J.K.Woodward Gallery

LSCC and Club Batman Sketch Gallery

2012-02-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

From February 20 - 27th I'll be taking a little trip to Europe. During that time I'll be a guest at both London Super Comic Con (February 25th and 26th) and a Club Batman Event in Malaga Spain(February 23 at 6pm see Club Batman for details)!

I offered preorder commission sketches to everyone going to LSCC and the Club Batman Expo.

Here's a look at 10 of the over 100 sketches I did.

A Closer Look at Alex Robinson's Lower Regions

2012-02-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

I was recently commissioned to paint a piece for Alex Robinson's Lower Regions

I set up a camera on a tripod to take a shot every 20 minutes. I also took shots from my phone to post on twitter as I went.

Mail order con sketch gallery - part II

2012-01-31T14:54:00.000-08:00

The second set of samples from the most recent commission drive.

Commission of John Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun"

Doctor Who and Batman

A 'Strange' Progression

2012-01-30T08:08:00.000-08:00

I was recently commissioned to paint a piece that featured The Ancient One and Doctor Strange

I set up a camera on a tripod to take a shot every 20 minutes. I also took shots from my phone to post on twitter as I went.

Midnight Rendezvous: The process of painting The Black Cat and Spider-Man

2012-01-29T10:30:00.000-08:00

I was recently commissioned to paint a piece that featured Spider-Man and the Black Cat.

I set up a camera on a tripod to take a shot every 20 minutes. I also took shots from my phone to post on twitter as I went.

London Super Comic Convention!!

2012-01-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

I am officially offering commission sketches to everyone going to LSCC!

I must admit I love meeting and talking to fans and pros at cons, so this means I usually only get to do 5-7 sketches a day when I'm there. So your best bet is to pre order now and you'll have your sketch waiting for you when you get there. Its the only way I can absolutely guarantee your sketch will get done. All sketches are done on 9"x12" ( 22.86cm x 30.48) paper and are finished in ink and watercolour. They are ussually B & W, but sometimes I get inspired and add colour. Though colour is never guaranteed.

Full Sketches (2 or less characters) - $35(equal to £22.47) +$10(equal to £6.42) for each additional characters

Head sketch(busts) - $15(equal to £ 9.63)
Since these are preorders and payed in advance, please pay in U.S. Dollars.
The British Pound values are based on http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/currency-converter-calculator? and are included only to assign a familiar value to the USD prices. PayPal will allow you to pay in USD and does the conversion for you.

Simply send me an email at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the exact words "LCSS COMMISSION 2012" in the subject line and describe the commission you would like me to sketch. I will then email you back with payment instructions for PayPal. your sketch will then be waiting for you at my table at LSCC!

Here are some more commission sketches I have done recently.

Hola España!

2012-01-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

Desde el 20 al 27 de febrero realizaré un pequeño viaje a Europa. Durante este tiempo asistiré a la Super Comic Con de Londres y a un evento del Club Batman en Málaga, España (23 de febrero a las 18:00, ver Club Batman para más detalles).

Bien, como anticipo y celebración del evento de Club Batman, ¡estoy ofreciendo dibujos por encargo a toda España!

¡Incluso si no puedes venir al evento de Club Batman aún puedes tener un dibujo por correo si vives en España!

Sketches completos (2 personajes ó menos) - 35$ (+10$ por personaje adicional)Busto - 15$

Todos los sketches están realizados sobre 9"x12" ( 22.86 x 30.48 cm) en papel y terminados a tinta y acuarela. Normalmente suelen ser en blanco y negro, pero a veces me inspiro y añado color. Aunque el color nunca está garantizado.

Envíame un email (jkwoodward@hotmail.com) con las palabras exactas "CLUB BATMAN COMMISSION" en el asunto y describe la commission que quieres que realice.

Yo te envviaré un email con las instrucciones de pago por paypal.
Puedes recoger la commission en el evento del Club Batman o enviarme tu dirección para enviártelo.

__________________________________________

From February 20 - 27th I'll be taking a little trip to Europe. During that time I'll be a guest at both London Super Comic Con (February 25th and 26th) and a Club Batman Event in Malaga Spain(February 23 at 6pm see Club Batman for details)!

Well, in anticipation and celebration of the Club Batman Event, I am offering commission sketches to all of Spain!

EVEN IF YOU CANNOT MAKE IT TO THE CLUB BATMAN EVENT, YOU CAN STILL GET A SKETCH MAILED OUT TO YOU IF YOU LIVE IN SPAIN!

Full Sketches (2 or less characters) - $35(+$10 for each additional characters)
Head sketch(busts) - $15

All sketches are done on 9"x12" ( 22.86cm x 30.48) paper and are finished in ink and watercolour. They are ussually B & W, but sometimes I get inspired and add colour. Though colour is never guaranteed.

Simply send me an email at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the exact words "CLUB BATMAN COMMISSION" in the subject line and describe the commission you would like me to sketch. I will then email you back with payment instructions for PayPal. You can then either pick up the commission at the Club Batman event or email me your address and I can mail it to you.

Here are some more commission sketches I have done recently.

Mail order con sketch gallery

2012-01-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

As promised here are some samples from the most recent commission drive.

There were some fun requests and this isn't even half of them.

I will post some more later next week.

The Process of Cover Illustration

2012-01-13T03:59:00.001-08:00

I recently finished some cover art for a fantasy adventure novel called "Scourge of the Betrayer"

The process of cover illustration:

We start with a bunch of concept sketches until we get one approved from the publisher

Then comes the actual process of painting gouache on watercolour stock.

Now comes the very common part of cover illustration; the alterations. It's important that a publisher both match the writer's vision and creates the most marketable cover possible. Sometimes this takes a few attempts. Though I should say the fisrt change is my own fault. I deviated on the placement of the moon from the original sketch. I need to fix that first.

Also, the publisher doesn't feel the woman is needed and the face of the protagonist isn't right. so I digitally mask all the characters, then its back to the drawing board to repaint the background separately and then repaint a different face for the protagonists. After everything is digitally composited into one peice, its brought back to the publisher.

But what else can I do to mess with it?
Just to provide other options, I move and resize elements. This is not hard to do now that I went through the trouble of masking all elements separately.

I even adjust the levels on the background, making the shadow more prevalent and I composite brush strokes and splatter digitally, for some rain. This ones my favourite.

The face and hair on the protagonist, still is not quite the authors vision. I take another stab at it and composite the new face digitally.

and now we've got it!

Scourge of the Betrayer out soon from Nightshade Books

spoke too soon.

One more change. (someone let the author see it)

...new photo coming soon....

Mail Order Commissions

2012-01-02T06:35:00.000-08:00

I don't often do mail-order commissions. I've only done them twice before.

