entry ricH
I just wanted to wish everyone here a Happy Holiday season and also a Happy New Year....by the time most people read this, they'll be hung over, the gifts will all be open and broke...(or well played with) and the season will be all but over....
it's cool.
I still wanted to say it. I think we've been online for 3 years now....Will Year 4 bring something new and exciting to WS? We'll just have to wait and see.
:)
ricH
[Lopez]Howdy folks! This is too cool - I got a Gen13 cover gig! This is the first of 3 covers I'll be doing for Gen13.
I love being back at WildStorm. There are just too many cool things going on here! Along with being able to work with a crew of the most talented people here, there are cool opportunities to also do some COMICS!!!
Anyhow, thought I'd share my good news with you, hope you like the cover.
See ya next time
-Mike
entry ricH
Here's a piece of fan art I did recently. I found a scan of the pencils online (obviously the piece is from the great Joe Madureira and his new Ultimates book) and it looked fun to ink.
I did it as a step by step so you can check out the entire process at: deviant
ricH.
[Eddy]Michael Lopez went beyond a quick warm up during lunch with this piece and took it all the way through dinner!
It's up now for auction and I think I might even be getting in on the bidding with this one!
[Eddy]Super heroes in the mainstream have never been more popular than they are today, but when I was a kid, it all came down to Christopher Reeve in the Superman movies, Adam West's Batman on TV and Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman kicking and spinning her way on the small screen. DC's Big Three came to life and I just ate it all up.
The next best thing to watching those actors would be to meet the actual creators behind my favorite characters and now I get to work alongside them everyday. Some days are more larger than life than the next, but there's always something to make me feel like a kid again everyday.
All of this is my roundabout way of saying how cool it is to watch these pieces come together as we shoot the breeze at the office and now, they're available for all the fans out there to own! 
And if you act fast, you just might catch the Supergirl auction ending right now or, if you miss it, here are three more Wonder Woman auctions from Jim, JJ and Oliver.
[jimlee]
Hopefully, these will go to good homes rather than to dealers looking to flip them. If the latter, we will have to figure out other ways to get them into the hands of collectors and fans directly. We have been doing these as challenges in the studio with whoever is around, sitting down and jamming out their rendition of a character we all pick in common. The first was Supergirl. The next is Wonder Woman and will be posted up as an auction Monday. After that, Batgirl on Wednesday. Not sure how long we will be doing it so make your strategic bid today! Come Christmas day, we will do one which will go FREE to a gelatometti poster who first answers 3 trivia questions. How's that for service!
Each illo is usually a mix of pencil, pen and ink with whiteout on large 11x17 board. The 4 in this batch were done by JJ JKirby, Oliver Nome, Mike Lopez and myself. What do you like or dislike about em...let us know. There's always a lot of battletalk in the studio when it comes down to style and your comments help fuel the "discussions!"
Here's the link to the current Supergirl auction here!
Cheers~!
[Sinc']Inks: Got a couple boards from Jim & Scott for this one. One's the Joker and the other was blood splatter which Jim wanted dropped in behind the Joker.
Solicits: We were pressed for time to get this to solicits so I did 2 quick versions (left and middle). DC did not want to reveal that the Joker would be in this issue so I did the one on the right which is what was printed.
Cover: While I was coloring it, Jim mentioned that he wanted to have a big 'ol tattoo on the Joker. Everyone loved the idea and a few days later I got the scan for it. I had already colored the cover by then so all I had to do was google "dragon tattoo" for reference and color it accordingly. I added it to the Joker; tweaked it so it would look like it's on his body and shipped it out.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sinc'
[jimlee]
Based on these three samples it's probably clear that I really enjoy science fiction and "widescreen" imagery.
I'd like to give one last shout out to all the great artists and friends here, including Carlos, Oliver, J.J., Eddy, Mike, Joel, Rich, Sandra, and especially Jim. You guys have made me feel very welcome and I can honestly say I enjoy waking up in the morning when I know this studio is waiting for me!
[Lopez]Hello out there. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! During the holiday I had a chance to work on a commision for a friend, Jon Bolerjack, that I wanted to share with you.
This is Tetsuo and Kaneda from AKIRA, in case you were unfamiliar with the characters. This is a little different from the other toned paper sketches, the difference being just a little more color. I am a huge lover of graffitti-and when I get a chance to throw in that influence, I absolutely do not pass up that opprotunity.
