BLACK BAT PULP in sepia

Enter the Black Bat!  He's not Batman but his costume is similarly inspired by the same flying rat.  He, however carries guns and is a bit more lethal than the comics code approved Batman.  My friend had written the script and had an editor but was having trouble finding an artist.  The more I learned about the character the more I wanted to draw it.  He may vary well be the inspiration for Batman and Daredevil.  And it makes me wonder if DC came to the agreement to have Batman not use guns as to make him different from the Black Bat.  Coincidentally Todd Jones and I own the rights to this piece if anyone would like to publish it.  It hasn't been published in the States.  8 pages.

Chew comic Pin-up

Here is a pin-up I did for the wildly popular comic Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory.  After meeting at Denver Comic Fest Rob and I got to talking and BAM a pin-up of the Chew cast in a different style.  My take was what if they did a Chew action movie?  Who would play Chu, John Colby, or Amelia?  Can you see any resemblances?  Check for it in a future issue of Chew.  Sepia tone washes with a little cybernetic red.

Guest Blog Entry for Artist Daily

I wrote a guest blog entry for Artist Daily.  Artist Daily is an excellent resource for serious artists.

Take a look, it's me talking about how comics and classic art share some DNA.  It is illustrated with art by Adi Granov and Lee Bermejo as well as some Michelangelo.

How to Draw Perspective in Comics Video Tutorial

Drawing perspective is easy to explain but kinda tricky to put into practice.  In this video you can see how I go about drawing buildings on a comic page.  Get an inside peak of me at my desk.  Watching the process in video might answer some questions for those learning the craft.

Escape from Terra Vol. 2 voted book of the Month

Escape from Terra Volume 2 was voted book 

of the month by a whopping 86%

I don't give awards much creditability, 

but when the public votes for you that's kinda cool.

Thanks people!

Jack be Nibble, Jack be Quick.

I don't always get to color my own artwork, but here are some pages where I did pencils, inks and colors.  Story by Paul Davidson.

colors.

Escape From Terra Reviewed by Reason

I guess EFT got a little review in
the March issue of Reason.
Not too shabby:)

How to Draw a Comic Page Part 2: Penciling Roughs

 

How to draw a comic Roughs (see part 1 on Layouts below in a previous post). In this homemade video I explain how I draw roughs on an X-men page. It's chock-full of helpful tips and gives you my insight on to how to make comics. This is the second installment of a video tutorial explaining my process of drawing comics.  Next will be perspective and finished pencils.

See My latest book here 

.

How to draw a comic layout tutorial

For all those wanting to know how to draw a comic layout, here is how I do it.  I am a professional comic book artist with years of experience.  Check it out to see how I layout an X-men page.  Plenty of trade secrets from greats like David Mazzucchelli and the like.  This is Part 1 of a video tutorial explaining my process of drawing comics.  Here I cover thumbnails and layouts.  Next will be roughs and finished pencils. Bonus points to anyone who can identify the opening music.

Uncanny X-Men #500 comic page 18

Uncanny X-Men comic page 18 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction
This is Wolverine's page.  Wolverine is always cool to draw.  I tried to give it a slightly unique spin in the way I did his eyes.  Here I used a technique for shading in the bricks black with white joints.  I know Ed Brubaker is not a fan of the outer white lines but I like how it looks.

Uncanny X-Men comic page 19 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

X-Men comic page 19 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
This is Colossus' page.  Colossus is fun too because of the reflective surface.  The X-men are just cool all around.  I also enjoying drawing cars.  I'm not a car guy, but it is fun drawing them.  Their beauty is more visible when simplified in a drawing.  I used to love drawing cars from how to draw car books.

X-Men comic page 20 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

X-Men comic page 20 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
Drawing Nightcrawler's Bamf is as fun as it looks.  I thought it would be more challenging to draw cyclops, but it went smothly.  Magneto not so much.  Beast took a little getting into also.

X-Men comic page 21 pencils

X-Men comic page 21pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
Drawing Storm is always a pleasure.  Her eyes light up everything. I wanted cyclop's blast to have this certain effect on Magneto's magnetic field, but it will make more sense with color.

X-Men comic page 22 pencils

X-Men comic page 22 pencils that I'll be using for an upcoming tutorial.
It took me awhile to get Angel's pose.  I didn't want it to be a pose that you see all the time but when I got too original it didn't hold as well...  The White Queen came out of my pencil in one stroke.

Saturnist page 9 pencils

Saturnist #1 Page 9 script by Mike Baron pencils by Lee Oaks.

ESCAPE FROM TERRA Vol.2 Release Signing Mile High Denver

So it looks like Scott Bieser and I will be doing a signing for the biggest comic book store in the world, Mile High Comics (Jason Street Mega-store) in Denver!  I grew up in a rural place that didn't have comic book stores.  But in the books I read I remember seeing the ads for Mile High Comics.  Little did I know it was only like a 3 hour drive away from where I lived!  Since then Mile High has become a ginormous warehouse of comics making it the biggest in the world.  I have shopped at BD world in Belgium (and still do when I'm there) the previous largest store and now live not far from Mile High.  The last two guests at Mile High were Jim Shooter and Chris Claremont, so we're pretty excited to be a part of it.

Hope to see you there.  I will have sketches.
Saturday March 17 10am-3pm

Saturnist page 22 pencils Lee Oaks

Saturnist comic page 22 pencils sketch Lee Oaks