I prefer to do this kind of work at comic cons, but recently I had promised someone that I would maail them out something at their request and while I'm doing that, I figured I extend the offer to everyone.

get an original con sketch sent right to your mailbox.

All sketches are done in ink & watercolour on 9" x 12" paper

(prices include shipping. Europe add +$5. Everywhere else +$10)

$35 full scene sketch (1-2 characters. $10 each additional characters)

$15 head sketch

to order:

simply send an email to jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the words

"MAIL-ORDER COMMISSION 2012" in the subject line. In the body of the email describe the sketch(s) that you'd like.
I will then email you back with a confirmation of price and instructions for payment.

here are the recent examples of sketches. colour is never gauranteed, but often finds its way into most commission sketches

If you'd like to add a print to your order, go here: http://jkwoodwardart.blogspot.com/2011/12/limited-run-signed-numbered-prints.html, first and I'll take $5 off your commission sketch.

EVERLAST FANS: There is some exciting news about Everlast on the horizon and Chad or Don will inform you about that when the time is right. But for now, unfortunately I will not be doing any Everlast or Everlast related characters in these sketches. -sorry..

Limited run signed & numbered prints!

2011-12-27T17:07:00.000-08:00

JSA HAS SOLD OUT
I have replaced it with Steam Witch. (Sexy woman with a steam punk giant robot)

I'm making a limited print run (50 of each) of the following paintings for the month of January. If you'd like a signed & numbered 12" x 18" print of the following paintings, simply scroll to the bottom, chose your shipping location(shipping cost is factored into the price) and which print you would like from the drop down menu. Then click the "Buy Now" button. I accept both paypal and major credit cards

Steam Witch

more

Elseworld's Finest

more

Vader/Borg Troopers

more

Leonardo

more

New Mutants

more

Spidey

more

Spider-Friends

Batman/Catwoman

more

Batman & Catwoman & the Gotham Skyline

2011-12-26T14:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a look at the process behind a Batman/Catwoman commission I did this week.

I took some in-progress photos with my phone.

here is is scanned in hi-res

and finally, some digital airbrush accents.

Justice Society of America

2011-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Here's a look at the process behind a JSA commission I did this week.

I was instructed to do my version of this:

here are some in-progress photos taken from my phone.

here is is scanned in hi-res

and finally, some digital airbrush accents.

Crazy Mary

2011-12-20T19:32:00.000-08:00

Before Fallen Angel, Star Trek, X-Men Origins or Everlast, I helped writer and creator, Mike Colbert bring a sci fi epic to life. It was called Crazy Mary and the very first chapter ever published, a 12 page story called Trail of Tears, was illustrated by me. It was published in 2003 through DWP and was in many ways, responsible for the career I have today.

Well Crazy Mary is coming back. thanks to Mike Colbert and 01 Publishing.

ACrazy Mary graphic novel will be released in June of 2012 .

Available for pre-order in March of '12.

Crazy Mary is very important to me and so I'm getting involved again. ...starting with the cover

cover for the upcoming Crazy Mary OGN.

Crazy Mary

by Mike Colbert

Illustrated by J.K. Woodward, Ryan Sergent and William Blankmanship

Cover art by J.K.Woodward

Here are some process photos from the cover:

Crazy Mary

by Mike Colbert

Illustrated by J.K. Woodward, Ryan Sergent and William Blankmanship

Cover art by J.K.Woodward

A 15 page preview of Crazy Mary can be found at http://crazymarycomic.com/

Crazy Mary will be available through Amazon.com, the official Crazy Mary website, 01Publishing.com, and digitally downloadable through Graphicly.com

Monday Marvel Merriment!

2011-12-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

I know. I know... It's Tuesday, not Monday.

But "Tuesday's Marvel Merriment" lacks that alliterative feel, that "Stanism" that "makes mine Marvel"!

...and actually I did this piece yesterday, so...

yeah! Monday!

Normally my work has a less colourful, more shadowy, film noire sensibility to it, but since this peice is for a 9 year old boy(and since its the web head), I decided to have some fun.
This painting was commissioned by a friend as a Christmas present for his nephew in California. When his nephew visited, one of the tourist-y things they did was walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and take in the sites. Apparently he loved it up there and continues to talk about that day still.

So with that in mind...
Spider-Man on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Here are some process shots taken from my phone and the final version scanned in at hi-res.

Let's hear it for Spidey!!!

But that's not all the Marvel fun I had...

This weekend I decided the best way to help my friend Janna celebrate her birthday was with a Punisher painting!

Nothing says "Happy Birthday!" like Frank Castle creeping out of shadow and an abstract "urban decay" texture. I know it seems weird, but it makes sense if you know Janna.

If there is a bigger Punisher fan out there, I haven't met her!

Check back in a couple days and see some of the DC fun I've been having. (Those who follow me on twitter may already have caught a sneak peek at my JSA work in progress)

Chain World Freeform Comics Experiment

2011-12-09T05:46:00.001-08:00

Recently A. David Lewis launched a kickstarter campaign after approaching me to do a cover and only 1 page for his ambitious new project.

complete wrap-around cover - Chain World Freeform Comics Experiment

The Project is called Chain World Freeform Comics Experiment and Lewis describes it as:

'The "Chain World" Comic Book Experiment is, with the endorsement of several comics industry professionals, aimed at producing one artisan-designed hardcover slipcased 200-page comic book/"graphic novel" with a full-color wrap-around cover, beautifully illustrated initial page of story, and...199 pages left blank.
Call it the most aesthetic chain letter ever, call it the most beautifully tangible campfire "continue-the-story" game, or call it the oddest "jam comic" to ever come down the pike: This whole Experiment is about creating and releasing one book -- only ONE -- to find its narrative destiny unchecked. The book would be passed quietly from one artist to another, never discussing the ongoing story and likely never seeing the book again.'

Now, this book could be about anything, that's the point, in fact. It is supposed to take on a life of its own, so .... what would the cover look like? I mean we don't even know what the story is about.

Well, the 2 of us talked it over through a phone meeting and a series of email conversations and we both agreed it would have to have a Drew Struzan, collage like quality to it. I also wanted to leave the cover unfinished on the back cover; having the paint eventually fade into just pencil. Now that we had that figured out, the only thing left was content.

Lewis had several scenarios for me to chose from and I chose and altered them based on aesthetics alone since story wouldn't really be an issue since it hadn't been written yet. I wanted a central point for these scenarios to spiral out from and Lewis wanted a book to be a prominent part of the cover so that's a no-brainer; the images will spiral out from the book. Originally he described a book with crystal pages and some kind of tech or circuit board represented in there somewhere, but it wasn't working visually. I decidede it would just be a leather bound book with glowing pages instead. But I understood that Lewis wanted to represent many kinds story telling elements so as not to pigeon hole this into a particular style and there wasn't any technology represented so I added circuitry to the background as a design element keeping it from looking like a fantasy book. I designed the city with few specifics, but purposely made it feel like a moderen city, placing it in the now in case one of the creators involved wanted that setting.

and here is the result. I have some very lo-res process shots taken with my phone and the final result scannned in at a higher resolution:

you can find Chain World Freeform Comics Experiment on Facebook and follow on twitter

Peter David's Hidden Earth Chronicles Return!

