My second piece of my two-part summer movie villain swap is finally finished. FF vs Lex Luthor. So good. And they look great together. I’ll be posting that pic soon so keep an eye out.

A crossover inspired by two of my favorite films from the past summer. Superman from @jamesgunn.bsky.social and FF from Matt Shakman. Also I really wanted to do #inktober this year but just didn’t have the bandwidth. So I may not be totally participating, but I still got to lay down some ink.

2025 has been a “kick you while you’re down” kind of year so far. Haven’t done any comic related stuff for 2 months. And it hurts. Hopefully by next month I’ll be back to the drawing table. Until then here’s a piece I did awhile back since it’s apparently “post something Daredevil” day #daredevil

There’s just a smidge of 2024 left. Calling it a night before the midnights. It finished the year off strong with one last GN for the year. @johnhendrix.bsky.social and his Mythmakers really blew my socks off. I have long obsession with Lewis and his works. This was an inspiration.

Lunchtime adventures at Hot Poop making a new vinyl acquisition. It’s always a crazy time at the oldest independently owned record store in Washington State.

Snapshots of a Saturday morning: early morning studio light is the best light. Inflicting pain on myself. Cranking out scenes for issue 3. Getting inspired by a couple recent comic acquisitions by @ssnyder1835.bsky.social Nick Dragotta, @tomking.bsky.social @bilquis.bsky.social

Spending my lunch hour working on a page for a comic project I’m working on while listening to @ramonperez.bsky.social on InkPulp with Shawn and Matteo. Time well spent with similarly bearded men.

Very much a #wip but it’s finally starting to come together. A short story I’m working on as a practical exercise. Two cranky Brits named Jo(h)n, what could go wrong? I’ve always loved Chris Bachalo’s Chamber design from the original Generation X run. And Constantine is just Constantine.

With a new issue of UltraMega on the horizon I thought I’d take a stab at the crazy universe from James Harren.

New Comic Book Day escalated into New Book Day. And I’m not mad about it. Quite a pair. @pornsak.bsky.social and @jesselonergan.bsky.social killed it on Man’s Best. Super excited for a new @levgrossman.bsky.social book, let alone a new entry into the Arthurian mythology. Happy reading ahead!

Early morning light in the studio, is my favorite. Such a great way to start the day.

11x17 printing/scanning here I come. Finally pulled the trigger on this beast. Hopefully will help with efficiency and quality in my artwork. I’m going to have to stock up on some cyan for all the blue line I’ll be printing.

I call this one “Casually Aggressive”

This. Just. Happened. It was like Sword in the Stone for snacks. Pretzcalibur? Snaccident? Am I the chosen Lord of Pretzels?

Early morning light-boxing (paneling?). Taking my one page Hellboy/Nightcrawler crossover story to board for some traditional inking. Trying to give myself exercises that stretch my skills in multiple areas of the craft. This is going to test them all.

Practicing my lettering on a one page Hellboy/Nightcrawler crossover I’m working on while hanging out at the Comic Book Cool Down put on by @mrtylercrook.bsky.social a great way to spend an evening.

Between loving X-Men 97 and the #fcbd Hellboy issue I had a lightbulb moment of teaming up Hellboy with Nightcrawler. What started as a pin-up turned into a 1 page story I’m working on to level up my skills. Here’s bits and pieces as it’s coming along. Digital, intended for traditional inking. #wip

What a Full #freecomicbookday and #target trip. So much fun to be had.

#maythe4thbewithyou Happy Star Wars Day to all. Here’s an Ahsoka I did when I was reveling in the awesomeness of the show when it was coming out

The last two weeks have had some incredible new comics. Loving Batman/Dylan Dog. @tomking.bsky.social @bilquis.bsky.social @matlopes.bsky.social and @claytoncrane.bsky.social are making my new favorite book in Helen of Wyndhorn. And Peach Momoko is making a truly unique book in Ultimate X-Men.

Library find of the day! I’ve been meaning to pick this up from the moment I heard Bill Watterson was publishing another book. Don’t expect ANY similarity to his Calvin and Hobbes days. Watterson and his creative partner in this book, John Kascht, have created something truly unexpected.

This is what failure looks like. Also what learning looks like. Trying to get a better handle on traditional inks, so I’ve been using pieces I’ve done in Procreate as starting points. This piece seemed a perfect opportunity for brush work. It ended up being a bit more demoralizing than I planned.

