Onslaught :: Oz Comic Con Sketch

Hey!

Well, the last couple of weeks have been hectic! Lot's of cons and lots of travel. It's been good times though, but I am always happy to return home and get back to some serious art making.

Oz Comic Con in Melbourne was HUGE! Had a really great time there. It was a very interesting experience. Catching up with other comic book makers was really great as always, and meeting all the fans and art collectors was awesome too. I had some great con sketch requests, which I will talk about more in a moment. I can only imagine this show getting bigger and better with each event. It's exciting times ahead!

One of the highlights for me was sharing a table with Scott Allie from Dark Horse comics. It was really great hearing his advice and insight as many artists came past to show him their work. It was interesting to experience the con from an editors point of view, and Scott had some great stories to share with fans. When I wasn't blabbing to people, I had my radar on and listened in as Scott did his thing. I also learnt one of the best ways to get someone to stop talking... Give them a Mintie! :) I now know why I am often bought packs of these things. More Minties = Less talk = More drawing!

I gotta send a shout out to my good friend and amazing artist, David Yardin. We stayed up every night either drawing or hanging out, and were shown great hospitality by his family after the con. We had some good adventures with Mr. Tristan Jones, Francis Manapul and Agnes Garbowska. Lookin forward to sharing a Hendrix and cucumber with these guys again soon!

OK... I know what you are thinking.... enough con reporting, let's see some art! Well, today I am sharing with you something that is fresh as fresh can be...this one is straight off the drawing board. It is actually a con sketch that I didnt have time to finish. I have made a point of getting better at not taking con sketches home, but I just wasnt feeling the vibe in the last hour of the con, so I decided to take this one home.

So, the request was to draw Onslaught. I gotta tell you, this character was a bitch to draw! I have never drawn him before, and I found him quite tricky. I try to do all my con sketches portrait, and the thing with this guy is that he is really wide, so that makes things interesting as far as placement on the page goes. The shoulder pads are a pain, until you "get" them.

Usually with a con sketch, it is quite off the cuff, and fast as far as layout and structure goes. Usually you are getting the first thing that comes to mind. Since I had more time, I started off with some thumbnail sketches to get a feel for the character, so there was more thought put in to this piece. I actually then took one of these thumbnails to the rough stage, but I felt that the pose was a little static and boring, so I made a 2nd attempt.

I was much happier with the 2nd pose. It had a little more dyanamic energy to it. As far as composition goes, I wanted to give the image a little something extra to lead the eye and help Onslaught pop a little, and so I added a Professor X head in there. His main colours are red and purple, so there is not much variation in his tonal values, which is why I went for the darker space background to add contrast in the piece.

Well, I hope this was not too boring. I have no idea if anyone actually reads this. If not and you just look at the art, well, that is cool too. A picture says a thousand words right, so I should probably type less and draw more, anyway!!

Thanks for reading, and more art is on the way!

Jon.