Oh God, Finally!

JUST got back from DICE con in Dublin. And when I say "just", I mean 3 days ago, but thats how long it took me to unwind and get with my feet back on the ground:

YES, it was THAT good.

I got like, a MILLION things to announce and tell, but I promised myself I wouldnt allow myself more than 10 mins online today (LOADS and LOADS of pages to do), so I'm just posting the smaple pages I had the pleasure and privilege of showing to CB Cebulski, of Marvel fame. He liked them apparently ;)
As usual, open on separate tab to see them MUCH bigger.

Inks:

Pencils:

And these are older, but he liked them too so I thought to post them again, for whoever hadnt seen 'em:

Cool, Im afraid thats really everything for now, I'll come back soon with a LOT of news, images and probably a name change to the blog. I'll explain later.

Peace out.

LuCa.

Final OHOTMU entry: Scourge!

And heres my final entry for the OHOTMU Redux project. The names Scourge, not really familiar with the guy at all. Only thing I seem to remember, he appeared as a mystery villain towards the end of the original Busiek/Bagley Thunderbolts run quite some time ago, with different costume and powers.

Since I didnt know the character well (I admit I picked him simply for the pulpy "Shadow" feel hes got) there was nothing too smart or creative I could do with the look, so I decided to use it more as a Photoshop exercise/practice than a proper drawing one.

Thats it, basically. Played around with layers and stuff and I have to say, Im quite happier with the overall result than with the drawing itself, I have to say.

Heres the scanned original, just to give you an idea of how much was on the pae and how much was done digitally (not too much, as usual):

THANX again to the wonderful Jon Morris for having me for this project. It was FUN!

L.

OHOTMU - Baron Blood

My fourth (count them!) contribution for the more and more amazing Handbook of the Marvel Universe Redux project. If you never heard of it, first of all go read all my previous entries in which I talk about it, and then check it out but only when youre not under deadline coz, I guarantee you, you WILL spend hours unable to click away.

ANYWAY.

This time is a classic Captain America villain, from the Kirby period -I think: Baron Blood, the nazi vampire!

OF COURSE the first impulse was to indulge in the whole "Indiana-Jones'-nazis-adventure" kind of trope, but then I caught a glimpse of his bio and it said he was a Victorian gentleman and Im a huge fan of Hammer movies, so yeah -bye bye WWII nazi, welcome Phantom of The Opera with a Venice Carnival bat mask guy (also had a cool idea about the same mask for a Batman story, but I have a feeling thats gonna sit in my drawer for a loooong time).

Cheers.

L. 

Who watches the watchmen?

Hey, it's Watchmen week down at Nerd Invasion blog, and my piece -as usual- is here.

Enjoy!

L.

OHOTMU - Ulysses Bloodstone

And heres my latest entry for the amazing Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Redux project.

Due to my love of vintage pulp adventure, I picked Ulysses Bloodstone, monster hunter. In my eyes hes the quintessential Marvel version of the classic Doc Savage adventurer...

It should be up on the website soon, Ill put an up update as soon as I see it.

Again, Blue lead, Pentel brushpen and some Zebra thin pens on Bristol, and Photoshop colorin'.

Tomorrow Ill finish a sketch for the Nerd Invasion blog Im collaborating with, and then Im FINALLY back to doing sequential pages...

L.

Blast from the past!

Discovered a really cool '80s mohawk Storm Tumblr today, put up by  X-Force writer Sam Humphries

I was just wondering what to do as a daily sketch, so there you go...

Blue lead, Pentel and Photoshop.

L.

*EDIT: Decided to add the original b/w lineart, for those who might care.

Portfolio pages - X-Force

Also, just came back from a really cool weekend at the Thought Bubble convention in Leeds, in which I -among other things- managed to score a portfolio review with Marvel Comics editor Stephen Wacker, so I spent the previous week preparing smthing to show. Doesnt matter how much stuff Ive got going on, doing superhero pages is always fun and a VERY welcome break from day-to-day projects.

Anyway.

Heres the results: a 4-pages short of a completely made-up roster of one of my fav X-books "X-Force". Since these were just to showcase my art and didnt need to be in continuity, I decided to have fun redesigning some of my fav mutants to make my own all-star team ;)

Wolverine is a staple, OF COURSE, and Ive always been fascinated by the cool Errol Flynn-like version of Nightcrawler in the Warren Ellis/Carlos Pacheco BEAUTIFUL Excalibur run. And Domino is just TOO cool.

So, here they are.

Thats it. At least 3 different pencils on Bristol boards.

L.

Bamf!

To appease the masses (???), here's an half-assedly-colored Nightcrawler morning quickie. If they ever make a cocktail with that name, I said it first here, uh?

And yes, theres half a Wolverine on there too, and smthing else I had to remove.

Now, to the inkcave!

Pencils, brushpen and 5 mins of photoshop.

Good morning, btw.
L.

Excuses, excuses...

Yes, I've been a very bad blogger lately.

In my defense, I've been pretty swamped with several things, one of which Im not even allowed to mention... Again, nothing that made me go "yeah, I MADE it!", but there have been definite steps forward.

