Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Heroes 2014 Convention Badges

So the same week I was asked to color Jim Starlin on "Fantastic Four" #5, Rico Renzi, fellow colorist and art director at Heroes, asked me to color over Jim again for the badges to be used at Heroes 2014! Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the convention (it's the best con on the planet) but jumped at a chance to help out. Rico and Heroes have always treated me like a star and have been so incredibly nice and supportive, there was no way I wasn't going to do this. Once again, the world proves I'm the luckiest son of a bitch you'll ever meet. I'd LOVE to turn these into a Heroes exclusive print for 2015, maybe something that can be given away to those who get advanced 3-day passes or something, so we'll see what happens with that.

Roll over for original line art by Jim Starlin!















"All-New Invaders" #8 COVER


Roll over for original line art by Greg Land!

"All-New Invaders" #6 COVER


Roll over for original line art by Greg Land!

"All-New Ultimates" #6


Roll over for original line art by Amilcar Pinna!







"Deadpool vs X-Force" #3

Really happy these pages are a part of the preview because they had me in stitches!


Roll over for original line art by Pepe Larraz!





"Fantastic Four" #8 COVER

Got to color this cover over line by Leonard Kirk. The Thing has been arrested for murder. I really love doing covers. They let me play in Photoshop without fear of needing to replicate anything for multiple images.

In the printed cover they covered up the drop of blood on his fist that I added in color, but in my uncropped version at the bottom you can see it. If you can tell a story in a single image, you should!


Roll over for original line art by Leonard Kirk!

"Original Sin" #5.3


Roll over for original line art by Lee Garbett!

"All-New Ultimates" #5


Roll over for original line art by Amilcar Pinna!





"Deadpool vs X-Force" #2

Duane Swierczynski wrote this series with Deadpool jumping all over time. For a lesser artist, it would have been a daunting task. Pepe Larraz kicked its ass. Duane supplied great reference but Pepe had to take it a step further and integrate how Deadpool has screwed up time. It's phenomenal what he can do. Truly inspiring.


Roll over for original line art by Pepe Larraz!







"Original Sin" #5.2

The Guardians of the Galaxy are guests in this issue! So cool! Loooved the movie and got to color them. Happy Nolan.


Roll over for original line art by Lee Garbett!





"FANTASTIC FOUR" #7

Here's the second half of the story I colored over gentleman extraordinaire Dean Haspiel. Check out the first half from "Fantastic Four" #6! It all explains the sin hidden within FF that tears them apart in the end.


Roll over for original line art by Dean Haspiel!







"Original Sin" #5.1

Lee and myself split art duties with Simone Bianhci and Adriano Dall'Alpi on the Thor and Loki "Original Sin" series. These are previews of Lee's line and my color and the beginning of Angela's tale in the Marvel Universe.


Roll over for original line art by Lee Garbett!







Monday, August 18, 2014

"Deadpool vs X-Force" #1

One of my favorite artists to color is Pepe Larraz. So when I was asked to color a Deadpool mini-series with him, it didn't matter than I really didn't have time. I was in the middle of moving... TWICE! But there are some people you just do not NOT work with. He's crazy nice and holy hell talented. If you're not already reading books he's on, you're missing out.


Roll over for original line art by Pepe Larraz!







"All-New Ultimates" #4

Call me silly but this might be my favorite issue of "All-New Ultimates" yet. And that first page with them in the arcade? Loved it!


Roll over for original line art by Amilcar Pinna!









"FANTASTIC FOUR" #6

I got a chance to color Dean Haspiel, Emmy Award Winner, on a flashback to run through a couple of issues of FF. Cool! I was excited to get to work with him. What I didn't know was how nice a guy he is. Do you know how rare it is for a writer or artist to call their colorist? Super rare. Dean didn't know me from Adam, but called me up to chat a bit anyway. (Insert awkward Phone-Nolan.) He just wanted to get to know me a bit and talk storytelling. It was wonderful. And though we have only done this short story together, he's kept in touch and even reaches out. Just... humbling. He stayed on top of pages and I had everything in a timely manner so I could meet my own deadline without working an all-nighter too. Everything about him is friendly and professional. Truly someone we could all learn from on how to treat collaborators. He also has two new books out this summer called "The Fox: Freak Magnet", written by Mark Waid (who also calls to chat and Dean's equal in personal professionalism, love love love) and "Fear, My Dear" which Dean also wrote. Dean is a joy. Good times!


Roll over for original line art by Dean Haspiel!



"ORIGINAL SIN" #3.1 COVER

Starting doing a few covers over Greg Land and this one was a ton of fun. One of my first colored in RGB and thought it turned out pretty well.


Roll over for original line art by Greg Land!

"All-New Ultimates" #3


Roll over for original line art by Amilcar Pinna!





"Loki: Agent of Asgard" #5


Roll over for original line art by Lee Garbett!







"FANTASTIC FOUR" #5

"Are you interested in coloring a Jim Starlin page?" That email was rather surreal. Of course! Jim Starlin. That's just... wow. Obviously, I said yes. We just did the one page together for this issue of "Fantastic Four" but it was a lot of fun. Still gives me a weird feeling knowing I got to color a legend. So honored.


Roll over for original line art by Jim Starlin!

Monday, August 4, 2014

Friday, April 4, 2014

"Archer & Armstrong" covers

Some of you know that for seven years I worked as a professor of Sequential Art and shared that honor alongside Shawn Crystal. He was always striving for bigger, better, more and we watched one another hone various skills. Mine mainly in color and it's application to story but he exploded in penciling and inking, composition, figure drawing, design, and how it all wraps together for story. I've colored a few of his pieces, even his convention banner, but never "professionally" until now. So happy to say Shawn is doing a series of covers for Valiant Comics' "Archer & Armstrong" during the "American Wasteland" arc and he asked me to color them! This first one was done side-by-side over ciders in my old basement studio just as my family and I were packing to move. We were both really happy with the results and Valiant seems to be too. Can't wait to share the rest!

UPDATE: I've included all three covers we did for issues 20-22. Lots of fun!

Roll over for original line art by Shawn Crystal!