Tom Valente Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:43:00 +0000

SUPERMAN

watercolor on watercolor paper & digital

Here's the finished version of the Superman work-in-progress I posted a couple of weeks ago. I was also going to share some of my thoughts on the DC reboot, the Superman lawsuit, the Man of Steel and some other related topics but I have to run out to get a haircut now. Trust me, though, it would have been very witty and insightful.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:20:00 +0000

INK WASH SKETCHES

A couple of warm-ups done to loosen up before starting some more labor intensive work.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 17 May 2011 22:27:00 +0000

SUPERMAN-W.I.P.

Work-in-progress watercolor of the Man of Steel.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 19:34:00 +0000

LOGAN

It's been a little while since I posted anything to this blog since I've been spending a lot of time working on my web-comic Woolgathering, so here's a quick color sketch I did recently. It's mostly watercolor with Pitt Pen, pencil and some digital elements added. Thanks for stopping by!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:46:00 +0000

BIZARRO

pitt pen & watercolor

Goodbye! Here's a quick watercolor sketch of one of my favorite Superman villains.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:32:00 +0000

VALENTINE'S DAY CARDS

Pitt Pen, watercolor & digital

Hey everyone! I didn't get a chance to post these on Valentine's Day but here are the cards I made for my wife, Erin Gallagher. I'm very lucky to have a wife that finds super-hero Valentine's perfectly acceptable.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:42:00 +0000

SKETCH CARDS

Just a few quick sketch cards of various Marvel characters. There were all done using Pitt Pen and Copic Sketch Markers. Have a great weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:23:00 +0000

BATMAN RETURNS AGAIN (plus a new look!)

Hey everyone! Here's some more Batman art; a new painting along with some sample pages I've been sending around recently. Yep, that's right, more Batman. I'm going to switch it up after this post, I swear.

If you look closely at the pages, you might recognize the convenience store worker and the robbers: their designs are all modeled after "The Simpsons" characters Apu, Snake and the Babysitter Bandit and the interior of the store is modeled after the Kwik-E-Mart. And by "molded after" I mean "stolen from". I did this for no other reason than to entertain myself so, hopefully, you get a kick out of it, too.

In addition, I finally overhauled the look of this blog along with adding some new bells and whistles such as a search field, a Twitter feed and a snazzy logo designed by my wife and fellow artist, Erin Gallagher. Fancy! In fact, I'm wearing a top hat while typing this.

See ya soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Theme Week 1: Batman
Day 5: Batman

Pencil drawing of the Batman himself for a painting I'm currently working on. I'll post that up here, too, when it's done. Have a great weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 18:49:00 +0000

Theme Week 1: Batman

Day 4: The Joker

Pencil sketch of Batman's arch-nemesis. And even though he's insane, you have to admire the Joker's attitude; he's always smiling and can find the humor in just about anything. Except for "Two and a Half Men". Even he doesn't understand why it's so popular.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 21:28:00 +0000

Theme Week 1: Batman

Day 3: Mr. Freeze

A quick warm-up sketch of Mr. Freeze (sorry, no pun intended) for the third installment in this week's theme. Now that I think about it, maybe he's behind all this snow and cold weather we've been getting lately. Or maybe I need to start getting more sleep; I think I'm losing my grip on reality. At least that's what my cats have been telling me.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:11:00 +0000

Theme Week 1: Batman

Day 2: Two-Face

A Tuesday blog post of a Two-Face sketch for day two of the Batman theme week! My take on Two-Face is very much influenced by the Bruce Timm version since I feel it's one of the best (if not the best) designs of the character. I did take a different approach to the face but the messy white hair and black & white suit are perfect so why change them? One detail I added to the suit was some sloppy stitching on the tie to suggest the Two-Face makes those crazy two-toned suits himself. Or at least has his hired goons make them. Stay tuned for tomorrow's entry!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:50:00 +0000

Theme Week 1: Batman
Day 1: BATZARRO

Kicking off this Batman theme week with a Batzarro sketch! Yep, Batzarro. He's such a ridiculous character I can't help but love him.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:03:00 +0000

TMNTPencil sketch of Raphael, ankle deep in raw sewage.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 19:49:00 +0000

BAMF!Pencil sketch of Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler! I think I'll do this as a painting sometime in the near future.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:58:00 +0000

WOOLGATHERING DANCE PARTY!!!
ink & digital color

This here's a pin-up of the characters from my self-published mini-comic "Woolgathering". And even though we can't actually hear what they're listening to, from the looks of it, I'd say it's almost definitely some Michael Jackson tunes. Or maybe Motorhead. Who knows?

