NYCC IS HERE!

This weekend I'll be in Artist Alley at NYCC. My table number is C7, and here's a map to make it easy: http://www.mapyourshow.com/shows/index.cfm?exhid=364463&booth=C7&show_id=nycc12&userid=&lang=EN&locale=EN

I'll have some prints:

And some sketchbooks (B&W 60 pgs)

And I'll have tons of original art for sale. Everything from the warmup sketches I've posted on tumblr to comic pages to sketch cards.

I'll be taking sketch commissions too, but only about 5 a day, so if you want one then finding me early wouldn't hurt.

ALSO there's an Aspen panel on Friday at 1:30 in Room 1A01 that I'm going to be a part of, so try and catch that. I hear they're going to be previewing some art for a new series I'm drawing next year.


And that's the rundown. Come say hello, it'll be fun you guys!

BROKEN PIECES #4 out now!

BROKEN PIECES #4
Mark Roslan – Writer
Cory Smith – Art
Beth Sotelo – Colors
What is lost in life is found in…death!
Aspen Comic’s newest original series, BROKEN PIECES, continues!
The fight between mortal and monster could very well shatter the pieces of their existence altogether! As Gabriella attempts to regain any semblance of focus after the heart-wrenching loss of her husband following the accident inside their lab, her work within Trinion dutifully presses on. Meanwhile, Trinion director Damon Ludas has his own sights set on putting an end to the unrestrained amalgamation of a man wreaking havoc on his security forces. And Ludas’ plan calls for unleashing his own form of pain and punishment upon the monster—the ruthless mercenary known as Harrick, and an ensuing clash that only one can possibly survive!

Written and created by Aspen’s own Mark Roslan, BROKEN PIECES will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish!

Here's a page of pencils from the issue side by with the finished page:

See a full preview here: http://geeksunleashed.me/2012/10/01/preview-broken-pieces-4/

Some Updates...

Hey! Like the new blog header up there? It's about time I made this place a little more presentable, right?

There's some pretty exciting stuff going on and it's a been a while since I updated this thing. In the meantime I've mostly been posting warm-up sketches and stuff on my tumblr: csmithart.tumblr.com

The folks at Aspen have been keeping me pretty busy this year, too. I'm working on the final issue of the series Broken Pieces right now, and I've even started work on my next project with Aspen, which I'll talk more about when they make an announcement. But I will say that I'm pretty excited about this one for a couple reasons. For one thing, the subject matter got me pretty excited- I think it's something I could really have fun with. Also, I'll be doing full inks for this book!!

In other news, I'm getting ready for NYCC. I'll be in Artist Alley at table C7 with prints and sketchbooks and original art and everything. And there's more Independents coming your way from me and Ben Christian very soon, so keep an eye out for that.

And the thing I'm most excited about is that I'm writing stories now too. The image in the banner up top is the first piece of art created for a short story I'm writing and drawing titled "The Package". It's a small piece of some stories and ideas I've wanted to draw pretty much since I was a kid, and if it goes well there will definitely be more. So far it's going fucking amazing. Here's the b&w for the banner art:

BROKEN PIECES #3 Cover Process

Here are my cover pencils for Broken Pieces #3, out in a few weeks! I've done a few covers for Aspen at this point, but this is the first one I really had any input on conceptually, so it was awesome to work on. Mark (BP writer) and Vince (editor) gave me a few ideas to run with and I did a few layout sketches to show them first.

 After showing these to colorist Peter Steigerwald, the guys wanted to see a combination of layouts 1 and 2, which I resisted at first. I always immediately think combining two layouts is going to be the death knell for any composition. But I tried it anyway, and it ended up producing the stronger layout in the end, proving I'll always have a lot to learn at this.

And here's the awesome finished piece! I'm really excited for this book to come out- it was a real learning experience and I hope you'll check it out! I'm already hard at work on issue 4...

Head over to the Aspen blog http://aspenmltinc.blogspot.com/ and check out some work-in-progress shots of the coloring process posted last week.

THE GUTTERS- Issue 310

 

I drew a page this week for the webcomic The Gutters. I got to draw one-handed Rick Grimes and some zombies, but I also had to draw a car. So I pretty much broke even.

