SKETCH A DAY 303 AND 304: STATURE AND SPEED

Here are the last two members of Young Avengers that I hadn't drawn, Stature and Speed. They turned out okay, I don't think I was as into them as I was the other members. But I wanted to finish the team and maybe try to place them together in some kind of group shot (hence the no background on any of them). I still think that Young Avengers is one of the cooler teams to come out in years, I just wish that they'd give them their own book again!

SKETCH A DAY 302: HELLBOY

Gotta love Hellboy! He has to be one of the most successful Indie comic characters. With a hit comic, toys and two movies under his belt, I almost don't think of him as Indie anymore. Created by Mike Mignola, Hellboy is a great character and I really love Mike's portrayal of him. I tried to mix a little of Mike's style in with this sketch, but still think my style shows through. He was a blast to draw.

SKETCH A DAY 301: THE VISION

While I've never been a huge fan of the Vision, I did kind of like his relationship with the Scarlet Witch. Of course, when you think about it, it's creepy, but still, they were good together. After she went crazy and destroyed him, he came back in Young Avengers and appeared younger. He also lost most of his memory and is now trying to find himself. I'm more interested in what they're doing with him now then I was in the past. Many that's just because I'm a YA fan, lol. Anyway, only two more members of YA to draw now.

SKETCH A DAY 300: SHI

You know, I was almost tempted to make a character from 300 my 300th drawing, lol. But I think making it Shi is more fitting. When I started doing this "sketch a day" project, it was mainly to start getting in the habit of drawing again. I didn't care what the sketch ended up looking like or who they were, just that I did them. Somewhere along the way, I got into the history of comics more and more. I've always known a lot about the smaller and lesser known characters, but it wasn't until I started drawing each day that I realized this would also be a great exercise in trying to draw characters that have made an impact or creators who have helped move the industry forward. Which brings me to Shi. Shi was created by Billy Tucci, a fellow New Yorker, and first self-published in 1993. Since then, Billy has been on many top ten lists as both writer and artist, had his character crossover with such characters as Lady Death and Fallen Angel and even had Shi developed as a film. But makes Billy stand out is his attitude. He's probably one of the nicest comic creators out there. He also happens to be interested in what people think of his work and is encouraging to new talent. Not many creators are like that. Believe me, I know. For this reason and others, I think Billy is a great role model for many Indie creators just starting in the biz. He's an example of how you should do it. Currently, Billy complete a Sgt. Rock mini-series at DC Comics. The book was amazingly detailed in both story and art. Billy went to extremes to get the history on the book right and it shows. I highly recommend picking it up.

SKETCH A DAY 299: Isis

Oh mighty Isis! Lol. That's about all I remember from the old Isis live action show that used to be on TV when I was a kid. (dating myself here I guess). Isis was created for TV to be a counterpart for the live action Shazam TV show. The woman who played Isis was beautiful, I can't remember her name, but I wonder what happened to her? Recently, DC FINALLY brought Isis into the DC universe proper and they now have an Isis character. Even though it's not the same character that was on TV, she looks pretty darn similar. I am pretty happy with the way this sketch turned out.

SKETCH A DAY 296 - 298: ANIMATED CHARACTERS

All of these sketches of classic animated characters were requests made this year by various people. I wasn't wild about really drawing any of them, but then it occurred to me that all of these characters have been in a comic. I think that made me feel like it was okay to add them into my "sketch a day" project. And I don't want to be a comic snob, I mean I did draw a bunch of movie film villains, lol. And to top it off, these were actually a lot of fun to draw and made me have some memories of my youth. In random order, here are the Wonder Twins (Zan and Jana with Gleek), Ben 10 (who I really don't know too well) and the gang from Scooby Doo. I think I had the most fun drawing the Scooby Doo gang. I made Shaggy look exactly like a guy who works in my building and I didn't even realize it until I was done. From now on I won't be able to look at the guy the same way without laughing, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 295: WILDCAT JR

I'm not sure how I feel about this sketch. On one hand, I like the character a lot and after I was finished inking this one I think it actually looked better then the pencils. That doesn't happen too often, lol. But on the other hand, after doing so many sketches I feel guilty when I don't do any background. It feels incomplete a little. Anyway, lol, I think the fur came out okay. And for those of you that don't know, this is Wildcat Jr or Wildcat 2, the son of the original JSA Wildcat. Since I drew him previous, I figure I throw the son in too.

SKETCH A DAY 294: MAXX

I admit, I don't really know a lot about this character. Maxx was one of the early books published by Image and created by Sam Keith. It had a very different look to it and I remember picking it up and being interested in it. But I think back then, I was too young and just not able to fully get the concept of the series. It was kind of deep. Maxx was a hit though and it even had it's own animated series on MTV. Pretty cool, huh. And some other interesting info, Sam was the inker for Matt Wagner's Mage series and (I had forgotten this part!) Sam drew the first 5 issues of Neil Gaiman's classic Sandman.