A short but awesome-packed #newcomicbookday Such amazing work by all the amazing talent involved. I’ll bring picking up every issue these teams decide to put out.

Last week’s #newcomicbookday was a gold mine of awesome. The storytelling happening here is just at a completely different level. I also had to pick up Masterpiece 3 by @brianmbendis.bsky.social and @alexmaleev.bsky.social when I was horrified to find out I hadn’t already picked it up. SO. GOOD.

This is what making comics looks like. At least for me. Rough layouts for issue 1 are finally done. With all kinds of other life stuff happening it’s dealt hard to feel any forward momentum. But this is forward motion. One tiny step at a time…

A fantastic #newcomicbookday! New Ultimate X-Men from Peach Momoko and the finally getting back into Void Rivals. Both absolutely lovely pieces of storytelling .

I keep forgetting to pick this book up. Now it’s open to all. Can’t wait to dig in!

A fantastic Monday full of awesome comic book conversations. @davidharper.bsky.social and @brianmbendis.bsky.social , @ashcanpress.bsky.social talking with Dan Watters and @cbccpodcast.bsky.social talking with @mrtylercrook.bsky.social So much to learn! Go listen! #podcasts

When that studio light is perfect!

What making comics looks like: taking PTO to start at 7:30am on scripts and rough layouts. Then cementing character design for the main character in one of my projects. All while trying to learn from the masters: @brianmbendis.bsky.social Shelly Bond and Marcos Mateu-Mestre. A good day to be sure.

When you get a new nib holder finally allowing you to try out the nibs you purchased a month ago, what better way to try things out than on the ever lovin’, blue eyed Thing. Love that this handle can fit both nib sizes. And feels so much more substantial than those plastic brown handles.

Happy #NewComicBookDay ! A couple of mind-bogglingly awesome books from the like of Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer and Christian Ward. Amazing storytelling.

#NewComicBookDay and Lunch-hour roughs. Gotta fit it in when you can. Some great books from some really talented people this week. Finally got to see why Thundercats sold 170K. My childhood splashed across the printed page.

When new art supplies show up. You draw Batman.

This looks like an absolute mess. But it was an afternoon of learning. My traditional inking game needs a lot of work. So it was me and an abandoned page of panels just pulling lines, cross-hatching and practicing any other techniques i could think of to get more comfortable with the brush.

This started with a question: “what if Cable had a different kind of metal arm” and ended with Cable getting an arm from EVA-01 slapped on. Because why not? #xmen #characterdesign

Added some color to my Azrael from #inktober Still love this character design from Joe Quesada after all these years.

Sometimes the best way to learn why you like something is to dig into it, and see how it ticks. Not only figuring out Rafael Grampa’s amazing design, but also why his style is so idiosyncratic and mesmerizing. A lot of trial and error, but I learned a ton making this piece.

#artvsartist after a crazy 2023!

Masterclass with Masterpiece from @brianmbendis.bsky.social and @alexmaleev.bsky.social Such a great first book. Has me completely hooked. A great source of inspiration as I’m tackling a script during an unexpected day off. Couldn’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon.

Rainy day weekends are meant for good stories. These are hard to beat! @tomking.bsky.social Greg Smallwood and Jason Islington for the win!

A day of hands.

Loving this new outing from Mignola, Fegredo amd Stewart. The absurdity of the concept had me laughing out loud. The execution has me salivating for more. So good to see @duncanfegredo.bsky.social back in the Mignolaverse.

Taking some much needed PTO to work on my own stuff. Early morning roughs for issue 1.

Who doesn’t need a little more Earthworm Jim in their lives? One of my favorite, most throw-the-controller-in-frustration games of my childhood. The weirdness factor probably had a big impact on my sense of humor as an adult. A piece I did awhile back as I was acclimating to Procreate.

LOVED this interview with @brianmbendis.bsky.social and @alexmaleev.bsky.social So much fun hearing about the history and process from one of my favorite comic creator teams. A lot to process as a creator. Go give it a listen.

I was setting up this account and trying to find the right banner image, apparently I need to start working on some horizontal format pieces. Now I’ve got all this art on my phone. So here was my wrap-up piece for Inktober. Gotta love some classic Az, right?

New to the block. So, a hearty hello from me and Optimus!