Marvel Variant Covers - Batch 3

And here's the final batch of February 2016 variant covers I drew for Marvel Comics.  As mentioned in the last 2 posts, these were drawn in 3 batches from September to November of 2015.  I drew 7 covers a month,  and Marvel graciously gave me 25 titles to choose from.  I ended up drawing 21 covers in total.

This batch contained 2 of my favourite covers I drew - the Scarlet Witch one and the one for the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.  I thought both turned out nicely.

While working on this last series of illustrations, I was also struck by the fact that all 7 covers featured female characters/superheroes.  It's a nice trend in comics and one that brought a smile to my face.

As with the others, most of these were drawn traditionally, in coloured ink on board, with additional detail and colour added after scanning in photoshop. A couple were drawn completely digitally using a combination of photoshop and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro (my favourite digital drawing software).

Above are the final covers and below you can see some of the process thumbnails, roughs and colour sketches I did on the way to the final image.

And that concludes my 3 part post on these Marvel variant covers.  Thanks for reading and my apologies for the long delay between updates on my blog!

Marvel Variant Covers - Batch 2

Continuing on my posts of the variant covers published in February 2016 by Marvel Comics, here is the 2nd batch of illustrations.

Again, these were mostly drawn traditionally, in coloured ink on board, with additional colour work and details added in photoshop after scanning.  A couple of covers were drawn entirely digitally (the Vision and Spider-Gwen).  As before, I was aided in the type treatment by my wife, the excellent designer and illustration Claudia Davila.

Above are the final covers, and below are a few process images of the thumbnails/roughs/pencils that lead to the final art.

Marvel Variant Covers - Batch 1

Around September 2015, I started work on a series of 21 variant covers for Marvel Comics to be published in February 2016.  They were spread out across their entire line of books, and gave me an opportunity to draw some of my favourite superheroes.  Marvel was great to work for, and gave me an enormous amount of freedom to design and draw the covers as I saw fit.

I thought it'd be a little too much to post all 21 of these covers in one post, so I'll split them into batches, just as I did when drawing them.

I drew about 7 covers a month for 3 months.  Most of these were drawn traditionally, in coloured ink on board and then scanned with final details and colouring done in photoshop.  I was aided in the type treatment for these covers by my wife, Claudia Davila, an award winning designer and illustrator.  We collaborated recently on another series of Marvel covers, which I'll share later.

Above is the first batch of covers I drew, and below you can see some of the prep sketches and roughs that led to the final art.

Sports Biographies

I apologize for not posting anything on my blog for a while.  I was tied up with 3 month long project, drawing a lot of comic book covers, which I'll share in a little while.  In the meantime, here are a few sports biography book covers I did for Little Brown and Co.  They're for the "Matt Christopher" series of sports biographies.   Above is Drew Brees, below you can see Babe Ruth and Blake Griffin.

All the artwork was drawn from photo reference, in a combination of traditional and digital art.

University of Toronto Illustrations

I was asked recently by the University of Toronto to draw a few images of their campus for use in fundraising and communications.  I did 5 paintings in all, 3 of which are shown above.

These were fun to do, and allowed me the chance to paint something local.  As they were in Toronto, I also got the chance to visit the campus and shoot some of the reference photos on my own.

All images were painted in watercolour and ink, from reference photos, and were colour corrected using photoshop.  

The Weeknd

Here's a portrait of R&B singer The Weeknd, drawn for the current issue of the New Yorker.  I was given a lot of conceptual freedom with this piece, and enjoyed layering a variety of mediums in making this one.

Drawn in a combination of digital, watercolour, goauche and ink.

The Fantastic Four

Well, Comic-Con is over, and it was a wonderful experience.  Now I'm back at in my studio, trying desperately to catch up on all the emails and work that I neglected during my week away.  I thought it'd be nice to post something comic-related, so here's a painting of the Fantastic Four I did for a friend.  It's an homage of sorts to a classic Jack Kirby cover, featuring the FF and the first appearance of Galactus and the Silver Surfer.

This one was painted in gouache and ink on board.

