That Darn Beyonder

Sketchbook comic -- a reinterpretation of a Marvel story. I did this, just for practice, to try out some various points of view and tricks.

Comic Re-covered: Batman's New Look

Sketchbook drawing. This is a "re-do" where I take an existing comic cover and redraw it in my own style. I colored this on the computer, which I never do!

Parallax

Sketchbook drawing: scene from a DC comic redrawn by me.

Happy Turkey Day!

This is a parody of the cover for Action Comics #52. The original is below:

I'm in Good Company

I was recently contacted by Robert Goodin who saw my Comics Re-covery Drawings. I'm certainly not the only one doing something like this and Robert had the idea of creating a website highlighting a whole bunch of artists who do studies of pre-existing comic book covers. The site is really interesting, and I'm the latest one to have my artwork shown on this site. Check it out, it's awesome. The site is called Covered.

Robert's own contribution is really neat -- the Wonder Woman drawing below.

Cover Re-covered #7: The Infinity War

This is the latest installment of a series of pictures I call The Comics Re-covery Project. I choose comic book covers I like and redraw them in my own style as a learning exercise. The cover design strategy employed here is one I call A Bunch of Heroes Standing Around Doing Nothing. It's actually used a lot in comics of the last two decades. Yes, they're just loitering, but the looks on their faces say, "As soon as we're done posing for this picture, we are really gonna kick some butt!"

Wolverine here seems to be saying, "Listen here, bub! I hope you bought your tickets -- for the GUN SHOW!"

Cover Recovered #6: Sheesh!

The Comics Re-covery Project is my way to "study after the masters". I basically redraw an existing comic cover in my own style, which is another way of saying I ruin it.

Here's the latest. The comic cover design strategy is: Someone comes ripping through the cover from the inside of the comic. In this case, Hawkeye seems to be annoyed because, presumably, he has used his manners and crawled around the front cover in the proper manner.

Comics Re-covered #5: FF vs. Diablo and his Awesome Elementals

Diablo was one of the super-villains who opposed the Fantastic Four. This bad guy was a powerful alchemist in 9th Century Saragossa, who sold his soul to the demon Mephisto to lengthen his life far beyond a human span. Having lived for centuries, when the FF meet him, he is a practitioner of alchemy, science based upon the transmutation of elements, and has attained mastery of the alchemical sciences with his genius intellect. Wikipedia says,

Diablo employs a huge arsenal of alchemical potions he has discovered or concocted, that he can conceal in hidden pouches and pockets within his costume. His alchemy, which can transmute elements through means unknown to modern science, enables him to control his own body, the bodies of others, or inorganic matter. His mixtures include nerve gas pellets, sleeping potions, a potion that renders a person inert by rapidly lowering their body temperature, pellets that make a person susceptible to Diablo's hypnotic commands, other potions and pellets that enable him to transmute inorganic matter, create explosive blasts and create beings known as elementals that are composed of ancient alchemical "elements" of earth, fire, air, and water. With few exceptions, all of Diablo's potions and pellets have only temporary effect. He also has alchemical potions which grant him teleportation.

All of that would tend to make you fatigued, but get this: He coats his mustache with a fast-healing Elixir of Rejuvenation to suck on.

I'd like to know what possesses a man who's lived for hundreds of years to choose to dress this way. Maybe the thought process goes like this:

Diablo: If I'm going to be a super-villain, I'm going to need a flamboyant outfit. Hmmm....I'll go with magenta tights with green trim. Let's see, wings on the ballet slippers and long flowing black sashes. There! That's just the look to inspire fear.

Comic Books Re-covered #4: The All-Star Squadron

(colored with Crayola markers)

The comic book "re-covery" project goes like this. I pick a comic cover that amuses me in some way, then I redraw it in my own style. I hope that I'm learning about comic cover design strategies, like this one: Good Guys vs. Bad Guys Slugfest.

This comic came out in 1983, the year I graduated from high school. I wasn't buying comics at that time, and probably wouldn't have bought this one anyway. The story is as confusing as the cover. It takes place during WWII on DC's Earth 2. According to Wikipedia,

Earth Two was created to explain how Golden Age versions of characters such as The Flash could appear in stories with their Silver Age counterparts. Its continuity includes DC Golden Age heroes, including the Justice Society of America, whose careers began at the dawn of World War II, concurrently with their first appearances in comics.

Confused? So am I! In the first 3 pages we are introduced to 17 characters, most of whom I've never heard of. As you continue, more and more costumed characters climb aboard as if it were a Pre-Crisis Noah's Ark. The Ultra-Humanite has gathered bad guys from her own day, some from the future '80s, and some from a place called Limbo. This is one of those comics that is so bad it's good, giving us hilariously absurd characters like the Monocle -- who can shoot blasts from his spectacle.

The Infinity Crusade -- Comic Cover Re-do #3

Comic cover re-do's are fun drawings for me to make. I take an existing comic cover and redraw it in my own style. In this case, the cover appealed to me because of the floating head motif -- a common design solution in comics. It was the 90's -- a time of gimmicky covers like reflective foil elements like the one above. This makes it impossible to scan!

I also noticed that this artist gave many of these iconic characters hairstyles similar to celebrities of the time period. This made this piece ripe for parody!

Here I have redrawn the cover in pen and ink. I noticed that the villainess emanates beams of light. The heroes caught in that beam are fearful or hypnotized. These were abducted by the Redemptress. Those who are not are fierce and angry. They're ticked off because their friends were kidnapped.
Here I've made a copy of the drawing and hand colored it with Crayola markers. To be honest, the story was not that great -- but a really fun cover!

Bonus Question: Which non-Marvel character has been inserted in the lower left section? (Five points).

Cover Redo #2

Here's another image that I've "recovered".

It's Hammer Time! -- Comic Covers Do-Overs

I'm starting a new series of drawings that, until I can think of a better name, I call Comic Covers Do-Overs. Basically, what I do is take a comic cover that inspires me and that I find striking in some way. As I copy it I analyze the composition and the conventions of the genre, hoping I can absorb them into my subconscious and use them some day. I redraw the cover in my own goofy style.

I like comics of all types, but I miss something that comics had when I was a kid. Yes, they were hokey and over the top, but many of the artists and writers were willing to not take themselves too seriously and wrote and drew with their tongue firmly in cheek. I'm having a good time drawing these and I'm finding that it helps me get out of a rut when it's tough to get started on a new project.