So What? So There!

December 5th Signing at Collector's Paradise

2009-11-04T13:26:00.000-08:00

If you are in or around the greater Los Angeles area, please try to make it out to the The Wolverine 100 Project in store signing at Collector’s Paradise. You can see some of the covers up on Marvel, Newsarama, IGN and CBR. Lots of the LA based artists will be there (I'll try to update the names as they confirm) doing sketches and signing books and it all benefits my favorite charity, The Hero Initiative.

The book signing event takes place on December 5th form 7-10 PM at:
Collector’s Paradise
7131 Winnetka Ave.
Winnetka, CA 91306

The original art will be auctioned off as well to support the charity!

Hero Time Starts Right Now!

2009-08-07T16:47:00.001-07:00

In the words of Henry Rollins, "I'm talking to you: hero time starts right now!" The Hero Initiative is at it again, this time with the Wolverine Weapon X 100 Cover Project. They picked 100 comic book artists to do an original, one of a kind sketch on a blank variant sketch cover of Wolverine Weapon X #1. I think only 100 variant covers were printed especially for The Hero Initiative. A rare collectible if you can get one! They will be actioning them off a few at a time on ebay. I'll try to post a link when mine goes up for auction. Please bid if you can, it's for a great cause!

The Hero Initiative (Formerly known as A.C.T.O.R., A Commitment To Our Roots) has had the good fortune to grant over $200,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. They are a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping comic book creators in need of emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It's a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

I recreated the cover to Ballistic Wolverine #1 by my good friend Joe Benitez. It's one of my favorite covers ever, in fact it's framed and hangs in my studio! Since I would never sell the original, and I've been offered serious cash for it on a few occasions, I thought this would be a good way to raise some cash for a great charity!

JAM DVD Cover

2009-02-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

Since I tend to specialize in storyboard and concept design, I usually get involved in films before anything has been shot, my art is used in the production of the film, but rarely seen by the public (and I have the NDAs to prove it!). So it was fun to get to do a finished illustration for the DVD cover after the film has been made. Especially a film as special as this, a documentary about never giving up and believing in your dreams.

JAM is the story of the American Roller Derby League, a group of veteran Roller Derby stars now in their 50’s that are determined to make a comeback.

In the 1970’s, they were the most popular sports stars on TV, a bigger draw than Major League Baseball. And then, virtually overnight, they disappeared — until now.

For seven years, award-winning filmmaker Mark Woollen chronicles league owner Tim Patten as he pours his heart and entire life savings into a revival of this uniquely American entertainment. JAM takes you on an epic journey filled with unimaginable drama, bitter rivalries, heart pounding action and an incredible cast of characters you’ll never forget. Hilarious, heartbreaking, inspiring, JAM is an amazing story about the lengths people will go to achieve their dreams.

You can pre-order it here.

Dec. 10th at The Comic Bug

2008-11-26T11:59:00.000-08:00

If you are in the Los Angeles area, please swing by The Comic Bug on December 1oth to celebrate the release of the Hero Initiative's Hulk 100 Project hardcover book! I will be there signing and sketching with a bunch of great artists! Hope to see you all there!

WED., 10 DEC
6 PM-8 PM, signing with six artists: Joe Benitez, Scott Koblish, Bill Morrison, Tone Rodriguez, Aaron Sowd, Joe Rubinstein
At The Comic Bug
1807 1/2 Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
310-372-6704
http://www.thecomicbug.com/

Then from 8-10 PM, if you wanna hang loose, it's the Comic Bug's Christmas party w/DJ, drinks, snacks, etc. Some other local artists (Richard Starkings, Mike Mignola, Josh Dysart, etc.) will likely show up as well if ya wanna hob-nob.

