Sketch Cards! Sketch Cards! And More Sketch Cards!

I dig drawing these things. I really do.

I usually try to have a bunch of sketch cards available for convention season as they tend to move pretty briskly. Usually I try to have the ones that will move the most… The Archie cast, Spider-Man, Batman, and a few others. Jughead as Mr. Spock is absolute GOLD. I’ve drawn that one A LOT because I can sell that one almost as quickly as I draw it. Sometimes, however, I indulge in drawing a few characters that I know probably won’t sell easily, but I don’t care. I just feel like drawing them anyway. Here are a few of those. The first few are part of a Silver-Age era Legion of Super Heroes kick I’ve been on. A big fan of that era of the Legion, I get on that kick pretty often.

First up is the sketch up above of Superboy. I have a great affection for the Boy Of Steel. He was probably the very first super hero I followed loyally in the comics. I’d been a huge Harvey Comics fan especially of the Richie Rich line. I’d also been a big Archie fan as well. Superboy would be my entry into DC and later Marvel. I’d been a fan of Superboy since his Filmation cartoon. I’m pretty sure that it was Krypto the Superdog that hooked me. A super-powered dog sidekick was just too good to resist. I only wish Krypto appeared as regularly in Superboy’s comic book adventures. With this card, I’m trying to evoke some of Curt Swan, Al Plastino, and John Forte, some of the great artists who drew many of Superboy’s Silver-Age adventures.

Here is Mon-El, Superboy’s adopted “older brother” and one of my favorite members of the Legion Of Super Heroes. Like a lot of characters, poor Mon-El hasn’t been treated well in recent years especially in terms of his design. Typically, Mon-El sports a simple but elegant red and blue look that contemporary artists just can’t resist cluttering up with unnecessary detail, armor, seams and other busy doodads. Here I’ve drawn him as he would look in those early Legion stories in Adventure Comics.

No one is going to know who this next guy is until I color him but he’s the green-skinned column genius, Brainiac 5, another favorite Legionnaire.

Here we have Brek Bannin, Polar Boy. A real lovable loser, Polar Boy was rejected from the Legion Of Super Heroes, but resilient and tenacious, Polar Boy didn’t hang it up after his rejection. He got together with a few other rejects and formed the great Legion Of Substitute Heroes. Many years later… and after helping out the “Big League” Legion on numerous occasions, Polar Boy finally earned admission into the real Legion and even served at least one term as team leader. I always loved Polar Boy. For some reason, I’ve always liked cold-powered heroes and villains.

Another Legionnaire, here we have that Durlan master of disguise, Chameleon Boy.

Here we have Hal Jordan, my favorite Green Lantern. A Gil Kane design, the standard Green Lantern uniform is one of my favorite super hero outfits of all time. I’ve read where Kane, one of the best costume designers ever, had said something to the effect that when it came to costume designs, he tried designing something that looked interesting while still simple enough that a little kid could draw his favorite characters. This is a sentiment I wish more contemporary artists would embrace more.

Here we have one of my favorite X-Men, Cyclops. As a lot of my students know, Iceman is right up there vying with Scott Summers for the top spot as my favorite mutant, but I have to give Cyclops a bit of an edge because he really defines what a member of the X-Men should be. He has an interesting, effective super-power that still has a horrible drawback to it that prevents him from ever living a completely normal life. In spite of this, he still does his best to serve both humanity and mutant-kind. Cyclops often gets a bad wrap from fans but I have to lay a lot of the blame at literally DECADES of bad writing.

As is plain to see, these cards are all in black and white here, but I hope to color them in time for this year’s upcoming convention appearances. Sometimes I color these as demonstrations in my classes. If anyone is interested in any of these, let me know. I also accept commission requests for sketch cards.

Who else should I draw next? Leave me a suggestion below!