Sensationally footless

This was supposed to be a full body picture but I drew her too far down on the page. Oh dear.

Mohawk Storm Appreciation Post

Tonight I doodled and all of a sudden Mohawk Storm appeared because I absolutely love this look for her and wanted to see how I'd draw it. So, um?

oh dear

Well, I got about this far with my manta rays...
...when my almost-eight-year-old tablet promptly shat itself and has been misbehaving ever since. I believe there is something tablet-shaped under the Christmas tree, though, because - like a 6'4, dark-haired, male Emma Frost - the Mr somehow knew.

But I mustn't dally on white lingerie. I doodled this horrible thing just now:


If you haven't been watching the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series, you really should be. It had Mockingbird. In a cartoon!

Updates and apologies

Sorry for the severe lack of updates to my Marvel Alphabet! I've succumbed to a complete loss of motivation for it. I got so wrapped up in an acrylic painting that I'm still working on that I've moreorless abandoned it (at least for a while). I may get back to it, but at the moment my priorities are on commissions and my website.

Did I say website? Oh my!

http://www.jenrichardsart.com
I have plans to add more to it, like a blog specific to the site to document my process, but for now it acts as a portfolio for all those whales and dolphins I like to draw. I am however trying to branch out into other marine life (it's not like I lack the reference photos) - whenever I set out to draw something that isn't a cetacean it stills ends up being an orca most of the time, so here's a quick outline I just penciled that I'm about to start attacking with my tablet:

Couldn't sleep, must doodle

Quick sketch of Namora and some (rather poor) butterflyfish.

It's been a while

I'd started this a couple of months ago, and put it aside to work on my Kalina tribute when she died. I've worked on it on and off since then, but finally pushed ahead to get it finished today because I'm eager to use acrylics again and didn't want to leave this sitting around unfinished!

In 2008 I spent some time observing Tilikum and little Trua at SeaWorld Orlando and was lucky enough to get photos of them playing, so I'd been meaning to do a picture like this for a while.

I have an etsy shop, by the way! I'll be making this one available ASAP. So far all of my prints are small, but larger ones will be up there very soon. Thanks for taking a look!

J is for Jessica Jones

I keep going back and forth on whether or not I prefer the sketch or the coloured version, so here's both.
I like Jessica a lot, but hot damn does she need a new costume if she ever gets back into the spandex. White all over! Unsupported boobs! Horrifyingly impractical! I should stop trying to apply logic to superhero costumes!

I is for Iron Fist

Danny Rand is among the characters I like best. He's just totally awesome.

H is for Hawkeye (the other one)

Well, I really like purple. I also like too many characters that begin with the letter H, but I recently found a horrifyingly bad drawing I'd done of Kate Bishop a few years ago, so I felt like making up for it. She rules.

Achieving the impossible

Well, they did it somehow. Marvel has created a universe in which I like Hank Pym, AND Janet, at the same time. The new Avengers cartoon has been awesome so far, I dig the style and can't wait for more characters to turn up. Like Mockingbird. Who is in it. Best series ever.

Anyway, so apparently thinking about how I like the Wasp's design in this led to a weird mishmash of styles. I don't even know.

G is for Gorilla Man

Namora was obviously my favourite Agent of Atlas, but Gorilla Man came very, very close. He's cool as hell. Bonus for being the first gorilla I've ever drawn.

Veil

Out of all the Avengers Academy kids, I think Veil and Mettle are tied as my favourites. As simple as it is, I just think Veil's design is completely and totally awesome. I did a pencil sketch of her a while back (which I obviously hate now) and had the sudden urge to draw her again, but to ink it with actual pens. Shock! Horror! It was actually really fun (the last time I inked something by hand was years ago) so I'm looking forward to doing more of it.

Also! Thank you so much Awesomed By Comics for the mention the other day! I'm so thrilled someone liked my Fin Fang Foom so much. The compliments were lovely and meant a lot to me, so thank you!

F is for Fin Fang Foom

I love Fin Fang Foom. He's simultaneously ridiculous and awesome. Kevin was insisting that I draw a funny picture and give him purple pants, but I tried and failed and made him a bit more bad ass instead. (Hopefully?) I just like dragons a lot and think he's been made fun of too much. He's cool. Deal with it.

E is for Echo

I know I said I wasn't looking to colour these, but I felt like it this time. Also wanted to add some variation to the ethnicities I draw!

C and D are for Cloak and Dagger

Holy hell. I drew a pair of feet.

B is for Beta Ray Bill

Wow, these first two have been really underwhelming. I promise I'll do something that isn't a static bust next time, but I drew him at the bottom of the page and couldn't fit a body in. Beta Ray Bill is a favourite of mine though, and the badass my fish is named after.

Kalina

Please click for the bigger version!

I really wish this wasn't another tribute piece. Kalina, the first orca born and raised in captivity, died very suddenly this month at the age of 25. I've seen her many times over the last few years and she was always fascinating to watch, especially when she was with the younger whales - it's a shame that she wasn't around when her mother Katina gave birth last week. She was very much a "people whale" like Keiko was.

I referenced a photo I took back in 2008; she had this rather endearing habit of turning her head as she bowed like she was looking around at everyone. I've always found her interesting physically because she had a much "rounder" body type than the other orcas. I always loved her freckles!

Well I never!

This started out as a light pencil sketch that I was doing as a way for me to loosen up with the pencil some, since I get so bogged down with solid lines. Unfortunately, my scanner and I are currently fighting, so the scanned image turned out so terribly I inked it digitally... which I never do. Honestly, the biggest challenge with this for me was "simplifying" the dolphins, which is why they kind of suck. All I want to do is give them as much detail as possible and make them as photo-realistic as I can, so I literally had to take the tablet pen away from myself after a short while so I wasn't too tempted. I need to find a midway point. Anyway!

