Tease

Coming in March 2011

Broken Frontier Awards 2010

I'm not sure who to thank, but someone nominated me in the best artist category of this year's Broken Frontier Awards. If you're inclined, go here to cast your vote, but make it quick because voting ends tomorrow night (Sunday, Dec 19th) at midnight!

Sergeant Dan - SPACE RANGER!

Here's another painting I found lurking on the hard drive - an imaginary Pulp cover for a character that never existed. It was a lot of fun recreating the painting and typography style of the old pulps. Hope you dig it!

On another, more timely note, Fantastic Four #585 is in stores today! Look for the Alan Davis cover pictured below.




Have a great Thanksgiving holiday everyone!

FANTASTIC FOUR #585 Preview

Hey everyone, CBR has an exclusive preview of FANTASTIC FOUR #585, which is due in stores next week. Head on over and check it out here.

New Avengers 100 Project

This is the sketch cover I did for The Hero Initiative's New Avengers 100 Project. I decided to feature the characters who were prominent in the book during the time I was drawing it, after all, at the time they were the New Avengers! Read more about the project and see some amazing covers turned in by some of the other artists involved here.

Fantastic Four #584

In stores today is Fantastic Four #584 featuring Alan Davis' regular cover (above) and a host of variants. There's a bunch of cool stuff in this issue and I especially enjoyed drawing the last 3 or 4 pages.

Also this week is the second printing of Fantastic Four #583 with a cover put together using my art for the promo images to the "Three" storyline. If you missed it the first time around you now have a second chance. Don't blow it!

New York Comic Con

New York Comic Con is this weekend at the Javits Center in Manhattan, and for those of you who plan to attend, you can find me at U5 (that's table U, seat 5) right in between Ron Garney and Jimmy Cheung.

I'll be doing sketches all weekend and have prints and sketchbooks for sale. Also, I will be signing at the Marvel booth on Saturday from 5 -6pm and participating in a panel on Sunday called Next Big Thing at 2:45pm (I have no idea what this is all about, but I guess I'll find out when I get there!).

If you're in the area come by and say hello!

Druid

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There's no story behind this one. It's just an old speedpaint from the archives (also known as my hard drive) - some sort of Druidy guy out for a stroll. Have a great weekend everyone!

Crossgen: Resurrected

Broken Frontier has recently released the latest copy of their e-magazine The Frontiersman featuring a cover story on Marvel's recent announcement about the return of Crossgen properties. The article includes a creator roundtable discussion with several former Crossgen creators including Chuck Dixon, Ron Marz, Jim Cheung, Greg Land, and myself among others. Also inside - two unpublished El Cazador covers that I drew for issues 7 and 8.

The Frontiersman #10 is now available for download at brokenfrontier.com or at the iTunes store for the iPad.

Four Becomes Three

Fantastic Four writer Jonathan Hickman and editor Tom Brevoort discuss the upcoming storyline here and here. Oh and there are a few new pages of preview art by some guy that they got to draw the book.

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Hellboy Day 2010

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August 21st has rolled around again, and as always I celebrate the blog's birthday with a Hellboy sketch (commemorating the first post I made here). Since I don't have a lot of time for anything elaborate, I just did a quick digital sketch and then dressed it up with some fancy computer tricks. Even so, I kind of like how it turned out.

Usually on this date I also make a promise declaring my intent to post more often and then proceed to post even less, so this year I'm not going to do that. I'll just say thanks to all my subscribers and commenters and keep my intentions to post more to myself. That way maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised if it actually happens :)

FANTASTIC FOUR #583 Preview

Marvel has released a 4 page preview of the upcoming Fantastic Four #583 featuring the return of Doctor Doom to the pages of FF. It probably won't surprise any of you to hear that I LOVE drawing Doom, and look forward to doing a lot more of it.

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THE MARVELS PROJECT Hardcover

The Hardcover collection of THE MARVELS PROJECT came out this week collecting all 8 issues of the mini series I did with Ed Brubaker. It's available with three different covers to choose from. The two variants are covers I did for issues 6 and 7, one featuring the titanic battle between Namor and the Human Torch and the other showcasing the Red Skull (with a cameo appearance by Hitler naturally). You can check them out in the Marvel catalogue here:

HUMAN TORCH/NAMOR VARIANT
RED SKULL VARIANT

FIGHT! New print now available!

For those of you who have expressed interest in buying the new Captain America print, It's now available in the sidebar over to your right -------->

Check the pull down menu for various discount options if you would also like to purchase the 2009 Sketchbook, The Captain America #600 print or all three items.


One day I'll get an online store set up properly but for now this will have to do. Also, I should mention that this is for US orders only (another thing I have to work on for the future).

All prints ship priority mail, but I'll only make the trip to the post office about once a week, so don't be alarmed if it doesn't show up right away. Okay, commercial's over. Back to regular posting next time.

Fantastic Four

As you may have heard yesterday, I'll be following up The Marvels Project by working with Jonathan Hickman on Fantastic Four. You can read various articles and interviews with Jonathan and me at the following links:

Artist STEVE EPTING Talks Cosmic FANTASTIC FOUR & "3"

UPDATE: The FANTASTIC FOUR Become a Terrific Trio in Sep

Jonathan Hickman welcomes artist Steve Epting to FANTASTIC FOUR

HICKMAN AND EPTING'S FANTASTIC "THREE"

And here are the original drawings that were composited together for the teaser images that ran with the announcements and articles. These are my first real drawings of most of these characters as a professional aside from a trading card I did back in the 90s. If I can dig it up I'll post it later.

