Doctor Who and Charlotte Comicon

Here's a drawing that I just finished of Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor (or is he now the 12th?). It took a little bit of time to complete, but I feel like it was well worth it.

I did this after binging on some classic Doctor Who on Hulu, which has been adding Classic Doctor Who episodes like crazy. About a week ago, I re-watched The Angels Take Manhattan and realized that I am going to miss Matt Smith as the Doctor. I'm looking forward to Peter Capaldi as the doctor. I just hope that the next season is a little better than the bulk of the last one.

This Sunday, I'll actually have this for sale at my table at Charlotte Comicon, along with some of my Alphababes drawings and some other drawings that I've done for the heck of it from time to time. I'll also have a few copies of my comics there and Brandon Padgett (see the photo below) will have some sketchbooks including some of my artwork in them. The latest collection looks really nice.

This photo is from last fall's Charlotte Comicon, which was an absolute blast, and I promise that I'll be there all the time, with the exception of a potty break or two. Look for Brandon Padgett and Eraklis Petmezas as well there and many other great artists! Brandon sat next to me last fall, and hopefully, we'll be adjacent to each other again. Cons are always more fun when you can sit with your friends.

I'm Open for Commissions!

Want some original art?

Got a character that you love?

Need a unique gift for someone?

I'll do commissioned drawings, and I will get them done fast. These will not be sketches, but fully rendered drawings, detail depending on the subject you request, but the samples below show how I work. All drawings will be on 8 1/2" x 11" card stock, making them easy to find a frame for. Depending on the subject matter, the medium will be charcoal or ink. Either way, you'll have a nice darkly rendered drawing to show off. The price for a drawing is $25, as long as you're not asking for more than three people in it.

I'll also do 5" x 8 1/2" for $10, with the same level of detail as the larger drawings.

For those that are really ambitious, 11" x 17" are available for $40, $75 with color.

I hear you asking, how will this work?

First off, e-mail me at jerrydstanford@gmail.com or contact me through Facebook if you friend me there and let me know what you want. If you want a likeness of someone, send me a photo. I draw comics, but for you, I'll draw just about anything. When I'm done, I'll e-mail you a watermarked scan of your drawing, at a resolution of 72 dpi.

Here are some samples:

How do you get money to me? I prefer PayPal, but you can mail me a check, if you want. Once I have the money, I'll mail you your drawing in a plastic sleeve and inside a reinforced envelope, clearly marked "DO NOT BEND." If you have trouble with your mailman bending your large mail to fit, consider having it sent to a work address.

Supergirl

Last Night at Sketch Charlotte, I drew this Supergirl. I've cleaned it up and edited out the Sketch Charlotte logo that Brandon puts on the paper for posting on the Sketch Charlotte site. Go over there if you want to it in the original scan.

I really like drawing Supergirl as a teenager, and by that, I mean 16 or younger. While this isn't my favorite Supergirl outfit, My favorite ones make her look too old.

Got Some Drawing to Do

In the next few days, I've got a deadline to meet and I'm not as close to being done as I'd have liked to be at this stage. I'm starting by setting aside an hour a day to work on it. If that doesn't get me the progress that I need, then I'll stretch it out. Unfortunately, I can't share it as it gets done, but that's the way these things work out sometimes.

Also, I'm finalizing up my appearances schedule for May, and as soon as they're done, I'll let you know.

Wonder Woman

I did this drawing of Wonder Woman in my spare time, just so I could work on that costume. I used to hate this costume; call me a traditionalist. I don’t hate it as much now, but I still feel like it’s more complicated than it needs to be. Wonder Woman has one of those iconic costumes that only a few redesigns have managed to pull off. I could probably have silhouetted Diana in mostly shadow and have her still be recognizable as long as enough of her costume is visible. I wish the metallic elements were gold instead of silver, as that's just part of the color scheme. I still don't like the choker though. It just looks dangerous.

The trickiest part of this drawing  for me was retaining her femininity, but weird things happen to your drawing style when you watch a two day marathon of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Fortunately, Wonder Woman has black hair, so I could fix her face to get her  femininity back. I had to reference the hands so that Diana didn’t end up with man-hands.

By the way, you can buy the original drawing by going over to Etsy and purchasing it there. I also have some other stuff for sale there, but that's going to be another post.

2011 - It's a meme

It's a meme now for cartoonists and comic artists to do a collage of their 2011 work to represent the year. Well, lots of squares didn't work for me, so I did it in my own way.

Buy my artwork on Etsy

I've started to add drawings to my Etsy shop in an effort to make it available to as broad an audience as possible. You can go over there and buy original drawings I've done and posted here, at Sketch Charlotte or Big Dog Studio.

Here is a sampling of what I've got available on Etsy.

I'll Draw Anything For You!

(Note: This post is an exact copy of the Commissions page. I'm copying it here, because I seriously want to supplement my income.)

Want some original art?

Got a character that you love?

Need a unique gift for someone?