San Diego Comic Con 2015 Schedule

I'll be a guest of the San Diego Comic Con this year, enjoying another trip back to California.  I'll be set up at a table for the first time ever, which should be fun.  Here's some details for those interested:

Table Location:
Artists Alley - table II-16
I'll be set up in Artists' Alley selling prints, copies of my book "Shoplifter" and signing and sketching at the show.  Come by and say hello.

Panels and Appearances:

Cover Design Workshop
Friday, July 10th, 11am - 12:30pm
Room 2
I'll be doing a panel with Chip Kidd discussing cover design for comics.  I'll present images and discuss my working process for making several comic book covers, from concept to finished art.

Signing with CBLDF
Saturday, July 11th, 1pm - 2pm
CBLDF booth, main show floor
I'll be signing books and doing a few sketches at the CBLDF booth, with all proceeds going toward their fundraising.

Will Eisner's The Spirit at 75
Saturday, July 11th, 4pm -5pm
Room 23ABC
As part of the celebration of Will Eisner's the Spirit on it's 75th anniversary, I'll be appearing on a panel discussing Eisner's creation.  Moderated by Dennis Kitchen and featuring Paul Levitz, Dan Didio, Nick Barrucci and Matt Wagner.

You Can't Draw That!  Live Art Jam
Sunday, July 12th, 12:15pm - 1:45pm
Room 5AB
I'll be drawing live and discussing censorship in comics as part of a live drawing and auction event with all proceeds going toward the CBLDF.

WSJ: Too Much TV

This is an illustration I did for the Wall Street Journal's weekend edition, for a story about the limits of human memory as it relates to TV shows and keeping track of all the various characters and plotlines in them.  It features main characters from Game of Thrones, Orange Is the New Black and from the second Season of True Detective.  I have to plead ignorance on two of those shows, since I'm only familiar with the characters from Game of Thrones, which I drew some quick sketches of a few years ago.

This entire illustration was drawn digitally, from a mountain of photo reference.

The Walk-Up

This was a short one page comic story I drew last year for Taddle Creek Magazine but forgot to share until now.  They put out a nice tabloid size comic issue, featuring some fantastic cartoonists doing shorts in a "Sunday Comics" size format.   My story was 14" x 16" in size - quite large!  You can click the image above to see a larger, readable version.  I had fun working on this, and enjoyed the challenge of writing something in a 1 page self-contained format.

This strip was drawn on paper, with coloured inks and lettered digitally.  

The Avengers

Here's a recent illustration I did for the Boston Globe, for their weekend section opener.  It was to accompany a review of the latest Marvel movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron.

To get all the likenesses, I used a ton of photo-reference in the making of this drawing, and it took longer than expected to complete.  After some initial thumbnails and sketches on paper, the whole thing was drawn digitally, in Alias Sketchbook Pro - my go-to digital drawing software.  You can see my marker thumbnail for this below.

NYT Book Review

This was drawn for the New York Times Book Review, to accompany a review of "All the Old Knives" by Olen Steinhauer, a spy thriller set during a single dinner meeting between two intelligence agents.  It was another fun assignment, with a quick turnaround, and gave me the chance to come up with something conceptual.

This one was drawn digitally with a few old-school paper effects.

Dim Sum Revolution

This was a recent full page illustration for San Francisco magazine.  The story focused on the successful efforts of Chinese workers to organize and improve working conditions at a local dim sum restaurant.  It was a great, positive story and it was a treat to work on artwork for it.  I drew inspiration for the piece from old Chinese posters of the Maoist period, and I aimed to give the final illustration a pseudo-woodcut look.

The artwork for this was drawn digitally, from pencil sketches drawn on paper.  

Diablo Magazine - Geek Guide Comics Feature

This was a recent illustration for Diablo Magazine, for their "Geek Guide" feature on comics and graphic novels.  It was a fun assignment with a pretty open concept which allowed me to illustrate various different types/genres of comics.

This one was drawn partially in ink (the large superhero figure) with the remaining elements drawn entirely digitally.

Comic-Con International 2015 Souvenir Book Cover

This was a fun assignment.  I was asked by Comic-Con International to draw the cover for their 2015 Souvenir Book, which was a thrill.   That the theme of the cover was The Spirit for it's 75th anniversary made it even better.  It was an honour to draw something that was a tribute to the great Will Eisner and I had a lot of fun trying to come up with an image that had an Eisner feel without aping Eisner's style.

