Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook

For the last couple years, I've been designing the Baltimore Comic-Con Yearbook. Year one was Liberty Meadows, year two was Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo. This year we're tackling Matt Wagner's Grendel. [image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/baltimore14_cover_regFINAL.jpg" align="right" border="image_border" link="#" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" width="200" ]

Baltimore is one of my favorite shows, and it's always an honor to work on the book, it's also a challenge to work with so many artists and find a way to make the next year's book better than the last. We've definitely done that this year. New artists! Returning artists! More artists! And a surprise I'm not sharing quite yet. But wait until you see the book.

Right now the book is safely at the printer and all that's left is waiting for the shipping information. I'd say waiting patiently, but let's be honest, I'll be nervous up until Marc Nathan calls and tells me those books are in his hands. But it's all worth it. I think you're going to love the book.

A Secret of Sketchbooks

While I was at San Diego, I was asked to do the inaugural sketch in someone's sketchbook. She was starting an all-Hydra sketchbook. First up, she wanted a piece involving the Hydra Skull/Octopus logo. Let me let you into the mind of an artist. I always look through a sketchbook I'm given. And while I never do a bad piece, at least not intentionally, there's a point when you see a sketchbook will pieces by comics' legends or pieces that should be legendary and you think, "I gotta bring my A-game to this one." We're competitive, we artists, and sketchbooks bring that out.

So when I got this request, I knew I had to start the book out right. I think it's your holy mission as an artist to start a sketchbook off so well that other artists go "Crap! I have to keep up with this one?!" She wanted the skull. I gave her the skull, a Hydra goon, and a bunch of SHIELD agents.  (Also, to heck with all those periods in the title. It's SHIELD to me. I'm not wasting six characters on a tweet on all those dots.)

For more sketchbook insights, Amy Ratcliffe posted an invaluable piece on starting one, too. Check that out here.

[image src=" http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/hydra.jpg" align="left" border="image_border" link="#" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

I'm Doing a Podcast: Comics, Assembled!

A while back I tweeted about taking my first steps into a brave new world. That was the day Brian Ward and I recorded the first episode of our podcast, Comics Assembled! I've thought about doing a podcast for a while. I'm passionate about being a comics creator and freelancer and I certainly have a lot of opinions. But I've wondered if I'd have enough to say, and my schedule certainly makes things complicated.

But, when Dan Benjamin of the awesome 5by5 Network, and host of many of my favorite shows, offered me the opportunity, I had to hop on it.

I hope you'll check it out. I hope even more that you get something out of it. Be sure to send us some comments, rate us on iTunes, all of that stuff. And let us know what you'd like us to cover on future episodes.

Morning Warm-Up: Doctor Fate

[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/doctorfate_block.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/doctorfate_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ] I've got a lot of stuff going on today, so I'm afraid I don't have time to write my normal full post on this one.

The big thing I wanted to do was play with lighting . I wanted Doctor Fate's spell to be the brightest thing on the page, lighting the figure a little differently than I normally do, so I used a yellow overlay for the bright sections.It was effective here.

Okay, back to work!

Morning Warm-Up: Starman

Starman was kind of an interesting challenge. His costume is particularly garish, at the very least Christmasy. And he's got an aileron on his head. [image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/starman_block.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/starman_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

I wanted to try something a little different with him. I gave him a much more streamlined physique. He's an astronomer, after all. And I gave him a graceful, almost contemplative pose. I thought that worked well for him.

Morning Warm-Up: Wonder Woman (Also, Happy Birthday America!)

It got in my head that I should draw a patriotic hero for Independence Day. I thought about expanding my JSA scope to include the All-Star Squadron so I could do Commander Steel, or Mr. America… and then I thought "Wonder Woman, you idiot!" Admittedly, whether or not she's a JSAer is subject to change. I lived through the Crisis, man!

[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wonderwoman_block.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/wonderwoman_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

I really think Wonder Woman should be DC's Captain America. Not that anyone's offering, but the take I have on her is that she's sent to Man's World to defend America, the modern Roman Empire, against attacks from the gods. ("Mars/Ares" I can hear you saying, right? No. I'd make it a different recurring antagonist god. Who? Not tellin'. have to keep some things in case such an event should ever happen.) Since she fights for America, she wears America's standard. Hence her uniform.

