Another favorite character from The Expanse series, both on paper and the tv screen, Amos Burton is a definitive bad ass.
As of this posting, I have yet to finish both the final season of the show and the final book in the series. It’s been quite the journey from when I started the books in 2015. Amos always stood out in the core cast with his staggering loyalty to Naomi and absolute “fuckall” attitude toward any authority but himself. It would’ve been fun to see the completion of his character arc onscreen (as the Prime series only finished out the 6th book) but perhaps there could be room for another miniseries or movie to wrap everything up proper.
Today’s addition to the Friday series is none other than Luna Lovegood. Easily one of my favorite characters in the entire Harry Potter franchise (despite being introduced so late in the series.) I’ll admit she was a bit hard to put together in the books. On the page she just seemed weird for the sake of being weird, even by wizard standards. Though the subdued quirkiness that Evanna Lynch brought to the films made her one of the more compelling characters.
It’s official for realz! I’ll have a table in the Artist Alley at this year’s GalaxyCon in Richmond, VA March 24-26! This year I’ll have some friends joining me as well, my writer and colorist for the comic book we’ve been working on the better part of a year. Josh is the brainchild behind Southtown, feeding me scripts and insights on the world he’s built, and Ally is a fellow artist, Twitch streamer, and acting colorist for the project.
In addition to our glowing presence, we’ll have original pages to skim over, sketch books, sticker packs, and hopefully a 5 page AshCan preview.
My own Fan Art Friday originals, prints, and previous years’ Inktober projects will also be available.
Next up! We’ve officially launched the SouthTown comic Facebook Page! We’ll be updating it with character sketches, finished pages, panels, and previews, release timeline news, and eventually the crowdfunding campaign to get these printed and distributed!
Around fall 2015 Amazon started targeting me with Leviathan Wakes, the first book in a series called “The Expanse.” I’ve been a longtime fan of sci-fi, specifically the “deep space” variety (2001: A Space Odyssey, Moon, the 2000’s Battlestar Galactica reboot, etc.) and naturally I can’t resist something with cover art as intricate and compelling as this…
Not long after I’d cracked the first book I discovered it had been adapted into a series for SyFy. Both the books and the show became an addiction very quickly (though I have yet to read the 9th and final book, appropriately titled “Leviathan Falls.”) Naomi Nagata is easily one of my favorite characters in the series and Dominque Tipper did an excellent job with all of her layers and complexities for the 6 season run of the show. Spoiler alert: I will be posting another Expanse character here in the near future.
It was around 1997 when my taste in cinematic comedy took a swift turn. Up until that point it consisted mostly of the SNL alum “Fat Man Fall Down” Adam Sandler/Chris Farley. That is, until I was introduced to the indie, dialog driven stylings of Kevin Smith. His ability to craft a specific brand of sympathetic man-child really drew me in (and to which I heavily related at the time, as the comic book collecting art nerd that I was.) Chief among my favorites of Smith’s IP progeny was Brodie Bruce from MallRats. Something about Jason Lee’s line delivery and his “devil may care, but maybe he does” attitude struck a chord and it became an instant classic for me, despite the less than successful box office performance.
While I don’t really relate so much with a number of Smith’s characters these days (as I’ve grown into a different kind of man-child, and a lot of Smith’s newer character work deals with fatherhood,) I can still look back on characters like Brodie and give a hearty chuckle at his misanthropic worldview through the lens of 90’s consumerism Have yourself a chocolate covered pretzel. You’ve earned it.
Happy New Year, everyone!
“Say, would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?”
Week 2! So far so good. I’d like to think I have a decent enough back catalog to keep this up for at least a good while. In either case, thanks for sticking with it (or checking it out if this is a first time for you.)
I was recently turned on to the new(ish) Harley Quinn show on HBO and have loved every second of it thus far. The sly satire on the nature of Batman’s rogues gallery is nothing short of brilliant (ClayFace, specifically) while maintaining Harley’s penchant for villainy, and positing her as a sympathetic survivor of abuse. The long and short, Harley is nuts, and we love her for it.
So here’s the first edition of what I hope to be a weekly art drop, Fan Art Fridays (hashtag FAF.) I recently submitted for an artist table at the upcoming GalaxyCon convention in Richmond, VA and was accepted! So I’m hoping to pad the portfolio and available print selections ahead of the main event.
