Volstagg is the last of the four pieces shown at Christopher’s. It was fun to be a part of this showing with Eric Shonborn and Jason Young. Enjoy!
Volstagg is a friend of Thor in the comic books. He’s a comic relief character and a homage to Shakespeare’s Falstaff. He is also one of Sarah’s favorite characters and she insisted I draw him as my final piece for the Christopher’s Restaurant exhibit.
Another superhero portrait shown at Christopher’s Restaurant some time back and drawn per Sarah’s request. Squirrel Girl is one of Sarah’s favorite comic book characters. She’s only read one Squirrel Girl story, her origin, and is still completely enamored with it. Truth to tell, I enjoyed it too since it was very much tongue in cheek. Or should I say tongue in pouch? Either way, it was a fun little story to read and this was a fun little picture to draw.
Sarah, my daughter, had a different vision for the OK, Panic! Batman Villains piece I drew. Wheeler re-colored it to her specifications and agreed to post it here. Sarah’s response:
“Your recolored Penguin meets my standards.”
The new OK, Panic! is online and ready for your perusal. Hope you enjoy it. It’s called “Feldman: Man, Myth, Magic!” and the theme was chosen by Kurt Dinse.
What does that have to do with Forbush Man you ask? Well, about a month ago, Eric Shonborn chose “Noir” for his Panic theme. Since noir means “black” in French, we decided to color one Forbush and leave the other rendered in stark b&w. Because the other artists on the site left their craftwork in b&w, Wheeler suggested we submit our colored version to be different and publish the b&w Forbush on Sketchbook. So, a month later, here it is. (Special thanks to Sarah Potter for lighting a fire under Sketchbook’s web administrator; otherwise, with his bad memory, he might have never posted the piece).
Local Dayton, OH comics artist, Justin Wasson did this sketch of Squirrel Girl for Sarah during the Free Comic Book Day celebration at Mavericks. Squirrel Girl is one of Sarah’s favorite characters and the most powerful hero in the Marvel Universe.
Since the title makes any explanation superfluous, I’ll just complain about the work’s lower figure. Sarah, my little naturalist, found a photograph of a lion in one of her nature magazines for me to try to draw. Now imagine a lion that says, “By cracky!” (You know the way lions talk) “I think I’ll draw a human!” He uses his cub’s photograph of a human, say, Fred Allen. Realizing he is not familiar with human features, he would use ONLY Mr. Allen’s face. He would NOT confuse himself by also using pictures of Henry David Thoreau and e.e. cummings and then trying to incorporate the three distinct visages into one face, like I did when I found other photographs in Sarah’s magazine. So the moral of this piece is that, by cracky, I’m dumber than a lion.
Here’s an old image Sarah found in her mother’s computer documents, but this one, unlike the previous crooked man piece, I do recall fairly well. The story behind it is simple. Kathy is a great admirer of Tamasaburo, having seen him perform when she was in Japan. She had a magazine (I wish I could remember its title) with a haunting full-page and closeup color photograph of the actor in makeup. She asked me to make a painting based on it, and this is the humble result. The work is rife with glaring mistakes, but since it was done as a labor of love and since it’s no longer in our possession I harbor a warm and indulgent feeling toward it.
Here’s a piece I pencilled and inked at the request of and for my friend, Wheeler. He originally asked me to draw (my choice) the Hulk, Iron Man, or Thor on the Blank Cover Variant of his New Avengers #1 and instructed me that he liked the classic look of the Avengers, as designed by Jack ‘King’ Kirby.
Of course, my daughter, Sarah, has an affinity for the “Not Brand Echh” series of comics, starring the Revengers. The Revengers were “Charlie America,” “The Mighty Sore,” “Knock Furious, agent of S.H.E.E.S.H,” and of course “The Echhs Men.” Sarah thinks one particular scene starring the Revengers is comic gold. When The Revengers discover Charlie America floating in a block of ice and thaw him out, Sore introduces himself, “I am Mighty Sore.” Charlie responds “Me too, Lady. Have you got any Excedrin?” From that point on, the witty banter never stops.
So, I decided to draw Thor for my friend because of the warm feeling I get when I think about his counterpart “The Mighty Sore” and Sarah’s love for that Revengers story.
Above, you will find my pencils and inks colored by my friend, Wheeler Hall. Below is the uncolored original line art that will be framed and hung next to Wheeler’s other collectibles.
Excelsior!
