Sketchbook

Starting a sketchbook was something I thought a lot about. It was only in the last year or two (since about 2008) that I've really started to get a feel for what I like in terms of comic book art, and started paying attention to what artists are on a book. With my attendance of comic book conventions increasing, I finally decided to take the plunge and start a convention sketchbook.

But I knew I didn't want to just have a sketchbook where I told artists, "Hey, sketch me something random." I definitely wanted a theme. I thought about characters. I don't like the way most people draw Iron Man's armor, so that was out. I thought about Hawkeye, but what if the artists don't really like drawing Hawkeye? I mean, a Hawkeye sketch by Mike Mignola might be kind of neat as a curiosity, but would I really like it?

Then I realized there was a very simple thing that I really like in comic book art. I don't know why exactly, but I think it's just beautiful when someone jumps off something.

It's the idea of portraying the motion and grace of a human(oid) body. I just love it! I don't even care who the character is!

So that was my theme!

Jumping Over Stuff!

The problem is that, for most artists, action shots are amongst the hardest things to do. So I came up with some ground rules to make it easier:

1) The artist can draw any character they want. This way they are free to draw the character they are most familiar and comfortable drawing. They will also likely draw the character they most enjoy drawing, which I think will lead to a better sketch!

2) They can interpret the theme absolutely any way they want. Sure, the obvious ideas are someone jumping off a building or hurdling a railing (I love those shots!), but there are LOTS of ways to interpret this. You could have someone diving down a well, jumping over a turtle on the ground... I believe that professional artists are very creative people, and they will come up with lots of variations on this theme. That's going to be a big part of the fun for me!

If you collect sketches of Hawkeye, after some time you think "Jesus, I have a lot of pictures of Hawkeye. What do I do with them all?" This way, each sketch is unique, yet tied together with a basic theme.

I hope you enjoy watching my collection grow as much as I will!

Page 1. Rich Faber - FCBD 2010
Page 2. Chrissie Zullo - Signing at Captain Blue Hen Comics 2010
Commission. Tyler James - Baltimore Comic-Con 2010
Page 3. Scott Derby - Baltimore Comic-Con 2010
Page 4. Tim Dzon - Baltimore Comic-Con 2010
Page 5. TL Collins - Baltimore Comic-Con 2010
Page Insert. PJ Holden - New York Comic-Con 2010
Page Insert. Joey Weiser

Or you can view the pages in reverse chronological order by clicking here.