I'll do commissioned drawings. These will not be sketches, but fully rendered drawings, detail depending on the subject you request. All drawings will be on 8 1/2" x 11" card stock, making them easy to find a frame for. Depending on the subject matter, the medium will be charcoal or ink. Either way, you'll have a nice darkly rendered drawing to show off. The price for a drawing is $25, as long as you're not asking for more than three people in it.

I'll also do 5" x 8 1/2" for $10, with the same level of detail as the larger drawings.

I hear you asking, how will this work?

First off, e-mail me at carpaltunnelpress@gmail.com, letting me know what you want. If you want a likeness of someone, send me a photo. I draw comics, but for you, I'll draw just about anything. When I'm done, I'll e-mail you a watermarked scan of your drawing, at a resolution of 72 dpi.

Here are some samples:



How do you get money to me? I prefer PayPal, but you can mail me a check, if you want. Once I have the money, I'll mail you your drawing in a plastic sleeve and inside a reinforced envelope, clearly marked "DO NOT BEND." If you have trouble with your mailman bending your large mail to fit, consider having it sent to a work address.

Batgirl

A couple of weeks ago at Sketch Charlotte, I drew this Batgirl in my way big sketchbook as I've come to call it. I really don't like the new Bat-Family costumes as they're just a little too busy, with a lot of extraneous details that seem to be there for no reason other than look more realistic.

A couple of diversions

Okay, so I buy myself this new sketchbook that's really big, probably the biggest I've ever owned. It barely fits in the backpack that I take to Sketch Charlotte. The freedom it grants is that I can not worry about running out of room and then blowing up the sketch on my copier just to piece it together on the lightbox. That's precisely what I had to do with my last Jet-Pack Jenny drawing and more recently, my Wizard of Oz drawing, which will be done as soon as I can get to my lightbox again.

On the topic of Jet-Pack Jenny, I started this drawing at last week's Sketch Charlotte meeting after yet another disastrous start on a Power Girl drawing. I liked it and finished it up over the weekend. I believe it's in the running for the cover of the collected Power of 01.

The second drawing was inked at Sketch Charlotte, but started while I was sitting at HickoryCon last month. The character is planned to be part of my next story Hanamori's Circus. I do believe that I'll be curbing my need to throw a lot of ink down on this one.

Nightcrawler

Okay, so Thursday night before HeroesCon and I’m just having trouble drawing anything right, so I flip through my sketchbook and see a drawing of Nightcrawler I’d done at Bridgit’s suggestion a few weeks ago. I really didn’t feel satisfied with it. I remembered back to a sketch I’d done for a three-year old boy of Spider-Man where he was hanging upside down. It was kinda inspired by the cover of Sensational She-Hulk #3 where John Byrne had Spidey guest star and on the cover had him hanging upside down. My sketch went pretty well, using the technique of drawing the character right side up and turning it over for any finishing elements. The smoke is a huge problem, as I really prefer the look given to it in the films, but I think it’s just a little too wispy. However, when it’s drawn in the comics, it overpowers the panels at times.

So there we have a Nightcrawler that I can live with. Now, because Bridgit likes Nightcrawler so much, and I drew this on a sheet of letter-size Bristol, I’m giving the original art to her. I’ve got a hi-res scan that I’m gonna use to color it. I do that from time to time, giving drawings to friends.

It Is NOT a Hiatus

There will be no new strip this Monday. However, I'm doing my best in the next 9 days to get a little ahead on the comic, and avoid any further delays.

The day job hours are a little rough, and on top of that, I'm trying to work on the side to earn some extra cash needed to do things like oh, get a driver's license, and eat.

In the next week, also look for a little shameful plugging and shilling as things progress here in the wonderfully productive world we call Carpal Tunnel Press.

Hey, Come See Me In the Park!

I have plans to be at the Caldwell Arts Council's Festival In the Park on Saturday, May 22. My plan is to have a book of my work to browse through and to be drawing Jet-Pack Jenny comics all day. That is, unless the weather decides not to cooperate. More on that later, if it proves to be a factor.

UPDATE: The rain location is the Mulberry Rec Center.

In the meantime, you might also spot me at Futs on Main Street in Lenoir Wednesday night when I'll be taking in the music of Will Willis and Patrick Crouch, while drawing a little. It's a routine for me, and you should come just to listen to the music. You should come to Futs on Wednesday nights if you can, to take in some great music. There was a great crowd last week, and there's even a little cafe in the back if you'd like a little bite to eat. I go there to take in the music, primarily. Drawing is just something else I do while listening, trying to stay out of the way, but I'll talk if you come up and say hi.

Thursday is Draw Muhammad Day.

Taken from skepchick.org.



I've yet to decide if I'm doing anything for Thursday or not.

And The Streak Falls at Nine Weeks

No new strip this Monday. It's been a busy week, and the weekend is even busier. It's not that I've been letting myself get distracted, I've just gotten too many balls up in the air creatively. You wanna know something, though? I'm happy with having the past two months having new content every week. However, I am going to make you a deal. I will post a redrawing of an older strip, and in exchange, you forgive me. Deal?

I said do we have a deal?

Okay, for Easter Monday, I'll post a new strip AND a redrawn one, as well. Now be happy, that's all you're getting.