2011-11-28T16:23:00.001-08:00

Fans of Peter David's Hidden Earth Chronicles will be happy to hear that they are being released by Crazy 8 Press very soon. Those that have never read it; well, here's your chance!

In celebration of the re-release, I'm sharing the process for the second cover in the trilogy which I just finished painting today.

The cover designs for the trilogy started with a photoshop triptic designed by Glenn Haupman. It was then up to me to fill them in with character action.

for the second cover, I used the center section.

The Great AllenTown Comic Con

2011-11-21T12:10:00.001-08:00

Last weekend I was a fortunate enough to be a guest at The Great Allentown Comic Con ! There were lots of great guests and I had a blast sketching commissions and talking with great people.

Jurassic Park Cover!!

2011-11-11T10:37:00.000-08:00

In celebration of my Wedding Day(yes, I'm in Vegas getting married right now) I'm sharing with you my latest cover and the process behind it.

"When Dinosaurs ruled the Earth!!"

Every cover starts with a series of sketch concepts. IDW Editor, Justin Eisinger both agreed that the last sketch was the strongest. A T-rex roaring in your face is a hard book to ignore. there were a few changes made to it. Nothing in the story takes place in NYC (I just really wanted to paint a dino on the East River for ssome reason), so I had to change the BG to a jungle. I also thought some additional elements would be nice so I aded some Brachiasaurus and Pteradactyles.

After the sketch is approved, I project it onto a large peice of watercolour and trace it. and the painting begins.

First I get the background out of the way. This allows me to be a little sloppy because I can clean it up when I start painting the midground and foreground elements.

next, I take care of all the shadows by filling in with black.

then I add the colour.

and finally a little lighting flourish in Photoshop. I sinply airbrushed a series of small liness and overlayed a large fuzzy airbrush over it. applied it over the painting on a screen layer and I'm done!

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes Cover!!

2011-11-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

2011-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

I'll be a guest at this year's The Great Allentown Comic Con

I will be one of many guests showing up. come on by and see me!

When:

Saturday Novemeber 19th

Sunday November 20th

Where:

Merchants Square Mall

1901 S. 12th Street, Allentown, PA 18103

Click here for directions

I will be taking preordered commissions for this con

How to order: Simply send an email to jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the words "Allentown commission 2011" in the subject line. Describe the sketch you would like in the email. I will then reply with the confirmation of price and instructions for your paypal payment. Then just show up at the con and your piecee will be waiting for you.

Order quickly. I'm going away for a week to get married and will only have a couple of days to do commissions before the show, so there will be a limited amount.

How much: Head Sketch - $15.00 Full Scene(1-2 characters, $10 each additional) - $35.00

Here are some commission sketches from the recent Wild Pig Comicon that I attended just last weekend.

"Horton Hears a Doctor Who" or "Why Adam P. Knave is Awesome"

2011-10-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

I love doing commission sketches at cons! There's so little restriction. A person can be as imaginative as they want. If you want Batman to team up with Darth Vader to fight Captain Kirk and Hercules, no problem! Anything is possible and it doesn't necessarily have to make sense!

Over the years, I have had people with fantastic ideas request some really fun and challenging stuff, but so far no one has matched the bizarre pairings I've gotten from Adam P. Knave. Adam just gives me a phrase and says "go!" No specifics, no coaching. No micromanaging. He actually wants to see what I'll come up with. The first sketch he requested from me was "Hello Kitty.Darkseid. GO!"
Man that was a lot of fun!


"Hello Kitty.Darkseid. GO!"

I never thought he'd come close to this genius but suddenly, during a commission drive for NYCC, he says, "Horton hears a Doctor Who, GO!"

"Horton hears a Doctor Who, GO!"

I love getting sketch requests from this guy! So I just wanted to take the time to publicly state, "Adam P. Knave is awesome!"

Got ideas for commissions yourself? Come see me at Wild Pig Comic Convention.
You can preorder sketches now!

Wild Pig is Coming and I'm Taking Preorders for Commisions!

2011-10-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'll be a guest at this year's Wild Pig Comicon.

When: Saturday November 5th from 10am to 6 PM (yes, this will be a one-day only event)

Where: The Fall show will be held once again at the Holiday Inn in Somerset, which is located at 195 Davidson Ave in Somerset, NJ. The show hours will remain 10 AM to 6 PM. The hotel is conveniently located off exit 10 on Route 287 in between routes 22 & 78 and the GSP & NJ Tpk
more info on this con can be found here.

come by and see me
I will be taking preordered commissions for this con

How to order: Simply send an email to jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the words "Wild Pig commission" in the subject line. Describe the sketch you would like in the email. I will then reply with the confirmation of price and instructions for your paypal payment. Then just show up at the con and your piecee will be waiting for you. (Because this is a one day con, I will be taking a limited number of commissions to ensure that they will all be done in time. So order yours quickly)

How much: Head Sketch - $15.00 Full Scene(1-2 characters, $10 each additional) - $35.00

Here are some commission sketches from the recent New York Comic Con:

I will be at NYCC 2011 Artist's Alley table U2

2011-09-29T07:21:00.000-07:00

I will have my own table this year at NYCC and I'll be right next to Peter David, so bring your Fallen Angel books and his new novel Camelot Papers to get signed!

I will also be debuting work from Everlast. Everlast is a new original Graphic Novel from Archaia. It was written by Chad Michael Murray and the art is the result of a collaboration by myself and 3 other artists!! The books will be available at a signing with Chad Michael Murray at the Archaia booth(check the NYCC website or Archaia in the upcoming weeks for details) or online and you can then head over to table U2, see the original artwork and get it signed by me.

I don't have much scheduling details right now, but check back here for signings and panel appearances in the next 2 weeks. Friday, I will be unavailable all day, but will have people at the table to take care of you, if you'd like to pick anything up or just browse the art.

I'm taking pre-orders for commissioned con sketches now.

If you would like a commission at NYCC, you can guarantee you'll get one by pre-ordering now. Sketches are done on 9"x12" paper in ink and watercolour.

full scene 1-2 characters($10 each additional characters) -- $35.00

head sketch --- $15.00

5.5 " x 7.5" mini head sketch -- $5.00

To order simply email me at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the exact words "NYCC 2011 con sketch" in the subject line. In the body of the email, tell me which of the 3 choices above that you would like and describe what you would like drawn.