CNN Overload

2008-10-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

I usually only get my news from reliable sources such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report or The Onion, but lately I've been addicted to CNN. Really addicted. And it's starting to worry me. I may need to cut back on my CNN viewing because every time I look at Ali Velshi I see this:Do you see it too? Dr. Honeydew! Thank God, I thought it was just me! No wonder I can't take him seriously. No one in real life has skin that orange! He's gotta be a Muppet, right?

Then there is the lovely Dana Bash. Every time I look at her I see:

The bird from Pixar's For the Birds, right? I'm not trying to be mean, maybe I just watch too many cartoons. Or too much CNN. So there!

Last Round of Card Commissions

2008-10-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

If you still want a sketch card commission, you can get on the list for the Marvel Masterpieces Series 3 Artist Proof cards. I can also do plain old sketch cards as well if you want one of those. Email me for details at aaronsowd@mac.com. The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards are very limited, they only give 10 to each artist.

Hulk Smash! Last Chance!

2008-10-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

I've already mentioned The Hero Initiative and their Ultimate 100 Hulk #1 Cover Project. My first cover raised over $700.00 for a great charity. But that is nothing compared to these two! The legendary John Romita Jr. donated two killer sketches which I was asked to embellish and color. What an honor, I grew up on John's stuff, I never thought I'd get to touch his original art! The first one below sold for over $1,000.00! The one above is being auctioned off now and ends soon! Please bid here if you can!

Variations on a Theme: Iron Man

2008-10-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

Aw, Iron Man... my favorite character when I was a kid. Here are the last of the sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3! I could have done all 20 cards of just Iron Man, but I burned out after 7 and decided to mix it up a bit! Wish I would have gotten to the cool JR JR "big ass boots" armor and Iron Man 2099. Those are both great designs! Here is the first suit of armor designed by Jack Kirby or Don Heck?

And again in gold circa Avengers #1.

I actually kind of liked the old pointy head version of the red and gold armor. Jack Kirby's design?

The "classic" version without the pointy head helmet.
Then the silver centurion armor designed by Mark Bright, I think...
And the badass black and silver War Machine armor...go Raiders!

And the most recent Ultimates armor designed by Bryan Hitch!

Variations on a Theme: Spider-Man

2008-10-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the original classic Spidey. The key to a good Spider-Man is the armpit webbing! Don't forget the armpit webbing! It's the secret ingredient that is often overlooked!

My buddy Sean was complaining that I never update my blog. It's true, I get on a deadline which is replaced by another deadline (or three!) and yet another deadline. They multiply like Gremlins (don't get them wet!)! It never ends! But I can't complain, I'm getting paid to draw, how cool is that? So this post is for Sean: quitcherbitchin'!

Now back to my deadlines, be they many and unrelenting!

More sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3 done in hurry... I did simple variations on each character I drew to save time! Who can forget the spiffy black costume from Secret Wars? Was that a Mike Zeck design? Zeck rules!

And the more recent costume from Civil War. It's not officially a Major Crossover Event until Spidey gets a new costume!I always loved me some Rick Leonardi. Severely underrated artist, IMO. The Spider-Man 2099 costume was the shiz-nit. Very, very cool and fun to draw!

Variations on a Theme: The Hulk

2008-09-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

More sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces series 3 done in hurry... I did simple variations on each character I drew to save time! Here's the original classic gray Hulk as designed by Jack Kirby.
And the green Hulk we all know and love!
And the lesser known Mr. Fixit Hulk from his time as a mob enforcer in Las Vegas! Seriously, I'm not joking! From Peter David's run, look it up!

The new red Hulk from the recent Hulk #1 by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. Who is he? What does he want? Why is he red? What about the rest of the Hulk Rainbow Army? Oops, I've said too much... spoiler alert!
And we can't forget World War Hulk, the baddest Hulk of them all! He's like Hulk crossed with Conan if he was raised by Spartans and trained to fight by Russell Crowe. The Russell Crowe from Gladiator, not the Russell Crowe from A Beautiful Mind. Forget "Hulk Smash!" Now it's "Hulk crush enemies, see them driven before Hulk, and hear the lamentations of Hulk's women. Also, Hulk might like to be governor one day..."