Here's the inked page:

 

It came out a lot sloppier than I expected. Never again with the Prismacolor fine tip pens/markers. Erasing the pencils lines took off about 40% of the ink too.

181 Days of Jack Kirby Characters

Last year I challenged myself to doing a sketch card daily and posting it to twitter, and I chose to do characters created by Jack Kirby because I knew there were hundreds and it would keep me busy and motivated. Oh yeah, and because Kirby created some of the greatest comic book characters and designs ever and I knew they'd be fun. Towards the end they weren't "daily" so much as "when I had the time", but I managed to finish the set anyway. Here they all are in chronological order:

Here it is ENLARGED.
And here's a link to the Twitpic Gallery.

I also want to really thank everyone who retweeted these cards and helped me spread them around the internet. You guys rule. I hope you enjoyed checking them out as much as I did making them.

THE PRIDE #3 -Cover Process

Here's another cover I did for Joe Glass's comic The Pride. Roughs, pencils, inks. Joe left it pretty much up to me to figure out what to draw here, so I went with a big fight scene (it happens in the issue). 

It might seem like a lot of work for one image, but it got kind of complicated with all the different characters and how they interacted. I even sent Joe this color comp early on to make sense of my messy drawing:

Logan

Angry, bub. Angry.

Fathom #5 In Stores Today

I drew ten pages in this week's Fathom #5. That's 25% more pages than I drew in issue #4, for you statistic enthusiasts. Here's a panel mash-up from the issue:

Inking warmup: Gateway

It's been a few weeks since I've inked anything so I did this little thing on a piece of scrap bristol to get comfortable again.

3x9 bristol, india ink, white paint, brushes, 60 mins

FATHOM #4 In Stores Today

Fathom #4 is available today in stores, and I drew eight pages in it. Go get yourself a copy!!!

Here's a sneak peak at my pencils for a few pages from the issue:

Black Panther: The Most Dangerous Man Alive

I've always liked the Black Panther, but the current "urban vigilante" era at the hands of David Liss, Francesco Francavilla and others is one of my favorites. This Panther is just really cool looking. I know he's supposed to be some kind of genius, but he's always been a hand-to-hand combatant to me, so putting him in this SWAT-inspired combat gear is a no-brainer.

Brush, ink, technical pens, inkwash, white paint, bristol board.

Some process shots:

Uncanny X-Men

This is a piece I did for Pat Loika after he was nice enough to give his artist alley table at NYCC to me and Ben Christian. The X-Men are among my favorite things to draw, so when Pat asked for these characters I was psyched. Pat also does an excellent podcast that you can listen to here.

Blindside: now with color!

Marat Mychaels' Blindside. B & W art by me, colors by Frank Cuonzo.

THIS is why I leave the colors up to more capable artists. I love what Frank did with this.

A big ol' art dump

Some of the work I've done over the last few months:

 

Feels like forever since I've posted new art. These are as follows:

1.) The Pride cover (& rough pencils)- done for Joe Glass and Gavin Mitchell's comic series The Pride. I had a lot of fun doing this one-love doing these kinds of design-heavy compositions. I think it will appear on issue #2.

2.) Blindside pin-up (&rough pencils). Soon to be in glorious color by Frank Cuonzo. We're showing this to Marat Michaels for the launch of his comic Blindside.

3.)Thundercats- just for fun, really. The new cartoon got me thinking about how much I loved these characters in the 80's. I had colors in mind when I drew this, but I never got around to actually doing them. Something like this with a strong light source would be a good challenge/exercise. One of these days...

4.)Youngblood's Shaft. Did this to be part of a jam piece with some other artists, but it never really came together. Again, I thought of this with colors in mind. Again, one of these days...

5.)The Independents cover- inks & colors- This is going to be part of our pitch for for The Independents. The pitch is still being worked on, but we used this image as the cover for our 12 page comic that we had copies of at NYCC this year. Some of you lucky devils might even own one. I needed a lot of help with the colors on this, and I got it from our series colorist Steve Talaba and the awesome Dean White!

6.) Some Gladstones School for World Conquerors art I did as a warm-up one day. More on this soon...