SKETCH A DAY 277: JACK SKELLINGTON

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I figured it was only fitting to draw Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas today. I love that movie! I actually had the opportunity to meet Tim Burton a few years ago when he was doing a book signing near my school. I decided to skip class along with one of my classmates and when we got there the PR people where going up and down the line telling us he would not sign any books personally. I didn't care what they said, I figured this was my one chance to meet him and I was going to ask him just to sign the book to me. When I got to him, I told him how we had skipped class and asked if he could just write "To Rich" in the book. He started laughing and said we shouldn't have skipped class and of course he would write whatever we wanted. He said it was the least he could do for us missing class. I just had him write something normal, but the girl that was with me asked him to write "Can't wait to cast you in my next film and work with you one day", lol. He loved that and actually wrote it. Funny, huh? Anyway, hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!!!

SKETCH A DAY 271-276: VERTIGO CHARACTERS

As I'm getting closer and closer to 365 sketches and the end of the year, I'm realizing there are a lot of great characters that I still haven't drawn. So, I've made a list and I'm going to try to get to as many of them as I can. I decided I needed to draw some of the Vertigo big guns, so here are Constantine, Lucifer, Preacher, Yorick (Y the Last Man), Swamp Thing and the original Sandman. I tried combining my smoother, cleaner style with my sketchy looser style with these. I like the way most of them turned out (except Preacher).

SKETCH A DAY 270: GREEN ARROW

Like the last two drawings, Green Arrow is a character I already did a headshot sketch of. But I always liked him and wanted to do a full version of him. I decided to use his current costume without the hat. His lower body looks a little too thin maybe, but otherwise I'm liking this sketch.

SKETCH A DAY 269: FLASH

As with the Beast sketch I posted yesterday, the Flash is another character I drew before but it was just a headshot (as part of my JLA grouping). But I like the character and wanted to do a full version of him. I'm pretty happy with the way this one looks. I think I made him a little too muscular though. Maybe he's just been bulking up.

SKETCH A DAY 268: BEAST

Even though I've already drawn the X-Men's Beast earlier this year (when I did the X-Men headshot grouping), I really wanted to try drawing him again. He's just a really great character. And though I don't mind the new version of him (the Cat-Beast), I'm still an old school Beast fan so I had to draw this version of him. I'm pretty happy with how he came out.

IGNITE BY IAN GLAUBINGER

This sketch of Ignite was drawn by Ian Glaubinger at the 2009 Pittsburgh Comic Con. Ian has a cool cartoony style that caught my eye while I was walking around the convention. His use of line and color is very interesting and this sketch does not show the full ability. I think he usually colors with something different then what he used for this sketch or does his coloring on the computer. Either way, his work is definitely worth checking out at http://www.hasunow.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 267: HOWARD THE DUCK

This sketch of Howard the Duck was done specially for my buddy, Ryan McLelland, who visited me last week and kept bitching and moaning over Howard the Duck, how great he was, he they need to bring him back, how great the movie was, how much he wanted to marry him and how I had to draw him. Okay, maybe he didn't say all that, lol, but he did want me to draw him, so here he is! :)

1ST GEN TEMPLAR BY DAVE PERILLO

This sketch of Templar from the 1st generation SENTINELS was done by Dave Perillo at the 2009 Pittsburgh Comic Con. Dave is a super nice guy (nothing like the guy Scott that he shares a table with, lol) and has been to many shows that I've been to. For some reason, I've never gotten a sketch by Dave though. Weird, because I really like his style and always meant to. But this year I made sure to get him to draw something in my sketchbook. I love what he did. It totally reminds me of some old school cartoons I used to watch after school. Check out more of Dave's work at http://www.montygog.blogspot.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 266: PHANTOM LADY

Phantom Lady is one of those cheesecake characters from the 40s that was originally published by Quality Comics (later bought by DC Comics). Back then she was pretty controversial due to her costume and the "good girl" art of her comic. She seemed to get captured and tied up a bit. She was a fun character to draw and I tried to use the Betty Page type look for her that they often used.

