Tuesday, November 4, 2014

NYCC Recent Commissions

This week I'm sharing the four commissions I did for the New York Comic Con as well as the rough pencils.

A Frilled Lizard race:
The fan commissioned me to do something like a neck and neck horse race, but with mice riding frilled lizards. The owner of this piece spent some time in Australia, where this species of lizard is found. He also suggested that the mice could have an Aussie look to them if I wanted, but I opted not to do anything too Paul Hogan or Monty Python "Bruce" with them.

The pencils were fairly straight forward, I didn't separate out the figures like I normally do so that I can adjust the composition digitally, I just drew it on copy paper as-is and then put it behind my bristol board and used a lightbox to see the pencils as I inked.

Swedish Mice vs a Lynx:
This request came from a fan in Sweden who was coming to NYC for the comic con. The suggestion being something with snow and a male and female mouse bundled up battling a lynx.

The setup was tricky because of the size of the lynx. Anytime someone asks for a vs piece and the other animal is larger than the mice, I have to figure out if they want tiny mice, or a severely cropped predator. I drew only half the lynx so I could mirror the facial spot pattern in Photoshop. 


A Winter Solstice Celebration:
A few years ago this commissioner had me do a Fall harvest celebration piece with Saxon, Kenzie, & Lieam. This time he asked for the same crew, but in the snow for the winter solstice and perhaps decorating a tree. I opted for it to be a pinecone for scale.

Placing each mouse so their arms would be in the right spot to light a candle and their feet were solid on something, and they weren't blocking the pinecones too much was going to be a trick, so I drew each mouse separately and then assembled the sketches in Photoshop to arrange a final composition.



Sadie & Saxon reunite with Lieam as the Black Axe:
The title pretty much sums up the request. They imagined this scene differently than it will eventually play out in the books (characters, time of year, and location all subject to change), but It's a fun try out for me to think about a moment where Lieam as the Axe is able to reconnect with his former Guardmouse pals.

The Sketch was mostly about getting Lieam's reveal pose correct and adding the fall bracken and undergrowth. Then I quickly drew a Sadie & Saxon in the lower right so that I could assemble a composition of the three in photoshop before inking the piece.



2015 Appearances:
C2E2 April 24-26
Motor City May 15-17
Denver Comic Con May 22-25
Heroes Con June 19-21
Baltimore Comic Con Sept. 25-27
New York Comic Con Oct. 8-11


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