I spent a good portion of the last 5 years amassing the library editions of Mike Mignola’s groundbreaking series, Hellboy. Once I found myself unemployed at the outset of the COVID 19 lockdown, it seemed the perfect opportunity to dive in and read the entirety of the series. It was quite the journey, from the humble beginnings of “Seed of Destruction” all the way to the thrilling conclusion of “The Storm and the Fury,” and the ethereally abstract epilogue “Hellboy in Hell.” It was also inspiring to see Mignola’s own instagram filling up with new artwork and sketches while we were all stuck in our homes for the bulk of 2020.
So without further ado, here he is. Anung Un Rama himself; Hellboy. Enjoy! And everyone have a great holiday season!
So let’s sum up the last three years. Starting in late February 2020: GalaxyCon (yay!!) Covid (boo) Unemployment (boo) Art Commissions (yay!) Mid Covid Restaurant Reopening and job promotion (yay?) Rinse, repeat for a year and a half. Various work and personal ups and downs and we arrive at summer 2022. After being burnt out by the restaurant industry and falling off on my artwork, I was approached by a couple friends in the Richmond, VA area about a new project. A comic book project!
It’s been a good decade and a half since I’ve done sequential artwork in a narrative capacity. I’d worked on a partial outline for a potential series in 2010 which, due to my work schedule and return to higher education, took a back burner. Though, taking part in larger community projects like “Inktober” over the years, I’d managed to prevent getting too rusty.
Issue #1 Cover, completed inks
My artist friend Ally Slawson approached me alongside her writer friend Joshua Eadie about a comic book project he’d conceived of several years back. The idea was for Joshua to write, I’d do the principle artwork with Ally finishing the images with color and lettering. The comic is called “Southtown” and will be set in a futurist cyber-punk world. All tech-mods, tattoos and corporate terrorism! After spending the summer meeting every few weeks, mocking up character designs and defining roll-out plans, the actual comic is starting to take shape. Several pages are already completed (pre-color) and the crew and I have set up a website (still under construction) with a Kickstarter campaign soon to follow. More (frequent!) updates as these details and dates are solidified. I’ll be dropping art teases on Instagram and Facebook as more progress is made. If all goes well enough in the coming months, we may see you at GalaxyCon 2023 in March!
Just in time for the post-holiday! The Etsy store is back up and running and the first major piece listed is the now-complete Whatever Floats Your Goat series! It comes fully framed with all four 9×6 paintings of Pool Goat, Hot Air Balloon Goat, Hang-glider Goat, and Space Goat!
Whatever Floats your Goat, four 9×6 paintings, fully matted and framed together for $175
Also, for sale right now are my two paintings inspired by David Lynch’s 2017 series, Twin Peaks: The Return. More original work to follow and another MAJOR announcement coming soon!
Every holiday season I usually get at least one person who asks me for custom art. This year, after the success of my Inktober projects, I decided to actively pursue some commission work and advertised across my social media. Here are the pieces I was able to complete during the last month!
I call this one “Damn, We’re in a Tight Spot!” after the now-iconic line from the Coen Brothers film O, Brother Where Art Thou? on which this particular painting is based! The surrounding characters were more or less based off actual stills from the movie, but Everett and Delmar were sort of studied and the likeness of George Clooney and Tim Blake Nelson was obsessed over for the remainder of the project.
I did a yellow ochre wash to give it that sepia, old timey film look. 11×14 ink and watercolor.
This one was commissioned for the chef at the restaurant where I spend most of my work week. I feel like it’s pretty self explanatory. 6×9 pencil sketch.
Pets have been one of my go-to commission works since, well… people LOVE their pets (and well they should.)
My friends own two of the cutest pups and this piece was a lot of fun to come up with. I also snuck in a little cameo appearance by Fone Bone (from Jeff Smith’s fantasy comic odyssey Bone.)
Here’s where my nerd card comes in handy. The concept on this one was a little out there unless you know the strange habits of these two cats.
First off, Star Wars theme, done! Second, the cats have a weird fixation on the dishwasher and will sit on the door when it’s open. One thing led to another and now the dishwasher is C3P0 and R2D2’s escape pod crash landed on Tattooine from Episode 4: A New Hope.
Wil Smith Illustration 