Megaman :: Best Bosses

Hey guys!

Just thought I would update ye olde blog today.

Yesterday I received my copy of the Udon megaman tribute book which was chock full of amazing art and artists from around the world. I really enjoyed looking through this book. So much good stuff in there! I was really surprised to see that my piece was on the first page. Not that I think that is a better spot than any other, but I was expecting to be tucked in somewhere near the back.

So lets talk about megaman. Here is a fun fact: Did you know that megaman is hidden in just about every comic book I have ever drawn?! Have a look at your old copies of Gemini and see if you can find him. This is because I have always been such a huge fan of the original games. Good memories I guess. I only ever owned Megamans 1, 2 and 3. So, when Udon decided to do this book, I was all over it! I did 3 pieces, but this is the only one that got printed. I did an airman level piece which I thought was kind of cool. I don't know if you guys want to see that though.

For my tribute piece, I wanted to draw my favourite bosses. Weather it was because of their design or the awesome stage music, these were my faves. I wanted to draw Topman in there since his music is one of my favourites ever, but his lamness meant he didnt make the cut. haha.

As always, on the blog you get the behind the scenes exta sketchy goodness. Here you can see my rough sketch and then clean lines.

Hope you like the art!

Jon.

Deadpool Evolution!!! Junkyard Jump.

Hello!

So, I've been slack with the blog posts of late. I'm a hoarder, and I'm hoarding all my art in a secret vault. The good news is that I will be unloading a shit load of this into my newest art book, Ozmosis Chills III which is in the early planning stages. I am going bigger and better with this one. Details will follow shortly, once I have an idea of what I'm doing. ETA is that it will be ready in time for NYCC this year.

Speaking of Ozmosis Chills, the piece featured in this blog post appeared in OC2, but only in pencil form, so now for the first time I will show you guys the inked and coloured piece.

I had actually abandoned these pencils back in 2009. Mostly cause I just didn't get the time to finish it, and once pencils get past a certain point all you see is your mistakes and then you just loose the heart to finish it.

Earlier this year I attended a few cons and an art collector buddy saw the piece in my folio and asked if I would finish it off as a commission. I agreed, and so 2 years later I had the challenge of polishing this turd into a proper masterpiece... At least that was the goal.

You will see a bit of a step by step below. That is so you can see how the piece evolved in the pencil stage. I think you can get a feel for how much polishing I did to try and get it all looking right. You can see some of the adjustments I made to try and "fix" the problems which would have been there if I had inked it back in 2009. I think my forms and structures feel more solid, which is something I am always wanting to get better at. You want your objects to feel like they have volume. The composition isn't necessarily better, but I had a goal in mind for the colours, and I felt the new background would work better the way it turned out.

So there you have it folks... History of a piece which no one probably wanted to know. The end result is a styalised teen looking Deadpool with a post-apocalyptic junkyard background. That sounds like something fun to me and I had a lot of fun drawing this one.

Hope you like!

thanks for reading,

Jon.

Pirates pencils to inks and NYCC

Hello Ninjas!

Once again my blog was feeling alone and lonely, so it is time for a little update.

Last weekend I was tweeting the process of a commission piece I worked on. It was a pirate piece, and now I present to you that piece in its inked and ready to colour state.

Also in this nifty blog post you will find my rough pencils and then my more polished pencils ready for inking.

I hope you like seeing this stuff!

ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be attending this years NYCC. This will be my first time in New York. I'm super excited, and I hope to meet lots of artists and comic fans alike at the con. I will keep you guys up to date on all that here, so if you are planning to go, you will have the info to stop by and say hello! I will be sharing my table with old friend and artist Greg Titus who is amazing.

Thanks for reading guys! Expect more art in the lead up to NYCC!

Jon.

Black Ladies and SupaNova Sydney

Hello friends and finders of this secret little art stash! I am well overdue for an update, so along with some recent art, here are also some ramblings...

First the art. These pieces are from a set of 11 that I have done for a bunch of people who pre-ordered sketch pieces from me in time for SupaNova in Sydney. I've had a great time working on these. All pieces are done on 9 x 12 bristol board using pencil, ink, copics and artlines.

In total there are 11 in this set. I'm hoping to add more to that in the near future. Stay tuned!

I thought it would be cool to start with the ladies with Black in their name:
Black Cat, Black Canary and Black Widow!



Also, cause I love all my ninja follwers on the blog, I'm gonna share some snaps I took of my rough pencil work for those who like to see a little bit of my unpolished mess.


Slight brag: I'm going to watch Kung-Fu Panda 2 today. I'm so excited! This is one of those films where I can't help but be very hyped up for it, which can be a set up for either a HUGE dissapointment, or massive satisfaction. We'll see! Apparently Jack Black is gonna be there.

SupaNova Sydney: It is ON like Donkey Kong...Next weekend. Super excited to do my first Sydney con as a local. I will have limited prints and comics for sale, and I will also be doing head sketches. If you want one of these I recommend getting in early as my list does fill up. I am also thinking of taking a list of commissions which will be just like the ones from this post, so if your interested, let me know. We can dance!

