I drew this as a “thank you” sketch for a client. it’s Joker and Harley, as seen in Batman TAS, but in calavera form. though I was going to do it in a black and white initially, the beautiful cartoon style of Bruce Timm inspired me to color it.
done in pen and color pencil
the client conceived this scenario where Spidey gets caught dating both Gwen and MJ, so he hides behind The Beast for protection. I thought it would look cool in the style of a 50s-60s romance/comedy comic, so I made it all very simple, particularly the ladies, whom I drew to look like paper fashion dolls. I was tempted to put in a lot of detail into the Beast’s fur, but I had to keep it clean, or it would’ve been too distracting. however, I did put the majority of the detail in the center of the piece, hoping it would inspire the viewer to envision quotes and captions on the outer frame, like “see what happens when the spider gets caught in his own web!” or something cheesy like that. I put in color so that it would be easy to tell who they were, but other than that, I tried my best to make it look like something John Romita would have drawn, by making thick black lines.
done in pen, color pencil, and Sharpie
I came across this photo of her, and I thought she had one of the prettiest profiles I’ve ever seen, so I had to draw her. done in ballpoint, about 36 inches in height, and wheatpasted somewhere at Antelope Valley College.
here are a few sketches i’ve drawn up in the past week. follow me on Instagram or Tumblr (b2rianLS) for daily updates.
Kate Upton
this was just supposed to be a quick portrait, but I ended up drawing her whole body, and then I decided to it’d look better in color. but as you can see, I gave up once I got to the hands.
pen, marker, and color pencil
thanks to that bit in “It Came From the Nightosphere” I’ve been unable to look at t-shirt pockets without thinking of Jake farting in them. I drew this little guy out of some thick paper, colored, and cut him out.
pen and color pencil
some quick rose/lettering practice in pen.
another quick doodle in pen.
this was my first time drawing this character. Adam Hughes and Mark Brooks have made it so there’s nothing more that could be done to improve upon their interpretations of he, but when the client suggested the idea of her holding Red Skull’s red skull, the pressure and the excitement to create an awesome image were high.
I started with her hand and built on it from there. the further from her hand, the less detailed the picture becomes, hopefully forcing you to focus on the detail of her glove and the skull. I also chose to go with the soft pencil shading on her skin, versus messy pen cross-hatching to contrast to the gore of her holding a severed head. I felt that keeping her pretty, while reminding you that she’s dangerous was important. the image was all black and white, but with the red from the logo and the banner at the bottom, I thought the red should be incorporated into the piece even more, after all, you have two characters essentially named for the color. this also allowed me to both show and hide the blood. with the drips, you can assume there’s blood in the piece, but with everything else being red, you don’t know just how much.
the majority of this is done in pen and Sharpie, with pencil for her skin, and color pencil for the red.
here’s what the cover looked like in full. with Rogue and Havoc in the back
a commission on 11x17” board.
Hank McCoy from the X-Men and Donatello from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. the client chose to go with McCoy’s classic design, to keep with the teenage theme. I also thought that he would fit in with the turtles wearing that costume. this pose allowed me to show off his bare feet and bulky anatomy, and I tried to balance the familiar cartoon turtle look, with Kevin Eastman’s rugged, badass design on Donnie. this was a very fast and very fun project, and it was interesting applying tiny, realistic details to such cartoony characters.
done in pen and Sharpie
here are a few sketches i’ve drawn up in the past week. follow me on Instagram or Tumblr (b2rianLS) for daily updates.
ViQueen
it began as a fun “doodling while taking notes” sketch, and I enjoyed the idea so much, that I’ll be revisiting it later.
pen and pencil
heart study
a downtime doodle inspired by a kid’s anatomy homework.
pen
Robert DeNiro as James Conway
I’ve drawn DeNiro before, but only as Travis Bickle. I think most people may know him as the older mobster that he portrayed in films like Goodfellas, so it was interesting depicting him in such an iconic role. because he is such an icon, it’s easy to draw a face that could be so easily recognized, hell, you could draw him as a caricature and people would know who it is, but my challenge came in drawing this particular expression; making sure you could tell he was somewhere between a deep contemplating thought and a long inhale of the cigarette,
pen and pencil
Like a Lady
i drew this as a PSA for those assholes of my gender who are under the impression that they can charm women by making animal noises or yelling obscenities at them. though i don’t claim to be a master in the art of seduction, nor do i pretend to know what goes on in the mind of the female population, i can tell you with confidence, that they don’t like this. i grew up in a house full of women, and i have interacted with a few over the past two decades, and not once have i heard any of them speak favorably of said acts, therefore i would advise all guys that have or have thought of doing this, to refrain from harassing them and shaming yourselves.
i wish it were possible to apologize for other people.
pen and pencil
the last times I’ve drawn Deadpool, have been full-body shots, with a lot going on. for this one, I wanted something that would be the opposite of that: up close and clean. rather than focus on the action, I wanted his facial expression to be the emphasis, so I set this up as a portrait… or the way you’d imagine his online profile picture to look. I gave him the classic Johnny Cash/Tupac flipping the bird pose,to represent his somewhat playful, jokester side, but with a gun that’s cocked and smoking to remind you that he’s ultimately a crazy assassin.
done in ballpoint pen and Sharpie
here it is pre-inks:
here’s some art i’ve drawn up or put up in the past week. follow me on Instagram or Tumblr (b2rianLS) for daily updates.
Princess Peach
what happens when I want to draw, but I should be taking notes.
pencil
this was a bonus sketch I shipped with an Etsy order.
pencil
Star Wars Episode VII
i was browsing the webz one morning, when i came across Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars Filibuster. the idea was so mind-blowingly awesome, that it inspired me to doodle. i’m kinda hoping some PhotoShop genius will do a better job of making this fanboy fantasy a reality, but here’s my quick crack at it.
done in ballpoint
Invisible Woman
another bonus sketch.
done in pen and pencil
Marceline
I saw this “Blood Drive” flyer, and knew somebody would be excited about it, so I drew up a quick doodle and stuck it on there.
the idea the client had in mind was essentially having these three characters in a classic pin-up sleepover setting; dressed down and chatting it up. that, of course, was pretty easy. the challenge came in showing these ladies’ alter-egos without their costumes. the fact that the preferred incarnations of these heroines were all blonde, also meant I couldn’t rely on their hair color to distinguish them. so even with the logos as visible as I could make them, I was afraid it wasn’t clear enough, so I added a bit of color to help. it was decided that they would be in Batgirl’s room, so I showed off more of her through the décor. the victorian headboard allowed me to sneak in a bat-symbol and the wall behind gave me a place to insert clues of her personality.
the whole thing’s done in ballpoint pen, and the shading and color are done in pencil. the surface on which I drew this on was too large to scan, so I scanned different corners at a time and stitched it together, so the image looks slightly distorted in some areas.
