Gene Gonzales Illustration

Work in Progress - The Big Commission Inks

2012-01-27T15:15:00.001-05:00

The Kents © DC Comics

Anybody else remember this family? I sure miss them.

They were an older couple who adopted the boy and they ran a general store in a small town. Very kind hearted parents who taught their son the difference between right and wrong, how to help others in need, and to protect all life to the best of his ability. The boy had some close friends that he could always depend on. A cute red head who's curiosity sometimes got the best of her. A blond boy who could be trusted with the boy's biggest secrets and a faithful dog that would do anything in the universe for him. Sometimes there was trouble. People from way out of town would drop by and make a mess of things. Or that poor kid who lost all his hair. He was a troubled one. But the boy was always there to put things right.

Sometimes the boy had friends that came from way out of town. They wore colorful clothes that were in fashion where they were from. Sometimes the boy went to visit them. Adventures were had. Those friends always looked up to the boy because they knew his heart and knew he was destined for great things. And they were right.

Luckily I have many albums with images of this family and their friends. So when I really long to see all of them, I can still visit. And adventures are had.

(This is a detail of the Big Commission inks. Big thanks to Royce for letting me share the progress of this piece I am doing for him.)

This is Post #1589

DCnU Harley Quinn

2012-01-26T17:21:00.001-05:00

Harley Quinn © DC Comics

My day was filled with commissions today. Putting in a few hours on each. Then I started tightening up this piece. It started as a little sketch in my sketchbook. I will be inking it and probably paint it with watercolors. Then it will be Ebay bound. :)

Pencils on 11"x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1588

Sketchbook Wednesday

2012-01-25T19:06:00.003-05:00

Over on the 2-Point Perspective Blog, the theme is the villainess Maleficent. Above are some of the warm-up sketches I did in preparation for the finished piece. Head on over to the 2-Point Perspective Blog to see the final art.

This is Post #1587

Ms. Marvel

2012-01-24T10:49:00.000-05:00

Ms. Marvel © Marvel Entertainment

Just like yesterday's Starfire pin-up, this piece is a result of the call for character suggestions I put out on Twitter a week or so ago. Mike suggested Ms. Marvel, and I opted for this version.

This is ink and watercolor on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

Ms. Marvel is on Ebay, ending Jan. 27th.

This is Post #1586

Starfire - Canson Cutie

2012-01-23T18:42:00.000-05:00

Starfire © DC Comics

This is the first time I have drawn the new Starfire's uniform/costume. Actually this is the first of the DCnU characters I have drawn. I think. I had started sketching this out when I decided to do it as a Canson Cutie. I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out.

This is mix media on 11" x 17" orange Canson Mi-Teintes paper.

UPDATE: Starfire is for sale on Ebay - Ends Jan. 27

This is Post #1585

Phantom Girl

2012-01-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

Phantom Girl © DC Comics

This is a fun commission I did for Vincent in his Legion themed sketchbook. I had to follow a brilliant two page spread of Sun Boy flying by a sun, with space and stars in the background done by Bob McLeod. Yikes! Well someone had to follow it. :) Vincent gave me the choice of a few Legionnaires and since this was going in a book, I thought I would take advantage of using the front and back of the page with Phantom Girl. I ran the concept by Vincent who gave me the go. Above is the front of the page. Below is the back of the same page. And yes, they line up. :)

Thanks for the commission Vincent!

This is Post #1584

MegaCon Advance Sketch List reminder

2012-01-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

I will post some new art later today, but I wanted to post again that the MegaCon Advance Sketch List is open. I've been getting some cool requests already. And it's nice to have some Canson Cuties on the board again!

Advance Sketch List Details

So contact me soon. The show is coming up fast and I would like to be able to hand you a completed piece at the show. Even if you are not getting a sketch from me, drop by and say "HI"!

This is Post #1583

Supergirl

2012-01-21T17:25:00.001-05:00

Supergirl © DC Comics

I did this as a digital sketch a couple of days ago and wasn't planing to do anything with it. But hey, it's Supergirl, I couldn't leave it alone. So I did this in watercolors on 11"x 17" Arches watercolor board.

This will probably end up on Ebay this weekend. :)

This is Post #1582

Batgirl

2012-01-20T15:35:00.001-05:00

Batgirl © DC Comics

Just an ink and marker doodle of James Gordon's favorite heroine. Have a good weekend everyone!

This is Post #1581

Dejah Thoris - Rough pencils

2012-01-19T13:28:00.000-05:00

Today: Work, work, work, lunch, draw Dejah Thoris rough figure, work, post, work, repeat as needed.

