SKETCH A DAY 98: CONCRETE

Concrete was another Indie comic that was published in the 80s. Created, written and drawn by Paul Chadwick, Concrete has won a ton of awards, including both Eisner and Harvey awards in 1988 and 1989. It's a definite classic. I loved the series and always thought the design of the character, although simple looking, was very appealing. He looks really easy to draw, but to get him right I think you have to be careful. He can end up just looking like a blob, lol. I'm pretty happy with the way he turned out. I miss this series.

HARLETTE BY MATT BAYNE

This sketch of Harlette, in her costume from SENTINELS Book 3: Echoes, was done by Matt Bayne at the 2009 Mocca Con. Matt has a really interesting art style that caught my eye as I looked around at the convention. Matt is the writer and artist on KNIGHTS OF THE SHROUD, a webcomic set in a fantasy world that follows the drama of five vigilante women in their life and death struggle against slavery. It's a really well thought out series and Matt also had some printed copies he was selling of the webcomic at the con. I bought them all and then Matt was nice enough to do this sketch of Harlette for me. I really like Matt's pencil style and his inks are great too. He seems to be able to keep the same quality of work to them with either. You can see more of his work at www.webcomicsnation.com/mattb . There are a few different links there to his different projects. Check it out!

SKETCH A DAY 97: RED SONJA

I'm trying to draw more obscure or Indie characters so I decided to give Red Sonja a try. I really liked her in pencil form, but think I may have over inked her a bit and messed up a little in places. But hey, that's all part of the process, lol. As I was inking her, it occurred to me that her costume and look is very similar to Starfire from the Titans. Then I remembered that George Perez stated that when he first created Starfire he used Red Sonja as inspiration. It works. And after reading up on Red Sonja, she's a pretty interesting character. They even made a movie on her back in the 80s with Brigitte Nelsen. This was way before her drunken bloated days thankfully, lol. She really fit the part back then, lol. Recently, there was a new film in the works with Robert Rodriguez directing and Rose McGowan supposed to star in it, but it seems to have been shelved. Too bad, I think it might have been pretty good.

SKETCH A DAY 96: BADGER

Badger was an Indie character who had his own book back in the 80s. The cool thing about Badger was that he was crazy. Literally. He had a bunch of different personalities which seemed to switch due to stress or something triggering his emotions. His book had a long run too from what I remember. Fun book. They started collecting the series in trades recently and I think there are about 4 of them out so far. I figured I'd try drawing some non-Marvel/DC characters again. More variety coming soon.

SPLASH BY TIM SMITH 3

This sketch of Splash was done by Tim Smith 3 at the Mocca Con last weekend. Tim's a great guy and very talented. He's also super fast and did this sketch very quickly. The scan doesn't do it justice, sorry. But the pencil effect he used is much nicer than seen here. Tim has drawn many things over the year including Teen Titans Go. Check out more of his work at http://www.timsmith3.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 95: LUCY IN THE SKY

I wanted to try to do a different sort of face when I did this sketch. I wanted to do someone more innocent looking. I'm not sure I got there, I think the inks messed it up a bit. She looked better in pencil, lol. Anyway, Carolina (Lucy In The Sky) from Runaways is an interesting character. I think she needs to be seen in color though to truly get her look.

TERRY & MR. SCOOTLES BY H.C. NOEL

I got this sketch of Terry (Crusher and Flare's first son) and his toy Mr. Scootles at the Mocca Con this past weekend. The creator of MR. SCOOTLES himself, H.C. Noel (Howie) did this for me in just a few minutes. He's super fast. Howie was there selling copies of MR. SCOOTLES and VINCENT: PAINTER OF DEATH along with his wife, Shelly. Actually I think Shelly was doing all the work and Howie was just sweating from the heat, lol. I love this sketch and think it fit perfectly for Howie to draw Terry since he had a Mr. Scootles toy with him all through the SENTINELS Anthology. Thanks again, Howie! Be sure to check out Howie's new webcomic, TARA NORMAL at http://www.hcnoel.com/ . It's free and awesome!

PHAZER BY BECKY CLOONAN

I went to the NYC Mocca Con this weekend and was able to get quite a few sketches. I didn't have a table at the convention this year, I couldn't get off for work, but I was able to go on Sunday and I was glad I did. They changed the location of the show and it's MUCH better now. It still has one same problem though, it was HOT as hell, lol. Really, it seemed like everyone was sweating there which made for a great smell, lol. Ugh. Anyway, I was able to say hi to a few friends and get some cheap or free sketches. It was great because I hardly spent any money. I also got to get a few new Indie books which I hope to read soon. One of the artists I sought out at the show was Becky Cloonan. I'm a big fan of Becky's work and have gotten a cool sketch of Templar from her in the past. This time, she decided to draw Phazer. It's a really moody sketch and much different than most of her work. I really like it! It makes me think of him as possessed or something, lol. Please check out Becky's projects and more of her work at http://www.estrigious.com/becky/index.htm .