Thanks for reading! As always, more art is on the way!




Peace!
Jon.

Commissions :: Rogue and X-23 + THOR thoughts.

Hi guys!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Easter break!

Have you seen Thor yet?! I did, and I loved it. I don't want to spoil anything. All I want to say is that Marvel have made a fantastic film and got me very interested in a character who I had no interest in at all before. Go see it! Oh, and while I'm at it, can we please at least be given the option to see this movie in 2D?! I find 3D so pointless. It adds nothing but gimmick cheese to the film. The film has a solid story and great characters, and the setting is beautifully done. These qualities are present weather the film is in 2D or 3D. Again I say, it adds nothing! What do you guys think?

OK...let's talk about art. I worked on a couple of outstanding commissions this week, and I'm getting into a good fun groove with these. The choices were great of course. Who doesn't love Rogue or X-23? I'm loving working with markers and inks and getting my hands dirty. It makes me feel like an artist :)


The business table - (Don't read this unless you like to buy and own original art): These pieces are already spoken for, but if you want a commish done to match this set or if you would like to pre-order one for supanova Sydney, get in touch. $100 each. I will have limited spots available as time allows, but for now I am OPEN FOR COMMISSIONS. Alternatively you can get an inked and toned head sketch like the ones I posted earlier for $50.

Thanks for looking guys!

Jon.

Batgirls :: raw pencils - finished colours

Hello!

Some of you may have already seen this floating about on deviantart, or perhaps in person at supanova. Well, now it is also here on my blog. The good news is that here you get to look at my original pencils also.

One of the first DC books I ever got into was Batgirl. A big part of the reason was the gorgeous Damion Scott artwork, but also that Cassie design which is just so slick and cool to look at and draw. The book stood out among all the other titles, and it had more than enough storywise to keep me hooked.

I would love to draw a Batgirl book like this some day. I think she is a very cool character, and such a fun addition to the Bat family. I'm definately hoping to draw her some more in any case.

For anyone interested in buying the original pencils, I'm sorry to say that the original is now SOLD! to a handsome buyer I met in Melbourne. I miss them already, but I know the piece is in a good place :)

Pencils: Me
Inks: Sean Parsons
Colour: Aron Lusen
It's always a great pleasure working with these guys!

Jon.

Supanova: My sketches

Hey guys!

Well, it has been a crazy past 3 weeks. I spent a week in Bali, and then a week in Brisbane followed by a week in Melbourne! I've had a blast catching up with old friends and making lots of new ones too.

The Supanova conventions in Australia just keep getting better and better. I'm now looking forward to Supanova in Sydney, and hopefully a con over in the states. I'd love to make it over later this year, but we'll see what happens.

So, without further ado, here are some of my pics from the convention, along with a selection of the con sketches I did. Hope you like, and keep your eyes peeled for more new art on Mondays!

Jon.

Tides of Hope :: Art for Charity

Hello!

Sorry for the short break between posts there. I have been off on an adventure, but I'm back for the moment. I'll be at Supanova in Brisbane 1-3 April 2011 and Melbourne 8 - 10 April 2011. Hope to see you guys there!

Here is a piece which I finished recently. I was asked if I wanted to contribute to a book which would help out a little for the victims of the recent floods in QLD, Australia. More info about the book can be found HERE. While I worked on this I couldn't help but reflect on all the crazy natural disasters which are happening around our globe. So while this piece will hopefully help out the people of Queensland specifically, my thoughts also go out to all our friends in New Zealand and also Japan.

The piece I worked on was written by Chris Claremont. It was a really fun and interesting challenge. I did my best to remain faithful to Mr. Claremonts script while also injecting my own flavour and design sense in there.

I think the original will be available for auction also with all funds going to charity. Please do check out the book if you make it out to the Supanova conventions.

For the art heads: I took a couple of snaps of the piece as I worked on it, so here is a little look at the work in progress/ behind the scenes. Combo of traditional with digital.

Thanks for looking!

Jon.

Red Monika

OK, so technically it is not Monday where I am, but it might just be where you are. The point is, it is the beggining of the week, and here is some art which you have not seen, AKA new art!

So here is a Red Monika sketch I did for someone who bought my book. I loved Battle chasers...Man...what an Epic book that was. I do hope Joe Mad gives us some more someday. As for me, I would love to draw some more BC stuff, cause it is so much fun to draw! I have a bunch of head sketches I did somewhere of Gully and Garrison. Maybe I'll twitpic them one of these days...

By the way, if anyone wants to have a go at colouring these lines, let me know if there is interest in the comments section and I'll put up a link for some hi res inks for you guys, otherwise you have my coloured version and so it shall remain for all time...


EDIT: Grab the hi-res inks from HERE.
Hope you like!

J.