SKETCH A DAY 265: ZOT

Zot was created in 1984 by the critically acclaimed Indie creator, Scott McCloud. Light-hearted and a mix of science fiction and superhero, Zot was ahead of it's time and one of the first great Indie comic characters. I thought it was only fitting that I include Zot in my "sketch a day" project. Not just because of his being a great character and an influential one in Indie comic history, but also because of how important Scott McCloud is to comics. If you haven't heard of Zot, maybe you've heard of the book "Understanding Comics" or it's follow-up, "Reinventing Comics", or the follow-up to that, "Making Comics". All of those books are great books to read for anyone thinking of creating their own comic or anyone just wanting to understand comics. In fact, Understanding Comics is considered by many to be THE book to read on how to create a comic. I read it, loved it and always tell anyone thinking of getting into the biz to read it. In addition to all this, Scott is also very important because he was the principle author of the Creators Bill of Rights in 1988 with the stated aim of protecting the rights of comic book creators and help aid against the exploitation of comics artists and writers by corporate work-for-hire practices. The bill includes inportant rights, such as "The right to full ownership of what we fully create," and "The right to prompt payment of a fair and equitable share of profits derived from all of our creative work." How's that for making an impact on comics? Pretty big I think. Learn more about Scott (and Zot, of course) at http://www.scottmccloud.com/ .

HARLETTE BY JOSE JOHANN JARO

This sketch of Harlette was done by Jose Johann Jaro at the 2009 Pittsburgh Comic Con. Jose is the last part of ID Comics, by certainly not the least. The detail Jose put into this sketch amazes me. Just look at the lines in the fishnet. Awesome! All of the ID Comics crew are extremely talented and it was a pleasure getting to know these guys. I can't wait to hangout with them all again. Check out more of Jose's work at http://www.lazeedog.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 264: STAR SAPPHIRE

Star Sapphire has been around for years as one of Green Lantern's classic villains and one of his greatest loves. I always liked her and thought I'd give her a try as part of my "sketch a day" project. I'm pretty happy with how she turned out. Her costume leaves little to the imagination though, lol.

COUNT VICIOUS BY JERRY GAYLORD

Here's another of the awesome sketches I got recently. This sketch of Count Vicious was done by the talented Jerry Gaylord at the 2009 Pittsburgh Comic Con. Jerry is another fourth of the team known as ID Comics and just as equally talented as all the others. Jerry is also married to the lovely, Penny Gaylord (who drew the sweet Heartache sketch I posted last week). I was really surprised that Jerry picked Count Vicious to draw. As one of the major character in the SENTINELS storyline it was funny that I had never gotten any sketches of him. I love Jerry's style and think he did an excellent job. I also love the angle he used. Perfect! I'm really glad he choose to draw him. Check out more of Jerry's work at http://www.thefranchize.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 263: THE THING

The last of the Fantastic Four, the Thing! It's funny how sometimes you think a certain character will be easy and another will be hard to draw. I figured that of all the FF, the Thing would be the easiest to draw. But no, lol, he was actually the toughest one for me to do. I'm not sure why, I mean I had a blast drawing all the rocks on him. But his size kind of threw me off. I knew he wasn't the biggest guy, so I tried to make him a little squatty. I don't think it turned out to well though.

2009 BIG APPLE CON REPORT

This past weekend was the first Wizard Big Apple Con in NYC. I was really, really sick before the convention and kept hoping I'd get better before it started. Unfortunately, I only got worse. My nose was huge and red and all I wanted to do was sleep. But, as they say, the show must go on.

The big talk of the Con, before the doors even opened, was that Wizard is planning to do their Big Apple show on the same dates as the Reed NYC Comic Con next year. This is totally crazy. First, the NYC show is pretty established and everyone that I know that has gone there has had a good show. The same can definitely not be said about Big Apple. Second, the NYC show is the second biggest show in the country. What makes Wizard think they will be able to do as good a show? Insanity. All I can think of is that they will have some lame celebs and a lot of wrestlers. If that's what people want at a comic show, then I guess they'll be happy at Big Apple. But I don't see how they will get many people to attend.

Although I had a good show (besides feeling like crap because of my cold) and I sold books and art (still shocked my sketches sell even a little), it wasn't as great a show as before. Supposedly, Wizard was now running things, but I saw all the same rude Big Apple people all over the convention. The main reason I decided to do this show was because of Spat Oktan. Spat is a super nice guy and totally professional. In the past when I had done Big Apple, they moved me all over the place. One day I'd be one place, the next another. At many cons they even moved me multiple times. That's why I stopped going (and because of the rude people working the show). But, the one thing that really was great this year was that Spat Oktan was the organizer for the Artist Alley folks and he did a great job. That said, lol, it was still a dirty show. The floors were gross. The bathrooms worse. And some of the things being sold there made me think I was at a flea market.

