Warblade Wednesday!

[Joel]

Hey all, just wanted to post a little ditty and wish everybody a Happy New Year from us here at the 'metti!

JOEL

Happy Holidays!

[Joel]

Hey guys, hope everyone is enjoying the holidays with family and friends...I've been dabbling with ink and washes lately and wanted to share an image of my latest efforts. A friend of mine suggested I explore this a little more as a way of improving my drawing skills.

I've dabbled in this brush style previously with colored paper (I posted a Jonah Hex piece, as well as a Daredevil piece I've done in this style). I find that working this way forces me to focus on what is important in the drawing - creating a more three dimensional image, all the while using composition to lead the eye where you want.

It's been a lot of fun learning the tools and I can't help but feel its changing how I draw...mastering the tools and techniques, rather than forcing them to do what I want...that being said-I think my Solomon could use a little work...Happy Holidays guys!

JOEL

Special Batman Art Holiday Fundraiser

[jimlee]

As my schedule permits, every now and then I try and help out with worthwhile causes whether it's the CBLDF or the Clearview School Fundraiser...this time I am doing something on a smaller scale but for as big and worthy of a cause. Something for a friend of a friend. Someone I have never had the honor of meeting but has a plight which moved me into action.

On November 12th, 2008, a friend of a friend, Portia Cano, passed away after battling bone cancer. Diagnosed back in 2003, she underwent dozens of major surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments before she fell to the disease, leaving behind her husband, Marco, and four children, ages one to ten. Unfortunately over the years their bills mounted, as her health insurance didn't cover all of the treatment.

So every year, Will and Amy, friends of Carla and me put on an informal fundraiser to benefit the Cano Family. This year, I am contributing this piece I drew specifically for the fundraiser. I am giving any art collectors looking for an one of a kind holiday gift to check it out here first. It measures 11x14 and is on 2 ply bristol board and is drawn in ink and whiteout.

Here's a link to the eBay auction.

Thanks for reading...

"It's Gettin' Hot In Here..."

[Oliver]

Hey ya'lls, hope everybody's holidays are going good.

Anyhoo, I just read 'X-Infernus' and was inspired to do this piece of Illyana Rasputin in her Darkchild form. I luv her look and design and like I said the last time I posted a piece I did of her, I'm glad she's making her long overdue comeback.

I've included my light pencils, half way through the inks and the final. Hope you like!

Ha-ha-happy Holidays!

[Nuñez]

Hello,

Hope everyone is excited about the holidays. I know I am :) Here's a piece for all you Joker lovers out there. I have always loved the Joker.....then again I pretty much love all the Batman villians.

I started this little bad boy sometime last week and just got around to finishing it. I did this piece just for fun, but I also did it to practice my inking techniques. I have been trying to apply myself to ink a lot more I just have a fear for it, so I have to keep reminding myself just to have fun with it. I think one of the reasons I freak out is because it forces me to be a lot tighter on my pencil work and I like to keep things loose.

Anyhoo hope you guys dig.

Peace out

Iron Gelatomettista Champ - Ben Templesmith!

[Ben]

I am honoured to have received so many votes. My hats off to Carlos, and I had a lot of fun with the speed drawing/painting.

To celebrate I'm off down the pub for a bit of celebratory festive baby eating. Very healthy for you and full of protein!

-B

[Carlitos]

DAAAAAAMN… I haven’t gotten a spanking like that since the last time I ate the the whole jar of cookies and my Mom caught me!!! Hahahah…

Mr Templesmith, congratulations on such magnanimous butt kicking! ☺ Gotta admit that when I got home and saw them side by side I said to myself “why the hell did I pick red and blue for Frankenstein?!?

….BUT, if you are down, how ‘bout a rematch after the Holiday craziness?!?

Well done Sir, Well Done!!!

Iron Gelatomettista - Frankenstein!

Side-by-side! (Vote for your favorite in one of the posts below.)

Final voting ends at Monday, 5:00pm PST.

Iron Gelatomettista - Carlos D'Anda!

Vote for Carlos D'Anda by posting a comment below!

Iron Gelatomettista - Ben Templesmith!

Vote for Ben Templesmith by posting a comment below!

Iron Gelatomettista Challenger - Ben Templesmith!

[Eddy]

Over the weekend, I ran into Ben Templesmith at IDW and he's been itching to challenge our Carlos D'Anda in the next one-hour sketch challenge! Ben's recently moved to the San Diego area from the land down under, where I'm told their toilets are so superior to American ones they don't even need plungers! And thanks to our recent trip there, I can definitely believe it! But enough plumbing talk, here's a little more background on this week's challenger:

"Ben Templesmith is a comic book artist/grumpy old man hailing from Perth, Australia. He's done books such as 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, FELL, WORMWOOD: GENTLEMAN CORPSE, WELCOME TO HOXFORD and the upcoming PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES. He does not eat babies. Much. Currently artist in residence for IDW Publishing."

