HEARTACHE BY DIRK STRANGELY

At the 2009 Megacon, one of the artists who's work caught my eye was Dirk Strangely. Dirk has a really unique style that's somewhat dark, yet light too. I thought he'd do something really interesting in my sketch book and he didn't disappoint. I love this twisted sketch of Heartache that he did. It's so different than anything else I have in my sketchbook. There's totally a story in there, you can just see it, lol. Check out Dirk's website at http://www.dirkstrangely.com/ . Be sure to read his "Dramatic Story About A Schizophrenic Blue Haired Grandma..." , it's creepy cool, lol.

WIPEOUT BY JAMES BUKAUSKAS

Here's a little different sketch. This one is Wipeout as drawn by James Bukauskas at the 2009 Megacon. I really like James's style and think he did a great job at drawing Wipeout. As I mentioned previously, I was trying to get more of a variety of characters at this con. When I saw James's art, I figured he'd do a awesome Wipeout. Maybe he's a little on the muscled-upped side, but who knows, maybe after what happened to him in SENTINELS Book 4, he started training hard, lol. I really think James's linework make this skecth shine! Check out more of James Bukauskas's art at http://www.bukshot.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 43: CLOAK AND DAGGER

I haven't gotten as many sketches finished this week as I had planned or wanted to, but I have a good excuse, lol. I am currently in the middle of moving. I found a better and cheaper apartment and have been moving stuff for the last few days now. And although I have a bunch of sketches semi-finished, I didn't get them done just yet. Here is the latest one I was able to ink, it's Cloak and Dagger from Marvel Comics. I'm torn on these two characters. I mean, I remember them from when I first started reading comics and always liked them. I liked them because of their origin, their personalities and they had fun kickass costumes. But I admit that I didn't read their book too much. From what I read, it always seemed to be the same storyline, drugs, runaways, blah, blah, blah, lol. Now, maybe I just picked up some really bad issues and it burned me, but that's how I remember them. Still think they are cool though and have awesome powers, etc. I really think that even though just the two of them are a team and work very well together, I think they should really be part of a bigger team. It would give them other characters to play off of and interact. Just my two cents. Still great to draw them.

WICKKID BY AMANDA CONNER

Anyone who has been following this blog knows that one of my favorite artists is Amanda Conner. I really love Amanda's style and energy. She's a very underrated artist in my opinion. She should be on more of those "top artist" lists. She's one of the nicest, coolest people I've met at any convention. She's currently working on the new Powergirl series that DC will be launching soon and I'm really looking forward to it. As I did with the 2nd Gen SENTINELS and getting George Perez to draw each of them, I plan to get Amanda to draw all the 3rd Gen SENTINELS. It will take a while, but hopefully it'll happen. Until now, she's only drawn the girls so I actually asked her to draw one of the guys this time. I really love her interpretation of Wickked. She gave him some attitude, saying that he looked "dicky", lol. She really got his character I think. Following Amanda's art and projects at http://www.amandaconner.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 42: OMAHA THE CAT DANCER

So, I've been told a few times that I need to draw some characters other than DC or Marvel. I'm trying to do that, so this time I sketched someone a little different. Many people might not have heard of her but Omaha the Cat Dancer has been around for over 30 years now. First created by Reed Waller in 1978, Omaha was at first a political satire for indecency laws in Minneapolis. Shortly after he created Omaha, Reed met Kate Worley and she became the writer of the series. It was then that Omaha really took off and became something huge in Indie comics. Being that the star of the book is a stripper, of course the subject matter is adult. There is a lot of nudity and sex in the series, but that's not all that this series is about. It's about relationships, family, love, politics and mystery. And even though the characters in Omaha are all animals, they're more humanly written than most comics. If your old enough, lol, you should check out the series. I really like the way this sketch turned out. :)

SAVANNA BY MERIANA GUERRA

Here's another of my favorite sketches I got while at the 2009 Megacon in Florida. This picture of Savanna from the 1st Gen SENTINELS was drawn by Meriana Guerra. As I walked around the Con, Meriana's sketches caught my eye, so I inquired if she was doing commissions. I was pretty shocked to find out she was and that they were so inexpensive. I've been trying to get some of the lesser seen characters from SENTINELS drawn this time, so I immediately knew I wanted Meriana to draw Savanna. Her style just seemed perfect for it. Once I got my sketch and showed it to some other people at the Con, at least three of them wnet over and commissioned sketches from Meriana, lol. I'm pretty good at pimping out other artists work. Check out more of Meriana's awesome work at http://www.ryugurl0083.deviantart.com/

