Seen at Heroes Con 2011

At Heroes Con a few weeks ago a fan dropped by and showed me this tattoo based on my cover to Captain America #4. He incorporated the image of Cap and the tombstone with a tribute to the victims of 9/11. Though I've been told this cover is a popular tattoo subject, this is the first one I've actually seen (apologies for the crappy photo).

New Avengers 100 Project

This is the sketch cover I did for The Hero Initiative's New Avengers 100 Project. I decided to feature the characters who were prominent in the book during the time I was drawing it, after all, at the time they were the New Avengers! Read more about the project and see some amazing covers turned in by some of the other artists involved here.

Hellboy Day 2010

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August 21st has rolled around again, and as always I celebrate the blog's birthday with a Hellboy sketch (commemorating the first post I made here). Since I don't have a lot of time for anything elaborate, I just did a quick digital sketch and then dressed it up with some fancy computer tricks. Even so, I kind of like how it turned out.

Usually on this date I also make a promise declaring my intent to post more often and then proceed to post even less, so this year I'm not going to do that. I'll just say thanks to all my subscribers and commenters and keep my intentions to post more to myself. That way maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised if it actually happens :)

FIGHT! New print now available!

For those of you who have expressed interest in buying the new Captain America print, It's now available in the sidebar over to your right -------->

Check the pull down menu for various discount options if you would also like to purchase the 2009 Sketchbook, The Captain America #600 print or all three items.


One day I'll get an online store set up properly but for now this will have to do. Also, I should mention that this is for US orders only (another thing I have to work on for the future).

All prints ship priority mail, but I'll only make the trip to the post office about once a week, so don't be alarmed if it doesn't show up right away. Okay, commercial's over. Back to regular posting next time.

Fantastic Four

As you may have heard yesterday, I'll be following up The Marvels Project by working with Jonathan Hickman on Fantastic Four. You can read various articles and interviews with Jonathan and me at the following links:

Artist STEVE EPTING Talks Cosmic FANTASTIC FOUR & "3"

UPDATE: The FANTASTIC FOUR Become a Terrific Trio in Sep

Jonathan Hickman welcomes artist Steve Epting to FANTASTIC FOUR

HICKMAN AND EPTING'S FANTASTIC "THREE"

And here are the original drawings that were composited together for the teaser images that ran with the announcements and articles. These are my first real drawings of most of these characters as a professional aside from a trading card I did back in the 90s. If I can dig it up I'll post it later.

Color test

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Here's a quick color experiment I did using a panel from an upcoming issue of The Marvels Project. That's the original Union Jack fighting in the trenches during WWI. Strangely enough, despite all the digital painting I've been doing over the past few years, I don't think I've done any coloring of black and white line art. It's something I'd like to try to do more of.

Zero Hour

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Here's a little teaser from an upcoming cover. I painted this on a separate layer (painting in Photoshop) and decided to post it just as a snapshot of what I'm working on at the moment. I'll be posting the entire finished cover soon.

Face Time

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I wanted to try to get one more post in for this year, so here's something I did a while back to practice painting faces. Have a great 2010 everyone!

Origins Of Siege

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Out this week (today actually) from Marvel is Origins of Siege - a one shot giveaway that serves as an introduction to the upcoming "Siege" event. Included in this free issue are several one-page origin stories of the key characters in Siege. I was asked to draw the Captain America page and since I have a long standing policy of never turning down an opportunity to draw Cap fighting Nazis, I was happy to do so. Have a great Christmas everyone!

iGoogle

If you use iGoogle, you are no doubt aware that a wide variety of themes are available to dress up and customize your iGoogle homepage. Marvel has joined in offering several comic related themes including Iron Man, Hulk, Spider Woman, and of course, Captain America. The Captain America theme has 3 rotating headers, taken from the original series covers I drew:


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According to the Captain America theme page, it currently has 30,563 users. Very cool.

RIP Bernie Fuchs 1932-2009

One of the all time greats.
There's a nice remembrance at one of my favorite blogs here.

The Completely Unnecessary Marvel Comics 70th Anniversary Graphic Novel Cover Meme

From Stuart Immonen:

Here’s the deal. Remember the Typophile Album Cover Meme? This is much like that, requiring you to re-imagine a Marvel Comics cover from the last 70 years as an actual contemporary novel cover. Follow the steps below, and post the results on your own site or forum:

1) Click this link for a list of Marvel publications from a random month and year at Wikia.com: Random Marvel date*. Choose the 7th cover (if there are fewer than 7, choose the last one). EDIT: I thought I had the java script working but I don't - click over to Stuart's post and follow his directions there. HIs link works.

2) Search for the first word appearing on the cover that jumps out at you (this may be the title itself) on Flickr. Select the 7th (or last) image (as with the album cover meme, it’s best to select an image with Creative Commons rights released).

3) Use your favourite image manipulation app to create a new 6×9 image, incorporating the original title (and as much other original text as you like) and the new image.

4) Share!


I got July 1959 and Tales to Astonish #4:



and here's my revision/update:



To see what some others have come up with, see Stuart's post here.

Happy 70th Marvel Comics.

Two Down...

It's August 21st, the second anniversary of this blog, and in keeping with tradition that also means... it's Hellboy Day! Like last year, I have no time to spare for anything elaborate, so I've slapped some quick colors on a commission that I previously posted in black and white. Yes, Hellboy deserves better, but it'll have to do for now. Thanks to all my regular visitors and subscribers, and a special thanks as always to those of you who leave your comments. I'm hoping to post more often in the future, even if it's just a quick doodle or something, and if there's anything in particular any of you want to see here let me know! On to year three!

Heroes Con '09 Sketches

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Here's a few of the sketches that were done at this year's Heroes Con. Thanks to all who came by!

Invader!

Something a little different this time - a logo I did for a friend's band:



and here are a few shots of the logo in "action":






I have a background in graphic design, but haven't done much of it in the comics industry. I did however, create the logo for one of the books I worked on. Anyone care to take a guess?

Sketchbook 012

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More heads. A couple were from reference, the rest are made up.

Also, if you're interested, another Fallen Son sketch cover is on eBay here. Have a great weekend!

A Mess O' Commissions

Here's a few recently completed commissions, including the inked version of the sketch I used for this Rocketeer painting. By the way, for those of you who have asked, I still can't accept any new commissions just yet, but when I can I'll let you know.
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Sketchblog: Year One

Today marks the first anniversary of the ol' sketchblog, and since August 21st is Hellboy day (at least on this blog) here's a quick sketch-


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Well, I said it was quick. Just trying to keep the tradition alive.

Thanks to everybody who drops by here on a regular basis, and especially to those of you who take the time to leave your feedback. Your comments are greatly appreciated.

In other news, Captain America #41 came out this week featuring the penultimate chapter of the current story arc, or as Ed likes to call it: "The Death of Captain America Act 3 - The Man Who Bought America: Part 5".



Here's a little behind the scenes stuff - some graphics I made in Photoshop during the production of the art for this issue. The first is a sign for the Diner that appears on page 2-

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- and the second is a series of little campaign posters I made for a single panel on page 20-




I have no idea who snuck in the Colbert poster that appears in the printed book.

See you in year two!

Secret Invasion

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Here's a secret: this Secret Invasion Sketch Cover is on eBay right now. If you're interested, go have a look here.

Birthday Girl

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Unbelievably, my daughter turns six years old today. The painting above was done when she was four, and I never got around to finshing it. I doubt I'll do any more work on it though, since I would rather do a new one if I can ever find the time.

Today also sees the release of Captain America #38, but there will be no cake involved-