Blog Sketch #191

In Darkest Night

Just listened to a podcast reviewing Final Crisis #1 and it made me think about the Green Lantern cover and what a cool costume design it is. So you're getting a super quickie sketch done post-work, pre-dinner and then I'm off to go try Dodgeball on. There's a league in Hollywood that my co-worker Rob plays in and swears it's the greatest thing in the world. Heck, I'm game.

Daily Sketch #158

Wonder Woman

Friday morning superhero sketch just for the heck of it, gang. I picked Wonder Woman because she was on the cover of two books in my office.

In other random news, I took advantage of my Christmas gift from D yesterday - a hour long massage. I got a deep tissue massage on my neck, shoulders, and upper back (thanks, hours at a laptop computer!). It was at once painful and awesome. At the end of it I felt exhausted and had to resist the urge to take a nap. Coupled with my new laptop stand and wireless keyboard we'll see if it improves the constant pain in my neck and back. Fingers crossed!

Daily Sketch #155

I Have the POWER!

World meet generic super-hero guy charging into the fray. He's yelling some sort of battle cry no doubt. Very fierce.

D and I opened up Rock Band last night and set up our band, the Cheeky Monkeez. My alter ego Stefan Kielbasa and her's (Patty Scraps) rocked hard for a good portion of the evening. My rendition of Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive" was particularly haunting. No really, it would haunt your dreams. The game's customizability and fun quotient are way up there and I think this is going to be a kick ass party game. Now if we can just find someone who can master the drums. That drum kit is tough!

Daily Sketch #145

Sitting at the Big Boys Table


The biggest piece of news in my professional career has just been announced - I've been promote to Publisher at Top Cow. I'm incredibly stoked about the opportunity and excited to make the most of it. You can read the CBR exclusive interview or the official PR on Newsarama. Thanks all of the folks who've already dropped me a congratulatory note. I'm feeling the love and hope I can live up to everyone's expectations!



The other big news last week was the internet wildfire over the end of Spider-Man "One More Day". Basically at the end of it (SPOILER ALERT)...











The devil splits up Peter Parker and Mary Jane and makes it that their marriage never existed in the first place. Today's sketch is inspired by the event.

I've never been a big Spidey reader other than Ultimate Spider-man (which I think is genius), so I don't have a great personal opinion on the subject. Neither have I read OMD, so it's not like I can speak intelligently on the story merits itself. I have read Joe Q's interview on CBR and bunch of the outrage posts by fans and retailers over the event. I can certainly see the validity of both points of view. What I'm most curious about as a industry pro is if the Marvel diehards that are dropping Spidey and/or all Marvel titles (as some reports indicate) will pick up other titles from other publishers or if they've been burned and take their dollars out of the comic market entirely. I'm hoping it's the former.

Life is Stranger Than Fiction

Submitted without any real commentary.

Daily Sketch #121

Back in Baltimore

I'm back in Baltimore after a last minute trip to the airport to catch my late night flight homw Sunday night. I'm glad to be home and it was great to see my future sister-in-law and niece this morning .

Here's a Batman drawing inspired by Sean Phillips' blog.

Daily Sketch #97

I am Iron Man

It's Superhero Friday. For anyone who hasn't seen the Iron Man trailer with Robert Downey Jr., you should check it out. Downey totally gets the character of Tony Stark. And the Iron Man suit (the modern one) looks awesome. Plus they included Black Sabbath at the end. Rock.

I was thinking if Tony Stark was a real person he would be Richard Branson. I could totally see Sir Richard putting on a flying metal suit.

Also check out the trailer for The Golden Compass. Fighting warrior polar bears, angry monkeys, and Sam Elliot. I'm in.

Lastly, I'm looking at getting out of my Verizon contract. Apparently new fed regulations say that if you can find someone to take over your mobile contract your wireless provider can't charge you an early termination fee. I have a year left on my Family Share plan with 2 phones, which I'll throw in for free for anyone who wants the contract. You can find out more HERE.

(yes, I want an iPhone).

Daily Sketch #91

Networking Woes

Computers are great... when they work. So I had Verizon Fios installed in the house this week. So far the service is great but as with any transition there have been problems. One of the biggest and the reason there was no post yesterday is it has screwed up my network file sharing. I thought I had it fixed last night... but I was wrong. So the fun continues this weekend.

Here's a quick sketch I did pretty much straight with a brush pen to play with a loose gesture.

And here's another bonus sketch since I missed yesterday. It's a piece I did for a wedding gift for my friends, Marc and Shelley who are getting married this weekend. Congrats Marc and Shelley!

Daily Sketch #84

Check Out My Thing

Sorry... couldn't resist a little juvenile humor on Friday morning. I thought I'd do a fun superhero sketch for the end of the week. The Thing and Hulk are probably two of the characters I've never been able to render in a way that made me happy. For some reason messing with the proportions to get their size and mass down never quite worked for me. Still not completely happy with this take, but it's better than most of my previous attempts.

In other news, if you have any disposable income right I encourage you to go on Ebay and check out the Hero Initiative's Mike Wieringo Tribute auction to raise money for the worthy charity in Mike's name. I donated an original page of Mike's for the auction.