(you may pre-order more than 1 sketch per email, so list and describe all that apply)

After I receive your email, I will email you back confirming that I received your request and give you the paypal payment info. You can pick up your sketch at the con.

here are some samples of sketches from previous cons:

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Happy Birthday Peter David!

2011-09-27T09:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Ariel David. She wanted to commission a painting from me for her father's birthday; A painting that featured his creations.

We emailed back and forth for a bit, brainstorming different ideas so I could get a feeling for what she wanted. Then she told me about Peter's recent fascination with King Arthur and I remembered of course, his latest book,'Camelot Papers' and decided then and there that Peter David would become King Peter and the Knights of Fiction.

The lightning was sort of a last minute idea. Ariel wanted some storm imagery in there somewhere to poke fun at her father for deciding to stay home and face down the Hurricane Irene. (Clearly she inherited some of her father's sense of humour)

This was the painting finished.

12" x 18"B&W,gouache and ink on watercolour paper.

Here it is with digital colour added on an overlay layer in Adobe Photoshop.

Saturn Girl!

2011-09-21T13:54:00.000-07:00

Allison Baker has got to be the coolest wife ever!
(I say this now, though when I get married in November I may be contractually obligated to revise her title to "second coolest wife ever". But the point is, she's pretty damn cool!!)

For those who don't know, Allison is the wife of writer Chris Roberson(iZombie, Starborn, Cinderella, , the upcoming Memorial and the Star Trek/Legion crossover). She recently contacted me over twitter and commissioned this beauty as a birthday present for Chris!

It's Allison, herself, as Saturn Girl!

Because of my schedule,unfortunately, this had to be a late birthday. I've just sent out the 12 x 18 full colour gouache painting to their home, but rather than wait, Allison thought it might be fun to surprise Chris here and now! Right here on my little blog! How cool is that?!?

Happy birthday Chris!
You're a lucky man!

The ChainWorld Comic Book Experiment!

2011-09-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

What is the ChainWorld Comic Book Experiment?
Simply put, it strips away promotion, press and industry from comics and leaves only the art. It strips away the mass-production and leaves us with one of many questions to be answered; Can we communicate,work together, or even function outside the the convenience and confines of the global communication age in which we live. An art chainletter, the ultimate jam piece or most provocative & intriguing comic never printed

In other words...
We're starting this comic and passing it around the world. Each person completes a page in the story and passes it on and hopefully, we get to see what comes out of it or if its even possible. The idea was conceived by A. David Lewis after reading a Wired magazine about videogame-maker Jason Rohrer and his Chain World project.

Why am I telling you about this?
Because I think its a brilliant idea and I'm curious as hell to see if art and comic lovers are capable of carrying this out. I am so excited about this experiment, in fact, That I've agreed to do the cover and first page that will start it off!

Help us get this off the ground and help spread the word.
We have a kickstarter campaign and we're raising money to get this off the ground. we're less than $800 away with only 8 days left. You can leave as little as $5, but as an incentive for a $300 or more donation,
I am offering to draw you your very own comic page.
Any page.
Any characters.
Whatever you'd like.
go here to donate and help us spread the word!

here are samples of pages I've done in the past as commissions:

Scranton Comic Convention!

2011-09-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

On Sunday September 25, 201110:00 am - 4:00 pm I will be a Special Guest at The Scranton Comic Convention

at
Johnson College 3427 N. Main AveScranton, PA(Take exit 190 off of I-81) In addition to comics ranging from the 1940s to the present, dealers will also be selling toys, collectible card games, statues and much more! You can also find out about other attending special guests here. Now is the time to pre-order your con sketches.If you'd like a sketch ,I would highly recommend pre-ordering it since this is only a 1 day show and I cannot guarantee I'll get to your sketch in time if you wait for the show. Sketches are $35 for up to 3 characters and $15 for head sketchesAll sketches are done in ink and watercolour on 8.5 x 11 paper If you're interested in pre-ordering, simply email me at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with "Scranton Comic Con Sketch" in the subject and a description of the sketch that you would like. I'll email you back with a confirmation and your sketch will be waiting for you at the con. here are some previous samples of con sketches:

Hope to see you in Scranton, PA on the 25th!!

Happy Hour

2011-09-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I managed to do my first podcast and all I can say is what fun!
I also should add that it will get better.

Here we babble about the new projects(Fallen Angel, Behemoth and Everlast) I'm working on, The new DC, and how a fool and his phone are soon parted.

Happy Hour ep 1 J.K. has a new phone:
Darrell & @JK_Woodward talk comics and the life of a freelance artist http://dafixershideout.hipcast.com/deluge/6b5151ae-bade-0109-8765-2969f82e2130.mp3

One of those days

2011-09-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

Today, in just a few hours, Darell Taylor and I will be starting a new podcast, recorded at Dominie's Hoek, called Happy Hour. Unfortunately I'm having one of these days.

Cover from Eureka #1 by BOOM! Studios. I did this cover about 2 years ago

I just can't seem to focus. Hopefully a pint or 2 will help me concentrate. It couldn't hurt.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2011-08-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

A couple months back, I played with some sketches of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after hearing of the upcoming IDW series.
After reading issue 1, I was inspired to do a page.

Medusa!!!

2011-08-29T16:40:00.001-07:00

A friend, Janna recently announced that she wanted to start a Medusa sketchbook.

Now ever since I started doing sketches at cons, I have always dreamed of getting the first page. In 7 years that has never happened. That's why when Janna anounced she wanted to start a Medusa sketchbook, I not only volunteered to do a sketch, I offered to go out and get the book.

Today I realised my first page dream and even designed and inside cover!!
Behold the Medusa Sketchbook!!

I know she meant the Marvel Medusa, but I thought it would be fun to have her face off against her namesake.

Friday Sketches! -Everlast

2011-08-28T10:25:00.001-07:00

Every Friday at 3:30pm on Twitter, I debut some new sketches for the fans of Everlast. Here are this week's.

If you're not familiar with Everlast, its an upcoming graphic novel written by Chad Michael Murray. Learn more and download a free short story,

The GN itself, is available here, direct from and autographed by, Chad Michael Murray.

Elseworld's Finest

2011-08-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

After seeing a blog called DC-Fifty TOO!, I became inspired to revisit an old painting and dress it up like a cover.

For those who haven't seen DC-Fifty TOO!, it's a blog where "a plethora of very talented - and very different - cartoonists" were challenged with creating their own new properties for the DC comics reboot. Go check it out! There is some great stuff there!!

For my revamp, I took an old painting I had done a year ago, and designed a "Elseworld's Finest" cover. Elseworld's Finest would be more like Brave and the Bold or old Marvel Team-Ups.