People following this blog (that is, if there's anyone following) may recognize a recurring pattern of being really busy for what are technically NOT job, i.e. little or no money.

The things we wouldnt do for fame...

Oh well, so as an apology for having been away, here's a couple of 2-or-3-months-old usual morning quickies (heh) just to fool you into thinking this is a real, functioning blog.

Again, blue pencils and brushpen on Bristol, plus Photoshop embellishments.

L.

45-seconds Venom

A literally 45-seconds brushpen sketch. And it shows...

L.

Portfolio pages - JSA

...and here's the DC team I chose for the second sequence of the portfolio:

JSA. Or, at least, one of its many many incarnations. I immediately thought of the JSA for the DC side of the portfolio coz it's a team from the 40s, which is by itself already awesome, and the look of some of the original members is just a vintage orgasm. When researching I realized the characters who have fought in the team were FAR too many to be all included, so I decided to leave out heroes with too similar powers or general look (so goodbye The Spectre and Doc Midnite, and hello Dr. Fate and Hourman), and the most famous ones, like Green Lantern or Wonder Woman.

Oh, well, anyway.

Again, pencils of Bristol.

More stuff, hopefully, soon.

L.

Portfolio Pages - Daredevil

Been retreating for what seems like a HUGE amount of time to prepare a new portfolio (never get enough of those) for the DICE convention in Dublin at the end of this month.

Following advice I heard at a Joe Quesada panel, I decided to organize the whole thing in 3 mini-sequences of 3-4 pages each, to have a total of 12 pages, which by all accounts sounds just reasonable for a portfolio. Quesada was saying he used to divide his in "single character" stories and "team" stories, to show a more diverse variety of action and storytelling. I decided to follow that, doing a Marvel single character, a DC team and a sci-fi/horror thing for the third sequence, to tackle more Vertigo/2000AD adult themes.

So, heres my choice for the Marvel sequence: 3 pages of.. Daredevil! With a re-designed costume!

As usual, pencils on Bristol.

L.

He ain't talkin' no jive!!

...or some other cool expression from the '70s. What the hell do I know, I was born in '82...

Anyway, the '70s galore continues, and this time its Luke Cage, who I guess nobody would have EVER imagined how important he became within Marvel.

Way to go, Power Man!

Anyway: pencils, inks and digital colors.

Also, can anybody explain to me what "jive" means?

L.

"Werewolf by Night!"

One of my fav comic series of all times. Up there with Colan's "Tomb of Dracula" and Romita Sr's Daredevil run.

I think the first 5-6 issues, drawn by Mike Ploog, might be the BEST and most underrated thing Marvel put out in the 70s.

Anyway, heres my shitty tribute.

Used: a new AMAZING mechanical pencil, brushpen and a good 25 mins of Photoshoppin'.

LuCa.

New sketch + OHOTMU update

Back from a REALLY cool trip on a bunch of Greek Islands, and all I could think of was stuff I was going to ink and/or color when back home, how Id have completed some layouts I had left unfinished, stuff like that...

anyway, this is smthing Ive had in b/w for a while. Just colored it today. Oh, the 70s... The Gil Kanes, the John Romitas, the Gene Colans, the Mike Ploogs... they dont make comics quite like they used to, do they?

On other news, the second piece I contributed for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe REDUX project is finally online, and I have to say I remembered it a bit worse... I finished my female ratio contributions, so for the other 3 entries that Im working on expect more testosterone.

See ya here more often, I hope.

LuCa.

Nova vs Titania!

Apparently I went to sleep with the ramblings of my last post still in my mind, coz first thing this morning I felt liek drawing Nova, the classic Buscema version. Fighting a minor, semi-obscure villain(ess) for additional 70sness.

Man, I NEED that Marvel Essential...

LuCa.

Secret Defenders

I have this idea for a Marvel series, Id have the newly-outfitted Doc Strange re-form the Defenders, gathering minor, b-series superheroes for an underground battle against Lovecraftian entities that are secretly preparing their return on Earth. Characters like Hellcat, the classic Nova, a pulp-inspired Ulysses Bloodstone, Thundra and Daimon Hellstrom. Would be cool.

These are just absolutely RANDOM characters I drew while thinking about that idea. Dont know why Black Knight is there though.

That is all.

Goodnight.

LuCa.

"Na-na-na-na-nana-nana-nana--- Batmaaaaan..."

I like my Dark Knight with short ears and big eyes.

LuCa.

Back to sketching, et al.

Been on the beach for a couple of days, hence the radio silence. And friday the proper holiday begins, so I wont be posting stuff until at least the first week of September.

Benn working on some more random sketching, just not to lose the habit, and thumbnailing TWO separate projects, so its not like Ive been slacking off anyway...

anyway, last installment:

More to come, probably sooner than you think.

LuCa.

OHOTMU - Madame Masque

My second entry for the OHOTMU project, organized by the AMAZING Jon Morris with a plethora of other equally astonishing artists.

This one's a bit less obscure than the previous one I chose:

This is the brush on bristol version. The colored one should be up on the OHOTMU website soon hopefully...

LuCa.