TMNT :: Ninja Turtles Covers for sale

Hey guys!

Just a heads up to let you know that my sketch covers for IDW are going on sale today in a couple of hours.

You should be able to get them from the IDW limited site here: http://idwlimited.com/

All up I did 15 covers for them, and they are all original and one of a kind!

Hope you guys enjoy checking them out.

Here are a few more recent turtle pieces I did to wet your appetite!

Happy Hunting!

J.

UPDATE: All covers sold out within minutes of going up for sale. I will be selling off 10 covers as commissions in the near future, so if you are interested, keep an eye out for an announcement. thanks!

Black Widow of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D

Wow... 5 months since the last update! Sorry about that my poor little blog. Today I will fix this up!

I'm back to my commission list, which means I am making my way through the list one by one until they are all done and the slate has been wiped clean. 2013 has been a year of tying up loose ends for me and it feels good!

This piece is one of my standard 9 x 12 copic marker commissions. Here you can see my pencils as well as a couple of other thumbnails for some poses I was trying out. This was the 2nd page of sketches I did until I finally landed upon the pose that I liked best for the piece.

Here you can see a close up photo of the actual art which gives a much nicer look at the actual colours on the piece. Unfortunately my scanner is a real POS.... they dont make them like the used to!

Thanks for reading!

J.

Wolverine VS The Sentinel Head

copic marker and ink on 9x12 bristol board

Hello? Testing, testing.... It's dusty around here...time to clean off the cobwebs and make some regular updates. Anyone reading this?

Well, I'm still making my way through all of these Ozmosis commissions, so if you are still waiting, here is proof that yours is coming soon! There are not too many left...maybe 15 or so and then I might open up for new commissions. Maybe.

Anyway, this one was cool... I was asked to draw Wolverine, which is always fun. I added the big Sentinel head in the background to create a little more of a story for the piece and to give me something which I could use to help Logan pop off the page even more.

traditional pencil with digital pencil

For you guys who like to see some of the steps and progress behind the scenes...well, you know thats what this blog is for... so here you go. I apologise for the watermarks, but people have been stealing my shit and trying to sell it, so I gotta do what I gotta do. Those scallywags!

So, this is kind of where my process is at these days. I like to start with my pencil and sketchbook as I have always done. Once I have something that I'm feeling pretty good about I will usually scan it and then clean it up and mess around with it a little digitally. In this case you can see below that I actually drew the sentinel head completely digitally because it was an idea I had when I was sitting in front of my computer I suppose, so that's just how it worked out.

Find my on Instagram. User name: sommariva

 Above you can see a progress shot I took once I had done most of the line work on Wolverine. In the scan below you can see that line work with the undersketch removed, but this was the same step here.

inks done with a brush pen

Thanks for reading, and hopefully I will see you guys back here very soon!

cheers,
Jon.

Where the Wild Things Are

Copic Markers on A5 toned paper

Hey guys!

Well, I just finished a smaller commission last night that I wanted to share here.

I loved this book when I was a kid. There was so much imagination on these pages. It's the kind of book you see as a kid and remember it your whole life. You know, I probably havnt actually seen the book for maybe 30 years, but those monsters have always remained vivid in my head.

So, when I was aksed to draw one of the monsters from 'Where the Wild Things Are' by my friend, Charles Santoso, I was very excited. Well, I really had a blast working on this piece and spending a little time remembering the story and characters.

Hope you guys like how this one turned out.

More coming soon!

Jon.

LOBO vs ATROCITUS :: Oz Comic Con

Hey Ninjas!

Well....It has been a while since the last update. I have been quite busy finishing off Rexodus and working on a bunch of stuff, but now Rex is in the can and waiting to be published which is good! I can't wait for you guys to see it.

For the past two weekends I had the pleasure of being a guest of Oz Comic Con in Perth and then Adelaide. Wow! What an amazing time. I met a lot of people and it is so great to see so many people interested in what we (comic book artists) do for a living. Very exciting. Over the 10 days I was there chilling and working with my buddy David Yardin we produced a lot of art from head sketches to full size pieces. It was good times indeed!

So, I'm hoping to get a chance to show some of the actual scans here for you guys to check out. If you already follow me on INSTAGRAM you may have seen a bunch of art, but at the end of the day there is nothing quite like seeing a nice clean scan....and further to that, there is nothing quite like seeing the original art in person! At least, that's what I think.

Here is one of the pieces that came about thanks to this tour. I was asked to draw LOBO vs Atrocitus. Now, I LOVE drawing Lobo... This was actually the 2nd time I have done a commission of him, but I had never heard of Atrocitus before. All I really know about him is that he is a Red Lantern and he spews blood. He's a big dude, so I am picturing him going for a WWF body slam here, but Lobo is obviously very ready with his blades.

Had fun working on this one... More to come soon!

Cheers,
Jon.

PS: My latest art book, Ozmosis Chills III is officially SOLD OUT now, but never fear, there will be another coming soon as well as a collected volume of numbers 1 and 2...More on that later.