Graphite and blue Col-Erase pencils on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1580

Supergirl - Digital Sketchbook

2012-01-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

Supergirl © DC Comics

Supergirl is the theme over on the 2-Point Perspective Blog I share with Joe Pekar. I had finished my Supergirl art yesterday, early for a change. Since I never get tired of drawing Kara, I started roughing this out in Photoshop after I quit working yesterday. I have no plans to finish this piece. This was just a digital sketchbook type of exercise. I plan most of my work digitally. Much easier to make corrections and try different things. If I am going to finish a piece traditionally, I print it out and light table the image onto the final board. It's a clean way to work.

For this post, I left the structure layer visible. It's a scribble mess but it's always fun to see how it all fits. There isn't much of the structure work in the face though, somehow I nailed that in the rough and just refined it a bit. :)

This is Post #1579

Crabapple

2012-01-17T20:15:00.001-05:00

Just something silly today. Acrylic and ink on 8.5" x 5" Strathmore bristol board.

This is Post #1578

Sketchbook Monday

2012-01-16T20:20:00.004-05:00

Just some doodles while working today.

This is Post #1577

Digital Sketch - iPad 2

2012-01-15T17:49:00.001-05:00

Overall this was kind of a relaxing Sunday. Actually I only relaxed for about 2 hours. And even then I was laying on the couch doodling this for half that time. (The other half was for kicking butt in Scrabble.) I also did most of a Supergirl painting today. This would be the idea I posted yesterday. I am now into the detail work.

So today's post is something I did on my iPad 2 in Sketchbook Pro. I wasn't too concerned with how this piece looked finished. I was concentrating on working on the iPad and learning the finger gestures for Sketchbook Pro that would get me around quicker than going to the main menu for everything. The other interesting thing was I noticed I could draw with my left hand. I'm right handed. I wasn't using my stylus for this piece. So sometimes when my left hand got tired of holding the iPad, I switched and drew with my left hand. Holding a pencil/brush/stylus in my left hand to paint or draw would be disastrous, I haven't developed that motor skill. But I guess because it was just my finger, and not trying to hold some kind of instrument, it works. Fun stuff.

This is Post #1576

Supergirl - Color Comp

2012-01-14T17:56:00.001-05:00

Supergirl © DC Comics

This is a color comp for an idea for next weeks Supergirl theme on the 2-Point Perspective blog. If all goes well, the final art will be acrylic on 48" x 12" canvas. Fingers crossed.

This was done in Photoshop CS5

This is Post #1575

Cheetara - Canson Cutie

2012-01-13T14:37:00.003-05:00

In response to my request for post suggestions on Twitter a few days ago, Karen chimed in with Cheetara. Seems that she and some friends were watching ThunderCats when they saw my post. I have never drawn Cheetara or watched ThunderCats, so since this is a first, I gave her the full treatment as a Canson Cutie. Thanks for the suggestion Karen!

This is ink on 11" x 17" Canson Mi-Teintes Paper.

Update: This piece is currently on Ebay and ends Jan. 16. (Link)

This is Post #1574

Elektra

2012-01-12T16:13:00.001-05:00

Elektra © Marvel Entertainment

A few days ago I asked for sketch suggestions on Twitter. I got some great suggestions. Today's subject was suggested by Big John Beatty! Thanks John!

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board

This is Post #1573

The Chamuahau!

2012-01-11T15:44:00.001-05:00

I was thinking of a chameleon crossed with a chihuahua today and ended up with this doodle. :)

Make sure you also click over to the 2-Point Perspective Blog for today's subject of Vampirella.

This art was done with Copic markers, ink, and white acrylic on white granite paper.

This is Post #1572

Shadow Lass / Night Girl - Work In Progress

2012-01-10T19:00:00.000-05:00

Shadow Lass & Night Girl © DC Comics

This is a commission I am doing for Tom. Tom is another big time Legion fan, particularly the Cockum/Grell run. You can see his collection of Legion original art on Comic Art Fans. The idea behind this piece was to take a couple of Legionnaires and put them in a jungle setting. But instead of just doing a pose in jungle outfits, we came up with an illustration that could be part of a story. Shady and Night Girl have crash landed a Legion cruiser on a world with two suns. Shady can use her powers of creating intense shadows under such harsh sunlight for a little bit at a time. But that time is well spent, blocking out the sun for Night Girl to use her power of super strength to help clear a path to possible help. In case you didn't know, Night Girl only has use of her power in darkness. And yes, their Legion flight rings are not working. I knew that would come up. :) The final art will be painted.

Below are a couple of other layouts. In the first one the main difference is the cruiser position. And the second one explores doing the piece in landscape.

These were done in marker and Photoshop.

This is Post #1571

MEGACON 2012 - Advance Sketch List Is A Go!

2012-01-10T07:51:00.002-05:00

MegaCon in Orlando, Florida is coming up fast. The dates are February 17, 18, & 19. I will be sharing a table with the one and only Joe Pekar, though it's not clear where that will be. From what I understand, MegaCon is expanding this year so that will probably change the size and location of artist alley. As soon as I know the location I will post it here.

