The X-Men!

When I was young, I use to love the posters that Arthur Adams created, showcasing all of the Xmen and the teams associated with them. The MUTANTS poster was my favorite, but a close second was the cover of Classic X-men #1 which has the timeless image of Wolverine in the front of the team. 

As I grew older, I continued to love the X-Men, and Arthur's work, along with the art of George Perez, Phil Jimenez, and Ivan Reis. They are some of the strongest artists in the history of comics and have mastered adding more and more characters to a composition than any other artist in comics. They are my idols and my role models and it is because of their work that I challenged myself with trying to reach their heights!

This is the 11x17 illustration I have created to showcase my love for my idols as well as my favorite comic book team. The poster has been available at 16 by 20, but now I only have it available as 2 separate posters, measuring out at 17x22. 

 I look forward to doing more in the future and hope to get faster at it as well, as 3 years was entirely way too long to get this done. 

If you want a copy, email me at thelearningcurv@gmail.com and we can get a copy of it to your home asap!

2005

2005 was a year in which I was still trying to transition from the education I received at Lynchburg College and S.C.A.D. and applying that to portraiture and illustration. I wanted to be a comic artist since I was a child, but I loved being able to capture a sense of life and realism in the faces of the people I drew. My only comfortable experience with color was with traditional media, so I  wasn't comfortable with using the computer and having Photoshop be a tool I could use properly (due to lack of knowledge and experience), so I tried coloring every chance I got.I wasn't comfortable inking at that point either so I generally tried to create very clean line art in order to have an easier time translating my work into color. I've always loved drawing superheroes so I wanted to try to bring them to life as much as I could.

I have always loved creating art with a pencil due to the control you have with it and the values that can be seen with it's use, so I gravitated towards it heavily. I could take it anywhere and felt as though I could do almost anything with it and it became my best friend on the road. The piece with the man sitting on the radio (hip hop legend Rakim) is a testament to my love of sketchbooks, pencils, and NYC, as that piece was drawn on the train on the way to my grandmother's house as I traveled from Manhattan to Queens. Many people and things I was involved with were my subjects, from my brother and my godkids, to celebrities I admired and respected, on to political statements and social commentary. I look forward to revisiting some of those subjects again in the future.

 

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!

Are you going to Heroes Con? Cause I am=]

I have been attending & exhibiting my art at Comic Book Conventions since 2008 & every artist worth their salt raves about Heroes Con. It's always been said that it is geared toward artists & is VERY artist friendly. What artist wouldn't want to attend a show with that kind of reputation?

I will be attending the show this year for the first time. I have been hearing more recently that Heroes is a show where original art is better received than prints. That made me take the time to do some Sketch Covers to have available at the show. I have pretty much every sketch cover ever produced, so if you'll be at the show you could either request one from me beforehand or get one at the show. 

Hope to see you there! 

Batman and Wolverine Team-up

I often get requests for both of these characters so rather than give them their own illustration each, i figured this would be a perfect way to kill two birds with one stone.... besides, I'd really love to see them in a story together, so I am sure you would too=] How do you think their philosophies would work together?  Would they be best friends, would they hate each other, would one look down on the other for going too far, or not far enough?  It'd definitely make for great action and high tension!

The New Avengers

One thing i will always love about Marvel Comics is how much they try and relate to the average man on the street.  This team is a team that pretty much has proven themselves and got to break away from hat the typical Avengers were doing and were able to handle NYC and anything else that may need super hero assistance.... plus we actually got to enjoy seeing Heroes during their day to day too. Stuart Immonem's art didn't hurt either ;-)

The colors on this were a departure from my norm and instead of doing them myself as usual, I reached out to Danielle Alexis St. Pierre who has her beautiful art at http://dalexisstpierre.deviantart.com/ .  She knocked these colors out for me and it's been a hit over on deviant art for me=] i wish I was as good as she=]

I have always been fan of the Avengers. I started collecting them in the 90's but quickly became a fan of the older comics. I think it all came from my love for the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe trade paperbacks.  I had all 8 volumes and even the death volume.  All of the coolest characters and even the villains were from the Avengers books so I had to learn more about them.

The Avengers comic is now a book I can't do without.  As much as I am a Spider-man fan (notice he's in the closest in the foreground)  The Avengers are right there with him.  Brian Michael Bendis is in my opinion the best writer for continuing such cool stories for the most diverse amount of characters ever seen in Marvel Comics. I plan on drawing more characters and making this a much bigger grouping that I will end up inking and coloring.  Who would you like to see included in this mix?=]

and yes, this definitely was inspired by the new movie coming out=]