I give it a week

I haven't really had the motivation to draw any characters for a while, I've been on such a cetacean kick. Last night I suddenly had the urge to do a thing and fell back on my two favourites: I've actually gone off every picture I've ever drawn of them so I tried to make up for it... I give it a week before I hate it all over again.

Back to the whales with me!

Farewell, Sumar

My favourite orca died a couple of weeks ago. I'd been to SeaWorld San Diego each year for the past three, and due to some Comic Con-related screw ups, this year I couldn't go. One of my major highlights of that trip had been to visit my favourite "pod", in particular Sumar, who was such a playful, charismatic whale and always a joy to watch. His sudden illness and death is a shock that still hasn't really sunken in and I'm still regretting that I couldn't see him just one more time.

I drew this based on one of the last photos I took of him as he was messing about between pools with Nakai and Corky. Hopefully it's a fitting tribute to a beautiful animal.

tursiops truncatus

I'd been working on this on and off for a couple of weeks now but wanted to get it finished before Dragon*Con -- I've been seeing dolphins in my dreams every night for the past few days. That's not a bad thing because dolphins are awesome. I'm actually really excited about finally getting a print store online soon, something I've been wanting to do for ages, and am hoping to donate a portion of the cost of each print to a marine organization (not decided which one yet) provided it all goes well. I'm also ecstatic to finally have a new set of acrylics and a bunch of canvases so I can get some traditional painting done - it's been so long!

Here's a detail shot of the closest dolphin, who was incredibly fun to do:

"The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it." Jacques-Yves Cousteau

Megaptera novaeangliae

I started this about a month ago and kept going back and forth over whether or not to finish it. I'm glad I did - it's my first attempt at a baleen whale - but it's a bit rougher than I would've liked. Definitely plan on doing more in the future.

(Clearer version here)

This is a Witty and Creative Title

I drew Bucky as the Winter Soldier about three years ago, and a friend saw it recently and gave hugely positive feedback even though I thought it was a pile of bollocks. But it did make me want to redraw him to see how my style had developed in that time, which is quite a lot.

I swear I'll do something with legs and feet soon!

Apologies.

Tigra!

Look, I have no excuses. My line of thought was "Hey, I need to draw some manly men because all I've drawn lately are women, and Nick Fury is manly as hell!" but then a scene from early West Coast Avengers popped into my head and wouldn't go away. Oopth.

Not quite the devil

A "doodle" that went too far. Click for big!

Maybe it's because I've been watching Kevin play Red Dead Revolver too much, or maybe it's because Jaime Slade/the Phantom Rider has a freaking bitchin' character design. I mean really. Are you reading Hawkeye & Mockingbird? No? What is wrong with you? Get on it! It's your homework. There'll be a test next week.

the post-HeroesCon blah

The lead-up to HeroesCon in Charlotte, NC last weekend completely zapped any motivation I had to draw because I was going nuts getting my new Mockingbird costume finished, which can be seen here. Hooray! The convention itself exceeded all my positive expectations to become my favourite con experience ever, so I'd recommend it to everybody. While there I met and hung out with some of my favourite comics people and felt wildly inspired to draw regularly. When Chris Samnee tells you to draw, you freaking draw! I picked up Christos Gage and Mike McKone's Avengers Academy this week, which is a GREAT read and has a very sinister twist that has sucked me right in. I like Maddy/Veil's "powers" - she basically vaporizes herself - and she seemed fun to draw so I started doodling.

More late night doodling

Quick sketch of Mockingbird. I wish my scanner wasn't such a dick to pencils. Oh well!

Sketch pencils: my lost love

It's been a looooong time since I had a set of decent pencils (I had a kickass Derwent set I wanted to bring across the pond with me, but they wouldn't have survived being in the luggage), so I picked up a new tin recently and am in love again. I would tear through so many 9Bs drawing orca after orca like ten years ago, but I want to work on faces and people some more. My friend and fellow costumer Tia is the perfect Kitty Pryde, so she was my first victim. Muahaha! (Sorry Tia.)

Namora sketch

Boy what an imaginative title! Figured it'd be nice if I posted sketches of things here before I coloured them. First time drawing Namora, but she's pretty cool and it's an excuse for me to draw fish and render more water. Whoohoo!

Happy Earth Day! Have a dolphin.

I started this back in February - not that it took that long, it's because I got so frustrated with my ancient little tablet that I had given up - but I guess it's fitting that I finished it in time for Earth Day. I woke up this morning to Animal Planet showing one of my favourite BBC nature series of all time, The Blue Planet, and tonight Kevin and I are off to see Oceans. Disneynature are distributing it in the US, and if you see it during its first week of release, they'll donate a portion of each ticket price to help establish new marine protected areas in the Bahamas. It's all good stuff. Get to it!


Pacific white-sided dolphins are one of my favourite species. I've never seen them in person though, so I used a photo by the lovely Remedy as reference. Thank you!

Avengers ladies assemble!

After struggling with an art block lasting almost five months, I finally managed to stop scribbling over everything I hated in my sketchbook and start getting on with it. A new scanner and a very motivating partner helped. I've always been terrible at drawing women so I began churning out a bunch of kickass heroines (debatable in the case of Wanda) as practice. Yeah, I don't know either. Anyway:

Ms. Marvel!

The Wasp!

She-Hulk!

The Scarlet Witch!

I am totally working on something else though:

I'm terrible.

After all but abandoning my first blogspot and briefly fluttering about on wordpress, I've landed back on blogspot because, as much as the interface can get on my nerves, at least I can customize the look without paying!

Anyway, here's a silly test post to 1) explain myself, and 2) to make sure I haven't completely bastardized the layout.