ELECTRON BY JEREMIAH WITKOWSKI

Here is the last (but not least!) sketch I got while at the Pittsburgh Comic Con this year. Electron was drawn by Jeremiah Witkowski. Jeremiah was sitting down a few tables from some friends of mine and his work caught my eye. He was actually doing a color sketch on color paper that looked really sweet. I like the animated style of his work and his use of color pencils. They give his characters a unique feel to them. I did have the hardest time remembering his name though, lol. I remember faces and where people were sitting at the con. And usually that's enough for me to remember the person's name when I see their signature on the sketch. I also usually always try to get a business card. But this time I forgot. And look at this signature! There's no way I could figure out a name from that, lol. But, thanks to Facebook (and Lauren Perry, who took so many pictures at the con and posted them!) I was able to find out Jeremiah's proper name. Check out Jeremiah's webcomic at http://www.youmeandsteve.com/ .

SPLASH BY ANDY BENNET

I've been forgetting to post more of the sketches I've gotten this year. And they're all really great ones. I still have some Pittsburgh Comic Con sketches to post so here is another from there. This sketch of Splash was drawn by Andy Bennett. I had met Andy a few years ago at the Pittsburgh Con and he's a super nice guy who's art I really love. His inks are dark and really set a mood. He's drawn a sketch of Harlette in the past for me and this one of Splash is just as great. Check out more of Andy's art at http://www.b3nn3tt.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 293: KRYPTO AND STREAKY

Totally silly drawing, but what can I say, I wanted to draw them. Krypto was totally easy to draw and I felt like I was cheating doing him. Streaky on the other hand...Ugh. No wonder I'm not a cat person, cat's are hard to draw. It's all about the head with them. Get it right and it looks great. Get it wrong and it looks off. Not sure which this ended up being, lol, but it was still fun to draw.

SKETCH A DAY 292: SHE-RA

Holy 80s! Here's another request I got for my "sketch a day" project. This time it's She-Ra, sister of He-Man from the old cartoons. Though I watched He-Man as a kid, I was watching by the time She-Ra came around. I recently saw the intro to her cartoon and I have to admit, it was just as cheesy as He-Man, lol. I mean that in a good way though and not slamming her. I think she's actually a cool character visually. And even though she's shown a lot in a classic He-Man type pose with her sword held high, I wanted to draw her a little differently. I think this kind of works for her. Maybe I did a little too much with the hair though.

SKETCH A DAY 291: CRYSTAL

Crystal from the Inhumans was a request for me to add to my sketch a day list and I'm happy I did. I tried to do something a little different with her and not have her in a superhero type pose. She looks like she's in deep thought here and maybe a little sad. The weird pattern in the background was just something I threw in for no real reason, but I think it adds a little something.

SKETCH A DAY 290: DAREDEVIL

Daredevil had been on my list of characters to draw for a long time, but I never got around to him. He's an odd character to draw, yet his costume is way easy. I had fun doing this one and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.

SKETCH A DAY 289: SPACE GHOST

Space Ghost is one of the old classic cartoon characters I liked growing up. I remember thinking he was a little cheesy, but still fun. It wasn't until they used him for Space Ghost Coast to Coast as a talk show host that I truly got into him though. That show was hilarious.

SKETCH A DAY 288: SPAWN

I've been around comics long enough to have been reading them when Image Comics was created. At the time, I remember the excitement of it all and how fresh and new their ideas were. Todd McFarlane's Spawn was the biggest of the Image books and rightfully so. When it started I was really into the book. But years later I felt like it became stale. Still, I think the character is a very important part of comic history and I wanted to draw him. There's the big Image crossover happening that is reuniting all the original creators and it was just announced recently that Spawn is the big baddie in that. Hmmm, maybe they have changed him a bit since I last read him.

SKETCH A DAY 287: PATRIOT

I'd been meaning to draw Patriot from the Young Avengers for a while now. I've already drawn Hulkling, Wiccan and Hawkeye and plan to finish off the team with Vision, Stature and Speed very soon. I'm a HUGE fan of Young Avengers and I've always said that if there was one Marvel book I ever had the chance to write that would be it. The characters are just so full of stories, I would have a field day with them. Of course, lol, chances of that happening are slim to none, but I still love the team and think Patriot is an excellent character. His costume was a lot harder to draw then it looks.

CASCADE BY CHRIS MORENO

Almost finished posting all of the sketches I got at the Pittsburgh Comic Con! This sketch of BoBo (Cascade) is by the incredibly talented, Chris Moreno. I had first gotten a sketch by Chris last year when he did an awesome rendition of Hamlet from SENTINELS Book 2 for me. It quickly became one of my favorite sketches and when I saw him at Pittsburgh this year I went to him first thing. That first day, he did another great sketch, this time of Harlette from SENTINELS Book 4. I loved that one so much, that the last day of the con I went back and Chris was able to do this cute sketch of BoBo from SENTINELS Book 3. It's really cool to see who he picks to draw each time. And since he's done a character from almost all the SENTINELS books, I guess next time I see him I'll have to get a sketch of some from Book 1, lol. See more of Chris's work at http://www.chrismoreno.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 286: THE DEMON

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this sketch yet. On one hand, I like the feel of it and the position of the figure. But on the other hand, I think I over inked it and went a little crazy with trying to texture it.

SKETCH A DAY 282 - 285: MORE HEADSHOTS

I was in the mood to finish some of the sketches I've had laying around that needed to be inked so here are 4 random headshots. From DC, I drew Cheetah and the Riddler. Cheetah looks really easy, but I was cursing myself after I started inking the hair because it took forever. From Marvel, I drew Wonderman and a Skrull. Wonderman looks a little too young maybe and is not the most exciting sketch. But I had fun drawing the Skrull.