I knew the bride (when she used to rock and roll) part 2

Rough marker sketch, pencils and inks...

Bat Lash TPB cover inks over Nick Cardy

It's possible I've already posted this one, but for the life of me, I can't find it anywhere. My apologies if this is another accidental rerun.

Nick Cardy was one of my favorite artists when I was growing up in the '60's. From Teen Titans, through Brave and the Bold, Aquaman and the series that I would consider his masterpiece, Bat Lash.

He's a gifted storyteller on paper and in person and this was the one time we got to work together; a cover for the trade paperback collection of the 2008 series. Nick wanted to hang on to his pencils if possible so I told him I'd be more than happy to ink a blueline print and return his pencils to him untouched. He drew the cover so tight that my inks weren't really needed, but it was a genuine thrill to do this job so I'm glad that DC didn't feel the same way.

Batman, Superman & Wonder Woman painting

From 2009, 11 x 17", ink and watercolor.

Batman inventory cover sketches

I posted the final prelim and the inks back here, but now, thanks to Ande Parks, I have scans of several of the earlier sketches:

Superman grayscale painting

Rough, pencil comp, painting (gouache on gray board) and a crudely colored digital version.

Avengers #1 cover recreation

Drawn late last year. Too bad I couldn't squeeze the Vision in there.

Batman 17" x 11" pen and ink piece

He's gliding, not flying...

Yet another Batgirl pin-up

Looks like this was drawn in 2006:

Batman spot illustration for the Comics Journal

I think this was drawn around 1980 or '81. I couldn't even sign my name right back then...

Prelim for The Thing card art

A pencil and marker prelim for one of the cards in the Upper Deck set shown here.

Robby Reed, Dial "H" for Hero

I really enjoyed this series when I was a wee lad, especially the charming, earnest art by Jim Mooney. This piece was drawn in 1981 for one of the Fantagraphics magazines, either The Comics Journal or Amazing Heroes. The scan was provided by the charming and earnest Mr. Hiroshi Morisaki.

Captain America commission 2006

Prelim, pencils and inks. A Christmas present, commissioned by a very special wife for her husband.

Me hate Bizarro

This one was drawn larger than normal, "twice up" with an image area around 13.5 x 18.5". It takes longer but I like working large like this, especially when the piece has hand lettering.

Hellboy Mermaid pin-up

I didn't know what to draw for this one. Mike had been talking about writing a mermaid story and asked if I'd be interested in drawing it so I decided to head off in that direction. The thumbnail sketches show that I was flailing about, looking for inspiration to strike...

Jerry Lewis in a blond wig and tutu: Bob Oksner art

It's Labor Day so what better time to show off a little original art from Jerry's long-running DC series. Pencils and inks by Bob Oksner, lettering by Ben Oda. I don't know who wrote the story but I remember Oksner talking about writing some of the later Lewis scripts himself so this might be one of them.

The gun barrel and a few of the buildings were ruled with a pen, everything else is inked with a brush.

Jerry's in drag but he's very recognizable throughout the sequence because of Oksner's virtuoso talent for drawing likenesses and inspired use of body language. He drew more than a hundred issues of this series and somehow managed to get better every year. I've included a scan of the back of the art so you can see how he did a little pencilling in reverse, using a light table.

Another Batman & Joker commission

This one is from 2002...

Batman con sketch

Other than quick head shots, I don't really do convention sketches but here's an exception from the 1996 Atlanta Con. You'll never guess who sent me the scan...