Kevin Nowlan

The best thing I've drawn this week...

2013-04-09T14:23:00.001-05:00

I was sure that I'd end up doing a lot of redrawing, and probably end up looking for photo reference (or a prop baby) but this sequence came together very easily, just working from memory. It even made me smile a little after I finished the third drawing.

Finally, The Man-Thing Graphic Novel!

2012-03-14T16:44:00.001-05:00

Looks like this is scheduled to go on sale in October and it'll be a hardcover! You can pre-order at the Amazon link over on the right, but they don't have any images yet. With that in mind I hope no one cares if I post a couple of samples here to whet your appetite:

Wrightson's Solomon Grundy pencils, page 22

2012-01-15T20:58:00.001-06:00

In case some of us have forgotten, this page shows how skillfully Bernie arranges areas of black and white. He mastered "chiaroscuro" before most of us could spell the word. It's all there in the pencils, which makes an inker's job a lot easier.

As discussed elsewhere, this story was written, pencilled and inked in 1997, but remained unpublished until 2010, in "Batman's Hidden Treasures".

Batgirl grayscale painting

2012-01-04T18:17:00.000-06:00

The final version is 16 x 20", ink and gouache on gray board:

Happy Birthday, Frank Faylen!

2011-12-08T05:33:00.021-06:00

He's probably best remembered for playing Herbert T. Gillis, father of Dobie on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", a terrific old sitcom from 1959-1963.

That's all the excuse I need to show off this recently acquired page of Bob Oksner original art from issue 22 of DC's Dobie series that captures a fair amount of the show's (and Faylen's) personality.

Of course this time of year, it's easy to catch Frank as "Ernie" the cab driver (opposite Ward Bond's "Bert" the cop) in "It's a Wonderful Life"... a movie that's jam-packed with great character actors.

Monsters and a Dame

2011-12-05T21:02:00.004-06:00

This is a specialty piece for the Emerald City Comicon, which we'll be attending March 30 thru April 1. 14 x 17", pen, brush and ink on Bristol.

Robert Mitchum

2011-11-03T20:23:00.000-05:00

Layouts for Grimwood's Daughter

2011-10-29T10:24:00.000-05:00

These popped up on eBay the other day. You can see the auctions here and here. Stop by and give 'em a bid or two.

Grimwood was drawn from a full script, so even at this early stage, I wanted to work out the line endings and balloon placements. These were slightly text-heavy and I was a novice so knowing exactly how much space was available for the art was important. The final lettering was done by Harvey Kurtzman's letterer at the time, Phil Felix. I think I took over the lettering myself on the later chapters to avoid mailing the boards back and forth.

And, just to see if anyone was paying attention, I slipped in a Springsteen lyric in the last panel.

Karloff/Frankenstein

2011-10-22T21:09:00.000-05:00

Hey, Halloween is only a few days away... time to do some monster sketches!

Outsiders Annual cover art

2011-10-16T17:33:00.003-05:00

I hadn't seen this one for several years but the owner of the original painting posted a scan on the CAF site recently so I thought I'd update my old post, showing the sketch and pencils:

I'd forgotten how bad those old seps were. They really washed out the colors.

Remembering Bob Oksner...

2011-10-14T12:00:00.002-05:00

...who would have been 95 today. Here's a one-page biography from a 1962 Jerry Lewis comic:

Here's a stern-looking portrait of Bob by Neal Adams, from a 1971 DC house ad announcing the winners of the ACBA awards. Nicely lettered by the inimitable Gaspar Saladino.

Finally, one of my favorite Oksner originals, a Supergirl page from a 1971 issue of Adventure Comics. By the way, future comic writer Steve Englehart assisted with the background inks on this page.

Twitter

2011-10-13T19:43:00.000-05:00

As some of you may have noticed, I signed up for a Twitter account last night and was warmly received by many of my cartooning brethren. What you may not know is that my account was suspended this morning, without warning or explanation. I'm trying to find out what the problem was/is but I want you all to know it was their doing, not mine. I hope it can be resolved soon. In the meantime, I'm once again completely twitless.

Black Widow redux

2011-10-13T08:12:00.000-05:00

A while back I was asked to do an updated version of a Marvel Fanfare piece from the '80's. The commissioner asked for the classic costume and hair. I was able to fix some of the things that bothered me in the original, like the spider and the pose. I also tweaked the lighting a bit. As with most pieces, I started with a sketch...

Batman, Batgirl and Robin

2011-10-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

Step by step, from layout to final inks:

Hellboy and a cow: inks

2011-10-08T16:33:00.000-05:00

I thought about adding a saddle but that just seemed wrong somehow.

Hellboy and a cow

2011-10-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

Pencils on Bristol, 14 x 17":

Jack B. Quick inks

2011-09-12T14:20:00.001-05:00

Sorry the posting has been so light lately. I'm still hoping to pick up the pace soon but I honestly thought this blog would have completely run out of steam two years ago so I'm not complaining.

In the mean time, here's the inked version of the pencilled piece I posted earlier.

The Inferior Five

2011-09-06T11:59:00.000-05:00

I've drawn them a handful of times but they never come out looking quite the same.

Another Jack B. Quick sketch

2011-08-24T21:09:00.000-05:00

Supergirl sketch

2011-08-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

I'm partial to the older costume...

Batman pin-up: Inks over David Finch pencils

2011-08-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

This one was inked over a blueline copy of the pencils:

Batgirl pin-up

2011-08-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

Preliminary pencils, marker sketch, pencils and inks:

Happy Birthday, Robert Mitchum!

2011-08-06T12:45:00.000-05:00

I know, Lucy's 100 today, but Mitchum is cooler.

Another Hulk sketch

2011-08-03T20:44:00.000-05:00

Continuing with our green theme: I think this one is at least 7 years old. Maybe more...

A few green thumbs

2011-08-01T20:39:00.001-05:00

Thumbnail sketches, layout and pencils for the painted page I showed you yesterday: