Not done as a commission, but for the fun of it, and it is for sale and open to offers by the way! A3, pencil & ink.
One of my fave TV cops, Columbo. Here’s the pencils…
And here is the the finished article!
Read More »Peter Falk as Columbo Portrait
Follow-up to this post, as a bonus to go along with Bernard’s Jack Kirby portrait, I drew him some quick sketches of Darkseid & Hulk!
A commission for Bernard Brannigan. Am really happy with how this came out—and buyer is too!
Here’s an in-progress shot:
And here’s the finished article!
Read More »Jack Kirby Portrait
Following up this post… I did a Tod Slaughter commission back in April, and the postal service lost it in transit. So, I started work on a replacement.
Anyhow, shockingly enough, the postal dopes eventually found the original, and sent it back to me! In doing so, they did manage at some point to damage the well-packaged artwork (albeit fairly minimally), just to add extra insult. Cue rant about incompetence and overpriced services.
Read More »Tod Slaughter Take 2
Couple of recent commission pieces: David Bowie and old-time horror icon Tod Slaughter!
Newly scanned pieces—firstly, Shatner as Kirk, for Steve on the occasion of his birthday… a portrait of 1940s Bogart… and finally, a nice scan of the Moe Howard piece I posted a photo of here.
I am indeed a Three Stooges fan, although I like Laurel & Hardy better—but for some reason have never drawn L&H. Go figure. Must rectify this soon. Anyhow, this is just finished on my drawing table, in the newly revamped studio space. Which, BTW, is actually helping my work quite a bit. Let’s not talk about the cramped working conditions I had previously! It wasn’t good, but I’ll leave it at that.
So, this is a mixed media piece, and a first (but it won’t be last) attempt at a slightly different approach. I thought perhaps the pen & ink portraits just look quite comic booky, and pencil-only is a pretty common approach, and a lot of people do it better than me… but this, I think works a little better for me. The basic outlines are done using my trusty Uni brush pen, but I kept it to a minimum. I left a lot of the toning & modeling out. The background is simple ink-on-sponge—something I have not done in about thirty years! Finally, the tones are done with grey watercolour pencils. (Mostly a couple of darker ones.)
Read More »Moe Howard Portrait
Done for my friend, Nigel. It was his request & his concept… and I believe this “mythical kiss” might have actually been done for-real in an Archie comic in recent years. Not sure—I pay no attention to this stuff!
I decided to employ a couple of techniques I’ve been playing with of late, namely doing the inks solely with a brush pen (a Sakura Pigma, if you’re curious), and adding some “colour accents”…
Read More »Betty & Veronica: The Kiss
Perhaps this was more appropriately posted back in June (the month of his passing), but as September marks his 95th birthday, that’s fine.
It’s hard to believe the great Gene Colan has been gone for ten years. And what a different (but not in the least bit better) world it is today compared to even back then.
Late ’70s Colan cover to DAREDEVIL #154, nicely inked by Steve Leialoha.
Read More »Gene Colan: Ten Years On
Although this dates from last December, I had been meaning to post it. It’s a portrait of Peter Cushing as he appears in one the later Hammer Frankenstein movies. (I’m not even sure which one, offhand—anyone?)
EDIT: It’s from Dracula AD 1972. Thanks, Henry. Why didn’t I know that? I used a photo ref without looking up the source is why!!