Every issue would feature the Terry McGuiness Batman with a different guest. The guests would not only be other heroes(or even villians) from the Batman Beyond timeline, but also characters from the current timeline or even dimensional crossovers(maybe Batmite?)
With the right person writing it, we could come up with creative ways to include any character. So with that it mind, my first choice to write a book like this would be Chris Roberson.

This will almost surely never come to be, but that won't stop Chris and I from having a "great success of that which surely never came to be" celebration the next time I see him.

Everlast Art

2011-08-13T13:50:00.001-07:00

If you follow me on twitter, then you've already seen these.
These are conceptual design sketches for the latest project I worked on, the Everlast Graphic Novel?
Everlast is being released by Archaia in September, but if you would like a taste now, you can download a short prose story written by Chad Michael Murray and illustrated by yours truly.

Happy 50th Fantastic Four

2011-08-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

50 years ago today the FF were born and Marvel comics were changed forever.

This image taken from a cameo panel I did for X-Men Origins :Beast one-shot. Marvel Comics 2008

Peter David's Fallen Angel Versus Marvel Comics' Mephisto!!

2011-08-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks back, a friend of mine ran into some legal trouble and was at risk of losing her house.I decided top help by offering 3 people their own comic page for $300. This is the first of those pages.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

A splash page with Liandra from Fallen Angel was asked for, but I came back with, "what if it were a 4 panel page with a small inset panels so it was like a splash page?" ...and then later, "Would you mind if she's facing off with Marvel's Mephisto? - sort of an unofficial crossover?"

I posted photos of the work in progress on twitter as I always do with commissions.

If you've never read Fallen Angel, you can find the origin story(issues 1-5) here for only less than $1 each.

Final stragglers for July's commissions

2011-08-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

Well here are the last of them. For now anyway. I'll be doing this again in September so check back here from time to time. I'll make an announcement when it's time..

The New Mutants!

2011-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned to do this piece months ago, but got wrapped up with The Fallen Angel mini-series and then a project for Archaia. But finally here it is!

I set up a camera on a tripod to take a shot every 20 minutes. I also took shots from my phone to post on twitter as I went.

There is only one shot of pencilling that I could use because apparently, I can't draw unless my noes is touching the paper. In other words, my big fat head was blocking the shot in almost every photo. But that's o.k, there is little to be learned from watching some one pencil. the only way to learn to draw is from a lifetime of discipline, practice and observation. Painting however has tricks and as long as you know how to draw, you can master these tricks fairly easily. So with that in mind, I decided to share the process.

Forgotten Projects - Part 1

2011-07-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

This sketch was originally for a "comicbook cook book" if you can believe that. Though they loved it and gave me the green light, it never went past the sketch phase. I think the project lost funding or something. Not really sure. But it was fun coming up with Chile-Man!--or whatever, I never came up with a real name for him. Hey! Maybe you can! What are some good names for this guy? I'll start: The Red Pepper!!

...your turn. answer below.

Have You Ever Wanted a Comic Pro to Draw You Your Very own Comic Page?

2011-07-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

MY friend Dayna from the podcast Made of Fail is in a bit of financial jam right now, in danger of losing her home and she's reaching out to her friends in the nerd community.
If you'd like to help with a small donation, go here:
http://queenanthai.livejournal.com/800025.html

But if you'd like to do more and get some original art, I'm offering an original page of your choice and specification to the first 3 who donate $300 dollars or more.

What do you get for $300?
I will do a 3-5 panel signed comic page of your choice. 11" x 17", greyscale, ink and waterercolour on watercolour paper. It will be whatever you specify. you can write the script, you can have me recreate an existing page in my own style, or just 3-5 unrelated drawings on one page. whatever you'd like, its your page.

Because of time restrictions, I can only do 3. so first come first serve.

How Do You get Your Page?
email me at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with "Let's Save Dayna" in the subject line. I will email you back to let you know whether you are one of the first 3 and give you a paypal link to donate your $300 or more. As soon as I get confirmation from Dayna, I will contact you again to get your commission request. As soon as I get your email with your page description, I will start your page and ship it out(within a week). Before shipping I will notify you with an email including a sneak peek jpeg of your page, so you won't have to wait to get it in the mail!

above is an example of a 2 panel commissioned page I'v recently done.

Thank you all in advance for your help. It's a great thing to be part of a the geek community. We take care of our own.

Mail Order Commissions July 2011

2011-07-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

I tried a little experiment. I took mail order commissions between cons. It went extraordinarily well and I had to stop taking orders in less than a week. I'll definitely be doing this again. possibly in late August. Here are some of the commissions.

A New Addition to the Fallen Angel Gallery!

2011-07-12T15:57:00.001-07:00

A while back I posted some other artist renditions of Peter David's Fallen Angel characters.

I implied that there were other artists working on their interpretations and that as they came in I would post them here.
Well just today I received a message and a link to a magnificent image! The latest in the Fallen Angel Gallery! It comes to you from Mike Norton and it is a thing of beauty!!

More Commission Sketches 3of3

2011-07-09T07:58:00.001-07:00

More Commission Sketches 2of3

2011-07-09T07:56:00.001-07:00

More Commisssion sketches! 1of 3

2011-07-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Vs. Star Trek!

2011-07-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you Adri Cowan for introducing me to AdamsMedia!

Thank you AdamsMedia for giving us Star Wars Vs. Star Trek!

About 8 months ago I publicly pondered the question, "What would happen if the Star Wars Universe met the Star Trek Universe?", which eventually led to my creation of the Borg Troopers. I was always facinated by the thought of these two world's colliding, so when my friend Adri announced the AdamsMedia release of Star Wars Vs. Star Trek, I was thrilled!

The title alone already made it the greatest book ever written, but even still, it surpassed my expectations.

The book is a hilarious and compelling comparison of the 2 fictional worlds and separated into 5 parts: People, Gadgets,Time & Space, Society & Culture and Prepare for Impact. Each side of the comparison is broken down by occupation, Datapoint;a tasty peice of trivia about the subject and Snapshot: a brief history that gives you all the info you'll need. After giving us both sides and all the stats, we get the Who'd Win section which tells a brief story where these 2 worlds meet, followed by the Result.

Here's one of my favourite Who'd Win/Result from the book:

"Stormtroopers Vs. Red Shirts
WHO'D WIN?
An away team beams into the Death Star to see if they can figure out why no one is answering the Enterprise's hails. As a group of 5 red shirts appears in the center of the main hangar, a squad of Storm Troopers spots them and rushes over to accost them.
"Hold it right there," the lead stormtrooper says as he and his fellows level their blaster rifles at the red shirts.
Knowing a hostile enemy when they see one, the red shirts open fire with their phasers. One of them has the presence of mind to reach for his communicator to request that they be beamed out of there, but while looking over his shoulder as he flees, he falls into a bottomless pit that has no good reason to be there.
The stormtroopers keep the red shirts on the run, but they can't seem to hit any of them with a blaster bolt, despite filling the air in the hangar with glowing bits of light. the red shirts manage to take out a few of the stormtroopers with their phasers, but as soon as one of the men in white goes down, another steps up to take his place.
RESULT
It's a tie. Really, it could go on forever, and the camera cuts away long before that."

