The Odyssey - Part 1

A couple of years ago, Penguin Classics entertained the idea of producing animated direct-to-video adaptations of some of the most beloved books in history. I was brought on board to create a unique visual style for both THE ODYSSEY and THE CANTERBURY TALES (which coincidentally happen to be two of my favorite books of all time). Unfortunately, it never came to fruition.

I was going to post Odysseus yesterday, but I was homebound with my son and his pair of pink eyes. So to make up for it, today you get a two for one.

All images © 2006 Film Roman.

Spike vs. Dracula #4

Here is my Spike vs. Dracula cover for issue #4. Because of time constraints I wasn't able to color this one myself or contribute to issue #5. This cover is definitely my favorite of the bunch. It was a lot of fun drawing Spike and Drusilla is such a romantic context, and yet still be able to give it a little dash of horror.

All images © 2006 20th Century Television.

Spike vs. Dracula #2

Here is my second cover for Spike vs. Dracula. I think you'll agree this one is a bit less controversial than yesterday's outing. I received hate mail in three different languages!

If you would like to read more about the controversy surrounding my cover for Spike vs. Dracula #3, this is the place to be: http://whedonesque.com/comments/10432

All images © 2006 20th Century Television.

Spike vs. Dracula #3

In stores today is Spike vs. Dracula #3 from IDW, which I had the honor of drawing one of the covers for.

Because the story was set during WWII, I turned to Nazi propoganda posters for inspiration.


This was my first thumbnail, but apparently Fox isn't crazy about seeing their characters being impaled. Go figure.

My second attempt. Closer to the mark, but I felt like Spike's pose seemed too regal and out of character.

At the pencil stage I opted for more of an in-your-face Nazi salute.

And finally, the completed inks. The blacks really dominate the image, so I decided to drop a golden color into the background inks to create more depth.

All images © 2006 20th Century Television.

Myspace SNAFU

If by some chance you sent me a friend request yesterday and it was declined or not answered, please resend it. I was on my laptop last night and something weird happened and wiped out an entire page of requests before I could accept them. Sorry for the mixup -- I wasn't intentially rejecting you!

And if you have a Myspace account, dig my stuff, and haven't sent me a request to be my pal, don't be shy! It's really cool being able to connect with peers, fans, and lost acquaintances. And I have some exciting stuff on the near horizon that will be exclusive to Myspace.

Spike Vs. Dracula #1

In honor of Spike vs. Dracula #3 coming out tomorrow, I thought I would post some of my cover art from the series.


Here is the inked art from issue #1. I decided for these covers I was going to approach the style more realistically. I wanted to try and distance myself from the Buffy: Animated designs to show my versatility. Because of time contraints I wasn't able to color this cover. I try to color my own stuff as much as possible, but sometimes my schedule is too hectic and it makes more sense from a production standpoint to hand the chores over to someone else.


As you can see from my pencils, I tend to keep things pretty loose at this stage. If I pencil my drawing too tightly, it tends to make it stiff. By drawing loosely like this, it allows me to be more spontaneous with my ink, and maintain a certain amount of energy.


This was my first abandoned attempt. I liked the idea of Spike standing in an alley surrounded by his victims, but ultimately decided that he didn't dominate the composition enough. One of these days I'd like to finish up this drawing just for the fun of it.

I'll be posting my cover art and roughs for issue #3 tomorrow.

All images © 2006 20th Century Television.

The Ugly American

If you've been over to my myspace page, you'll recognize this drawing from my profile. The Ugly American is a character I created for an animated series that I've been developing off and on for the past couple of years.

VITAL STATISTICS

Alter ego: Clifford Dent

Occupation: Postal Worker

Super Power: Agro-Rage
Weakness: Sauerkraut

The Ugly American © & TM 2006 Eric Wight.

Sector City 3 - Part 5

My last promo image for Sector City 3.

All images © 2006 Doselle Young.

Sector City 3 - Part 4

More Sector City 3 baddies. What intergalactic conflict would be complete without a despotic overlord?

THRNN OVERLORD

THRNN FOOT SOLDIER

PSI-BLOSSOM

All images © 2006 Doselle Young.

Sector City 3 - Part 3

The villains of Sector City 3.

IRIS

INFERNUS

The City of Sector City 3.

All images © 2006 Doselle Young.

Sector City 3 - Part Duex

The heroes of Sector City 3.

TRANSIT

PLEX

MAINLINE

All images © 2006 Doselle Young.

Sector City 3 - Part 1

Two summers ago, I was approached by the multi-talented Doselle Young to create model sheets and presentation art for his original property ‘Sector City 3.' Because of the volume of work he commissioned, I’ve decided to dedicate this entire week to posting the images I created. Here is the first taste:

All images © 2006 Doselle Young.

Payment in Fish

This pin-up of Aquaman was a thank you present for my pal/lawyer/cousin-in-law, Jesse Bausch for advising me on some contract negotiations. Jesse is also an accomplished writer, self-publisher, and owns his own comic shop (what can I say, he's a busy guy!). His book 'Strange Detective Tales' was nominated for an Ignatz award for Outstanding Debut.

All images © 2006 DC Comics, Inc.