She'd have a secondary purpose, too. It'd be her job to lead and inspire America to keep faith with the lofty ideals it was founded upon and to be that beacon for the world. Like Captain America doesn't necessary represent the America that is, but the America that it aspires to be. Both characters call us to the better angels of our nature.

So, Happy Independence Day! See some fireworks. Buy Lora Innes' excellent The Dreamer which is on sale at Comixology right darn now, and watch 1776 and stop "reeking of discontentment."

Morning Warm Up: Dr. Mid-Nite

Dr. Mid-Nite has a cool costume and it was a blast to draw it. I've actually done him as a commission before, too. And when I draw him, you have to draw Hooty the Owl, too. [image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/drmidnite_block.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/drmidnite_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

The idea of an actual medical doctor as a super hero is very interesting to me. There aren't a lot of them, at least not with practices. That's a fund concept I'm going to have to file away for a rainy day.

This one was drawn yesterday, posted today. I'm working on a new one right now. I do post these early to my Twitter feed if you want to get a jump.

Morning Warm Up: Hourman

It's everybody's favorite pill-popping superhero, Rex Tyler, the original Hourman. I think the first time I read Hourman was in the big treasury reprint of All-Star Comics #3, since reprinted elsewhere, too. So many different versions of so many characters I knew, like Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman, as well as new characters like Atom, Sandman, Doctor Fate… and Hourman.

[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hourman_pre.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/hourman_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

Even as a kid I questioned that cape. A yellow cape with a couple of red stripes on it looked more like a bath towel than anything else. Still, I love characters who come with their own countdown clock. And his appearance in DC's Whatever Happened To… backup in DC Comics Presents was awesome, too.

It was interesting figuring out just how that black area on his hood worked, too. Some people have turned it into a mask within a hood, but I wanted to do the classic version of the character.

These morning warm-ups have been fun, and I think I'm getting some pop and energy into the pieces, too. This one, technically wasn't a morning warm-up though. Yesterday I hit a point where I was mostly waiting on emails and had time to kill. But I think I'll refer to all these as "Morning Warm Ups" as that's where they started and what they're for.

Behold the Power of the Atom

I think I'm going to start doing morning warmup pieces. At least for now. I'm cleverly not going to commit to one a morning or anything because the moment I do, I'll get a big client job that sucks up my morning. There's a pro tip for you: You can't miss your schedule if you don't announce one.

[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/atom.png" align="left" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/atom_display.jpg" alt="" title="" lightbox="false" ]

Today, I drew the golden-age Atom, Al Pratt. He was a big member of the All-Star Squadron, which is where I grew to dig him. His costume… let's be honest, it looks pretty silly in real life. But in comics, it's just cool.

I also started experimenting with a highlight layer on this one. I like it on this one. We'll see if I keep with it.

Sometimes You Just Want to Draw the Spectre

I listen to The Fire and Water Podcast, hosted by my fellow Kubie Rob Kelly and The Irredeemable Shag. It's a great show, and we occasionally tease each other good-naturedly, even leading to some wackiness like this fake blog I set up. One of their most popular features is their monthly review of the 80's series Who's Who in the DC Universe. They're up to issue 21 which featured a lot of "S" characters. They mentioned the Spectre and it just hit me: I really wanted to draw the Spectre.[image src="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/spectre_pre.png" align="right" border="image_border" link="http://thomz.com/blogall/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/spectre.jpg" alt="Spectre" title="Spectre" lightbox="false" ]

I always dug the Spectre, with his ridiculous costume, crazy powerful powerset, and a comics pedigree that includes Jerry Siegel. The post-Crisis 80's series was one of my favorites and all his stuff is worth checking out, and Brad Meltzer even referenced him in one of his books.

Anyway, I thought he would be a good warm-up sketch. I had a lot of fun with it, and I'll have to do more of these. It was drawn in Manga Studio and colored in Photoshop.