Also thanks to everyone who commented on my last posting. Sorry, I am still learning to reply to your comments now.
That's all for now, see ya.
[Eddy]Homage to Jack Burnley.
Written by Frank Miller
Art and cover by Jim Lee & Scott Williams
Variant cover by Neal Adams
The Dynamic Duo: yellow-bellied? Green Lantern tries to convince Batman & Robin to fall in line, but the pair takes him to school…in color theory!
On sale February 27.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
[Nome]Hey yalls, here's a Scarlet Witch I did right before Comic-Con 07'. I just wanted to do a nice headshot of a female that I hadn't drawn yet and thought she'd be perfect with her headpiece and all. Fans also seem to want sketches of her a lot so I also wanted to get a good feel for the character.
J.J. "The Greatness" Kirby colored the piece very beautifully. Looking forward to him coloring some more of my work in the near future.
[Lopez]Howdy people, this was a sketch I did a few months ago at Comic-Con. Yes, yet another shot of Voodoo, one of my favorite WildStorm characters ever.
For this sketch I wanted to try and draw her "droppin it like it's hot!!" She was a stripper afterall. Always fun drawing the ladies.
Anyhow , that's it for now. See ya.
entry ricH
Hey it's been a little while since I've posted and I have been adding some new and old work on my deviant art page. It's a little of everything (some Bachalo, Portacio, Charest, Lee, a little new art from me etc.) This isn't a cheesy plug but I did at least have one newer image I could post here (finally) so I thought I would.
I've been working for the last 5 months pretty much non-stop. Schedules and publishing dates as they are....I've had nothing on the shelves since I think....May?? Which means very little art I can show online.
It's a weird catch 22. As the work comes out people will usually go "man you are doing a LOT lately" and the reality is....I've been doing a lot of work the last 6 months but it's all hitting the stands around the same time.
Iron and the Maiden is a HOT looking book. Francis Manapul and Joel Gomez do some amazing pencils....and the colors by Danimation are great. This is the cover for issue 4 Jim and I did, which I believe came out last week. Check it out.
see you all very soon~!
ricH.
[jimlee]
The crew here at WildStorm got to take its shot at reinterpreting Lara Croft and created a short Tomb Raider vignette which can be seen at Tomb Raider: GameTap Collection. I will have a more in-depth piece about the work the studio did but I wanted to throw a couple of video interviews that Gametap produced on one of their visits to the studio. We talked about Tomb Raider, Comics, the Studio, Batman and much more. I will put up a couple interviews now and the rest in about 9 days when I get back from Ireland.
Soooo.....I would like to congratulate Dan "The Urban Barbarian" Panosian for winning by a landslide and slaughtering me, Oliver "The Iron Lotus" Nome. Thanks to all of you who voted for your fave and thanks to those who had kind words for a newbie like me:) These "Iron Gelatomettista" battles are always a fun challenge and I can't wait till my next one.
Untill then.....Oliver
Thanks Oliver! It was a real treat to be a part of the action!
Looking at my piece now I think you really nailed the look of the character! Mine could actually be a cross between Kusanagi and Black Widow...! Let's just say it was quite an intense hour! Thanks for the kind words and votes everyone!
Years ago I did a bit of work for Wildstorm and always looked forward to visiting the studio! You know how they always make it seem like one big happy artist party over there? Well, it actually is! Between the great staff and in-house art teams you can't help but enjoy yourself!
Go Wildstorm!!!
Side-by-side! (Don't vote here.)Final voting ends at Monday, 5:00pm PST.
Dan Panosian may be a newcomer here, but he should be all-too familiar to the blogosphere and long-time comic fans. Outside of the occassional cover, like the two above, he's been hard at work in the advertising world these days, but still finds time to Drink and Draw at the same time. Don't let his wide-eyed enthusiasm fool you, this man is a highly-trained professional. Highly. Trained.When we all found out Dan wanted to throwdown here, the only one who didn't cringe with defeat was our own powerhouse, Oliver Nome. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the headphones he had on at the time either. Btw, if you're reading this Oliver, you're going up againt Dan Panosian. Oliver?