He must be doing something right, since his site's blocked at our office "because it may contain content inappropriate for the workplace." Fortunately, his blog works just fine here.

Just to recap how these Iron Gelatomettista challenges go, everyone's welcome to post their choice for one character they'd like to see drawn in an hour by these two artists and afterwards you get to vote on the winning piece! Normally, I like to stay out of the choice of characters, but this time I'll get the ball rolling with Dr. Doom!

UPDATE @ 12/12/08, 5:05pm: Sorry to disappoint all the Warren Ellis fans out there, but FRANKENSTEIN gets the nod this time, so check back in an hour or so for the final results!

Pryde of the X-Men

[Oliver]

Hey ya'lls, Oliver here with a recent piece I did for fun of my second favorite X-chick, Kitty Pryde. I just bought the second hardcover of Astonishing X-Men and re-read it, again, for the third time and Kitty's sacrifice still gets to me..sniff..sniff.

I don't have a lot of free time so I wanted to keep the composition simple and to the point. Hope you like.

iWolverine

[Eddy]

One young Australian fan didn't have any bristol board or a sketchbook to call his own, so he asked Jim for a sketch on the one thing he did have - an iPod.

IDW Customer Appreciation Sale!

[Eddy]

Our friends at IDW are having their first "Customer Appreciation Sale" this Saturday and everyone's invited! Not only will there be some great deals on comics, but Ben (Wormwood, 30 Days of Night) Templesmith, Chris (Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show, Zombies vs. Robots) Ryall and Chris (Transformers: Reign of Starscream) Mowry will also be there signing for fans!

When:
Saturday, Dec. 6 from 10:00am - 3:00pm

Where:
5080 Santa Fe St., San Diego, CA 92109

Who knows? You might even bump into someone from WildStorm there too!

If This Be Doomsday!

[Livio]

This piece takes place back in the days of the Surfer being the herald of Galactus. Having just helped kill an entire planet, the Surfer is taking a moment to reflect on the horrors of what he's done while his master is sucking the life from the world.

I had this lighting scheme pretty much in mind from the start, this sort of rainy blown-out overcast look. I also wanted to play around with the idea that just Galactus' presence alone might be enough to upset the natural order of a planet-hence the tidal waves destroying buildings at his feet, and the bizarre vertical lightning

And above are my initial rough thumbnail and pencil linework, done during a jam session at studiomate J.J. Kirby's pad! J was full of good suggestions for this painting, so he's getting a shout out here. Thanks, dude!

-Livio

Kirby - New Zealand

[Eddy]

Hope everyone had a great weekend with Turkey day and all the shopping on Black Friday or as I like to call it, HD Friday!

Above, are more sketches from the recent New Zealand show where JJ was really in his groove doing sketch after sketch for fans! My favorite's the Harley Quinn sketch, but I also like how a fan asked for a self-portrait of JJ, just because they liked meeting him!

Back on the food tip, JJ introduced me to all of the different meat pies in New Zealand too, which we ate every day we were there. Mmm, meat pies...

Spider-Doofer

[Eddy]

A "doofer" is a piece of folded cardboard used to hold juicy burgers and it's even patented by Burger Fuel. Once you folded it together, it formed this little cup, so you could carefully eat your food without getting your hands too messy. Hmm, I wonder if they make one to hold pizza?

Anyway, each day at the New Zealand show, a few Burger Fuel girls would come over and take our order for their tasty, gourmet burgers, Kumara (sweet potato) fries and sweet milkshakes. Plus, they'd bring over plenty of doofers to keep ourselves clean.

The girls were always very friendly and helpful with their time and on the last day, one of the girls wanted a sketch from Jim, so he knocked out this great Spider-Man sketch on one of the unfolded doofers. Bam, instant comic fan!

With food on the brain now, I hope everyone enjoys their weekend and has a great Thanksgiving!

Nuñez - New Zealand

[Eddy]

After a short stop in LA, we flew 12 hours overnight to Auckland, New Zealand and went right to the hotel for a quick shower and change of clothes before heading over to the convention Saturday morning. When we got there, all of the convention guests were introduced on the main stage and welcomed by a traditional Maori dance, including a hongi, which is their custom of touching noses.

Afterwards, it was off to the top floor of the convention for our first signing of the day. I think we were all on auto pilot by then, but it was still fun being in another country and meeting new fans.

For most of us, this was our first overseas convention and, like Livio, this was only the second convention for Eddie Nuñez.

Just add water!

[Eddy]

I didn't have my video camera on me that day, but here are some work-in-progress pics of Jim sketching Joker. Obviously, one of the more popular and fun characters for him to draw because of his extreme personality.

The only color markers on-hand were ones you had to apply water onto, so Jim quickly laid some water on the page and sketched out the general shape of Joker's head in green.

After he let it dry a little, he went back over it with a black marker and added some red and white highlights for those finishing touches.

Including drying time, this sketch took about 10 minutes.

Ramondelli - New Zealand

[Eddy]

This was Livio's second time behind the table and he was doing sketch after sketch for the fans like an old pro.