Variations on a Theme: Wolverine

2008-09-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I had to do a lot of original sketch cards for Upper Deck's Marvel Masterpieces 3 in a short amount of time, so I decided to do variations on each character I drew. Hey, it's easier than coming up with new poses every time! And think of all the cool costumes that Wolverine alone has had! Here's a few of my personal favorites. First, the John Cassaday costume from Astonishing X-Men.

Then there's the costume he took off of Fang, one of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, during the Dave Cockrum or John Byrne run on X-Men when I was a little kid. I love that Claremont just added apostrophes to names to make them sound alien. Aa'ron S'owd. Sounds exotic!Then the Jim Lee take on the classic Kirby X-Men basic training suits. This was circa Uncanny X-Men #275, I think. Jim added a lot of belts/straps everywhere that served no purpose I could see, save looking really cool in an S&M kind of way!

Ah, the classic brown costume designed by Dave Cockrum, I believe. Is there a better costume designer than Dave Cockrum? Maybe Jack Kirby, but Dave has to be in the top tier!
Lastly, the Weapon X costume from the Barry Windsor Smith mini series. Can you really call this a costume? He's pretty much naked with a cool helmet and a few boxes hanging off him. I love the way BWS used color in that story and all the wires and pins sticking out of him are great (hard to draw on a tiny little card, though)!

Blitz: The League II Trailer

2008-07-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

The trailer for Blitz: The League II is now online in HD. The game comes out from Midway at the end of September. I got to storyboard the trailer and a lot of the cinematics for the actual game. The animators at Midway went all out in bringing it to life. It's going to be kick-ass (if I do say so my own self)!

The First Five

2008-07-12T12:02:00.001-07:00

Whew, that was fast! The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards sold out in less than two days! If you still want a sketch card commission, you can get on the list for the Series 2 Artist Proof cards which I should be getting soon from Upper Deck. I can also do plain old sketch cards as well if you want one of those. Email me for details at aaronsowd@mac.com. The Marvel Masterpiece Artist Proof cards are very limited, they only give 10 to each artist. Here's the first five of my commissions:

Thor for Thorsten in Germany!A recreation of Uncanny X-Men #141 for Kevin in California. I grew up on Byrne/Austin X-Men, so this was fun. Hard to fit all that detail on a tiny card, though!
A double shot of Wolverin and the Hulk for Billy who is stationed in Iraq. Hope you like them. Come home safe and sound and soon!
And a recreation of my recreation of Hulk #1 by Jack "King" Kirby for Paul in Maine. That's a lot of recreational recreation. OK, I'll shut up and get back to drawing now...

We'll Miss You Michael

2008-06-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

I just heard Michael Turner died last night. He was only 37. CBR reported that Mike passed away Friday night at 10:42 Pacific Time at Santa Monica Hospital in Calfornia after a long battle with cancer. The only thing that cheers me up is I know Mike lived more in those 37 years than most people do in 73 years. Ever since the first day he walked into Top Cow as Marc Silvestri's background assistant, we all knew he was destined for big things. Needless to say, that only lasted an issue or so, and Mike was soon off penciling books on his own, then co-writing and co-creating Witchblade and onto super stardom, going beyond Top Cow and creating his own company, Aspen Comics. All this before the age of 37. It's like he knew exactly what he wanted to do and made sure he had time to do it all. Mike always had a smile, a joke and contagious energy. He was so enthusiastic in everything he did, just tackled it head on. Even when he got sick, we all thought if anyone can beat it, Mike could. After all, he had overcome every other obstacle in his path with ease. We'll miss you, Mike. Thanks for the friendship and inspiration. Your time with us was too short, but you made it to heights most people only dream of.
UPDATE: I found this photo of the Top Cow gang from our first big signing at Golden Apple. Must be circa 1996 0r 1997. From left to right, the back row is boy wonder and editor Tim Hernandez, J.D. Smith and Nathan Cabrera. The front row Peter Steigerwald, Duy "D-Tron" Tron, Michael Turner, Brandon Peterson and Matt "Batt" Banning. I'm not in it because I took the photo! Damn, we look young! Those were good times. We'll miss you, Michael.