Darkstalkers :: Dimitri & Morrigan

Darkstalkers :: Rikuo

Surprise! OK....so I don't want to make any promises here, but I will be updating around these parts a little more regularly than just Mondays, but only Monday is guaranteed! Cool? Deal?

Here is another Darkstalker I did for Udons book a little while back. I never got around to posting them up when I did 'em, so here they are...now...today...2011.

Told ya there was more coming soon!

Jon.

The green MOON face

For today I thought it would be interesting to show you guys a cheeky little sneak peek of the week. That's what I'm gonna call it. This is the most recent thing I have been up to. I am working A LOT with colour and learning and absorbing as much as I can about that world. What you see here is just the top half of the piece, and that area is about 75% done. Once I am finished with it all I will post up some actual finished stuff. I'm rather proud of how this thing is looking actually. :)

This is from my current job which I will be finishing up by the end of this week. After that I am free...sort of.

Thanks for reading amigos! More is on the way...
Jon.

Sketchbook Seshing and Experimentation

Monday, Monday! 'tis a lovely day for my blog...

Here are some sketches scanned straight from my sketchbook. I find that it is a great way to loosen up or unwind. Sometimes you get so caught up in a project drawing the same things over and over, and it's nice to break that up with a good sketchbook session. In this case I was playing around with my copic markers once more as well as various pencils and inks.

On a side note, this was my first attempt at drawing Galactus. I actually drew him and Silver Surfer on a card recently, and I did this to get an idea of how to draw him. Such a crazy design when you think about it. Who has a spaceship on their head?!


The second piece is a colour study. Nothing really other than me trying to come up with an interesting painty type of look...

More art coming very soon!

J.

Valentines Day Crush

Heeeeeey!

Sorry about that title. It was too cheesy to resist!

This was the cover art I did for issue 7 of Free Realms. It was then used as the cover for the trade collection of all the issues I drew. You can see that over here on Amazon.

You can see my rough layout/pencils and then the finished pencils. It was all pretty straight forward on this one. Inks on the final piece were done by Allen Martinez and Colours by Bill Crabtree.

Wi-Fighter :: Modern Day Super Hero

Hello Amigos!

This is Wi-Fighter. Another character I created for fun. The idea here was to design a guy who could travel using the power of the internet. He also uses the net to learn special skills on the fly. For example he can watch Ryu performing a Ha Do Ken on Youtube, download it into his suit and perform the manouver on an enemy.

That is all...

Jon.

PS: What do you guys think of the blog face lift?

Dr. Sucker Punch

Hey guys!

Monday means new art on this here blog, and todays art is as fresh as it comes. I don't mean "fresh" as in "what makes a DJ...", but I mean fresh as in, I literally just finished this! 2011 styles all the way.

World, AKA all 100 awesome people who follow my blog...allow me to introduce Dr. Sucker Punch.

OK....so I spent my day creating and fleshing out some characters for fun today. Two completely different characters to be precise. Here is one of them. This guy was a lot of fun to draw and colour, AND also to write... I never really considered that side of things as writing, but coming up with a backstory is exactly that if I'm not mistaken. If I get time I will develop his story further and see what comes of it. Some of that depends on whether you guys want to see more, but mostly it will be a time thing.

Hope you like!

Jon.

megaman sneek and the internet rassum frassum

Hey guys!

Well, I'm back!

Not having internet in this day and age sure does suck! I don't know how I survived as a teenager, but maybe thats why I spent so much time drawing! No net to distract! haha.

Anyway, I will continue to post new art on Mondays as promised, but here is a little something extra since I missed a couple during the dark ages!

First up, a little teaser of one of my megaman submissions for the UDON tribute book. I had a lot of fun working on these pieces, but I think I am definately mega-manned out for the time being! haha. I think this is probably the weakest of the 3, but I think the colours are kinda nice.

The other piece is a scan from my sketchbook. I will be posting the clean finished versions very soon, so stay tuned!

Hasta Lunes!

Jon.

Wolverine & Deadpool :: Copic Ninja

It is Monday once again, and so here is some new art! (Or rather art that I have not shown yet!)

This is a commish I did recently. I wanted to do something special for this one, so I decided to go for a full colour piece. It's my first traditional colour commission, and it was done using copic markers. I've been playing around with these a little lately. They are fun to work with, and I love being able to get instant coloured results. I thought it might be interesting to show a little of the progression on the piece, so I took some iPhone snaps during the making of the art.

There will be more copic marker art soon!

PS: Since I am in the middle of moving houses right now, I may not have any internets for next Monday, but I will see if I can find a way to keep the blog stocked with new Monday art...There may be a way! See you soon!

2011 :: New art every Monday

This year I have decided to try and be more organised. One of the things I want to try and do is keep this blog updated with new art every week. SO my challenge to myself will be to post up a piece of new art every Monday for the rest of the year. I can't promise everything will be pretty, but there will always be something, and hopefully I can keep you updated on current projects.

This week I am working on some illustrations for a childrens book. More details as I am able to show and tell.

See you soon!