This is one of the very few ties. Don't worry, there are definitive answers as to who wins and the book even keeps a running tally.

I cannot reccommend this book enough!!

Mindless Fun!

2011-06-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

A recent commission I've just finished. The Mindless Ones, burying Dr. Strange with sheer numbers!

India ink and gouache on 11" x 17" watercolour paper.

Athena Voltaire!!!

2011-06-29T10:36:00.000-07:00

Recently I asked 6 artists if they would like to do a commission sketch because I really wanted to see their interpretation of Fallen Angel. They delivered some fantastic stuff and among them was Steve Bryant, creator of Athena Voltaire.

His Fallen Angel peice, which was coloured by the very talented Jason Millet, was beyond incredible and it took me quite a while to come up with an idea for Athena that I thought would even approach being worthy as a payback.

Then I had the crazy dream...
I had just read Flight of the Falcon before bed and guess what? ...that's right, I had a dream that I was in an Athena Voltaire adventure. In the dream, Athena and I, sans parachutes, had just jumped out of a B29 bomber above a bunch of Nazi zeppelins. Our objective was to shoot them on the way down, blowing them up. Their was a reason more relevant to Athena than simply the war effort, but I can't remeber what it was.

The dream went into "video game mode" for a while as I started taking down blimps, then I turned to look at the falling Athena who was pointing her revolver right at me! I must have made a funny "Oh my!" face because she started laughing then pulled the trigger.

For a second I thought I was dead but instead of feeling a sharp bullet hole pain in my chest, I heard a scream behind me. Turns out a falling Nazi (presumably from one the exploding blimps) was trying to sneak behind me with a knife and Athena saved me! ...Long enough to plummet to my death that, is.

I looked down, saw the ground coming up fast, then woke up with a great idea for an Athena Voltaire pin up!

I definitely recommend the Athena Voltaire graphic novels!
you can find them here:
Flight of the Falcon
Collected Web Comics

Wizard World Philladelphia commission overflow

2011-06-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

Here are the last 2 sketches that I started but was unable to finish in Philly last weekend. These last 2 were kind enough to allow me to finish them back at the studio.

Terminator: The Resistance. Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese and an older Edward Furlong as John Conner in their trademark Resistance red armbands.

Athena Voltaire: Brilliant and sexy adventurer created by Steve Bryant

For the next 2 weeks, I'll be...
Taking commission requests for mail order.

If you are interested in a mail-order commission they are 9"x12" watercolour and ink and available for $30(add $2 for shipping). Simply email jkwoodward@hotmail.com with the words, "Mail Order Commission Sketch" in the subject line and describe what you want in the body of the email. I will respond with a confirmation, payment options and when your commission will be done(usually within the week).

The Last Preordered Commission for Wizard World Philly

2011-06-16T17:51:00.001-07:00

Last Day to Save Money & Preorder sketches for Wizard World Philadelphia

2011-06-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

On JUNE 17-18-19, 2011, I will be at Philadelphia Comic Con 2011 Wizard World Convention. http://www.wizardworld.com/philadelphia.html

Today is the last day to preorder your sketches!
save money by ordering today!
If you want commissioned sketches like the ones you see here simply send an email with a description and "Wizard World Philly sketch" in the subject line to jkwoodward@hotmail.com.

If you preorder:
Sketches are $30 for 3 or less character scenes ($10 each additional character)
Head Sketches are $10

At the con:
Sketches are $45 for 3 or less character scenes ($10 each additional character)
Head Sketches are $15

Transmetropolitan Art Book!

2011-06-14T06:14:00.000-07:00

I recently contributed a painting to a very ambitious project; An art book with Warren Ellis' and Darick Robertson's Transmetropolitan as a theme. I just got my copy in the mail and I got to tell you, IT IS BRILLIANT!

A beautiful hardcover with an embossed silver illustustration on the front and back and a dust cover by Darick Robertson with colours by Nathan Eyring!

It starts with a foreword by Warren Ellis, then an introduction by Darick Robertson accompanied by another brilliant illustration, then over 100 pages of spectacular art peppered with 6 prose interludes, and finally an Afterword by Stuart Moore(writer:Namor-Marvel)!

It is a brilliant, artfully put together work and its all to benefit, CBLDF and Hero Initiative!

It was a limited printing so if you're a fan of Transmetropolitan or even just a lover of art, order this book quickly!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

2011-06-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

When I heard IDW was bringing the turtles back to comics, I nearly died!

I've always wanted to draw a Turtles book so with that in mind, I banged out some tryout images.

The way I would approach it is to combine a Japanese art style with a noire sensibility in a Lower East Side setting.

Wizard World Philadelphia commissioned sketches!!

2011-06-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

On JUNE 17-18-19, 2011, I will be at Philadelphia Comic Con 2011 Wizard World Convention. http://www.wizardworld.com/philadelphia.html

I've already started taking preorders for sketches. here are the first 2

You can preorder your sketches now!
If you want commissioned sketches like the ones you see here simply send an email with a description and "Wizard World Philly sketch" in the subject line to jkwoodward@hotmail.com.

Sketches are $30 for 3 or less character scenes ($10 each additional character)
Head Sketches are $10

This Joke's on me Club Batman!!!

2011-05-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-!!!!

My friends in Malaga Spain (Club Batman) are having yet another event on July 16th and once again I'm donating some work because I just love these guys!

Guns of Shadow Valley

2011-05-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

and 11"x 17" watercolour of Frank "Breakneck" Kelly from Dave Wachter's Guns of Shadow Valley.
I played with a couple of different colour techniques digitally, but still prefer the original black & white.

COVERTIPS!