Like everyone else, I always enjoyed how Eisner seamlessly blended lettering and type into his Spirit splash pages, so that seemed like a good starting point.  And since Will Eisner laid so much of the foundation for modern cartooning, I wanted the cover to evoke a bright shining city built from the foundation laid down by Eisner and overseen by the Spirit.

The art for this was drawn using a combination of digital and traditional techniques.  I thumbnailed it on paper, tightened the pencils for the buildings digitally, inked it on paper again and then coloured the whole thing digitally.  

As a side note:  I'm happy to announce that I'll be a guest of the San Diego Comic Con this year, and am grateful to the organizers for inviting me.  I'm looking forward to attending the show.

Wall Street Journal Book Review

A recent assignment for the Wall Street Journal Book Review, featuring portraits of US foreign policy strategists Andy Marshall and Brent Scowcroft, for reviews of their respective new biographies.

This was drawn in black and red ink on paper -  a fun, fast assignment that allowed me to use a looser approach.

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund 2015

I recently had the honour of designing the new branding for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for their 2015 initiative.  It was a great, fun assignment to do, and I was flattered to be asked.  In light of recent world events, freedom of expression in the arts is a right that needs to be defended more than ever, and I hope more people will contribute to the CBLDF and its efforts.

This illustration was drawn mostly digitally in Alias Sketchbook Pro, after initial pencil roughs.

Al Pacino

After that last drawing of John Cazale, here's another sketch from Dog Day Afternoon, this time of Al Pacino.

Again, this one was drawn in software, from photo reference.

John Cazale

A quick sketch of one of my favourite actors, John Cazale, from the classic Dog Day Afternoon.  He was great in all the movies I saw him in, and passed away too soon.

This was done as a test as I upgraded my drawing software to Sketchbook Pro 7 and was drawn from photo reference.

Batman 75th Anniversary Screenprint

I recently completed this painting for the French Paper Art Club's year long celebration of Batman's 75th anniversary.  The artwork was turned into an officially licensed high-quality 18" x 24" limited edition silkscreen print.  You can purchase it through the French Paper Art Club's official website.

The original artwork was painted in gouache and ink on bristol with a few details added digitally in Sketchbook Pro and Photoshop.

Shoplifter Bookplate: Gosh! Comics Edition

Here's another bookplate I made for Shoplifter, this time for Gosh! Comics in London, England.  They've printed an edition of 200 for their shop, which I've signed and numbered.

This one was drawn in coloured ink on paper, with some tweaking and colour correction in photoshop.   You can see the process drawings I did for it on my twitter feed.

Shoplifter Bookplate: SPX Edition

I'll be making an appearance Sept 13th-14th at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland to sign copies of my new book, Shoplifter at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund booth.  Above is a special bookplate I drew for the occasion, which will be available at the signing.  I love attending SPX - it's one of my favourite shows.

Shoplifter is available in stores as of September 2nd.  For those in the Toronto area, Random House Canada and the Beguiling are hosting a launch party in town on September 3rd.  You can find more details here.  

I'll also be making promotional appearances, signing books and doing special presentations, in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angels, Calgary, Vancouver and Miami in the fall.  You can check out some details on the "Upcoming Appearances" sidebar of this blog.   More details coming soon!

Sept 3rd: Shoplifter Book Launch in Toronto

If you're in Toronto on Sept 3rd, here's an invite to the launch of my new graphic novel, Shoplifter, co-hosted by Penguin Random House and The Beguiling.

It'll be held at:
The Central
603 Markham Street, Toronto
Sept 3rd, 2014 - 6pm to 8pm

I'll be signing copies and hanging out, so please come out.

For more info on Shoplifter, you can check out some recent press below:

• Michael Cho's "Shoplifter" and the Art of Finding Yourself [Multiversity Comics Review]
• Review: SHOPLIFTER by Michael Cho [Comics Grinder]
• Shoplifter Review [Publisher's Weekly]
• Shoplifter - Recommended [Comics Worth Reading]
• Michael Cho to Debut Shoplifter at Comic Con [The Coast News]
• Magazine Theft and Terrible Cats: Michael Cho at SDCC
• SDCC /14: Michael Cho on 'Shoplifter' - Influence of Advertisement & Social Media