painted background and a digital foreground. I'm digging this direction I've undertaken with these Disney's Avengers. I realized too late that I didn't include the GOTG but with as many characters that are here, I'm okay with that. I hope I did your favorite Disney and Marvel character justice. This was designed as if it would be a wrap around cover and the right side would have the logo/title over top of everyone. Would you read this comic? 

Check out what the art would look like with a HOUSE OF MOUSE logo on it!

...and here is the process for the piece from pencil drawing to inks, and on to how the background was painted in watercolors!

SHAZAM

I've loved Captain Marvel since I saw a cartoon with him and his family back in the 80's. I always found the idea of a kid becoming something so powerful and being responsible enough to wield that power very amazing and inspiring.

I try to draw correlations between characters and drawing them and did so with Thor and the good Captain and as much as I enjoyed drawing it, I didn't like the outcome. I did it on two sheets within my sketchbook and felt the piece could be more dynamic. The bug was in me to draw Marvel again and so I did throughout my time at Awesome Con while it was slow.

In between projects I got to color this bad boy and get it show ready. I loved playing with the colors and hope to do the Thor/Shazam crossover again soon=]

Secret Wars

10 years ago I began playing a game called Vs. System in which characters from the Marvel Universe & DC

Universe were illustrated in trading card form. These cards would be used as a method to take from the 50 points you and your opponent started out with until there were no points left. The beauty of this game was that you were able to put together a deck of cards that included your favorite characters and/or favorite teams and use them to play a game anywhere at any time.  You didn't need a gaming console or figurines like you did as a kid (even though HeroClix seems to still be played at tournaments). It was a game of chess with your favorite comic book heroes and villains.


I fell in love with this game because of the art.  Upper Deck had done a great job of commissioning veteran artists as well as up and comers to create artwork specifically for the games art. Each card you saw was a brand new piece of art that had never been seen before and as the game continued on, the art got better.
I wanted to be an artist for this game so bad.

As a artist who wanted to make comics, I felt this would be a great starting point. If I could get my art into the comic community through this medium, I would feel fulfilled and excited to be able to play the game I loved with art that I produced.

I had an affinity for teaming up characters that I loved as apposed to using the teams that were already set up in the game. As I got into the game more, I tried to be more inventive. I threw caution to the wind and I would use teams that others felt weren't strong enough, or create combinations that were just fun to use. I had some success in tournaments but nothing on a grand scale but I enjoyed playing regardless.
This art is a collection of characters from Marvel Comics that at one time were brought together in what was called the Secret Wars back in the 80's. It is where we first saw Spider-man in the black suit (which would later be known as Venom) and where we first saw all of these characters fighting together. I wanted to create a team up in the game that would support these characters. New team up cards were being created in the game along with puzzle cards which when placed next to each other would make a larger image. I wanted to make those cards and this is the product of that desire.

I am about to send my book out to a few printers to get proofs.  This is a huge momentous time for me. Creating art is something I have done for 25 years so to be at this point is an amazing feat for me.  I always knew it would happen, but to be here is pretty surreal. I look back at this art and see how far i have come and am proud that I never let any of the pitfalls keep me from being the man that I am. I appreciate all of you who have ever given me a compliment, bought art from me or commissioned me to create new art. I wanted to share this story with you because I wanted to bring you along with me during my journey and hopefully it is something that will inspire you to keep pushing forward.

"A Reason To Smile" is about seeing what we have and knowing we will be okay if we keep a positive outlook and continue to push forward. I am a living example of that, and I hope that you all can experience that as well!

The Marvels

I have enjoyed the discussions about Ms. Marvel's new costume (on the right) and honestly, it's probably the most classic image I have ever seen in this modern age.  Generally when a characters costume is changed, it's very gimmicky and lacks any substance but this change is so different and at the same time very majestic, it does the character honor.

The other character I don't know much about, but I do know her name is Sharon Ventura and she use to go by the Ms. Marvel title. Doing a little research helped me to find out that she use to be the She-Thing as well.  I never understood that character , but it lead to an interesting bunch of stories in the Fantastic Four comic.

I've done a great deal of learning this past year.  This is the original inked drawing that was done and I realized I needed to change the composition. This image alone was fine, but was too static.  Bringing them both closer to the viewer felt more immediate and imposing so I made the changes for the color version.