Ariel :: The Little Mermaid all grown up

Hey!

Continuing with some A5 head sketches. For this one I was asked to draw my take on Ariel, the Little Mermaid, and to stay away from any cute/kid version. I really enjoyed this request, because I grew up on Disney films. Something I have always wanted to do was to be able to draw girls as pretty as Disney does (or did when they were kings of 2D animation). When I was much younger and first learning to draw, I thought Disney girls were so hot! I couldn't believe that some hairy old dude could make something look so beautiful with just a pencil and paper. Ariel was my first cartoon crush! So it has been interesting to try and capture some of that beauty. I think my 14 year old self would have liked this drawing.

Anyway, I didn't go for the full on Disney version, because then it wouldn't look like I actually drew it, and to be honest I would probably do a pretty shitty job of it. I don't even know if I could. I havnt tried. What I did end up with was a slightly more mature Ariel with a little sexyness thrown in. And I did have a lot of fun with that hair!

As for the art, this is ink and copic marker on A5 size pastel paper. It's small, but the colour and texture of the paper is nice to work with.

For anyone interested, there are still a couple of orignial sketch commission spots open on my new ONLINE STORE as well as art books. I am planning on getting some previews together (photos) of the inside of the book to help any sceptics decide whether this book is worth getting or not. I think it is!

Hope you like! I'll try and post the rest of these A5 sketches all week as I have quite a back-log built up, so check in if you are interested!

thanks!

Jon.

Instagram user name: sommariva

Hulk VS Superman :: Blood and Guts

For this commission I was asked to draw Hulk ripping Superman in half, or something to that effect. The request was in Spanish, so I hope I understood it right!

Hope you don't mind a little blood and guts. I'm sure even this would not be enough to kill Superman though. I saw some peeps on instagram haing a proper nerdy chat about whether or not this could actually happen. Fun to read!

For the art heads: This is a 9 x 12 piece drawn on smooth 300 series bristol board. I used brush pen and copic pens as well as copic markers for the tones. You can see my intial thumbnail idea, as well as my rough pencils before I took it to final.

Thanks for looking!

NOTE: For anyone wanting to buy a copy of my ART BOOK, I should have the store set up by the end of the week. You should be able to place your orders starting on Monday 27th Augut 2012. There will be bonus content for the people who get in early! Ozmosis Chills 3 is almost here!

Lobo :: A look at my drawing process

Hey guys!

Today I thought it would be fun to share a new piece I worked on last Friday and a look at the steps I took to get to the final piece.

I often get asked to make tutorials on how I work with copics or how to draw. This isn't exactly a tutorial, but it should give you an idea of the steps involved.

So, first of all, here is the finished product. This was a commission for someone who bought a copy of my new art book Ozmosis Chills III.

For this commission I was asked to draw LOBO. I LOVE drawing this character! He is easily one of the coolest characters in the DCU. I like the fact that you can exagerate his proportions and go a little crazy, and I think the more you do this the more it suits the character. I hear the rumour that THE ROCK was going to play Lobo in a film version, and I think that would be really cool! I'm hoping for a great movie, as DC needs to start making some decent flicks! Batman was great of course, but I can't say I was a big fan of Green Lantern. Big let down, that one.

Anyway, To begin with I did a little research on the character. I checked out some past interpreations and read up on him so I had an idea of who he is. Then I started drawing some sketches. I actually got a little hung up on the layout and design of the drawing, when finally I decided to just go for more of a cool looking full body pose. I've done a few bust pieces recently, so I wanted to go for something different.

Once I had decided on the sketch I liked I began with the process of finishing it up and making it all look pretty. The pens I use are actually made by copic (except for the brush pen) and so they all hold up really well when you go over them with marker. No streaks if you are careful. So, in the inking stage I am laying down all the main holding lines to create the forms.

Once I have the bulk of the outlines done, I can move on to laying down the tones. I take a moment to think about which parts will be light, which will be mid tones and which will be dark. You set yourself some restrictions and then let the markers do their thing.

Once that is all done, I go back in and start adding all the extra details, such as hair, highlights, scratches, crinkles etc...

And that's pretty much it!

cheers! Jon.

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.

Venom, Little Gladiator and a bunch of Instagram sketches

Hey guys!
Wow... Long time between blog updates!

I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet for now, but it will be heavy on the art :)

So, I have been using Instagram to snap some sketch book stuff, and here are some of my favourites from the past couple of months. (user name is: sommariva)

Heads up: I will be revealing some info very soon for you guys who would like to pre-order and ensure that you get a copy of my art book OZMOSIS CHILLS 3. It is on it's way!

OK... More art soon!
Jon.

This was a con sketch I did recently at Oz Comic Con in Adelaide. Venom finally gets to eat Spidey... Sorry Spidey.


This is a character I created and designed for fun. He might come back again in the future if you guys like him.


This was just an olden day photo head study. Drawing moustaches is fun!


WW2 soldier. Again, just for fun. I thought the paper and markers I was using would suit WW2 pretty well.

Hope you like! Thanks for looking.