Accepting Commissions

2008-06-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

OK, I usually don't have time to do commissions, but Upper Deck was nice enough to send me 10 Artist Proof cards (see above) for just that purpose. So what the heck, it'll be fun. But I only have 10 cards, so first come, first serve. Email me at aaronsowd@mac.com with your request. There's also a few rules I have to follow (see below) before emailing me. Thanks!

IMPORTANT NOTE on the AP (Artist Proof) cards- they must be scanned and sent in for approval before sale. They have both the Marvel and Upper Deck logo on them, and are considered licensed material. So the same rules as to what can be drawn on the regular sketch cards will apply to the artist proof cards. The last date these cards can be sent in for approval is November 20th. If for some reason your requested sketch is not approved, I will refund your money in full.

Rules* for the cards :
NO Nazi symbology (this includes Iron Crosses, Iron Eagles, swastikas, etc.)
NO zombie iterations of any Marvel character
NO nudity
NO gore or over the top violence
NO licensed characters (Rom, G.I. Joe, Transformers, or any other licensed property)
NO shots of any Marvel character smoking
*Marvel's, not mine!

Hulk Cover/Kirby Tribute

2008-06-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

The Hero Initiative is putting together The Ultimate 100 Hulk #1 Cover Project. They picked 100 of the best comic book artists like Neal Adams, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlene, Dale Keown, Jae Lee, Bill Morrison, Joe Benitez, George Tuska, Bob McLeod, Sean Phillips and many more (yeah, I don't know how I got on that list, either!). Each artist did an original, one of a kind sketch in pencil, ink and marker (or some variation thereof!) on a blank variant sketch cover of Hulk #1. I think only 100 variant covers were printed especially for The Hero Initiative. A rare collectible if you can get one! They will be actioning them off a few at a time at comic conventions and on ebay. I'll try to post a link when mine goes up for auction. Please bid if you can, it's for a great cause! You can see a bunch of them on Marvel's site.

The Hero Initiative (Formerly known as A.C.T.O.R., A Commitment To Our Roots) has had the good fortune to grant over $200,000 to the comic book veterans who have paved the way for those in the industry today. They are a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to helping comic book creators in need of emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It's a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

I decided to go old school with my sketch, I love the original gray Jack Kirby Hulk most of all. He was huge and more of a creepy Frankenstein's monster than a straight-up super hero. I went back and looked at Kirby's original cover and decided a homage to The King was in order!

Thanks to Jim McLauchlin for getting me involved! It was a blast!

Woo-Hoo! The Simpsons Ride Opens Today!

2008-05-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

Woo-hoo! The Simpsons Ride opens today at Universal Studios Hollywood! I think the one in Florida has already opened! I got to storyboard this amazing motion simulator ride. It was one of the funnest animation projects I've worked on to date, and a dream job to draw The Simpsons! If you live in California or Florida, go, go, go! It's going to be some much fun!

More Marvel Masterpieces Series 2 Sketch Cards

2008-05-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell by this batch of sketch cards, I grew up on the classic Chris Claremont & John Byrne X-Men. I still love looking back over that run. Amazing stuff! Wait, how did Iron Man get in there? I just saw the movie and I loved it so it must have been on my mind. I sketched these out really quick in water color and ink. Tried to keep them loose and sketchy, but I always ruin it in the inking. Must sketch more!

This is post #100! Whoo-hoo!

Marvel Masterpieces Series 2 Sketch Cards

2008-05-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wildfire

2008-04-16T19:48:00.001-07:00

I dunno why, but Wildfire was always my favorite member of the Legion of Superheroes. I just liked the way he looked when I was a little kid, I guess. Timber Wolf was cool, too. And Cosmic Boy just plain sucked. Tough to look butch in pink tights!

