Marvel Masterpieces Sketch Cards (TOM)

Here's a sneak preview of some of my sketch cards I'm doing for the upcoming Marvel Masterpieces card set. I'm doing a total of 100, and if you're lucky you'll get one of these original sketch cards in your box:



This is an especially great gig because the artists are being given free reign with any character in the Marvel Universe that he/she chooses to draw. I'm taking this opportunity to draw all the cool Marvel characters that I'll probably never draw again! As for the other 92 cards, I'm thinking about throwing all of them into a convention sketchbook that's so hot with artists these days.

Tom

Sketch #5: Deja Thoris

Here is a con sketch I did a while back. The fan was nice enough to e-mail it to me! Sorry for the bad quality of the scan, I did it on a textured paper and tried to clean it up as much as I could. Who knows maybe one day I'll ink it!

Andy

Sketch #4: Underwater King!

Yeah it's a lame title, sue me. Just was messing around and this is what came out of my hand as it was magically moving around the page. Boy that sounds corny! Love to stay and chat more but gotta get cranking on the paying work for the man!

until next time!

Andy

The Miss South Carolina Teen USA phenomenon (TOM)

Most of you have heard (and probably seen)the mess that was Miss South Carolina Teen USA's answer to her final question during last Friday's live telecast of Miss Teen USA. It's all over the media, but in case you live in a cave, here is the video:



I was so inspired by this moment (combined with hypnotized by Caite's beauty) that I sketched out a caricature strip of what should have gone down:



Tom

Sketch #3: Tarzan

My daughter is home from daycare today so I can't get much work done until the sitter gets here so I might as well post up another drawing.

This isn't really a sketch but I'm going to keep rolling with that title for when I post drawings to keep it clearer for me.

I love, I mean love Joe Kubert's Tarzan work. So a few years ago I drew up a daily strip in my Kubertesque type style. I actually wrote about a weeks worth of strips and someday when I have the time hope to draw them up in this style.

Andy

Sketch #2: Foriegn Lands

So I was watching some of the new Flash Gordon show on Sci-fi and thought I would doodle some in my sketch book. The show didn't do to much for me however, which sucks because I was really looking forward to it when I heard about it a few months back. Oh well saves an hour of my week for other things or shows.

I don't usually draw in sketch books, they always seem to intimidate me because I think I have to fill it up with the most perfect stuff. Well I bought a small 5x7 black hard back one to keep downstairs so if I get the urge to doodle while watching tv I can. Or if I feel like warming up or something.

Andy

Weekly sketch #1

Well I decided I'm going to try and post up a weekly sketch/drawing. I don't have much free time to do this type of thing but I think by putting it out there that I'm going to attempt to do post up something once or twice a week will light a fire under my butt to do draw something besides my comic book work.

I will say that some of the stuff I'm going to post will be older sketches and drawings I've done for fun or for commissions.

I figure it's better to post something than nothing!

So I'll get the ball rolling with a drawing I did of my guy 1stMan flying. Some of you might recognize this pose from a drawing the great Jose Luis Garcia Lopez did of Green Lantern. I've only seen this drawing printed in a comic book once and that was back in the early 80's at the top of the letters pages. Now I've seen that it is also a t-shirt, which I bought as soon as I saw it, and wanted to draw my guy in the same pose as a sort of tip of the hat to Jose.

Andy

Remembering Mike Wieringo

To say I was stunned and shocked by the news of Mike's passing is an understatement. When I found out early Monday morning that Mike had suffered a massive heart attack and passed away was like someone punched me in the stomach. All the air left me and I felt sick. I just sat in silence in front of my computer not knowing what to do. As the day went by I just couldn't believe he was gone and still can't. I keep expecting that I'll run into Mike at the next con we're at together.

I met Mike about 12 years ago or so. I knew his work before I actually met him and was a fan. I always get a thrill out of meeting artists whose work I enjoy and meeting him was anything but a let down. He was very nice an personable. A very down to earth guy that just loved drawing comics, and it showed in everything he worked on.

As an artist he brought a fresh clean style to comics that wasn't the norm at that time. His work is fun and exciting to look at and is exactly what good comics are. Clear storytelling and good drawing with a style unique in it's own. You could see on every page he was having fun drawing.

