SKETCH A DAY 164 - 171: NEW MUTANTS

Still doing some headshots and since I did a DC team last time, I figured I should do a Marvel one. I decided to try my hand at drawing the original New Mutants. I used to love that book back in the day and have a fondness for the team. Sunspot was way too easy to draw, lol, I almost feel guilty about that. But Warlock and Wolfsbane were a lot of fun to draw. Over all, I'm pretty happy with how these have been turning out. As I mentioned when I first started this "sketch a day" project, I'm planning on starting my own webcomic next year and I wanted to draw once a day as a sort of warm-up to doing the webcomic. It's been great practice and I think these headshots have started to serve their purpose. I've really been trying to draw different looking faces and have them be unique. Hope it looks that way at least, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 163: KID FLASH

One of the reasons the Geoff Johns relaunch of the Teen Titans lasted so long and was successful was due to the main teens from Young Justice jumping ship. In about issue two they switched Bart from Impulse to Kid Flash. Totally hated it at first, but I think he really grown in the role. Once Geoff Johns left the book, it's really been sinking for so long. They killed off Kid Flash and Superboy and added too many characters that no one cares about to the team. But in the Legion of Three Worlds mini-series, both of those guys were brought back. I'm hoping they have them rejoin the team soon. I was inspired to draw Bart here. This sketch was surprisingly fun to draw .

SKETCH A DAY 157 - 162: SECRET SIX

One of my favorite current books out today is the Secret Six by DC Comics. It's one of the very few books I get monthly. It's written by Gail Simone and drawn by Nicola Scott, who make an incredible team. Gail has quickly become one of my favorite writers. She's just so damn talented. Her grasp on the DC universe is perfect and she mixes a nice blend of fan appreciation and original storytelling in her work. Yet as much as her writing is that of a fan that truly seems to love what she is doing, she never crosses into that cliched writing of doing fanish things. Instead she uses her fandom of the DC universe to strengthen her stories. But what's best about Gail's writing is her dialogue. Each character really has their own voice and I love the vocabulary she uses for them. It's very inspiring! And Nicola is really a hidden gem at DC. Her art is breath-taking at times and her character are on a Perez level as far as facial consistencies. I can't recommend this book enough. Go get it! Here's my attempt at drawing the members of the team. Had fun with them all, except for Bane. He didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.

SKETCH A DAY 147 - 156: DC VILLAINS

Here's the second batch (no, not you, Noel) of headshots I've been doing. This time I picked ten DC villains. In random order: Killer Frost, Shade, Mr. Freeze, Silver Banshee, Sinestro, Two-Face, Cheshire, Joker, Lobo and Deathstroke. These were really fun to do. I think I might do more headshots.

FIREBOMB BY BRENDON AND BRIAN FRAIM

This sketch of Firebomb, in her costume from SENTINELS Book 2: Masks, was done at the Wizard World Philly Con by Brendon and Brian Fraim. The Fraim brothers are an art team that have done numerous covers and comics through the years. Some of their most recent work can be seen in Knights of the Dinner Table. Their work caught my eye as I was walking around the con, so I stopped and chatted with them for a bit. When working on sketches, one of will pencil and the other will ink. I thought that made them a really good team, so I decided to get something from them. I let them choice whoever they wanted to draw and they picked Firebomb. I liked the way they drew her. She has a real "old school" feel to here. It reminds me of the Silver Age. Check out more of Brendon and Brian's work at http://www.brosfraim.com/ .

HARLETTE BY GREG MAYER

This sketch of Harlette was done by the talented Greg Mayer. Greg is a fellow artist on Deviant Art and we've gotten the chance to hang out and talk shop a few times. He's a great guy who's got a ton of enthusiasm about comics and has a few different projects he's working on. His art is extremely detailed. I don't think I've seen an artist this detailed since Perez or Jiminez. Really, he goes into it that much. And Greg has recently decided to try his hand at doing a sketch a day like I have. Since he said I kind of inspired him to do it, lol, he choose Harlette as his first sketch. Pretty cool, huh? I think it's awesome! And his second sketch of Doctor Doom is really kickass. But don't take my word for it, check out more of Greg's work at http://gregmayer.deviantart.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 137 - 146: MARVEL VILLAINS

I decided to try to do some headshots with my sketches and see how they turned out. I wasn't sure I was going to like them, but I actually think they look pretty good. I picked ten Marvel villains to do and will draw ten DC ones next. In random order, they are: Mojo, Magenta, Doctor Doom, Selene (Black Queen), Red Skull, Madame Masque, Enchantress, Green Goblin, Mr. Sinister and Hela.