Almost The Atomic County Graphic Novel

The closest I ever came to making the Atomic County graphic novel was this three page spread that appeared in the April 10-15 ‘05 issue of TV Guide. The WB and TV Guide thought it would be really cool to do a fake exclusive of the graphic novel. The only catch was that I had less than a week before the issue went to press. So what you see before you was written and drawn (co-written by O.C. producer John Stephens) in a four day stretch. I went from a Monday to a Thursday on less than four hours sleep, and in order to save time I drew a lot of it directly with ink. But TV Guide sent me a big basket of cookies from Harry & David as a thank you, so it was all worth it in the end.

* Note: you can get me to do practically anything for cookies -- I’m worse than my dog Kirby.

All images © 2006 Warner Bros. Television.

The Freedom Fighters

A few years ago, writer Jason Hall and I were given the opportunity to pitch some book ideas to DC Comics. Both huge fans of the Golden Age, Jason and I came up with a killer concept for a relaunch of the Freedom Fighters. Unfortunately, it turned out that the property was being developed by someone else at the time (who also happened to be a lot more high profile), and our pitch was kindly declined. Here the designs I came up with for the pitch.

All images © 2006 DC Comics, Inc.

I Heart Sushi

Sushi. Bite-sized bundles of heaven, as beautiful as they are tasty. I could partake in some nigiri goodness eight times a week. So when I was called upon by Hyperion Pictures to design an anthropomorphic sushi character for a mobile project called 'Wasabi Warriors,' I felt it was my professional obligation to rush out and consume as much ‘research’ as possible. Mmmmm...good times.

© 2006 Animobile, Inc.

Buffy Fans are the Bestest

Seriously, you guys rock. The response to Friday’s posting of Fray has been astounding. I am completely honored by the VOLUMES of positive feedback I've been getting. I wasn't going to post more Buffy until later in the week, but why make you wait.

All images © 2006 20th Century Television.

Caught in the Fray

Whedon's slayer of the future -- Meleka Fray. I drew this right around the time I was working on the Buffy promo.

© 2006 Joss Whedon.

The O.C. Mix 4

Right around when things were getting hot and heavy with Seth's graphic novel storyline, I was approached by Warner Records to illustrate the CD cover for their fourth O.C. soundtrack. Unfortunately, the gig became bittersweet -- because of contractual issues I was forbidden to actually draw the characters for anyone except Warner Bros. And Warner Records is no longer owned by Warner Brothers.

The solution was to use art that I had already drawn for the show, and repurpose it for the CD. Fortunately for me, my drawings were in the good hands of the extraordinarly talented graphic designer Matt Taylor (who has designed all of the O.C. soundtracks). He took my drawings and with a little elbow grease and Photoshop trickery transformed them into the gorgeous final product. Matt also had the brilliant idea to have me draw some doodles for each of the song titles, which then became the art on the CD itself.

Here are some of my thumbnails for the soundtrack cover, as well as my doodles for the interior.

All images © 2006 Warner Bros. Television.

Captain America's 65th Birthday

A few months ago, I got a call from Marvel to draw Captain America's 65th Anniversary Special. Not only had it been a major ambition to work with Marvel, but I was being given the opportunity to draw one of my favorite characters, for one of my favorite writers, during one of my favorite time periods. This gig couldn't be more perfect.

I had just finished the cover and was waiting for my script pages, when the WB and Verizon Wireless decided they wanted to produce 14 animated mobisodes of The Atomic County, the characters I had created for The O.C. And I was being offered the chance to write, design, and direct the entire series.

As every freelancer knows, when it rains it pours, and I suddenly found myself in a very precarious position. I tried to juggle both assignments, but when I realized my holding onto both projects was doing more harm than good, I had to let go of one of them. It was a brutally tough decision, but given my history with The O.C., I had to pull out from drawing the interior pages of the Cap special.

When I sat down to draw the Captain America cover, my immediate source of inspiration were WWII propaganda posters. Unfortunately, there had recently been a lot of beautiful Captain America covers that followed that same train of thought. This of course made my job more challenging. Normally I’ll draw 2-3 thumbnails before penciling the final piece. In this case it took sixteen thumbnails in order to hit the target.

Here is the progression of the final cover, as well as some of the concepts that didn’t make the cut.

All images © 2006 Marvel Characters, Inc.

Juniper Lee

Back when Judd Winick’s show ‘The Life and Times of Juniper Lee’ was first greenlit, I was brought onboard to be the character designer. Cartoon Network was very happy with my work, but Judd wanted to take the show in a different stylistic direction. These things happen, and you try not to take it personally (although I of course did at the time!). This is what the show might have looked like had he chosen to use my designs. Pretty much the only thing that made it to the show was the dragonfly on Juniper's t-shirt.

Our heroine. I was aiming for an 11-year-old Lucy Liu.

Juniper's kid brother.

Juniper's pet dog, Monroe -- based on a Chinese Shar Pei.

A giant hamster demon.

All images © 2006 Cartoon Network.

The Blue Twister

Right before I started my gig on ‘The O.C.,’ I got a call from the producers of 'Six Feet Under' to create a prop of a Golden Age comic (Season 4, Episode #48 - 'Grinding the Corn'). Apparently it was cheaper for me to create something from scratch than license something that already existed. I was given two mandates: the character's name was the Blue Twister, and there needed to be an ad for X-Ray specs. The rest they completely let me run with.

Even though it was only going to be seen on screen for a few seconds, I wrote a complete origin story and created several pages of fake ads. After the show wrapped, executive producer Alan Poul generously sent me one of the comic book props, which I consider one of my most prized possessions. Here is an up-close look at those pages from ‘The Blue Twister.’

All Images © 2006 Home Box Office, Inc.