So you all know the drill, post your choice for one character you'd like to see them draw in an under an hour and come back later to vote on the winner. It all goes down tomorrow, so in the meantime, check out Dan's blog to see why both men and women call him the Urban Barbarian!
UPDATE: They'll be drawing Ghost in the Shell's Major Kusanagi!
First off, thanks to everyone who voted in one of our closest and most-hotly-debated challenges yet! Both sides brought their "A" games and the final result could've gone either way, but today, Jim took home the title 101-86. Take a bow guys and for everyone interested in owning one of these two gorgeous pieces, please keep checking back for a time and date when the CBLDF puts them up for auction.Secondly, hope everyone enjoys JJ Kirby's colors over Jim's winning piece above. He wanted to show some love for Cloak & Dagger too.
Later this week, we've also got our next Iron Gelatomettista challenge lined-up with a fresh, new challenger to the blog. But before we get to that, here are some comments from Jim on drawing against the clock, followed by Francis' reply:
Got to tip the hat to Francis...he's a battler. And has the makings of a great Iron Chef Gelatomettista-Killer...and what are those qualities? Well, the secret to these 1 hour challenges are imho the following:
1--you got to have a sketch style. You can't simply expect to use the style you use for published covers and interiors for a quickie like this. Not that you have to draw poorly or sketchy--just that the time constraints force you to strip down your style to the bare essentials. And Francis has this. Check out his sketches vs his Gelatometti pieces vs his published work. His style through and through...just different levels of detail and clarity fairly unseen by the casual viewer. That's why I think Jeff Campbell lost in his previous challenge...he was bringing his pro high finesse high polish style to his piece and didn't finish the image he had in his head.
2--Need a creative hook for viewers to latch onto. Each image an artist creates has to say something. Yes, we don't have words but we have faces, gestures and composition. And even in a static, single image, we have storytelling. A piece is not just a drawing of a character...it's a visual interpretation of a character's personality and life story and the more the image presents and represents that, the more the image engages the viewer. Fans often overlook this when they talk about why certain artists are more popular than others but it's this quality that separates those who draw the pictures from those who live through them. Francis brings that storytelling as well.
3--Have to strength under pressure. Doing a live, online challenge like this can mess with your head...it's the closest to participating in a sporting event you will find while holding a pencil. The only thing more intense would be to do it in front of an audience at a con which I have done too. Doing it online is a fraction less intense but still a lot of fun if you have confidence in what you can deliver in an hour. That's why you see the guys with more experience under their belt do better in the long run.
4--You got to be fast...I've had the pleasure of attending smaller cons with Francis, once at Essen, Germany iirc and also at Angouleme, France and the 'Pul is as quick a draw as they come.
Kudos again to the Toronto Kid...we're gonna duke it out tonight on Halo3 too I think. The contest truly never ends heh.
-
Jim Lee
Thanks for the kind words Jim! That means a lot!
I was blown out of the water when I saw your piece, it just goes to show how much I have further I have to go.
This was a huge battle for me for many reasons. I've been a big fan of yours since I was a kid, so the fact that the master entertained a battle with a student was good enough for me!
Till next time Jim!
Francis
Side-by-side! (Don't vote here.)Final voting ends at Monday, 5:00pm PST.
Feel that adrenaline kicking in? It all goes down in fifteen minutes!!Jim Lee in one corner and Francis Manapul in the other with the Iron Gelatomettista title up for grabs here.
Grab some popcorn and keep checking for the all latest on the challenge and find out if your favorite characters get thrown in the ring too!!
UPDATE: Keep an eye out for Cloak & Dagger!
For anyone who's been following the Iron Gelatomettista challenges here, the name Francis Manapul should be all too familiar. Not only was he the first challenger to step into the ring, but he also beat four of our own 'mettistas in his last round here back in July. A dark day for the blog indeed!Not only is he a threat here on the internets, but he can also hold his own on the comic racks with such upcoming titles as The Legion of Super-Heroes appearing in December, Iron and the Maiden in November and Sept Guerrieres from Editions Delcourt in 2008. The point here is that he's good, very good even, but then the artist he's facing off against this time is no slouch either: Jim Lee.
You didn't really think Jim was going to sit idly by and watch Francis walk away with the crown, did you? Ha, ha.
Post your choice of two characters below and come back at the end of next week to catch all of the action as Jim Lee faces Francis Manapul!
