Batman and Robin

Concluding my month long posting of super-hero paintings, here's a recent Batman and Robin piece.  I always enjoyed drawing Robin, but I never really liked drawing Batman until recently.  Now I can't get enough, as you can see from my twitter feed.

Like the rest, this one was painted in gouache and ink on board, and is approximately 12" x 17" in size.

Note:  this and other super-hero themed paintings are for sale through Albertmoy.com, who now handles my comic-related art sales.  You can check out more works here.

Spider-man and Dr. Strange!

Another week means another super-hero painting, but this time there's two!  Spider-man and Doctor Strange are among my favourite comic characters, probably because of their co-creator - Steve Ditko, who did such an inspired and imaginative run on both those books.

These paintings were done in gouache, on 12" x 17" board.  

Note:  these and other super-hero themed paintings are for sale through Albertmoy.com, who now handles my comic-related art sales.  You can check out more works here.

The Silver Surfer vs. The Thing!

Continuing on with my recent pledge to post a new superhero painting every week for the next month or so, here's one of the Silver Surfer vs. the Thing.  I based this on one of my favourite Fantastic Four comics from the 60's.  I bet some silver-age fans can guess which one.

As with the other recent paintings, this one was done in gouache and ink on board.  

The Mighty Thor

I'm finishing up a bunch of super-hero themed paintings right now, and thought I'd start sharing them on this blog.  First up is Thor, god of Thunder, in his awesome original look as designed by Jack Kirby.  I'll post the rest of them over the next few weeks.

As usual this was painted in gouache and ink on board.  It's about 12" x 17" in size.

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes - Signing @ Type Books

Now that the book has debuted at TCAF, I'll be doing a signing for Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes at TYPE books here in Toronto.  We'll also be featuring a small gallery show and sale of roughly a dozen paintings from the book.  TYPE is a fantastic bookstore, so please come on out if you're in town --refreshments will be served!

Here's the info:

Michael Cho

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes

book signing 

featuring a gallery show of selected work

@ TYPE Books

883 Queen Street West, Toronto

May 23rd, 6pm - 8pm

typebooks.ca

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes - the Book

I'm happy to announce that my new book Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes will be out in May, from publisher Drawn & Quarterly.

As some long time followers of my blog might know, I spent about 5 years drawing and painting the alleyways of downtown Toronto in my spare time, slowly producing the artwork for this book. I've featured maybe a dozen of the drawings and paintings here in my sketch blog over the years, and you can still find them if you go through the archives. Now those drawings, along with many, many more unseen ones are being published in an 80 page artbook.

Back Alleys and Urban Landscapes will debut at TCAF, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, in early May. I'll be at the festival, signing copies and promoting the book. There will also be a launch at TYPE Books on Queen street later that month -- which I'll post on this blog later.

In the meantime, I'm grateful to the fine people at Drawn & Quarterly for publishing this book, and thrilled that it's finally complete and available. Here's hoping some of you like it too.

Shown below are a few of the new paintings in the book. They were done in watercolour, goauche and ink on board.

Emerald City Comic Con

Ok, I'm packing up for my first ever trip to Seattle and the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend. I'll be at table E-20, selling prints, doing sketches and trying to meet as many people as possible. This is the first con I've done on the west coast in a while, so I'm pretty excited.

And on that note, here's a quick painting of Daredevil I did as a pre-show order. It's done in goauche and ink on board.

More Editorial!

And here's a few more recent illustrations I did for Boston Magazine. They were all designed to accommodate a masthead in the top left and usually a few paragraphs of copy inside the art.

With all of these, I tried to vary the styles to fit the subject matter. They were all painted digitally, and I had a lot of fun making custom brushes and experimenting with different approaches. For those who are curious, most of my digital work is painted using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. I probably use that for 80% of my digital process.



A christmas themed illustration about illuminated neighbourhoods.



For a January article about New Hamshire's demographics and it's primary.



A Valentine's themed illustration about couples meeting via social media and texting.


For a March article about an increase in rookie state troopers.

Boston Magazine

Wow, it's been a while since I updated my blog. For that, my apologies; I was busy completing paintings for an art book, which I'll post about in a little while.

In the meantime, I've been doing a series of monthly full page illustrations for Boston Magazine, which you can see here. They were all designed with room left for copy to be placed inside the art, as well as the section header at the top.

The art director was gracious enough to give me a lot of freedom with this assignment, so I I tried to experiment with different approaches. As a result, I found myself working digitally quite a bit and some of these were done 100% in software, something I wasn't ever sure I'd be comfortable with. Now, I'm really enjoying some of the opportunities that drawing in software provides. I'll probably do more digital work for a while as I play with the possibilities.

Fall is almost over.

I painted this little overcast scene the other day, from reference I shot a while ago. I'm still settling into my new studio, and this was the first piece done at the new house.

Done in watercolour, ink and gouache on paper.