Daily Sketch #79

Superman & Wonder Woman

A friend of mine from the old Diamond days is getting married this Fall and is putting together a very cool program booklet. He asked me to contribute by featuring his favorite childhood superhero and that of his future Mrs. - Superman and Wonder Woman. I thought it'd be fun to play with the composition and create a heart in the negative space between the two characters.

Daily Sketch #77

Ultimate Hawkeye



Started reading Ultimates2 Volume 2 Trade last night by Mark Millar and Brian Hitch last night. The Ultimates is excellent as always and by reading it in trade format I avoid the frustration of waiting for the next issue when delays hit the series. I've decided that the most creative and badass reimagining Millar and Hitch did was of Hawkeye. They turned him from a quip dropping, Errol Flynn and Green Arrow wannabe into a effective Die Hard military special operative that makes Bullseye look like a girl. Out of weapons and getting tortured? Just use your fingernails as projectile weapons. Take that John McClane.
And as a movie side note - "Blades of Glory" was much funnier than I expected. Very entertaining.

Daily Sketch #68

In Memorium

The death of Mike Wieringo this past weekend has been weighing on my mind over the last day and it inspired this sketch. The Flash was always Ringo's signature for me, probably because it was the character I first saw him draw. We'll miss you Ringo.

Daily Sketch #64

Invincible Friday

I'm taking a day off today, a mental health day to recharge the batteries from the drain of San Diego and steel myself for the trip out to Chicago next week. The plan for the day is complete relaxation - sitting by the pool and reading, listening to music, and swimming and maybe fit in some movie watching and drawing. But that's about it. Just going to be a lazy bum today.
I was reading my buddy Robert Kirkman's latest issue of Invincible last night and it inspired a quick crack at the character. I'm so impressed and proud of Kirkman for how well he's done and what great creator owned characters he's established.

Daily Sketch #49

My Name is Wally West...




When I was a teenager reading comics, one of my favorite long runs was Mark Waid's run on the Flash which started with issue #80 or #82 for me. Mark used to always start every issue with "My Name is Wally West and I'm the Fastest Man Alive". He made every issue exciting and also easy for a new reader to pick up. On the first page you got a complete encapsulation of who the character was. At WizardWorld Philadelphia it was announced that Waid would be coming back to write Wally on the Flash again. I'm curious to see if you can go home...

Anyway, in tribute to that great run here's a quick Flash doodle. Forgive me for any costume inconsistencies I drew it from memory. I tried to give Wally a runner's physique, which now being a runner I can appreciate more.

Also, yesterday The Darkness video game arrived in stores. I can count the number of times I've "geeked out" in the last few years on 1 hand. After working in your chosen field for a few years you lose quite a bit of the hero worship you may have had before. But seeing my name in the instruction manual of a game which sold out at not one but two Targets and 1 Gamestop I went to get the game from was pretty fabulous. I finally found a copy at Best Buy. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I'll post a review of the actual game play when I do. Please note this prompted the first video game system I've owned in about 7 or 8 years. Oh, and I picked up Guitar Hero 2 as well. Because... well, it just kicks major butt. And I came to rock.

Daily Sketch #38

Clark Kent by request

Following my All Star Superman inspired sketch, I thought I'd post my take on Clark Kent at D's request. I don't think it's my definitive take, but not bad for my first crack at it.

I just got back from BEA in New York and I had a fabulous time. It was my first time at the show and I took D with me. She did some sightseeing in Manhattan on Friday and checked out the show on Saturday (resulting in us lugging around an extra box of free books to the train station). We had a great dinner at Del Posto on Friday night and another fun one at Carmine's on Saturday night with some of the awesome Image creators that were at the show.

Daily Sketch #36

Superman Again

I finished reading the All Star Superman Hardcover the other day by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. I'd read most of the issues in single pamphlet format before but it was great to re-read them in one sitting. Not only do the stories have a great timeless quality and fabulous characterization, but Quitely's artwork is some of the best of his career. His Superman has an awesome Greek god quality and his Clark Kent is oafish and timid, but they still are obviously the same person to the reader. A really skilled bit of visual characterization.

Daily Sketch #34

My Favorite Superhero...

Is Superman.

He's the original, the first, and I've always enjoyed that being the most powerful guy is not what makes him super. It's the man raised in Kansas by Johnathon and Martha Kent. Never really been able to draw him in a way I find satisfying though. This one is no exception.

On another note, we watched the season finale of Lost last night. And I gotta say I thought it kicked ass. I found it pretty interesting because during the season I was WAY more excited about Heroes and kind of luckwarm about Lost, but when it came to the season finale's Lost gave us a much more satisfying ending. And Charlie is awesome. That is all.

Daily Sketch #18

Back from the Pitt!

... or more accurately Monroeville, PA.

Howdy, all! Sorry about the break in coverage of daily sketches. I left Thursday morning for the Pittsburgh Comicon and got back late Sunday. It was a really fun show and Michael & Renee take incredible care of their guests at the show plus raise a ton of money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The funny thing is that I actually completed sketches for Thursday and Friday, but forgot to scan them in before I left. D'oh!

Here's the first one - a quick head sketch of Captain America.

Daily Sketch #5

Spider-man, Spider-man, does anything...

I figured for Friday I'd do a fun nostalgic superhero sketch. With the new movie coming out I thought Spidey would be an appropriate character. I ended up spending longer on the sketch than I wanted to, but he's got such a fun classic costume! Enjoy and have a good Easter weekend.