SKETCH A DAY 136: HULK

Hulk smash!!! That's all I could think as I drew this pic. Just felt like drawing something angry and energetic, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 135: VIXEN

Vixen is a character I always liked. She's been around for years but it was when they added her to the JLA (Detroit team) that she got big exposure. That team crashed and burned, but Vixen hung in there and appeared throughout the years before crossing over into the animated series. Since then, she's become pretty high profile. I had fun drawing her and tried to do a little different pose her. Thanks to Jamie Fay for help with the lion in the back, lol.

SKETCH A DAY 134: VENOM

For some reason I felt like drawing Venom. Not much else to say about it, lol. Turned out okay I think.

CURSED!

A sneak peek at the project Luciano and I are reuniting on. 'Nuff said. :)

SKETCH A DAY 133: FIRE

This sketch is of Fire from DC's JLA. I think her original name was Green Flame, lol. Fire definitely fits her better. She was added to Justice League back when Keith Giffen and Kevin Maguire were doing the book. They couldn't use any of the big names, except Batman, so they added some of the B characters from the DC universe (like Fire, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle and Ice) and really made the book their own. Using those characters gave them a lot more freedom and Fire was one of the characters that got some nice development. For this sketch, I tried to play around with the flames and focus on the lines of the body. It turned out okay. As I was drawing this it kept reminding me of Firebomb's look from SENTINELS Book 1: Footsteps, lol. I was even considering adding green to this sketch just to show that it was supposed to be Fire. Maybe later.

SKETCH A DAY 132: NOVA

Back around when I started doing this "sketch a day" thing, I got some suggestions for who to draw and one of them was Nova. I really didn't know that much about him so I held off drawing him. But recently, I got the Classic New Warriors trade (which made me draw Speedball a while back, lol) and figured I'd give Nova a try. I decided to draw his current costume because I think it looks best. I also hear really great things about his book and I'm going to try to pick it up next time I'm at the comic shop. See, I do get to people suggestions eventually, lol.

SERPENTA BY MARK A. ROBINSON

This sketch of Serpenta is one of my favorite sketches I've gotten. It was done by the talented Mark A. Robinson at the Wizard World Comic Con. Mark has a really unique style. It's full of energy and movement. Each sketch seems to tell a story. He puts a lot of extra detail into things too. And all of this is done with a ballpoint pen! Crazy! Mark has worked for many publishers including DC, Marvel, Devil's Due and Digital Webbing. I'm sure we'll all being hearing great things about Mark in the future. Check out more of his work at http://marsisalientechnology.blogspot.com/ .

SKETCH A DAY 131: ROGUE

One of my favorite X-characters has always been Rogue. I liked her ever since Chris Claremont added her to the team in the 80s. She's gone through a lot of changes as a character since then and even more changes in costume, lol. (Wasn't wild about her "iconic" look that they used in the 90s cartoon, ugh, headband). I always thought she looked best in green and white and liked the recent costume she had with the hood. So, I decided to draw that version for her. Just a quick sketch, but I think it turned out okay.

PHAZER BY ERIC GUERRERO

While not a convention sketch, this sketch by Eric Guerrero is just as great as any I've gotten at one. Eric was visiting NYC over the 4th of July and did this sketch of Phazer in my sketch book while we were hanging out. I really like his style and can't wait to see what his new original comic series he's working on will look like. I don't have many sketches of Phazer, so this was a nice addition to my book. Thanks again, Eric. It's awesome! Check out more of Eric's work at: http://cirgy.deviantart.com/ .

BEATDOWN BY REY ARZENO

These sketches of Beatdown from the 3rd Gen SENTINELS were done by the talented Rey Arzeno. Rey was hanging out with Jamie Fay and I working a bit on NEVERMINDS and he did this 1st sketch while we chatted. Of course, I think it's great and love it, but Rey being Rey, lol, was not satisfied with it and did another version while at home later. Pretty cool, huh? Thanks again, Rey!

SKETCH A DAY 130: ALIEN

I wanted to switch things up again with my sketches and do something a little different. The aliens in the movie, Alien, always gave me the creeps. I love their design (except in the 4th movie, lol). I went for a darker feel with this sketch and kind of messed up a little with what I had in mind for the background. I think I was able to salvage it okay though.

SKETCH A DAY 129: IGNITE

Finally, the last of the 3rd Gen SENTINELS is done! I had a blast doing these characters. It even made me miss them a little. Ignite is an interesting character. He really shouldn't be such a brat. I didn't plan to write him that way, but it just kind of happened and I liked it. I thought it was good that the son of the SENTINELS leader wasn't so perfect. Made him more human. Plus it made him fun to write.