SKETCH A DAY 94: DEADMAN

Deadman is a character that I felt like drawing because I wanted to do something different looking. I went with the skinny, dead looking Deadman instead of the muscular one they often portray him as. He was fun to draw.

SKETCH A DAY 93: LAGOON BOY

I didn't have much time to sketch this weekend (yet again!), but I was able to finish this sketch of Lagoon Boy. He appeared in Aquaman, Young Justice and most recently, Titans. Not much was done with him in Titans, but I always thought he was a fun character. He's one of the few remaining characters that hasn't become dark. Hopefully, they'll keep that light-hearted feel to him.

SKETCH A DAY 92: STRONG GUY

Okay, this sketch was done just for fun. I don't know what it is about Strong Guy from X-Factor, but I like him. Maybe it's because he's so odd looking and funny. Whatever it is, he was a blast to draw and I like the way he turned out.

SKETCH A DAY 91: BONE

This sketch was mainly done for fun. I wanted to try drawing Bone for a while, but thought it'd be too easy. I was right, lol. It's really a simple character. So, I tried to do a little background with him. Nothing wild, but I think it helps to add something. I loved the Bone series and think it's the perfect example of an all ages book. Anyone who hasn't checked it out should definitely give it a try.

SKETCH A DAY:90 EIDOLON

This sketch was done for R.J. Spassov and my old collaborator, Jerry S. Loomis. R.J., Jerry and I were all in an APA called TNT together many years ago and Jerry and I worked together on a series called QUARANTINE. Unfortunately, QURANTINE never made it too far. We did do a TON of work on it and Jerry's art was amazing, but back then, there was no outlet for it. I think we were too ahead of our time. Now, R.J. and Jerry are one of the finalists in Small Press Idol and this is one of their characters, Eidolon. Check out their work and vote for them! Here's the info:

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SKETCH A DAY 89: CLAYFACE

I kind of like the way this sketch turned out. As opposed to the Human Torch pic, I tried to use a heavier line width on Clayface. I'm not a big fan of heavier lines, but I think it worked really well here. It gives him more depth. I also tried to show some movement. I had a blast drawing this, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 88: THE HUMAN TORCH

I was trying to work a little with perspective on this sketch. I wanted to try to do something dynamic with the Human Torch. In pencils, it looked cool. But I don't think I inked it so well. Mabe the line width is a little too thin. Anyway, lol, the perspective isn't too bad.

SKETCH A DAY 87: HEPZIBAH

I hope I spelled her name right, lol. But here is Hepzibah from the X-Men. She used to be a member of the Starjammers and recently got stuck on Earth and has joined the X-Men (X-Force to be exact, I think). Not sure why I decided to draw her other than I thought it'd be fun and sexy cat ladies are always nice to draw, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 86: SCARLET WITCH

This sketch of Scarlet Witch didn't exactly go the way I planned it to. I was trying for something pensive with her, but I don't think it worked. I still like the hair (which was a happy mistake) and the power effect.

SKETCH A DAY 85: AQUAMAN

I'm not sure how I feel about this sketch today. On one hand, I think I drew his shoulders uneven and that I should have cropped his hand differently so that it was extending more out of the box. Then on the other hand, I kind of like this sketch because I tried to make it look like it was raining on him. I think that came out okay. This one turned out to be good practice. It also makes me miss Aquaman. I loved his book when Peter David was writing it. Even with the hook! lol. DC is bringing him back as a Black Lantern soon, so I'm sure he'll be back in action in no time.

SKETCH A DAY 84: SHEHULK

Just a quick sketch for today. Since I've been drawing some of the muscle ladies lately (Power Girl and Big Barda), lol, I figured I might as well round them off and do the last one I can think of, SheHulk. This one was done really fast. It took like no time at all. I feel guilty posting it. But I'm posting it anyway, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 83: POWERBOY

Powerboy was a Titan created during the 1 year later storyline that DC did during 52. They added like a ton of Titans to the team. Most of which were lame and ripoffs. Powerboy even looked like he was that too at first. I figured he was just a male Powergirl. I mean, he does have that hole in his costume at the chest just like her. But Powerboy actually turned out to be a little different. They revealed he was a New God and from Apokolips. I liked that idea and thought it had a lot of potential. Especially since the Titans never had any real dealing with Apokolips. Of course, DC didn't do anything but the expected and they made Powerboy into a Supergirl stalker. Lame. Then they Judd Winick kill him when he relaunched the horrible Titans series that reunited the Wolfman/Perez Titans. Oh, well, lol. He was a different type of character for me to draw. I think the pose is a little off, but I was trying to give him a strong look yet look like he had a "I love myself" attitude.