Two More Commissions

Since I'm no longer accepting any more requests for commissioned sketches, I thought I'd share the last two I did before shutting it all down. I'm now going to be concentrating mostly on freelance assignments and my own personal projects for a while, but if you're in the mood for a custom sketch, you can still find me at conventions and get a sketch there.

Both of these were painted in gouache and ink on board, and are about 12" x 17" in size.

Black Canary and Hawkeye

Here's a couple of paintings I completed recently, featuring Black Canary and Hawkeye. I think these are first times I've ever drawn those characters, even though they're favourites of mine.

Both were painted in gouache and ink and are about 12" x 17" in size. While the final art is done in traditional media, I drew the pencil sketches for them digitally, in Sketchbook Pro, and you can check them out below.

A Game of Thrones

So I was watching that HBO series "Game of Thrones", and I decided to do some quick digital sketches of some of the characters. I was actually inspired to do so after seeing ultra-talented illustrator Sam Bosma's drawings of the characters from the books. Now, I've only started reading the 1st book, so my drawings are based on the TV series, not the literary source, but I thought I'd share them with you anyway.

While working on these drawings, I tried to imagine them as interior illustrations from an old paperback from the 1950's. They were drawn entirely digitally, in Sketchbook Pro on my mac.

First up: Jon Snow, the "bastard of Winterfell":



Jamie Lannister: "the Kingslayer":



Catlyn Stark (formerly Catlyn Tulley):



And finally, that creepy mom and the 10 year old breast-feeding kid. These two seriously creeped me out:

A Few More Fan Expo Superheroes

Here's a couple more painted sketches of superheroes that I'll be taking for sale to Fan Expo this weekend. I'm looking forward to the show. Look for me with my TX Comics pals at Booth 112.

These were painted in gouache and ink on board, and are approximately 12" x 17" in size.

Thor is Pretty Metal

This one was a fun one. It's actually a collaboration between Andy B (as in Andy Belanger of Kill Shakespeare comic fame). We've wanted to work on a jam piece for a while now, and Thor was a good pick as subject. Andy knocked out an incredibly detailed and kick-ass drawing (see below) which, since this was to be a colaboration, he graciously let me do whatever I wanted to. I changed up the background and lighting and re-cropped for effect before painting. The final art was painted in gouache and ink and it's another piece I'll be taking with me to Fan Expo.

I want to thank Andy B for doing such a bang up job on the drawing, and for being such a fun guy to work with. I should also add that to get in the mood of working with Andy, I listened to a lot of metal while painting this one.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

This one was a fun painting I did recently. It's one of a batch of new paintings I'm working on to take to Fan Expo, the big comic con coming up in August here in Toronto. I've always been a fan of Daredevil, especially during the classic Miller/Janson and Miller/Mazzucchelli run of comics, so I've posted drawings of him a few times other times before. This one was painted in gouache and ink, and is about 12" x 19" in size.

For those interested, you can check out the pencil sketch of the piece below.

A Family Portrait

It's been a long delay between posts, I know, and deadlines are to blame. To make up for it, here's a recent portrait of our happy little family that I painted in gouache. As a change of pace from the previous post, I kept the emphasis on two-dimensional design while working on this one. I like playing with various approaches to image making and adjusting the style here and there to fit the subject matter. And yes, my daughter is indeed wearing a home-made bunny costume while riding on my shoulders.

Our Lady of the Flowers

This is a one page comic essay I recently wrote and drew for Openbooktoronto.com. They're having a month long comic and graphic novel spotlight, in conjunction with the recent Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I was asked by the organizer if I wanted to write and draw a comic page about a book that I considered important or was a favourite of mine and I immediately knew which book I wanted to pick.

Our Lady of the Flowers, by Jean Genet has been a favourite book of mine for a long while now, and I was thrilled to finally be able to write a short comic about it's importance to me. I'd like to thank Openbooktoronto.com and editor Ian Daffern for giving me the opportunity and the freedom to do the piece the way I saw fit. It was posted online here.

You can read the one page comic above, or look below to see the original thumbnail drawing that lead to the final art. I painted both in gouache and ink, and you can compare the two and see the changes made along the way to the final. Please note that my comic, like the book itself, is for mature readers.

Madman and the Atomics

I painted this one about a little while ago, as a pin-up for the recent Madman Giant Sized Super Ginchy Special. I've been a fan of Mike Allred's for decades, so I was awfully flattered when he asked me to contribute something for the special issue. I tried to fit in as many of the characters as I could, and had a lot of fun painting my favourite member of the Atomics, Adam Balm.

The printed version was in red, but I thought I'd post it here in the original blue-tone that I painted it in. As usual, this was done in gouache and ink. You can check out my preliminary pencil rough for it below.

Madman Giant Sized Super Ginchy Special went on sale a few weeks ago, so you should still be able to find it at your local comic shop. Buy a copy today and join in the fun!

