Marvels Bronze Age Trading Cards

Hey folks, know I haven't posted here nearly as often as I need to - and an early New Year Resolution for me will be do to just that and make this blog more active with works in progress, etc...

SO, that said, here's a link to my recently completed work for Rittenhouse Archive - Marvels Bronze Age trading cards.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4465129984427.2165715.1175098323&type=3

This SHOULD take you to my Facebook album of all the cards.

I completed 100 sketch cards for the set, all done with Copic multiliners and Copic Sketch markers.  Here and there also is a little acrylic and gouache paint for highlights.

The set came out on Wed, Dec 5 and there are a couple of places you can probably find some of my cards. eBay is probably the easiest but not many of mine are up there yet from this set.  I'm hoping that means that most folks who pulled one of my cards wants to keep it vs. sell it, but I did see a couple of mine get snatched up RIGHT at the stroke of midnight and that was encouraging. :)

Well, back to the real 'job' and then to work on the Spellcasters set for Perna Studios :)

Honored and Surprised

Well, this week I got quite the surprise as several folks sent me Facebook messages trying to draw my attention to a post by a pastor and author in Denver.  Nadia Bolz-Weber is a pastor in Denver and has published several books related to theology and the church in the post-modern age.  It turns out Nadia was trying to track down the original artist for this picture:

This was something I had done over a year ago in response to a Facebook conversation with Nadia that my wife was involved in where some folks had criticized her for being a female pastor.  (I won't even get started on that).  In their criticism, they referred to her as a "Pastrix" which she thought was both very funny, as well as mused openly what that would "look like".  So, when I heard that I decided to put together something quickly just for fun.  I sent it to her, we had a laugh and that was the last I thought of it.

Well, this past week I found out she and her publisher were both trying to track me down because they wanted to use that artwork to represent Nadia as her author profile on their website.  I was extremely surprised but also quite honored that they would want to use this quick sketch in that way.

Thank you both to Nadia and Jericho books for contacting me and using my art to represent Nadia.

Link to my DeviantArt page
http://jedidad.deviantart.com/#/d5iwwby

Commissions Closed For Now

Hard for me to believe I'm even posting this up, but in order to concentrate on the card set I'm working on right now, I'm having to temporarily close requests for commissions.  I'm putting much more detail in these cards than I have in prior sets and while I'm very happy with the results so far, it's slowed my work down some and the last thing I want to do is 'rush' a commission.

That said - I've had a few folks ask me about commissions lately, and artist proof cards from the Marvel's Greatest Heroes set that came out in Feb.  I do have a couple of AP's left, and I'll let folks know when I'm ready to open those up for commissions, and if all goes well,  in Dec, I'll get some more AP cards from the Bronze Age set that comes out then. 

Meanwhile again, I'm not taking on any more official commissions for a little while here until I can get "caught up" on my schedule and feel comfortable that I'm not going to have any concerns about deadlines, etc...

Recently completed commissions

Haven't posted here in a while, and that's primarily because I can't show any of the work I'm doing until it gets formal approval.  BUT, I did get approval yesterday on an Artist Proof commission I completed last month and I also just completed a Personal Sketch Card (PSC) commission for a friend SO, that said, here they are.  :)

 Completed Artist Proof commission from the Marvel's Greatest Heroes trading card set distributed by Rittenhouse Archives.

Completed with Copic multiliners and markers
Final size:  4x5

Completed Nightwing Personal Sketch Card (PSC) commission.

Completed on Bristol stock with Copic multiliners and markers
Final size: 2.5 x 3.5

Break Time Is Over...

It's been a great couple of weeks here where I was able to finish up work on a set of sketch cards, go on vacation with the family, then have an absolute blast at Heroes Con the following weekend, and then a couple more weeks of just downtime.  BUT, a package arrived for me this afternoon so my evenings and weekends just got busy again!  Yay! 

At this point all I'm able to say is that I'm working on another set of sketch cards for an as-yet unannounced trading card set that will come out next year.  But it's still very much following my passion and dream of drawing 'professionally' (which still sounds strange for me to say / type), so as I can provide more details I will.

For now - here's the only teaser I can give.  :)

Completed Color Study

I started this piece after Heroes Con mostly prompted by a wonderful couple who had commissioned the Lady Death piece from me during the show.  The pencils are in the prior blog post if you want to see those.

Vampirella-  11x14 Bristol Board / Copic Marker

For the colors though I wanted to again try to work on a few aspects, such as lighting, etc...without making the lighting "so" harsh that I obscured the figure. 

Having the moon directly behind her works against me though since I've clearly defined my light source and technically the immediate foreground of the figure here should be the darkest while the edges are picking up the direct light. 

SO, adding another key element I'll be working on this summer - Lighting.  :)

Will be looking at a few specific guides for help there and as always attempting to use life modeling wherever I can.

After Heroes Con

At the moment I've got one Artist Proof commission I need to complete from the Marvel's Greatest Heroes trading card set but otherwise I'm taking some time here after Heroes to concentrate on a couple of key things with my drawings:

• Anatomy
• Proportions
• "Tight" pencils

I'm always wanting to improve on the first two things for sure, and want to make sure as I continue to draw that certain things just become automatic but the third - 'tight' pencils, I also want to improve on. 