AGENT HUGGINS BY MIA PALUZZI

Now that I've posted all the great sketches I got in NYC, I can finally start to post the sketches I got while at Megacon. One of my favorite sketches that I got has to be this sketch of Agent Huggins by Mia Paluzzi. I got this sketch the last day of the convention and wished that I had noticed Mia before. I really love her style. In some ways it reminds me of Luciano Vecchio's art, with that manga influence and their own personality mixed in. At this con I decided to tell some of the artists who I wanted them to draw. I haven't gotten many of the lesser seen characters in Sentinels yet, so I thought it'd be good to do that. I gave Mia a reference for Agent Huggins and just told her that she has mental powers, chain smokes and is a government agent. I was really happy to see how this sketch came out and Mia said that she wanted to give Agent Huggins a sort of female James Bond look since she was a secret agent. I think it rocks! I wish I could have gotten more art from Mia, but sadly the con ended. Next time I'm going to seek her out early. Check out more of Mia's awesome art at http://www.rocketshoes.deviantart.com/

SKETCH A DAY 41: SILVER SURFER

I really don't know much about the Silver Surfer, but I wanted to give a try at drawing him anyway. I like the whole cosmic aspect of him and how he travels through the cosmos on a surf board, lol. He was fun to draw and I think the space in the background really adds to him. Doing more full sketches like this takes more time than the others I've done. I'm going to have to get faster if I want to do more like this and still keep up my pace, lol.

CLOCKSTOPPER BY DAVID LAFUENTE

This is the last of the sketches I got at the 2009 NYC Comic Con. Clockstopper from the 3rd Gen SENTINELS was drawn by David LaFuente. I actually didn't get this from David, Jamie Fay did for me. I had asked him if there were any artists he had seen in Artists Alley that he liked and had him get this for me. David was doing quick sketches while you wait at the Con and they were a decent price. He decided to draw Clockstopper and as he was drawing him he asked Jamie what his powers where or something, but he didn't say he, he said she, lol. He thought Clockstopper was a girl until Jamie told him he wasn't. He quickly changed the figure on the drawing but you can still kind of tell by the face that he draw him as a girl. That's totally an easy mistake given Simon's costume I think. I really think this sketch came out awesome and was very happy with it. David recently finished up the Patsy Walker: Hellcat mini-series from Marvel and is scheduled to be the new penciller on the relaunch of Ultimate Spiderman! His style is perfect for that! Check out more of David's work at http://www.davidlafuente.com/ .

ELECTRON BY YILDIRAY CINAR

Almost to the end of my sketches I got at the 2009 NYC Comic Con. This time it's Electron drawn by Yildiray Cinar. I really like the style of this sketch. The shading on it is awesome! Notice the hands and how you can see the finger bones. Cool, huh? Yildiray has done work on Noble Causes and Dynamo 5 for Image comics. Check out more of his work at http://www.yildiraycinar.net/ .

SKETCH A DAY 40: POLARIS

I just got new drawing pads and pens, so I decided that from now on I'm going to do each sketch on one whole sheet of paper. In the past I was drawing two or three characters per page. I kind of like having the entire page now though. Maybe I was scared before to tackle a whole page, lol, who knows. In any case, here's the first of my full page sketches. This time it's Polaris from the X-Men. I always liked her and thought she had a cool costume. I dunno, maybe it was the funking head gear, lol. The thing that annoyed me about her though, was that they made her crazy and still continue to do it now and then. It reminds me of Magenta from Titans and Flash over at DC. Why is it that female characters with magnetic powers are all crazy while the guys aren't? I know the whole "polar" thing is something you'd think of when thinking of a magnetic character and that leads to crazy. But why not the guys and only the ladies get the crazy gene? Oh well, in my pic, Polaris isn't crazy.

LIGHTBRINGER BY RANDY GALLEGOS

Here's another sketch I got while at the 2009 NYC Comic Con. This time it's Lightbringer drawn by Randy Gallegos. Randy was sharing a table with my buddy, Bryan J.L. Glass and his wife, Judy, and after I was talking to them for a while I realized how rude I was being by not acknowledging Randy next to them. Very stupid of me, but I realized it and started chatting with Randy and looking at his art. It was really awesome. I felt like a smuck for not looking before. Randy has some great line work and pencil drawings in his portfolio. I was really impressed and asked Randy to do a sketch in my sketchbook. You might not notice it in the pic here, but the original sketch is very detailed. It looks great. Check out Randy's site at http://www.gallegosart.com/ . You'll be glad you did!