Jamie Fay, Rey Arzeno and Greg Mayer were all there too and they all had a great show. This seemed to be the con for getting sketches. There were a lot of artists there and it was fairly easy to get a sketch from most of them. I myself got some really great ones. It was great having Greg Mayer hang with us this time. He hasn't been to many cons yet and was always happy and upbeat. Being so sick, it was nice to see that kind of attitude and have him around.

There were also a lot of Deviant Art artists there and it was cool getting to chat with them and old returning fans of SENTINELS. Thanks to everyone who stopped by at the show!

SKETCH A DAY 262: INVISIBLE WOMAN

I've never been a huge fan of the Fantastic Four, but I always liked the idea of the team and thought the characters were unique. I really liked that they had a married couple on the team too, but was never impressed with Invisible Woman. She just seemed like the typical blond female heroine. But then I went back and read some of the old series and was surprised by how tough she was. She can really do a lot of different things with her powers and has a pretty cool attitude. I really like the way this sketch turned out and thanks to Jamie Fay for suggesting I have the force-field wrap around her. It gives her a little more dimension.

SKETCH A DAY 261: MR.FANTASTIC

Back to posting some of my "sketch a day" pics. I'm nearing the end now, so I figured I should try to get some of the bigger guns drawn that I hadn't gotten to yet. Since I did the Human Torch a while back, I wanted to finish the team and draw the other three members. Here is Mr. Fantastic. He was interesting to draw because I had to fight the urge to do something similar to what I did with Plastic Man. I went for a more serious look with him. I think it turned out nice.

FLARE BY BRYAN K. TURNER

I'm really behind in posting some of the sketches I've gotten at conventions this year and I've gotten some really great ones. The best yet. This sketch of Flare was done by Bryan K. Turner at the Pittsburgh Comic Con. Bryan is 1/4 of the team known as ID Comics. Last year I was able to get a kickass Crusher sketch by Bryan, so that he chose to draw Flare this year is pretty cool. I can't speak highly enough of Bryan's style. It's fresh, energetic and very stylish. And just like the rest of the ID Comics team, Bryan is a very nice guy. Check out more of Bryan's work at http://www.sauceboy.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 260: PUFF

Still sick as a dog here today. But I was able to get this sketch done for my buddy, Rey Arzeno (colorist of NEVERMINDS). It's his own created character named Puff. It's not hard to tell why he's called that by looking at him, lol. Love the fake wings he has on him and thought it'd be appropriate to have him floating in the sky like a kite. Hope you liked it, Rey!

WIZARD BIG APPLE CON

A little late posting about this, but I'll be at the Wizard Big Apple Con this weekend along with Jamie Fay. We'll be in Artists Alley at table 3036. There are a lot a artists and celebs scheduled to be at this con, so I think it'll be a great show. Check out the guest at www.wizardworld.com .This is the first NYC con for Wizard since they bought the Big Apple Con. I used to go to the Big Apple Con religiously in the past but stopped about 3 years ago because of the people running the show. They were totally disorganized. Some of them are still working for Wizard, but I've been assured that our table won't be moved (as it was in the past, twice even at some shows). So, I'm crossing my fingers that things go well! Stop by and say hello!

SKETCH A DAY 240 - 259: MOVIE VILLAINS

In honor of October and Halloween, I figured I'd do a bunch of movie villains (mainly horror movies villains) for my "sketch a day". I waited to post them until I finished them all and wanted to post them all at one time. Some are good, some not so good. I was fighting a cold while I did these. I also tried to use a much looser style and had fun with it. It worked well for some of these sketches.

HARLETTE BY JOE PEKAR

Another artist that I've seen at a few conventions, but never got the chance to get any art from, is Joe Pekar. Joe is an excellent artist who's sketches and pinups are all very vibrant. As you can see in the sketch of Harlette he did, Joe uses water colors, but this scan does not do his work justice. The color pops off the page in real life. Yet he still has this soft quality to his work. Great stuff and a super nice guy! Check out more of his work at http://www.joepekar.com/ and http://www.jfury.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 239: CARNAGE

Another bad sketch, but not as bad as the Punisher one, lol. Wish I had spent more time on this one and done a better job. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I don't know much about Carnage but thought he looked like a fun character. He's way too similar to Venom though.