[jimlee]Thanks to all who sent their well wishes in regards to the fires which have literally besiged San Diego. Some of the people from WildStorm were forced to evac from their homes but everyone is accounted for and safe. There was a large but smaller fire back in 2003 (Cedar Fire) and the city and county learned from their mistakes from that disaster and the handling of this fire though much larger in scope and scale has been a lot better. The evacing has gone fairly smoothly as the 911 reverse calling system calls people at their homes with notifications to move out as the fires' way. Determining that has been the tricky part as the Santa Ana winds are particularly strong and are changing direction a lot. Shelters are well run. Saw on the news that there were as many volunteers at Qualcomm stadium as there were displaced people at one point. I'm actually buying supplies to take down to the shelter. Apparently handi-wipes are a needed item as people don't have access to showers and need to clean off. Last thing I would have thought to be in short supply.
Tons of people were forced out of their homes but the losses have been primarily property with about 1800 homes destroyed thus far. But estimates are still vague.
I'm close to the ocean so we've been unaffected except for the smoke, heat and general bad air conditions. Eyes are perpetually raw etc and the headaches from the poor air quality make working a bit more difficult. Can't get away from the smoke even indoors. It's hot but I've not even been running the ac and as few of the appliances as possible to conserve electricity as part of the power grid is down and getting overloaded.
First night (Sunday) was bad enough that I ended my normal drawingfor the night early and laid down and put water compresses on my eyes. I'm sure it was made worse by the fact that I was up in Del Mar earlier that Sunday afternoon. That valley was sucking in a lot of hot air and smoke from the large fires due east and the skies were a dark gray with ash and leaves with debris flying about from the heavy winds as the sun burned a dark red in the hazy sky. It started up fast and got bad quickly. No immediate danger tho as that was still miles from the fire site; in fact, from La Jolla, you wouldn't know about the fires except for the smell and smoke in the distance. The streets are fairly empty which is very unusual. Can't imagine how awful it would be to be closer and feel the intense heat and smoke.
Things are still chaotic today (Wednesday) but the winds have died down a bit making efforts to fight the fire a bit easier and a lot of relief workers have come from other parts of California and the US to help.
As I mentioned, WildStorm is fine...voluntary work attendance as the mayor has asked people to not go to work in general to allow relief workers easy access to all parts of the county. Lots of friends have been evaced but all are safe and sound staying with friends. Exact nature of damage won't be known for a week or so after the weather changes which is expected by this weekend.
Thanks again for the inquires. I've been meaning to put up a number of blog entries but it seems only bad news gets me motivated to post...will need to rectify that and now!
Above, is a black and white of the Heroes TPB cover. It's the one for the Direct Market.
Alex Ross did the mass market one and nailed the likenesses. Portraits aren't my thing but I had a great time doing the piece. Here's a link to the color one on TV Guide.com...kind of small and doesn't do justice to Dave Stewart's awesome colors. Will see if I can get a larger file.
(entry ricH)
It's been a rough couple of days here in San Diego and today is really going to dictate how a lot of this whole wildfire thing is going to play out. For many people's homes today is going to be the make or break as the fires move west. About 4 years ago we had a fire that they say was smaller than this and it was the worst thing I'd ever been through in terms of a natural disaster. Smoke slowly filled my house as ash rained down everywhere, it was dark at about 2 PM, my carbon monoxide detectors started going off (which really freaked me out because where the hell was I going to go, it was even worse outside)...and then the power went out. It was just this weird silence as you tried to figure out what to do next.
They can't even really fight the fire at this point. The weather conditions are too extreme. The winds have really kicked up in the last hour which is bad news. The fire fighters basically have to wait until it threatens enough homes and then they make a 'last stand' to try and save as many homes as they can, then they move on to a new neighborhood. 1,250 homes have been lost already.
I know several Wildstormers have been evacuated from their homes, and many other friends and families have been or are being affected by this as well. They are saying all total right now 513,000 people(as of 2:30 PM) have been evacuated from their homes in San Diego county.
So please keep everyone in San Diego in your thoughts. Especially all the fire fighters, military and police trying to help with saving peoples homes and their lives.
ricH.