This was a quick sketch for the San Diego Comic Con souvenir book, I inked it up just for fun! Every year CAPS does a jam piece and this year we picked the 50th anniversary of the Legion of Superheroes. Wow, 50 years? Isn't the 30th century here yet? I want my Legion flight ring already!

Woman's Work

2008-04-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

I just wrapped up work on a great little independent movie called Woman's Work, directed by Chad Benton. It's a short film about a housewife who accidentally discovers she is a superhero, and how she balances the life of a superhero with being a mother and a wife. It was a ton of fun! It should soon be making the film festival circuit and hopefully showing at San Diego Comic Con this year! You can find out more on the movie website here.

Loss of Inspiration: Dave Stevens

2008-04-02T20:45:00.001-07:00

It's been almost a month since I heard Dave Stevens died, and it still hasn't quite sunken in. Dave was one of the nicest and most talented artists I've had the pleasure of meeting. I didn't even know he had Leukemia. He was only 52. He always seemed happy and healthy. I didn't know Dave that well, but we took a painting class at Associates in Art together. I was shocked to see Dave in a class he easily could have been teaching! He was always learning and looking to take his talent even further which is a hallmark of a great artist. His paintings where gorgeous. After an hour or two, he would have what to my eyes was a finished masterpiece and I had barely finished my lay-in! We always talked at conventions whenever we saw each other. Dave was always inspiring and encouraging. I'm really going to miss that. I'll treasure his art always.

His webmaster offers a great suggestion that I hope you will consider:
For anyone attending the San Diego Comic Con this year, please wear a Rocketeer shirt or pin as a way of remembering Dave at the Con. You don't have to say anything, or do anything, just represent Dave's memory with an image of his best-known creation.

Batman: The Man Who Laughs

2008-02-07T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is pretty cool, I didn't even know it existed until it showed up in a box on my doorstep. A whole box full of them, actually. Thanks to the fine folks at DC for thinking of me. I've worked in comics off and on since I was 18 and I think this is the first time I've had any of my work collected into hardcover form!* Lots of trade paperbacks and softcover reprints, even prestige format, but never bookshelf quality hardcover! Sweet! They even put my name on the cover! Which is rare, since inkers in comics hardly get any press unless it's being the butt of a joke in a Kevin Smith movie! Rodney Dangerfield got more respect than inkers! So this was a big deal! If you want your own copy, you can buy it here.

The sad thing is that I can't look at the Joker now without thinking of Heath Ledger. That's a real shame.

Heralds of Galactus Cards

2008-01-21T22:04:00.001-08:00

Last year I did a few of the Heralds of Galactus cards for Upper Deck's VS card game. Fun stuff! I hardly ever get to see the finished cards, but I found a few of them online. They turned out great, mostly due to the masterful colors of Dean White. Damn, that boy's good! He even makes me look like I know what I'm doing!

Happy Hulking New Year!

2008-01-05T15:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Hope you're having a great 2008!

Sketch cards are all the rage with the kids these days! They're more popular than POGs! Hmmm... wait, POGs were never popular. But you get the point, sketch cards are big. Fun to do, too! Unlike a full sized commission which can get put on the back burner and then back up for months and become daunting simply because of the time involved, you can crank out a little sketch card in an hour or so. I try to put a little more work into them then a con sketch. These were for collector Mike D who has a cool gallery you can see here.

Sometimes they turn out pretty cool. The main thing I have to do is loosen up on my inking! Having been an inker for so long, I immediately gointo inking mode with a pen and try to make lots of pretty lines! I need to knock that off! Sketchy and loose is the way to go! That's my #1 New Year's resolution for 2008: forget everything I know about inking so I can draw better! Resolution #2 is to actually draw better! What's your New Year's resolution for 2008?