Heroes Con and New Print

Hey everyone, I'll be at Heroes Con this weekend in Charlotte NC at table AA-301. You can see a seating chart here. Come by and say hi if you're in the area. I'll be doing as many sketches as time allows and have sketchbooks and prints for sale. Speaking of prints, I have a new one featuring Captain America in a WWII style propaganda poster. If you can't make the trip and still want a print, don't worry. I'll be making them available for sale here on the blog just like the other items are. Look for them to be available next week after the show.

Hope to see some of you there!

THE MARVELS PROJECT #8 Cover

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The final issue of THE MARVELS PROJECT comes out tomorrow, wrapping up the eight issue mini series. I had a great time working on the book and will miss drawing all those Nazis. In the meantime, I'm at work on my new project for Marvel, which should be announced soon. Have a great week everybody!

Click here for a preview of THE MARVELS PROJECT #8.

Modesty Blaise - Good News, Terrible News

I hate having to break this news now, of all times, but the 17th volume of Modesty Blaise reprints - Death in Slow Motion - is now out from Titan Books and I'm thrilled to say I contributed an article and some artwork. The book features three complete stories: The Balloonatic, The Alternative Man, and Death in Slow Motion, which was the first Modesty Blaise story I ever read. For this volume I wrote an article about Modesty Blaise artist Neville Colvin and contributed an inked drawing of Modesty and Willie Garvin. This is a thrill for me because I've been a huge fan of the strip ever since I first read that story over 25 years ago, and in the time since I've managed to read every strip and every novel - all of which were written by the great Peter O'Donnell.


Which brings me to the terrible news - Peter passed away over the weekend at the age of 90. Ellie Graham at Titan Books broke the news today:

“Titan Books is hugely saddened to report the passing of writer Peter O’Donnell, who died over the Bank Holiday weekend at the age of 90. “Peter O’Donnell was respected as one of the greatest writers in the comics medium today and had a devout following amongst comics professionals and fans alike”, says Titan’s Managing Director, Nick Landau. “I am honoured to have known him – and published his greatest creations, Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin – for almost 40 years.” Born in South London in 1920, O’Donnell had a long and illustrious career, the highlight of which was his creation of classic crime character ‘Modesty Blaise’. The smart and sassy comic strip ran daily in the Evening Standard newspaper during the 1960s. O’Donnell retired from writing in 2001, but had continued to oversee Titan’s release of more than a dozen Modesty Blaise collections, contributing introductions and commentaries to his classic stories.“


O'Donnell wrote Modesty's daily strip adventures from 1963 to 2001, and also penned a series of 13 novels and short story collections beginning in 1965. If you've never read Modesty Blaise, I highly recommend it, particularly the first 7 years or so of the strip which were drawn by the incomparable Jim Holdaway. I place these as my all time favorite adventure strip, even edging out Prince Valiant and Terry and the Pirates. In the words of Chuck Dixon - "O'Donnell is in a very, very small club of writers who were masters of writing clear, concise, compelling action." I believe Titan has 4 volumes scheduled to come out this year (in addition to the 16 already published), and for my money you can't go wrong with any of them.

Sketchbook 017

C2E2 Cancellation

Unfortunately, some unforeseen personal issues have arisen and I have to cancel my scheduled appearance at this weekend's Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. My apologies to all who were hoping to get at sketch at the show. I know a good time will be had in Chicago and I regret that I won't be there to be a part of it. For anyone who's going - have fun and be safe. Maybe I can join you next year.

Sci Fi Scene

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As I mentioned in my last time, I have a few more warm up/speedpaints to post. Most of the time when I start these, I have no idea what they will turn out to be and I just make it up as I go along. This one ended up as some sort of Science Fiction Blade Runner riff. Definitely a change of pace from the various knights I've been painting (although I have another one of those waiting in the wings).

Knight 2

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Another quick warm up painting from earlier this week. I've got a few more I'll be posting next week.

THE MARVELS PROJECT #7 Cover

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The Marvels Project #7 hits the shelves in two short weeks on March 24th. What will you find inside? From Marvels' online catalog:

Cap meets Bucky! The origin of the Destroyer! The interrogation of the Sub-Mariner! And it's all leading up to the Nazis' conspiracy to bring the US into World War Two!

Below is the original cover sketch. It's obviously very rough, but it does its job in that it shows essentially what the basic elements of the actual cover painting will be. As you can see, quite a bit of compositional shuffling went on as I worked on the final image, but this was submitted with the understanding that it's a basic framework that I'll be working from, not an image set in stone that I'll follow slavishly. After so many years working with my editor, I can get away with a pretty rough sketch for the approval process, since he trusts me to turn it into something that's actually printable. Incidentally, the top portion of the sketch is left blank because that area will be covered by the banner logo.


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Color test

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Here's a quick color experiment I did using a panel from an upcoming issue of The Marvels Project. That's the original Union Jack fighting in the trenches during WWI. Strangely enough, despite all the digital painting I've been doing over the past few years, I don't think I've done any coloring of black and white line art. It's something I'd like to try to do more of.

THE MARVELS PROJECT #6 Cover

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THE MARVELS PROJECT #6 ships next week (Feb 24th) and features an epic battle between the Human Torch and Prince Namor in the skies of 1941 Manhattan. As with the previous issues, this one has three variant covers, and I think this is the first time mine has been shown. Hope you all dig it!

Sketchbook 016

Hey look - I drew in my little pocket sketchbook again! It's been a while but I plan to do more of this in the future. Hopefully I'll have a page like this to post at least once a week (and hopefully they will be better than this one). Click on the image above to see it actual size.

Zero Hour

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Here's a little teaser from an upcoming cover. I painted this on a separate layer (painting in Photoshop) and decided to post it just as a snapshot of what I'm working on at the moment. I'll be posting the entire finished cover soon.

THE MARVELS PROJECT #5

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In stores tomorrow from Marvel Comics - THE MARVELS PROJECT #5.

Click here for a preview.