UPDATE 5:30pm 10/23 on Comic Book Resources:
CBR News spoke with three more members of the San Diego comics community Tuesday evening. Wildstorm founder and Editorial Director Jim Lee wrote to say that their offices aren't at risk and while about 15% of the company's employees have been forced to evacuate, everyone is safe and accounted for. "There was a big, but smaller fire, back in 2003 and the city and county learned from their mistakes and the evacs have gone pretty smoothly as the 911 reverse calling system calls people at their homes with notifications to move out as the fires change direction and threatens new neighborhoods," Lee told CBR News. "Shelters are well run. I saw on the news that there were as many volunteers at Qualcomm stadium as there were displaced people. I'm actually buying supplies to take down to the shelter. Apparently handi-wipes are a needed item as people don't have access to showers and need to clean off. Tons of people were forced out of their homes, but the losses have been primarily property with about 1000 homes destroyed. But estimates are still vague.
[Carlitos]Hey y'alls, first and foremost, Mike and I want to thank Jason and Edwin for participating in this latest challenge.... let me tell ya', from all the challenges I've done so far, this one was a BEAST!!!
I hate what I did with Mike's pencils... we ended up doing this in about 70 minutes and that is NOWHERE near enough to finish a full color piece! BUT I guess that's why the damn thing is called a challenge! :)
So, thanks again to our challengers, Edwin and Jason, and to everyone who voted!
peace!
Finishes by Carlos D'Anda and initial sketch by Michael Lopez.Vote for them by posting a comment below!
Finishes by Edwin Rosell and initial sketch by Jason Johnson.Vote for them by posting a comment below!
We got a little head-start this time, so here they are! Side-by-side! (Don't vote here.)
Final voting ends at Monday, 5:00pm PST.
It's time for another tag-team throwdown!
In this corner, we have WildStorm alums, Jason Johnson and Edwin Rosell. The penciler and inker, respectively, of such titles as Wetworks and Gen13: Interactive. Nowadays, they're both living the high-rez life as video game concept artists, but still remain faithful to their first true love: comics!
In the other corner, Iron Gelatomettista favorites, Michael Lopez and Carlos D'Anda will step into the ring to pick up the gauntlet against their old studiomates.
Who will rise to the challenge? Who will feel the pain? Who will they DRAW?
Well, post your choice of a single character for them to choose and they'll do what they do best, Friday at 5:00pm PST!!
[Carlitos]Waddup y’alls. Hope you all had a good weekend.
Anyway, on Friday, I was checking out some Painting books I wanted to get from Amazon, and that got me in the mood to do something a bit ‘painterly’ using Photoshop. I think Mike Lopez and I were checking out a book of Gustav Klimpt here at the studio, and that got me thinking a lot about silhouettes…. So, this piece here was basically an exercise in that… coming up with a simple silhouette first, and then flesh it out from the outside in without much regard to anatomy, limb placement, etc.
In this case, I wanted to use a cartoony shape, something that could have very easily been a Pokemon or something ‘softer’, but instead, used that outline and made it into some kind of bulky soldier. This took me about an hour or so, mainly I just wanted to play with color and outlines and have fun and not worry so much about it looking ‘finished’.
Peace y’alls!
Carlitos D’
[Lopez]what's happenin' y'all? thought i'd share another sketch i did.
probably the second black cat i've ever done. i think it's pretty cool for a con sketch because i like the skintight shiny black outfit. i did a white queen that i'll post soon with a shiny white outfit too.
till then, hope you like it, see ya. mike
[Nome]I finished another piece for Brian Stryker, last night after work. I stayed at the studio 'till nearly midnight too. Back in March, I did a "Gambit/Rogue" Nome remix piece for him and recently did the "Iron Fist" for his brother, Kevin. Thanks guys!
Below, I've included the prelim, which I decided to flip for the final, final figure pencils, half-way point with inks and the final with background.
Chamber was always one of my favorite Generation X members, both as a character and visually. Doing this piece was a lot of work but I had a blast. I was channeling some Bachalo with his energy signature and personally, this is one of my favorite pieces I've done so far. Hope you like:)
[Kirbzilla]What up kirbyites? I heard they were in production on a new Thundercats CGI movie and it made me want to post my own picture.
I loved the cartoon and did it back in the day when I heard WildStorm was going to do the book. Enjoy the flavors.
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