Travel Sketches: St. Petersburg

Charcoal on Paper, 8"x10"

I went to St. Petersburg, Russia a couple of years ago on my honeymoon.  We did a lot of tourist stuff (including a marathon tour of the Hermitage) but also had a couple of days to relax and lounge about in our favorite places.   This sketch is of one of the huge statues acting as pillars holding up one of the minor entrances to the Hermitage.  As you can kind of tell by the splatters on the drawing, it began raining before I finished.

Yours truly posing with the giant sculptures.

More giant statues                              Isaakievsky Park

Figure Drawings 7

Pastel on Paper, 18"x 24"

Since so much of cartooning is straight line drawing, I was trying to break my habit of doing mostly line drawings of live figure models.  This style, which I made by smearing my finger with pastel and then smudging the paper accordingly, is sort of the antithesis of line art.  I've found that because the image produced is so subtle, a darker color of pastel tends to works better.  Here are a couple examples of lighter hues.

ACT-I-VATE Primer Is Released!

A while back, I posted about a short story I colored for the ACT-I-VATE Primer book (read about it here).  Well that book is finally available for sale.  Get it at your local comic book store (or failing that, there's always the online bookstores.)

And for those of you that live in New York, come on out to the release party tonight at Bergen Street Comics in Brooklyn.  I'll be there!

Five Minute Figure Sketches

Pastel on Paper, 18"x24"

Five minute sketches can be a good way of filling the paper without getting too precious.  I have a tendency to dwell on my mistakes which is most often counter-productive.  A short time limit forces me to embrace my errors, and in the immortal words of Tim Gunn, "Make it work!"

Marvel Strange Tales #2

I colored the introduction page to the Marvel Strange Tales #2 which is on the stands today.  Not only is The Watcher once again featured but also the full likeness of She-Hulk and Nick Fury (complete with an ear-stud)!  Look for this cover at your local comic book store:

Hat Portraiture in Reverse 4

 

Ink Drawing on Vellum, 9"x12"