SKETCH A DAY 238: PUNISHER

This has to be one of my worst sketches so far. I don't know what happened while I was drawing him, lol. Maybe it's because I feel like crap right now fighting a cold. Still, it's no excuse for the bad sketch. I figured I had to post it though since it's all part of the process and not posting the bad ones would be cheating.

SKETCH A DAY 237: MAN-THING

Man-Thing? They actually named a character, Man-Thing. Lol. And, believe it or not, they even made a MOVIE starring him. Crazy, huh? Of course the movie was just as horrible as his name, but who would be surprised by that. Name aside, this character is kind of interesting visually. Weird eyes and nose, crazy branches growing out of his body and dripping stuff falling off. He was fun to draw, lol.

STILL TRUCKING ALONG

So, it's been a while since I posted any previews or talked about anything other than my sketches. And there's a reason for that, but I just wanted to say that just because I haven't been posting too much stuff here, it doesn't mean we're not working on things. We're working like crazy.

First, NEVERMINDS is looking even better than ever. Jamie Fay and Rey Arzeno are doing amazing work and as long as the work keeps looking so great, I'm not going to rush them. But trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

ROACH (the project I'm working on with Teyo) is going to be really different. Teyo is over half way through the art and it's so cool and creepy. I can't wait to get it out there.

Then there's CURSED (formerly Caspian Curses) that I am working on with Luciano Vecchio, Luciano finally has his schedule clear and knowing how incredibly fast he is, I'm sure it'll be done in no time. Again, it'll be a totally different type of book and well worth the wait.

After all that, and as I mentioned a few times on here, there is the 2nd SENTINELS Anthology. We got some GREAT new talent that I know is going to wow people and the story for the book should please a lot of different readers of SENTINELS.

So, why no previews lately? Well, first, I don't wait to keep teasing people. I appologize for that. I'm excited that next year there will be a LOT of new things from Drumfish, but better not to keep posting too much until they are out. Make sense? And secondly, it seems that whenever I post something about what I'm working on or who is working on something with me, shady things seem to happen. Ideas taken. Artists offered other work. So, for now I'm not posting or mentioning who is working on what outside of what has been posted. Sorry, but that's just the way it's going to be. Sometimes I get so comfortable with creators and people that I forget this is a business and obviously, I forget that it's a dog eat dog business, lol.

So, hopefully whoever is reading this can just enjoy the sketches and my sketch a day pics for now and just hang in there a little longer until all the books are done.

HEARTACHE BY PENNY GAYLORD

Here's another of the awesome sketches I got at the Pittsburgh Comic Con last month. This pic of Heartache from the 3rd Gen SENTINELS was drawn by Penny Gaylord. Penny is part of the fab four known as Indentity Comics. All four artists in the company are extremely talented and each did a truly unique sketch for me at the con. I loved Penny's style and was glad she chose to draw Heartache. She captured her character very well. Check out more on Indentity Comic at http://www.identitycomics.com/ and see more of Penny's work at www.peng-peng.deviantart.com .

SPIKE BY SCOTT DERBY

This sketch of Spike from the 1st Gen SENTINELS was drawn by Scott Derby at the 2009 Pittsburgh Comic Con. Scott is a really cool guy who I've gotten to know over the last few years at conventions. He has a unique style that I really like, it's kind of a combination of animation and silk screen. His prints are amazing and he's always selling a ton of them. I let him choose to draw whoever he wanted and he picked Spike. He must have secretly loved the mullet. Check out more of his work at http://www.scottderby.blogspot.com/ . Tell him the angry guy sent ya! lol.

SKETCH A DAY 236: HAWKMAN

This sketch of Hawkman was done pretty fast. I had actually done the pencils a while ago and forgot about it. I often do pencils and then go back and ink them when I can. But with this sketch I wasn't that in the mood to ink, so I tried to do it loose and quick. I think it gave it a little different fell. I was surprised that I ended up liking it, lol.