2011-05-26T09:58:00.000-07:00

Aspiring Comic artists, if you are not following CBCebulski , you really should be. I wanted to share this particular twitter thread today because he and various comic professionals are putting out some invaluable advice.
(read from bottom to top)

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @skottieyoung: Negative space's your friend on covers. I find the golden ration to be 70/30. 70 filled/30open, 70open/30filled #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @skottieyoung: Everything in life needs air to breathe, so does the image on your cover. Focal point SHOULDNT touch every edge #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @EricCanete: Leave room for THE LOGO; which will sometimes significantly change composition/intent/mood of art. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @nwoodard: Consider color when designing. Color should enhance a design that already works, not save a design that doesn't. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @LeeGarbett: Give the design a point of focus. If the eye doesn't know where to 'rest' it's a bad composition. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @davaja: Logo, upc, Marvel logo, credits... everything, is part of the cover. Exploit them as an element of your composition. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @davaja: Look what dominate the shelves, do something different. -Go away 5 meters away of your cover see if it still works. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @philhester: Concept first. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @jock4twenty: be aware of negative space as shapes that attract the eye. position figures/elements within the shapes! be bold. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @ChrisEliopoulos: I always try to use white backgrounds and simple figures. Go very graphic. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @shawncrystal: Design comes first, then drawing. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @RyanStegman: Less is more! #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

RT @ollymoss: Think about your concept for at least as long as it will take you to execute it. #covertips

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

Some great cover design advice coming in. I'll be retweeting some of it under the hashtag #covertips. Be sure to follow the artists too!

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

A number of replies have asked for tips on creating eye-catching and inspired covers. Any suggestions to offer, all you artists out there?

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

Caught last week's Iron Chef America: Battle Mussels. Wow. @bflay really outdid himself! So want a tasting menu of those dishes he rocked!

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

A mouth-watering pic that @ronxo, and I believe @Agent_M, foodhazed me with from Louisville last week... www.eataku.com

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

Totally love sriracha! And @bonappetit runs a cool article on 25 different ways to use it, now online: http://bit.ly/mmrcMc

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

If I saw just the covers at a con or in a shop, I would never have picked up the books. The cover is your first impression. Make it count!

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

I just got sent a few comics from up-n-comers and was instantly turned off by the covers. Uggh! But upon opening, the interior art was nice

CBCebulski C.B. Cebulski

Never underestimate the power of a cover on your comic. Especially you indy/small press guys. It can make or break your book. Really.

The Last Supper ...At Furors Bar?

2011-05-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

This was an exciting commission! Fallen Angel characters in DaVinci's Last Supper!
Not only was it a fun challenge to recreate my own version of the Last Supper, but it was a thrill to finally see all these characters together in one place at the same time.
These are all characters from Peter David's Fallen Angel. Some are living some are dead and they span the whole run all the way back to the DC days.

Wizard World Philadelphia Commissions

2011-05-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Comic Con 2011
I will be signing and drawing at
Wizard World Convention
JUNE 17-18-19, 2011
FRI-SAT-SUN
http://www.wizardworld.com/philadelphia.html

Preordering your sketches are the best way to guarantee getting one.
if you would like to preorder sketches please send an email with a description and "Wizard World Philly sketch" in the subject line to jkwoodward@hotmail.com.

Sketches are $30
for 3 or less character scenes($10 each additional character)
Headshots are $10

samples of sketches from CGSSS and NYCC here, here and here

The Camelot Papers

2011-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

"In April 2011, David announced that, in addition to another Fable novel, he and a number of other writers, including Glenn Hauman, Mike Friedman and Bob Greenberger, were assembling an electronic publishing endeavor called Crazy Eight Press, which would allow them to publish e-books directly to fans, the first of which would be David's Arthurian story, The Camelot Papers. David explained that the second book in his "Hidden Earth" trilogy would also be published through Crazy Eight." -Wikipedia

Peter describes the novel as:
"Arthurian times told through the point of view of a young female slave named Vivianna who is able to read and write and thus keeps a diary of what she sees in her time at Camelot. Envision a Camelot where Arthur is basically George W. Bush, Guinevere and Lancelot are Hillary and Bill Clinton, Merlin is Karl Rove, and Galahad is Barack Obama. It's not a laugh-riot, though; more of a acknowledgment that what we see in terms of our modern day leaders' actions is simply the latest iteration of behaviors that go back centuries."

I was fortunate enough to be called upon by Peter himself to do this cover. It was Peter's idea to do this design. I had an exact feeling that I wanted from the cover based on the preview of Peter's book I had read. It was precise, perfect for this project and I had no idea what it was.(I was doing that annoying editor, "I'll-know-it-when-I-see-it" thing to myself) We bounced around a few ideas some were really close to this as of yet hypothetical unattainable perfect cover, but none that really pleased Peter or myself until he sent this in an email:

" What would you think of designing a cover that looked like the front page of a supermarket shopper or 'People' magazine. Something with headlines and accompanying illustrations such as...

Royal Wedding Scandal!

Prince wanted to marry sister!

Court insider tells all in book! "

BINGO!

I went all out. Particularly on a the king's tunic, forgetting that I would just be covering it all up with text anyway.

According to Peter, " the release date is July 8th, and people can go to www.crazy8press.com where they'll be guided to whatever platform they want to buy it on."

I, myself have read about half of the new novel so far and I have to say, it is Peter at his best!

Galaxy's Finest:Johnny Recon/Nexus

2011-05-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

The Ultimate Team-Up!

If you've ever read this blog before than you know I'm a fan of Scott Dillon and Mitch Gerad's Johnny Recon. In fact this is not the first time I painted him.
(other Johnny Recon Posts: 1 , 2 , 3 )

I did this peice as almost a companion piece or mirror image to another painting I call, "ElseWorld's Finest", which featured Batman Beyond and Space Ghost. Johnny Recon would take the place of Batman and since both Mitch and I are fans of Rude, specifically Nexus, I thought who better to take over the Space Ghost position.

Too Cool to be the Stalker...

2011-05-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

I started an unhealthy obsession of collecting other artists interpretations of Fallen Angel with Alex Robinson who did this magnificent piece.

As payment, Alex was gracious enough to accept a trade and commissioned me to do a painting of one of his characters. This is what I came up with.

The Nightstalker movie set! The Nightstalker is a fictional character within a fictional world. That is to say the fictional characters in Box Office Poison view him as a comic book character. So when I decided to paint this character, I wanted to reflect that "fictional" view of him and so I put him on the set of the Nightstalker movie which I call, "Nightstalker Stalks Again". I thought it would be nice if he were reading Alex's latest book as well.

COMING SOON:
Johnny Recon
Guns of Shadow Valley
Athena Voltaire

Leftovers.

2011-05-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

There were a few of sketches that were requested at Comic Geek Speak Supershow that either I didn't get to in time or the person couldn't make it there to pick up. They have been mailed out and these are them(these are they? - whatever.)

Also I'd like to announce 2 new con appearances:

Philadelphia Comic Con 2011
Wizard World Convention
JUNE 17-18-19, 2011
FRI-SAT-SUN
http://www.wizardworld.com/philadelphia.html

if you would like to preorder sketches to this please send an email with a description and "Wizard World Philly sketch" in the subject line to jkwoodward@hotmail.com.
Sketches are $30 for 3 or less character scenes($10 each additional character) and $10 for headshots.