When working on trading cards, my pencils tend to stay more rough - I tighten up certain areas, like the faces, to make sure everything stays clean and where I want it during inking, but the rest of the figure stays kind of loose.  But by tightening up a little, I'll be able to define certain aspects of anatomy more clearly so I don't lose them when it comes to inking and coloring.

Also, I recall a few specific requests for pieces I didn't have at Heroes Con that several folks asked for during the course of the weekend.  Here's one for example I'm working on now that I got several requests for if I had any on hand: Vampirella

Again as I stated on my Facebook page with the Lady Death picture - I've never really drawn the 'bad girls' of comics so both the Lady Death and now this Vampirella are new for me.

There was specifically one individual who stopped by who was more comfortable seeing a completed piece vs. commissioning a drawing at the con and that's fine - as a visual person myself I completely understand.

I'll be continuing to work on the 3 elements listed above on this piece and when finished will be 11x14 in size.  At this point pencils are close to being finished.

Once it's done I'll likely make it available for purchase, or available at the next convention I attend, but that will probably be in the fall sometime I would expect. 

Heroes Con 2012 Wrap-Up

I had a fantastic time at this year's HeroesCon in Charlotte.  It was my first time officially setting up at a Con so I kind of knew what to expect but not really. I've done the sketch cards for Rittenhouse but otherwise my exposure has been pretty limited.  I decided to give it my best and have fun no matter what and if I spent the whole weekend just drawing for fun and taking time to walk around and enjoy it that'd be great.

What I didn't expect was that I'd end up heads down doing con sketches and talking with folks stopping by almost solid for the first 2 full days of the con - and it was awesome!  For anyone here or who got a card from me with my DA site on it - thank you so much for stopping by and I'm glad you found your way over here.  It was fantastic to meet so many cool folks and it was great to get a chance to draw / sketch for several of you. 

Huge thanks also to my "corner neighbor" who gave me some great advice both on set-up and planning for future conventions as well as art supply tips.  He was doing some fantastic cartoon sketches and caricatures of folks as their favorite character so if you get a chance go check out his page over on DeviantArt.

I've put most the sketches I did at the con up on my DeviantArt page (http://jedidad.deviantart.com) but here are a couple of the con sketches below.
      

So, the Con was a ton of fun and several folks asked if I'll be attending Baltimore in the fall and the answer there is 'no but maybe next year'.  At this point I'd like to do a couple more but they'll most likely be smaller conventions in NC or nearby, but I'll definitely consider something further away as 2013 rolls around.

Also, several folks asked me if they could email me about commissions - my answer at the Con was 'yes', I will take commission requests, but as most artists will tell you - rates will be different for a full commission vs. a con sketch since i'll have more time and be able to do more with it.

I'll be updating this blog in the coming week or so with commission info for folks interested (and again, sorry the blog wasn't on my card - I just recently got it started).

Again, thanks all for coming out and hope to see you again next year!

Few more sketches - available at Heroes Con

Okay, this will be my last post pre-Heroes Con as I'm in full "crunch" mode trying to pack everything up to take to the Con and set up for the weekend.  I had a few other things I would have liked to get done but depending on any sketch sign-ups I get at the show I may or may not finish them. 

Katniss Everdeen

This first one is a personal sketch card but is "AP" size (4x5) vs. standard trading card size.

Completed in Copic Markers

Wonder Woman - original suit

This second one is a single character sketch that will be similar to the ones I'll be doing at Heroes over the weekend.

9x12 on Bristol stock
Completed in Copic Markers

New Personal Sketch Cards - Available at Heroes 2012

Wanted to post up some recently completed personal sketch cards (PSC's) that will be available for purchase at Heroes Con this year. 

All work is on Strathmore Bristol board and the cards are standard trading card size (2.5"x3.5") unless otherwise noted. 

HEROES CON 2012!!! Charlotte, NC June 22-24

This marks my official "debut" convention as a working pro in the comics business and it happens to be the 30th anniversary of the first Con I ever attended!  

HeroesCon 2012
June 22 -24

Charlotte Convention Center
501 S. College St.
Charlotte, NC 28202

ADMISSION:
1-day Pass: $15 per person
3-day Pass: $30 per person
Kids 12 & Under get in FREE!

SHOW HOURS:
Friday: 11AM-7PM
Saturday: 10AM-6PM
Sunday: 11AM-6PM
____________________________________________________________
I’ll be at table
AA-245  (for new folks that's back in Artist Alley where all the really cool peeps hang out.)

Sketches will be available along with original art.  Sketchbooks for 2011 will also be available .

Sketch pricing is as follows:

• Sketchbooks (includes trading card size sketch on back cover)  $15
• Sketch Card (2.5 x 3.5) one character: $25
• 9 x 12 one character, copic markers: $50
• For more complex sketches (multiple characters, backgrounds, etc)...get there early and ask me about it.  :)  

 I will take a short list at the beginning of Friday and Saturday. If time permits I may open up on Sunday.