SKETCH A DAY 39: HAWKEYE

Here's another member of Marvel's Young Avengers. This time I drew Hawkeye. I have to admit, I'm torn as to which member of the team is my fav, I really like them all, but Hawkeye is high up on list. In fact, if there was ever any chance of me writing a Marvel book this would be my dream project. The characters and concept have so much potential. I really don't understand why they don't have a regular monthly title. I mean, I know they want to wait for Alan Heinberg to write it, since these are his creation, but the guy is busy. Get them a monthly book again already! lol.

ROBUST BY MATTHEW FLETCHER

This sketch of Robust from the 1st Gen SENTINELS was done by Matthew Fletcher. Matthew's art caught my eye as I walked around the Con and I was glad I decided to get a sketch from him. I gave him a copy of SENTINELS Book 4 and told him to pick who he wanted to draw and he chose Robust. I think that fit his style well. I really like Matthew's line work and think it's unique style. But don't take my opinion for it, check it out for yourself at http://www.mjfletcher.com/ .

SPLASH BY ANDIE TONG

Here's another of the sketches I got while at the 2009 NYC Comic Con. Splash was drawn by the talented Andie Tong. I didn't get a over to the side of the room that Andie was at until the last day, but as soon as I saw his work, I knew I wanted to get a sketch by him. Luckily I was one of the last he was able to do (Sorry, Jamie, lol). I really like the style and energy of his art. His character truly look unique. Check out more of his work at http://www.deemonproductions.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 38: GAMBIT

This sketch of Gambit was one that I really liked as I was drawing it. Once it was done though, I wasn't so sure. I think it's okay, but not one of my better ones. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of Gambit. I think they really over-exposed him in the 90s. I also drew him without the trench coat. I was told he stopped wearing it and I think that's good. The trench coat dated him a lot.

TEMPLAR BY REY ARZENO

This awesome sketch of Templar was given to me by Rey Arzeno this weekend as a birthday present. I really love it. Thanks so much, Rey. Why can't everyday be my birthday so I get cool stuff like this? lol.

You should see the pic he drew for Jamie too. It's almost as good as this one, lol.

QUOTED IN WIZARD

My friend ,Gus, wrote me this week and told me that I was quoted in latest Wizard magazine. I had no idea. Pretty cool, huh? I was kind of shock to see Wizard actually writing a little about the Diamond changes. I wish they'd do more about things like this instead of just hype stories. But it's better than nothing. Wizard is not really the magazine for me, but I hear they are doing some changes that might be good. I'd really like to see a mix of hype, fanboy articles, Indie spotlights and better comic based stories from them. Comics are so huge in Hollywood these days that it'd be nice to have a smart magazine that could show that comics are all different types of things, not just what Hollywood makes a film out of.

Speaking of Hollywood, lol, tonight the one and only Michael Avon Oeming will be appearing on Celebrity Apprentice. I'm not a fan of the show as I think most of the celebs on it are idiots and fame-whores, but the episode on tonight is somehow about comics and Image has a bunch of people on it. One of those creators is Michael. I've met and gotten to hang out with Michael at various cons and he is truly one of the nicest comic creators you will meet. He's created POWERS along with Bendis, MICE TEMPLAR along with (great guy) Bryan J.L. Glass and this year he begins a new series called RAPTURE along with (his talented wife) Taki Soma. So, if you're not busy tonight, check your TV schedule and look for Celebrity Apprentice tonight on NBC and support Michael.

SKETCH A DAY 37: THE ORIGINAL TEEN TITANS

Here's the original 5 Teen Titans as part of my "sketch a day". I really like the way this one turned out. I decided not to do full figures with this one because as I was drawing them they just looked cute this way. I especially like the way KidFlash and Wondergirl turned out.

THE ORIGINAL TEMPLAR BY BEN BISHOP

I still haven't posted all the sketches I got while at the 2009 NYC Con. I want to spread them out a little so everyone doesn't get too burned out on them, lol. This awesome sketch of the original Templar was done by Ben Bishop. The NYC Con was Ben's first Con and he had his first original graphic novel with him, NATHAN THE CAVEMAN. I was really impressed with Ben's work and that he had self-published his OGN just like I had a few years ago. It's tough work and takes a lot of dedication to do that. I got the chance to chat with Ben before the Con opened to the general public and I was able to get him to do this cool sketch. I really like his style and recommend checking out his book. You can learn more about it at http://www.bishart.net/ .