New England Comic Con 2011
Wizard World Convention
SEPTEMBER 17-18, 2011
SAT-SUN
http://www.wizardworld.com/newengland.html

if you would like to preorder sketches to this please send an email with a description and "Wizard World Boston sketch" in the subject line to jkwoodward@hotmail.com.
Sketches are $30 for 3 or less character scenes($10 each additional character) and $10 for headshots.

Fallen Angel Gallery

2011-05-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

In honour of Fallen Angel:Return of the Son #4 which is in stores today, I thought I'd release a sneak peek at some of the extras the that will be featured in the Fallen Angel:Return of the Son collected trade paperback. I ask several different artists if they would mind taking a stab at the Fallen Angel characters and got back some incredible stuff!

In order of appearance.

Alex Robinson
Andy Jewett
Dave Wachter
Steve Bryant with colours by Jason Millet

EVIL ERNIE!!!!

2011-05-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a huge fan of Evil Ernie since back in the day, so when I bumped into Jesse Blaze Snider at C2E2 I was ecstatic to hear that he was handling the script for Evil Ernie's return!(to be published by Dynamite) I had read his Hulk one-shot he did for Marvel and remembered enjoying it alot, so I was confident he could handle this just fine. Later he was showing a select few his script for issue 1 to get some feedback. Because I was an Ernie super fan I was one of the lucky few that got a sneak peek and to say I was thrilled with it would be a massive understatement. I was immediately inspired and painted the watercolour rendition you see here today!

Comic Geek Speak Super Show 2011!!

2011-04-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

I'm on my way to Supershow and these are the sketches I've done already:
More to come tomorrow!

The Answer! : Man of Mystery pt 2

2011-04-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

The final colour.

In my last blog I showed 2 finished vbersions with different colour work and was uncertain about either so I put the word out on twitter so that I might get some advice. and I did.

The first word was from Lucas Seigel:
"The second one is WAY better. The first one features the explosion more than it does the hero."

"Great!", I thought. That's the direction I'd been leaning too. Perhaps my insticts were right.

But then Amber Love came in with:
"I respectfully disagree with Lucas on this one. I think the explosions call for more dynamic colors."
followed by
"I normally prefer subtle colors for large outdoor scenes but in this case, it's explosions and I would say the first version has more energy behind the fire. It makes a bit more dynamic with a stronger sense of the movement. "

Things went on like this where I would get a vote for version 1 and a vote for version 2 and most would go on to explain why they felt that way. They were all good reasons and for a while it stayed 50/50, but eventually version 1 started winning out by a great number.

But then I started considering the reasons they were giving. Lucas who chose version 2 said:
"not necessarily brighter, but maybe a little richer color on Answer, specifically on the mask, to make that pop a little more."

and then I heard from Andy Jewett who chose version 1 who said:
" I almost kind of wonder if you could go with an even more saturated color palette. For fun push the colors a little harder."

That's a partial quote from a larger conversation, but he was talking about the character more than the background. So it occurred to me that I had 2 people with 2 different choices but seeing the same weakness; The character itself should pop more. I noticed that opinion echoed in some of the other comments. Clearly I needed to come up with a third option where I enriched the foreground character so it wasn't being upstaged by the explosion. This should allow me to keep the explosion vibrant giving it that kinetic energy I wanted. "...more dynamic with a stronger sense of the movement. " as Amber described it.

This is what I came up with. I added a little contrast with the mask, belt, gloves, and boot, but also added more colour. Not simply a stronger saturation of the blue in the outfit, but the reflective colours from the explosion. a stark orange and yellow highlight and hits of magenta to give it a little colour depth.

The Answer! : Man of Mystery

2011-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

So I took a shot at Mike Norton's enigmatic hero.

what d'ya think?

I'm still playing around with the colour. I'm not sure I'm completely happy with either and I'll probably try a third option before making a choice.

If you'd like to see more of this character drawn properly by his creator, go here.

CGS Supershow is in 3 weeks!

2011-04-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

Preordering your sketches guarantees you'll get it.

I will be sketching on site at CGS Supershow 2011 all weekend, however the event also offers me the rare opportunity to mix with old friends, colleagues and comic fans. In other words, I get all chatty and this slows down my sketching. The best way to be sure, you'll get your sketch is to preorder.

How do I preorder?
simply send me an email at jkwoodward@hotmail.com with a description of the sketch you would like and "CGSSS Sketch" in the subject line. I'll email you back with a confirmation and your sketch will be waiting for you at Supershow!

How much do these original works of art cost?
head sketch - $10
full scene - $30(add $10 for each additional character over 2)

I've included sketches from last year to give you an idea of what you'll get.

Red Sonja vs Zantana!!

2011-03-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

The latest commission sketch I did for Bob Bretall of www.comicbookpage.com
I've included progress photos.

More visitors to Bete Noire

2011-03-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

Continuing the tradition I started with Kody Chamberlain, Chris Roberson and Lou Anders, I've sent more friends to Bete Noire. Page 7, issue 4 of Fallen Angel:Return of the Son will feature:

Amber Love
www.amberunmasked.com

Pete's Basement
www.petesbasement.com
featuring: Pete DeLuca, Roger Kenny, Ramon

Mitch Gerads
www.popgunpulp.com

Also:
Find out more about Fallen Angel from IDW
and
Fallen Angel Fans! Go to ComicAttack.net for a chance to win a rare Fallen Angel:Return of the Son #1 sketch cover edition signed and with an original sketch by me! hurry! you've only got 5 days left!!

Javen's story

2011-03-09T16:17:00.000-08:00

Last April I was working on a Star Trek comic with Keith DeCandido(Star Trek Captain's Log:Jellico) and I came to a point in the script that required a background peppered with children's drawings. I decided to go for authenticity and asked an old friend from high school if her kids would like to contribute. There names are Javen and Elijah.

They did several illustrations.
It looked great.
They had a blast.
see more here.

Today I got this from their mother,my friend from high school, Amy Tomaso

"SO - attached is ONE page from Javen's latest work. I got him a Transformers comic book. He is still drawing - but (and this is a quote) he is 'working on his style'. He is adding scenery details - this has rain and the brown is rocks. He 'copied' from one of the pages... he stapled 4 pages together to make his own comic. Too cute.... when he was done, he was looking at it - like he was analyzing it - and said 'i think Jim should see this - can u email it for me?' Kid kills me.... so - here you go. He's also working on 'writing' his own story lines.... this is just awesome :)"

I've included Javen's work here and I think its just fantastic! I'm thrilled he's taken an interest in both reading and art and that the interest has seemed to take hold now for almost a year.

I should also add that I'm thrilled to see he's reading IDW. The kid's got taste!

I work 100+ hrs a week but rarely feel that I really get anything done. This most certainly changes that.

Keep up the great work Javen! I can't wait to see what comes next!