Wonder Woman

Why is it whenever I see the name "Wonder Woman", I hear the theme song from the old 70's TV show in my head? This is a recent painting I did to take with me to the Toronto Comicon that took place over the weekend. I actually painted this in just blue and black, but changed it up to a blue and red colour scheme after scanning it in. I think I was subconsciously trying to evoke a bit of the feel of those classic red and blue WPA posters of the 30's and 40's.

My thanks to everyone who stopped by at the convention. It was a nice way to start off the run of Toronto comic shows for the year (TCAF is just a month away!). Unfortunately, I could only stay for a half day on Sunday, so my apologies to anyone who was put out by my early departure.

Toronto Back Alleys 2011, Again

Another one in the series of back alley drawings. I think I've posted almost 20 of them on this blog over the years. This one was done a little while ago, and took a bit longer than usual. I actually completed it in 2 sittings, mainly due to the amount of detail. Like the others, it was painted in gouache and ink on board.

Koyama Press

Koyama Press is an wonderful local indie comics publisher, run by the one and only Anne Koyama, who is affectionately referred to by some folks as a patron saint of comics. They've put out some excellent and daring comics and have supported or launched the careers of many young cartoonists. As a friend of mine likes to say, "If there was an Anne Koyama in every city, indie comics would be unstoppable."

A little while back, Anne asked me to contribute to her art project of having various artists do their own takes on her "Kick Ass Annie" logo. So this one was painted as my contribution. It's a small painting, done in gouache and ink on 9" x 12" paper. And if you like this one, you should check out the other artwork that she's collected from contributors.

Toronto Back Alleys 2011

I've been working on several more paintings of the back alleys and streets of Toronto, some of which I've shared via twitter, so I thought I'd post one here. As with many of the others in the series, this one was painted in gouache and ink, and the colour choice was meant to evoke a feeling of early fall.

And for those who are interested, yes a book is still in the works. I am furiously painting away, completing more pictures for it.

Rajon Rondo

This one is a recent painting of Rajon Rondo, point guard for the Boston Celtics. I think that makes 3 NBA related posts out of the last 4 now. I love watching the Celtics, and Rondo is one the reasons - he's got such a unique game.

Like many other personal pieces I've done in the last year, I took the opportunity to experiment here. Unlike most of my work, this one was created almost completely digitally. I drew a proper pencil sketch, but the final art was painted in photoshop.

Crime Fiction

This was a recent cover that I painted for Quill and Quire magazine, for their January 2011 issue. The theme was on the rise in popularity of crime fiction. I worked out a bunch of different rough concepts, but in the end went with the idea of just putting a strong iconic image on the cover. The masthead is meant to cover the top of the image, obscuring the head of the figure.

The final art was painted in gouache and ink, with some slight tweaking in photoshop.

I Go Ron Artest...

Sorry for the long delay between posts, folks. Fall is usually a busy season for me, so I haven't had as much time to update this blog. I've got a some new illustrations that I'll be posting in the next few weeks, but in the meantime here's something hot off my drawing table -- a portrait sketch of NBA basketball player Ron Artest.

Now don't get me mistaken, I actually hate the Los Angeles Lakers (Ron's team), but I'm working on some new paintings for a Ron Artest themed art show here in Toronto later this month. I thought it'd be fun to do a loose and drybrush ink sketch, so I drew this with a nice fat #10 brush. And, like the Ray Allen piece below, the image was referenced from an old photo.

Ray Allen

The NBA season officially tips off tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a quick painting of my favourite player -- Ray Allen aka Jesus Shuttlesworth. Like a gazillion other people around the world, I can't wait to see the opening game of the Boston Celtics vs. the Miami Heat. What a great way to start the season.

This one was painted a while ago, in drybrush gouache and ink on board, and obviously referenced from an old photo of Ray.

Batman

In the past, I've never really enjoyed drawing Batman. Prior to this year, I can count the amount of Batman doodles I've drawn in my life on one hand. Even at conventions, when I get a request for Batman, I try to ask them to pick something else. Lately however, I've started to enjoy trying to do my take on the guy. So here's a quick Batman painting I completed about a week ago. Like all of my recent work, it was painted in gouache and ink on a 12" x 17" piece of board.

The Uncanny X-men

This one is a large painting in gouache and ink I did a little while ago. I've actually painted the original X-men team once before, but not in an action shot or in costume. While I grew up in the 80's and read the Claremont/Byrne comics of the team as a kid, the original lineup of mutants is my favourite. You can check out my various roughs that lead to the final art below:

Originally, I drew up this rough composition, but I hated it since it had so much dead space between figures:



So after some failed tinkering, I sat down and drew up a newer thumbnail which I liked much better. It's hard to read, I know, but it was enough to point me in the right direction:



That thumbnail lead to this new rough, which I used as the basis of the painting:



While the final art is done traditionally in goauche and ink, the roughs and the pencils were done digitally in Alias Sketchbook Pro -- a fun little drawing program I sometimes use for the novelty of drawing on my computer.