MegaCon is my first convention of 2012 and it is time to open up the advance sketch list. I will actually work on this list leading up to the convention. Especially the more complicated pieces. Though the prices haven't changed, there are a few changes to the process this year so please look over the details provided below :)

It's a lot to read so email me if you have any questions. Please use the subject line "MegaCon Sketch List".

Prices:

Inked sketches: single figure, on 11" x 17" Bristol Board: $50.00

Acrylic painted: single figure on 11" x 17" (approximate size): 150.00

Canson pieces: single figure on 11" x 17": 125.00.

(Knowing the character request in advance will allow me to select the right color paper from my files.)

Payment: Here is the big changes this year. There will be three options for payment:

PayPal: You may pay in advance for your request using PayPal. Please contact me first with your request before you send money.

Credit Card at the Con: I will be accepting major credit cards at the convention. I have signed up with Square (www.squareup.com) in order to do so. Fast and secure.

Cash: You can pay for the art when you pick it up. I know, cash and carry, how quaint. ;)

If you were to ask what I prefer, Paypal would be my first preference for payment. It makes it easier to keep track of everything and it helps prioritize the work.

This advance list is only for those attending MegaCon 2012 in person. I do request that if you are on my list and are not going to make it, please let me know. And if possible, please pick up your artwork as soon as you can when you arrive at the convention. Or pay for your spot on the list, whichever applies.

I may ask for reference if I don't know the character or if I can't find it on the web at the show.

You can email me links to references before the show. I can alway print them out and take them with me if I need to .

An advantage to getting on the list early gives me some time to think about your request(s), bounce ideas around in my head, maybe doodle ideas in my sketchbook, and possibly show up at the con with your finished piece. There is a finite amount of requests I can take. I do not know what that number is because I don't know the requests. So sign up early and often. :)

I am really looking forward to this show. There are so many of you that I only get to see at MegaCon so it really is like hanging out with friends.

If you have any questions about the sketch list, please ask. And even if you are not getting something but will be at the show, please drop by and say "hi".

Other Convention Stuff

I will have other original art at the show, some you have seen here on this blog. I might have a new sketchbook. This book will feature commissions/pin-ups and roughs done on in a variety of mediums. I am still working on it but I will keep everyone updated here.

This was a lot of information to cover. If anything is confusing to you, let me know and I will do my best to clarify. And please excuse any typos. :)

Here we go!

This is Post #1570

Work in Progress - Pencils Complete

2012-01-09T18:48:00.001-05:00

If you have been following me on Twitter or come here regularly, you have seen bits and pieces of this commission for Royce as I have worked on it. And now Royce has graciously allowed me to share the completed pencils as a whole.

This piece is measuring in at 14" x 17" and it is on Strathmore 400 series Bristol Board. The idea was Royce's. One that he has toyed around with for quite and while and when he mentioned it to me, I had to make this happen. There are some areas that are still pretty rough to the casual viewer but it's enough information for me to begin inking. (This was scanned in three sections so there is some variation in lights and darks) There are a lot of silver age references, a couple of bronze age ones too. I know I didn't hit every Superman Family landmark or supporting character, but I think Royce and I captured some of the best loved. Thanks again Royce. Onward to the inks!

This is Post #1570

Work In Progress Sunday - Commission

2012-01-08T17:25:00.000-05:00

I finished the pencils today for the EVEN BIGGER Commission today and thought I would share another area. If you follow my on Twitter, you would have seen a rougher version of the shot above. I have tightened it up a bit since then. And don't call him "Chief"!

This is Post #1569

The Blond Phantom

2012-01-07T12:39:00.002-05:00

I needed to take a break from penciling the even BIGGER commission and do something for this blog. But I didn't have any inspiration. So I crowd sourced it on Twitter, asking for suggestions. Sometimes you might feel like no one hears you in the din of social media, but wow I got some great suggestions immediately. Thanks everyone who tossed me suggestions! It was Little John's suggestion of the Blond Phantom that intrigued me today. I don't think I have ever drawn her and doing something noirish seemed like fun. And it was!

Keep watching, I may continue to use some of the use some of the suggestions over the next week or so.

Ink on 11" x 17" Strathmore Bristol Board.

This is Post #1568

Sketchbook Friday - Green Lantern

2012-01-06T07:05:00.000-05:00

I was up extra early today so here is an early morning warm up sketch that I colored in Photoshop. Below is the ink and marker version done on brown sketch paper.

This is Post #1567

Sketchbook Thursday - The Spirit

2012-01-05T15:40:00.001-05:00

Working on BIG commission and beginning to learn Sketch-Up today. This is a warm up sketch from this morning. Pencil in my sketchbook.

This is Post #1566