I became friends with Mike from seeing him at cons, mostly Heroes-con. He always had fun stories to tell and was the life of any group gathering. I was a guest at a small show in Greensboro North Carolina earlier this year and Mike was there as well. We had a nice conversation about work and things going on in our lives. He always took an interest in what you were up to professionally and personally.

I hope he knew how much he was revered by his peers and friends not only as an artist but a person. Of course knowing Mike he would think he probably didn't deserve it.

Mike, you'll be missed deeply and thought of often. I'm proud to have had you as a friend.


Andy

Obscure Champagne Trivia

(KEITH)

Been a while since I posted anything here so I thought I'd slap this up.

It's a little known fact that my first real gig (aside from background inking for Tom Mandrake and Ken Branch) was a brief stint as a colorist for Valiant. I was young, kind of nervous about the whole thing, and didn't feel good enough to be working full-time so I handled my insecurities in the most mature way possible. I just stopped showing up and went home to CT for the summer instead.

Valiant called me about a month later, finally figuring out that the quiet kid had disappeared for a while. I forget what excuse I made up, but they got the message that I wasn't coming back. I'm sure I was never missed and, luckily, I gained a little self confidence the next time I got an opportunity for professional work--inking X-books for Marvel, which is where I got my start as an inker.

Here's a coloring sample reminiscent of my brief Valiant days. This was painted with Doc Martin dyes on photocopy paper, which was adhered to a thicker piece of cardboard to keep the paper from curling up and warping.

Back with Supergirl... (TOM)

Just got back in from Wizard World Chicago.... more on that later, but here is the promised Supergirl painting:



Prints of this sold out...I even sold the original, too! I didn't want to let it go so soon after I had finished it, but the offer was good. All in all, it was a good show for me. I'll blog (with pics of course) when I get a chance...

Later!
T

Supergirl (TOM)

I'm on a superheroine/pinup kick lately, and here is a pre-Wizard World Chicago sneak peek of my current project, the long-awaited Supergirl painting I've been meaning to do for ages. I think I finally found the perfect model for her, and I'd like to think that this is how my definitive Supergirl would look like in real life. Here is the initial pencil rough:




This is the face a little more refined:



Keep in mind that the artwork will look drastically different when I overly paint and airbrush on this thing--the life it will give to these pencils will be crazy. The full painting will be finished and shown in time for this weekend, but the first time you'll see it online will be after the Chicago show. If it gets even half the reception I got for my WW painting, I'll be quite happy.

Later!

I'm Podcasting!

That's right myself and two of my good friends are doing a weekly podcast. We are 3 guys and a podcast!

Check out our blog and subscribe to the podcast.

The three of us are part of the Charlotte Comedy theater which is an improvised comedy troupe. We perform the shows on Friday and Saturday nights. If you're ever in Charlotte, NC. look us up and come on out! www.charlottecomedy.com

Andy

San Diego!

Well I've been back for a week now and am finally not feeling whipped anymore. The show was hectic as usual but fun as hell!

I played on the DC vs. Marvel softball team and even though yes we lost we had a great game! I was up at bat once and got a hit that got me to first base then I was hit home to score. I played shortstop in the field and helped get an out at second. Overall not too bad for not having played the game in about 7 years.

I had two signings at the DC booth which went really well! Also a signing at the Watson-Guptill booth to promote my new book, "Drawing American Manga Superheroes" which was fun as always!

Thursday night was a party for the Drink and Draw Social Club sponsored by the CBDLF.
That was a great time catching up with my boys Jeff Johnson, Dan Panosian, Dave Johnson, and a host of other artists.

Friday night my roomie in San Diego, Brad Vancata, and I attended a Wildstorm dinner party that was at a great Mexican restaurant.

Brad and I have known each other for 16 years and have worked together on a number of occasions. I always look forward to hanging out with him and catching up.

As always though tons of friends to see and just not enough time to do it.

Glad this show is once a year because I need that much time to recoup from it!

Andy

New drawing tutorial (Tom)

Doing my best to inform (I don't know how to do a simple link because I'm stupid):

http://www.comicon.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=39;t=000252

One thing I learned...

One thing I learned over the SDCC weekend is that even though I haven't lifted any serious weights in a couple of years, as long as Tom sticks to a liquid diet, he's as easy to carry around as a small Vietnamese boy should be.