I had to take a bit of a break from the strip earlier this year but, over the last few months, I've been steadily working on new strips and stories, which will all finally see the light of day early in the New Year--in both print and on the web! So please keep checking in for news and updates.

Have a great New Year, everyone. See you in 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 19:35:00 +0000

X-MAS CARD 2010pigment ink, watercolor & digital

pigment ink

pencil

With so many cookie plates left out for Santa on Christmas Eve, Cookie Monster realized that it was the perfect night for him to feed his addiction. Or so he thought!

And you can also check out the awesome Christmas card my wife, Erin Gallagher, did over at her blog.

Thanks for checking in!

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:16:00 +0000

WATERCOLORS

Here are a couple of watercolor still lifes I did a few years ago and I just came across them again while organizing my studio the other day. It's been a little while since I've drawn or painted from life and I definitely miss it. I did do some recently when my wife and I were in Paris a few months ago and it was a lot of fun. I should look into take a class again soon.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:28:00 +0000

SPIDER-MAN REDUX

brush, ink & digital

Hey everyone! This here is a revised version of a illustration I posted a few months back. Feel free to click here if you would like to compare this one to the original.

Back when I posted the first version, a friend and fellow artist gave me some feedback and said that while he really liked the Spidey, he felt the overall composition could be stronger. I'm not exactly sure what happened right after that because I flew into a blinding rage and blacked out for a moment. But later on, when I went to visit my friend in the hospital, I told him I thought about what he said and realized he was right. Oh, and also that I was sorry.

But I digress. Aside from the composition of the original, I wasn't really happy with how the building looked either. So for the revised version I re-drew the building from scratch then colored it digitally and now I think the piece is a lot stronger. Kind of like my friend's spine now that it has that metal rod in it.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:16:00 +0000

DARKSEID

Here's the inked & colored version of the Darkseid drawing I posted a few months back as well as some examples of the progress. I also did a quick monochrome version just for the hell of it.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:44:00 +0000

GRAVE SOLDIERS colored ink, watercolor, & digital

A bunch of college kids drinking in a cemetery at night...what could possibly go wrong?! Probably everything. This is a painting I did a few months back that was finally given the okay to be shown. It was used as part of a pitch, along with four other images, for a multi-media project. My illustration was for the character Buffy, the dude holding the baseball bat. You can click here for the details of my contribution (with a different logo treatment) as well as the work by the four other artists.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:35:00 +0000

HULK!

Been watching the old "Incredible Hulk" TV show on Hulu the last few days and it put me in the mood to do a couple of Hulk sketches. I loved the show as a kid so it's been fun to watch it again. And I have to say, even though it's a bit dated and has some really goofy moments, there are elements of the show that still hold up pretty well. I love Bill Bixby's portrayal of (David) Banner and I think the Ferrigno-Hulk is a lot more believable than either of the two recent big-screen Hulks. In fact, I really wish the movies would utilize more old school make-up and camera tricks instead of pure CGI to create the Hulk. The show did a pretty good job with it and that was for TV show made over 30 years ago. I think a big budget movie today could do an amazing job with the right people behind it. It's been achieved in Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Lord of the Rings and others so I think it's definitely possible for a Hulk movie. Not to completely dismiss CGI--I think it can be pretty great when used right--but when it looks like Banner has turned into a video game character instead of a rampaging monster, it kind of loses it's impact. At least for me.

Anyway, end of rant. As for the sketches, I was going for the more old-school, primitive looking Hulk, which I prefer to the green body-builder look he's had for a while now. Guess I'm just in a nostalgic mood lately.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:28:00 +0000

BATMAN

Just a few warm-up sketches done while finishing up some Batman sample pages. In the last sketch, it might look like Batman's trying to be scary but he's actually covering his nose because the Batcave reeks of guano. I know it's part of your motif, Batman, but it's really gross.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 18:52:00 +0000

LOOK! UP IN THE SKY...

ink, copic marker & digital

...it's a Superman color sketch! You know, for a guy that gets his powers from the sun, he sure does squint a lot.

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Valente) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:12:00 +0000

GIANT MONSTERS!

Here are a couple of ink-wash sketches I did while trying to come up with the look for a few creatures for a new Woolgathering strip. The last image is a panel from the strip showing them in action.